Frogs are fiddly!

Grandchildren have no idea of the skills ned for making tiny stuff, have they?  But do we turn down requests from those cherubic faces?  No, we do not.

The eyes on this creature have only a few stitches, I can't see how you would stuff them, so I just sewed the googly eyes into the hollow socket.  So what if he looks sunken-eyed, I am sure E will love him.

In other (knitting) news, I have invented a Honey Bun Draughty - which is a door draught excluder masquerading here as a cushion.  Note to self - chenille is NOT suitable for sewing up long seams - i.e. the grafting line for ending the nose.  However, the colour of it did lend to the name.

The Golden Fleece Collection

Now the new needles have arrived,  I tried a few things out.    

Heels - tick

Rib - tick

Hems - tick

Texture - tick
Colourwork - tick

The macine has now been sold on, which I slightly regret because it was the best I ever had for making heels without dropping stitches!  But it has raised money for the musuem.

What happened to February?

 It must have been there on the calendar!  My only excuse is all the getting ready for the annual Going Round in Circles event in early March.  All over now, and life would be flat if it weren't for a new project - the Golden Fleece machine.  It had been a little tinkered with, and the internal cams re-installed the wrong way round.  Then stored assembled, so some areas not quite seized but very marked.  Sorted that and another couple of items, and now awaiting new needles from America before putting it through its paces.  I have no intention of "restoring" it to a showroom condition, only cleaning it of extreme grottiness and getting it to knit without too many hiccups.

Teacosies galore

⁹
 Six cosies, 18 flutes each, 42 stitches to pick up for each flute  ... yep, total of 4536 stitches.  I need a cup of tea after that!

Bear with me

 I am not going to revisit last Christmas!  Two items failed to work, and they weren't battery problems.  The decorations were put away early. Another hospital trip soon after.

One of my decorations is a little jointed red bear, made by a friend years ago.  I got some thick yarn, found the pattern (a Jean Greenhowe one) and made it a companion.  More fiddly pieces, which had to be made and stuffed separately (firmly) as the magic happens when just a couple of strands of yarn join the separate pieces together.

Appropriate cartoon

 Yes, folks, I forgot to write.  A  bit of hospital visiting was going on which meant not much knitting was!

As  weare coming up to Brussels sprout season, I did make a couple.  Very fiddly.  

A gingerbread house bauble was also fiddly, but I worked out how to knit in in one piece instead of five with seams.

Then there was the square bunny.  So easy, can't think why I have never come across it before.  Patterns exist for croc0eht and garter stitch, but not many seem to be in stocking stich.  Anyway, on the machine, e-wrap start, 56 sts, 80 rows, gather to finish.  Turn work round so e-wrap edge is at top.  Run a line across halfway then up to middle top and down to start point.  Place stuffing in the triangle, draw up, and that's the head and ears done!  Short back seam, pull gathered edge and stuff.  Because I am rubbish at pompons, a small loop of I-cord for a tail.

When Knitting give you lemons

 I was trying for a hot water bottle cover in Fair Isle.  The purple was old Shetland (though unlabelled) stuff, quite harsh.  The white was a new cone from good old J&S, and must have been a little thicker than previously.  The pattern was stacked snowflakes or windflowers.  Tension was 8 on the Kitmaster, and it was like rolling a boulder uphill, with frequent jams.  So I gave up.  The piece of fabric that came off the machine was like cardboard, with several dropped stithces.  As Shetland wool is so "sticky", I couldn't be bothered to wind each colour back.  Then had the idea of seeing if I could sew it onto a thin cork backing as coasters.  It worked.  Bit rough round the edges, but hey, it's "lemonade".  Tried one piece on felt, but that flexes a little.  Looking for the flet (and tidying up my haberdashery trays in the process), I came across a "deep" plastic coaster still in its packet.  By this time I had very little good areas left on the original piece.  It is too thick to let the backing fit neatly inthe frame, so it had to be a sellotape job.