The hat that won't make it

This seemed like such a good idea at the time, a double knit hat with a liver bird pattern for Ronan for Christmas, DH even helped me design the pattern (thanks Chris!). However, after nearly completing the pattern I figured that it's TOO BIG! I haven't had the heart to frog it yet, it shows a lot of time and effort, I just don't think that I can do it again, it's also just not as cool looking as I would have hoped, maybe stripes are needed?

Skull Illusion Scarf

As you can see, it's not finished (yet) but I'm so excited with my first attempt at illusion knitting, isn't it so cool? Anyway, the pattern I got from Ysolda Teague here
the directions are great if the grid is not you 'thing'. For the skull color I used the baby alpaca (from knitpicks) from my undone gauntlets and the black is Encore D.K. (25% wool, 75% acrylic) from a local (and internet) store, Smileys Yarns. I have 2 balls of each and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that is enough. I will let you know. The big thing is that I will have to learn to block now...

Jack the Bear

Isn't he adorable? He's only little 11 inches tall (when stood up) and his arms and legs move. I found him relatively quick and easy to do, using some of the yarn I had left over from Mr. Bean's bear #2. I knitted this from a pattern in The knitted Teddy Bear, which has some really sweet bears in it, I got the book from the library, but I'm pretty certain that I will need to buy it now because they are too cute and these bears will make some great gifts for friends and friends kids, particularly when I splash out and actually buy some decent yarn. I forget which bear it was and I don't have the book right now, but I will try and remember to put up his real name soon enough.

Bag is complete

Here is a picture of the completed bag, it's not the best picture, I think the bag looks better in real life. The pattern the yarn produced is pretty funky, happy accident on my part. Once again the pattern is based on the deco-ribbon pattern.

Teddy 2 is complete

Yay! I got his eyes today, sewed them on, along with his head, now he's complete. Cute isn't he? He's waiting for DH to come home, I think he will love him. Once again, thanks to Sarah Bradberry for posting the pattern on knitting-and.com.

Ribbon bag #2

Okay, I wasn't so happy with the other ribbon bag, still don't know if it was the colors or the way they fell or what, but this is the beginning of the second bag. You see I bought 2 balls of fluid from numei.com (yes, I admit that I'm currently obsessed with this store and their prices and their yarn). I'm not such a big fan of this ribbon yarn, the end result, or how it knits, BUT I am feeling more optimistic about this little project. The yarn is turning into a groovy 60s style pattern... let's see how it turns out...

btw the pattern is nicked from straw.com, based on their deco-ribbon bag. However, I only had one ball of this yarn so I made it smaller, casting on only 71 sts.

Blind Teddy (warning picture may be upsetting to those with weak dispositions).

Okay, okay, he's blind now, but he will soon be able to see. This is hubby's Mr. Bean Bear (he wanted one too), it is almost complete, so here is a sneak peak on Teddy 2. I will be getting some eyes (buttons) for him tomorrow, so he will be finished over the weekend, much to hubby's delight!!

Mr Bean's Bear

Here he is, Mr Bean's Bear, known to Bean as "Teddy", original huh? I think he's adorable and I'm pretty sure that Dad loves him, Teddy does have the super-floppy head and hypnotism can be done on him. I wasn't sure if he would be complete in time since I did buy the wrong kind of yarn initially (teach me not to rush out and buy just anything brown). Anyway, after finding a lovely pure wool yarn just before we left and begging the security at the airport, I was allowed to take my bamboo needles on the flight with me (although, this was not the case on the way back, it seems that different airports have different rules). I knitted like crazy on the red eye and on the coach from London to Wolves, I even ended up sewing on my parents doorstep! Anyway, big thanks to Sarah Bradberry, who wrote the pattern and shares it on knitting-and.com.

11/01/05
FYI, this bear was knitted with a Sportsweight machine washable 100% wool (there were 2 hanks and I pretty much used all of them), but can be easily substituted (Bear #2 was done with a much cheaper 100% acrylic DK [sportsweight] bought in the UK and only one ball - no idea how much was on it, since it was so cheap). I used size 4 needles since I lost one of my size 3 needles, (I also needed bamboo for flying with), but with a bear (i.e. not clothing) the needle size shouldn't be too important, Sarah's pattern recommends size 3. The buttons were bought wherever I could find them (some from sewing store that were too small, I ended up buying them in a pack from a cheap store in Flushing, NY). As buttons are a chocking hazard, remember to substitute felt for buttons when giving to a small child. Please check out upcoming November posts for another teddy in the making (different, cute and traditional).