three bags full

"tell me claaarissse...have the lambs stopped screaming?" couldn't resist referencing that creepy flick. here's another little cutie designed by kristen over at crochetville, and he's anything but creepy:


max likes him so much he wants him as a snack...you can find the pattern at crochetville if you are interested, along with a lot of other fun patterns. now if only this little fellow would grow me some wool i'd be set for life....

"please!! save me from the giant killer shih-tzu!!"

confundus majorus

so my hat is definitely tipped to folks that work with thread and steel crochet hooks on a regular basis...now that is dedication, people. i found a doily pattern i thought would be neat to try...several years ago i bought some crochet thread...dunno what size (didn't think that in crochet thread size matters, but i suppose i was wrong!) and a set of steel hooks...with the lofty ambition of trying thread crochet....well, suffice it to say that the hooks and/or thread have never been used until yesterday:


this pattern, which can be found here is called 'small pinapple doily'....the hook size recommended is a size 13...which i didn't have, but when i looked up on my chart was horrified to learn that the hook is 0.85 MILLIMETRES small....as in not even one millimetre big...yikes....i guess that's why they called it 'small'...so i substituted a much larger 2.50 mm hook and, as is usually the case, got a much larger product. the pattern specs state finished doily should be around 5 7/8" in diameter....mine is more like 14"....still, i like it...would i work with thread on a more regular (ie: more than once every 10 years or so) basis? i'm not sure yet...these doilies...they can be deceiving...the pattern only has 21 rounds, so silly me thought "what the heck, it's small enough, won't take too long..." insert snort here....all told it was probably about 7 or 8 hours of work, which, while much shorter than the time it takes to make say a sweater or afghan, is still a lot longer than a doily greenhorn like myself thought it would be. i do like the finished product though....now just have to decide what to do with it....

knitty by nature

so i've been working on a few things lately...this first piece is a cute little romper...or at least that's what i'd call it...that's what they were called way back when i was young(er) and can remember my mom and other ladies calling them that....apparently now they are labelled by the unfortunate title of "onesies" or "diaper onesies" or some other derivative of that lame word, is it even a word??? I have serious doubts....who ever thought of calling them that i'd like to know? but i'm digressing with this rant...in any case, i think the finished product is really cute. it puts me in mind of those old fashioned men's 'bathing costumes' from the early 1900's. it is meant to be made from cotton yarn blends, so practical, cool and airy for summer. there are actually three colours in this little piece, although you can't really tell because i kind of made a poor choice of them...but in my defence, i was just using bits of this and that...it is, after all, a prototype. in this case there is white, blue, and variegated...this was my first time working (in knitting) with 3 colours at the same time...let's just say it's frustrating and leave it at that...


this is the back...aside from being a teensy bit impractical in my opinion (buttons down the back but no leg opening/closure for easy diaper changes), i think the ease of having only one garment to remove for those times makes up for that fact...plus i suppose if you were enterprising enough you could always alter the pattern and put a strip of snaps in the crotch region for that very thing. this was a free pattern that i found on the internet, on the knitting pattern central site. the pattern is by coats & clark. it took very little time to make and once i figured how it all went together (i think the pattern could have benefitted from a couple of well-placed instructional photos) it was very rewarding to finish. did i mention i don't like knitting with 3 colours at once?


here's another little matinee coat from the vintage uk book cee's mum gave me....this one is one of my most favourite so far of my knitted things...you should be able to click to see the lacy effect on the yoke. this is the same variegated yarn used above in the romper. laid out like that it seems really wide and swingy, but when you hold it up it isn't as wide...i wish i had a little model to put it on...max won't hold still, lol. yes, if you noticed, i seem to have some sort of aversion to either acquiring and/or sewing on buttons...one of these days i'll get a gross of them and spend several hours sewing them on.


last but not least (or last, i have a couple other things i'm working on but didn't take pictures...knitting takes way too much time, i tend to get bored of it easily and start other things, much to the chagrin of a certain person named cee) this is a little white sweater in progress. right now it kind of looks like a hot mess but trust me, it's going to be great....also a pattern from the vintage baby uk book...perhaps i'll try all 20 patterns eventually. i'm making this one with a very special person in mind. a person that doesn't even have a need of this right now but hopefully one day will and there will be a story to go along with it.

it's a little cardigan with a lacy diamond pattern panel on all the pieces. my gauge seems to be way off on it...the pattern states to fit up to a 3 month old...i have a feeling it will fit a new newborn and that's about it...maybe a one-time wearable, like coming home from the hospital or a first visit to see family or something like that.

our heat wave seems to have dissipated...for now, at least. i think the heat has affected my brain, which is bad news cause let's face it, my brain is probably already 'abby normal'...the other night it started pouring rain while we were out planting some 'things'--transplants from cee's mum's garden, dunno what they were--at first i went inside and then saw cee out there in the back by the rock garden under the lilac tree trying not to get soaking wet and all of a sudden i ran outside and started running around in circles on our patio with my arms out going 'weeeeeeeeee!!!!!!' while cee (who was now standing in the pouring rain, getting soaking wet) looked at me funny and the neighbours across the way--who are always outside watching--sat on their porch under their pergola looking like the aliens had landed across the street. then i went inside like nothing happened...i bet they had something to talk about after that...

yee. haw.

since i moved to this province, every year about this time i drag out my old country tapes and listen...why? because it's stampede time again in my home town....it's weird because i haven't been to the grounds since i was in my teens, and didn't really think much of it while i lived there, but i guess memories of going when i was a child with my brothers and sister and my favorite aunt come flooding back....the music? well i went through a 'country phase' in my early adulthood, and truth be told i'm a music fan, that's all kinds of music...plus anywhere you go in calgary at this time of year you will hear country music in some form...and the (drunken) revelry of tourists, and, truth be told, truant-playing office workers downtown looking for the next free pancake breakfast that serves vodka and orange juice at 7 in the morning...boy that takes me back...

anyway, in the spirit of my hometown festival, and because i thought they were just too cute for words, i made these little cowboy booties:

can't you just see a little cowgirl kicking up her heels in these? well maybe not, but they are cute....at least i think so...and so did casey and max when they tried them on...not.



here's some more dogs i made...two of which are off to kristen in minnesota, along with a couple other things for her hospital toy drive charity. yes, i'm well aware that dogs are neither pink, nor purple thank you very much....

tea-riffic

i made another tea cosy. why, some may ask? (and you know cee did!) especially when i already have two that i made a while back....well, i say why not...you can never have enough tea cosies around as the saying goes.....or was that money? anywho, here it is:


this pattern is a popcorn stitch, and was written by a clever lady on the forum that goes by the nickname of 'cupcake'...she also wrote the pattern for the scallop cosies i made previously. this was another fun pattern that worked up fast...you can find and purchase it and some other great ones on her site here if you are interested. i won the pattern because i knew the answers to a few trivia questions...


i couldn't resist snapping this picture...miss casey was looking bored so i popped the cosy on her head (somewhere in the misty depths of my brain is a friend's story of how her grandpa would always get tipsy at christmas and wear granny's tea cosy as a hat) oh, the indiginities of being a pampered pooch...with a crazy lady for a mum...max of course was having none of it and wouldn't come near me...and they call them dumb animals...


"take it away, you vile woman! can't you see i've got important barking and bone chewing to do?!"