Bunny Slipper Corrections

Can be found at: www.bust.com/knithappens/oops.shtml. Scroll down to the bottom, the errata file for Happy Hooker is actually a PDF file...

More swappage

I designed the crocheted squirrel and owl--if there's a lot of interest I could write up the patterns. We also have a jordy bag, a picture frame and a squirrel Nutkin pin. I'll post pictures of what my pal sent me on Monday--it's nifty!

Cuteness

I've had a bunch of Craftster Swaps going on lately, here are some of the things I created:

For the Suzy Homemaker swap, my partner wanted art and a cute apron. I wasn't sure I could manage an apron at first, because my sewing machine is broken. Then I remembered that I had several circle skirtsI made that came out a little too short. I cut one up and added a bib, trimming and some smiling felt cherries and voila! My partner said she loves it so much she's going to wear it as clothing!








I also attempted a painting based on some vintage fabric I have:




For the Goldfish/Koi swap, which I organized, I made my partner a zippered pouch (my first zipper!) a glasses case out of a felted sweater, and a little fishie magnet.






I also finished up a sweater I designed myself; no pattern, I forgot to write it down and now I forget.

Help me name my cat!

The new love of my life is this furry gentleman here.



It's about a year since my little kitty Cricket passed away in suspicious circumstances, and today I adopted this guy from a local shelter. He was there because his owner tragically passed away due to cancer. Most of the cats there have been abandoned, but at least he had a legitimate reason for being there. He had my heart from first purr. He's a big guy,seven years old, and oh so juicy and squeezable. This is his shelter picture-I found him on petfinder.com. Give me a few days and his pictures will be looking much happier and showing off his gorgeous fur. He bears the unlikely moniker of Scramece. I have never even heard of this word. Could it be some kind of Italian or Yiddish slang? Current contenders for his new name are Chester and Rufus...any other suggestions? What does he look like to you?

Red Bobbles and Minty Fresh

Here's two shrugs I designed myself. Not that they're anything real innovative, but I like them.The pattern for Minty Fresh is up!
The red bobble one was inspired by Stephanie Japel's Forecast..I liked all the bobbles but have a short attention span. I didn't use any pattern, I just did my favorite 3/3 cable with a 3 stitch bobble by each cable twist. It's the standard make a rectangle and sew up the sleeves thing, but I did the sleeves on circulars instead, then switched the straights and put a garter stitch edging on by knitting 3 at the edges. I used US 11 needles and recycled red bulky acrylic. Unfortunately, it attracts fuzzies magnetically.





The green one was a little trickier. I do have the pattern written down, but as you can see, it was done in three pieces, seamed and the sleeves done on with circulars. I did a seed stitch edging by picking up collar stitches, and cap sleeves by doing some short rows. The coolest thing about this is that it took ONE skein of Aunt Lydia's Baby Denim, with enough left over for a headband! I used US 9 needles. I made a mistake on the fronts somehow, one side has a longer ribbing section than the other. I was in a hurry and not paying attention. I'm happy with it anyway.



Pattern for Minty Fresh:

This is a try-new-techniques pattern for me. You do short rows, increasing, ribbing, seed stitch, dpns and picking up stitches. If you've never done these things before, practise first. They can be a little tricky.


Materials: 400 yards worsted weight cotton. I used Aunt Lydia's Baby Denim. US 9 straight needles, Smaller straight needles for the bottom ribbing, US 9 29" circular needle for the neck, and 5 dpns for the sleeves. gauge: 10 st = 2.5 inches

This is a 34" bust. I don't really know how to make it bigger off the top of my head, but I'm sure you can figure it out.

Right Front: (starting from the top)
Cast on 15 stitches on straight needles. Knit in stockinette stitch for 5". End on a purl row. Next:

1. Knit, increase one stitch at beginning of row.
2. Purl.

Repeat these two rows 4 times. AT THE SAME TIME, when piece is six inches from beginning, cast on 20 stitches on opposite end from increases and continue as before. After all increase rows are done, knit in stockinette for 2", then change to 2/2 ribbing for 4". Change to smaller needles (I used US 3) for 1". Bind off.

Left Front: Reverse all shaping.

Back: Cast on 70, knit in stockinette for 5". Do increase rows 1 and 2 as for fronts on BOTH sides of the back. Continue as for front, but don't cast on those 20 stitches.

Seam up the back and front.

Sleeves: Pick up 72 stitches around armhole on 4 dpns. Knit in stockinette in the round for 1". Change to seed stitch for 3 rows. Here come the short rows:

On top two needles only, knit in seed stitch until you reach the third needle. Knit 1 off the third needle, wrap and turn. Knit back over the top two needles until you get to the first needle. Knit one stich off the first needle, wrap and turn.
Continue knitting back and forth on the top two needles, knitting one more stich before turning each time, until you are knitting three stitches before turning. Bind off.

Pick up stitches around the neck opening on the big circular needle. Try to pick up one stich in each stitch. Knit back and forth in seed stitch until your border is as big as you want it to be.

Buttonholes: With straight needles, pick up stitches on front opening. Work in seed stitch, after two rows, decide where you want the holes to be. When you get to those spots, do a yarn over, ktog where the holes should be.

Sew on buttons, weave in ends and you're done!

Argh

I really, really hate copyright. I understand perfectly well that no one wants their original idea to be used for someone else's credit and monetary gain. Stealing someone else's idea for profit is evil.

I don't mind if you make an army of pigs, frogs and whatevers from my patterns, because your work will be going into them. Please don't just sell the patterns themselves, though.

But what I hate is that since we have project-sharing forums like craftster, and sites for selling homemade things like Etsy...everyone gets inspired by everyone else's irresistible ideas. Then someone yells THIEF and the crafting community turns sour.


One person on Craftster did say something that made sense, though: Whenever possible, bring something new into the world. You are a special, unique bundle of experiences and the things you create should be unique to you.

Mousie, an Owlet and his Tree

I love making toys so much!
I found the owl pattern on this Craftster thread: Did I ever mention that I spend about four hours a day on Craftster? I had a big paper to write the other day, but I kept checking Craftster every few sentences. It's killing my GPA, yet filling my life with joy. I'll keep it. =)

Anyway, this owl is extremely wee-he's only an inch tall. I want to make bigger ones, but I didn't want to waste a bunch of fabric if I muffed the first try. Plus he might go in a diorama.



I freehanded the tree; it's actually made of four trunk pieces, so it's totally 3D. I based it on a picture of a white oak tree in my dad's circa 1950 encyclopedia. Yeah, it totally looks just like it..



Then here's a little mouse. I came up with this pattern myself. It's three teardrop shapes sewn together with a triangle for the bottom. Cute, isn't she? I love her daisy corsage.