knittycat’s tips

Sackboy / Green Lantern for Matt's Birthday!

nobody@vox.com(knittycat) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:34:49 -0700

Sackboy, the character from the PS3 videogame, LittleBigPlanet, has become so popular that I thought he'd make a nice gift for our nephew, Matt, who is a collector.

I finished my version of Sackboy for Matt recently (knit without a pattern, as usual), and presented him for his birthday.

Voila! Sackboy Peep:

Sackboy Front View

I just barely finished in time!! Boy was it a pain to put that working zipper in! And I hate sewing things! ;o) I'm even MORE impressed with all of the amazing Sackboy's that folks have been creating after making one myself!

I used my loopy legs (flap) technique to make the mouth so I wouldn't have to sew it on. And it worked great! :o)

My Hub and I both liked him better before I added the decorative grey stitching, but for Matt, I wanted to be as accurate as I could, since he's a collector. I did leave off the two vertical lines at the back of his head. Just didn't like 'em. But I told Matt that I'd put them in if he'd like them - and guess what... he told me last night that he WOULD! Yep... a collector! heh heh So Sackboy Peep will be coming back for some cosmetic surgery! ;o)

My Hub is totally crazy about him, and REALLY wants me to make another one for him! Well.... actually, he said to make another one for Matt and he'll just keep this one!! ha ha ha! He wouldn't do that, of course, but he just fell in love with him.

Sackboy Peep with photo reference:

Sackboy Peep for Matt's Birthday

He has a working zipper, and I made a felt inner body so he could be opened. (ugh! That was a pain! And my Hub wants me to do this AGAIN!!!) When you open his zipper, you can see his little golden heart (a stone bead that's gold with a brownish edging). :o)

Sackboy Peep with Golden Heart:

Sackboy Peep with heart of gold for Matt's Birthday

I've seen so many Sackboys that other folks have made (including the Alan Dart pattern) wearing a pom pom hat and scarf, that I figured that they must be something that Sackboy wears, so I made him a set. We recently got the game (incredibly adorable and FUN!), but I haven't seen the hat and scarf yet. So I dunno. But here's

Sackboy Peep with hat and scarf:

Sackboy Peep with hat & scarf for Matt's Birthday

And since Sackboy loves to play dress-up and take on different characters, and because Matt has been very into The Green Lantern lately (new movie coming out, too!), and because GL is one of my all time favorite comic book characters... I made...

Taaa DAAAA!!!

Green Lantern Sackboy Peep!

Sackboy GL Peep recharging his ring

I like him best without the mask. :o)

I finished his little vest (with very poorly made emblem) just in the nick of time, and my Hub and I are so pleased with it. It's made like a little bib! heh heh I'm really happy I managed to squeeze in making it before Matt's birthday.

And here he is saying his official oath while charging his ring (hee hee) ....

Green Lantern Sackboy Peep for Matt's Birthday

The beautiful green yarn is Bamboo Soft Spell and Bamboo Charmed from www.yarncloud.com! It's a chainette yarn, and sooo nice to work with! Nice sheen, gorgeous colors, and has all those nice bamboo properties! :o)

Here's a better look at his power ring:

Sackboy Peep from Side

Sackboy GL Peep ring close

I would have liked to have done a better job on the ring, but just didn't have enough TIME left!!

Green Lantern Battery for Sackboy Peep for Matt's Birthday 3/4 view

Green Lantern Battery for Sackboy Peep for Matt's Birthday front

Close-ups of the Green Lantern's Power Battery...

which I'm absolutely nuts about! If we were meanies, my Hub would keep the peep and I'd keep the Lantern Battery!! ;o) I put 4 golden dollar coins in the bottom to weight it (they were just the right size - and makes the battery even more valuable and powerful - heh heh) and a chenille stem in the handle to give it strength and body.

It was fun taking a trip down comic book memory lane! :o)

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Pocket Pup Peeps! :o)

nobody@vox.com(knittycat) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 22:50:11 -0700

First there were Pocket Lambie Peeps, and now we have Pocket Pup Peeps! :o)

this is Frankie Pocket Pup Peep

I made little Frankie for our niece after watching her adorable wee poodle mix romping about, recently. He's sooo cute! Had to make an ami of him! And having been making Pocket Lambie Peeps lately, I realized that the lambie yarn would be perfect for him. With just a bit of changing, the lambie could become a Pup!! Tried out one of those cute little glass animal noses (from www.glasseyesonline.com ), and it's just perfect for a dog, with their shiny wet noses! :o) My Hub and I are just LOVING him! AND he looks even so much cuter in person! So another one that will be very hard to part with. *sigh*

and this is Daisy Pocket Pup Peep

We were so crazy about little Frankie peep that I had to make Daisy Peep for us, or our niece was never going to get Frankie! ;o) I was soooo sad at the thought of sending him away, till Daisy came to stay. Daisy is in homage to the memory of my sweet little Bichon Frise.

More about Frankie ... he has this adorable bit of apricot on his back! Isn't that CUTE?!

Here's Frankie in his little bed/pocket, which is now Daisy's because I made a slightly bigger one for Frankie...

And more of wee Daisy

here's Wee Daisy with Wee Frankie (they're in loooove... *sings... Frankiee and Daisy were looveeerrrsss....* hee hee)

See him whispering sweet nothings to her before kissing her? ;o)

Frankie is a poodle mix - and you know what those Frenchmen are like! ;o) heh heh Yes, I know that Poodles didn't originate in France, but... we're pretending. ;o)

Unfortunately, theirs will have to be a long distance relationship, because Frankie is moving to Northern California to be with his new mommy, and Daisy is staying here with US! (YAY!)

And one more of Daisy, giggling because she's in Frankie's new bed/pocket

I just couldn't stop taking pics of these two pups!! heh heh I've got dozens of them!! Yeesh! Am I obsessed?

I'm knitting away, making lots of peeps, but I never get time to post them. So someday there will be a giant post from me with a hundred peeps in it! (just kidding! I'm lucky to get a peep posted now and then).

More peeps at my flickr pages http://www.flickr.com/knittycat

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Little Limbless Pocket Lambies Part One...

nobody@vox.com(knittycat) — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:34:42 -0700

A Lambie Thank You to Snuffykin...

For all the very hard work she did on the weloveamigurumi swap, and for being the sweetie that she is,
I sent snuffykin this wee limbless Pocket Lambie named Laddie (see snuffykin's awesome creations here)

Laddie atop his grassy hillock (pocket) and wearing his flowery garland

Laddie - Pocket Lambie for snuffykin

Laddie inside of his grassy hillock (pocket)

Laddie - Pocket Lambie for snuffykin

Laddie in my hand (he's a wee fellow)

Laddie - Pocket Lambie for snuffykin - in my hand

The back of Laddie's flowery garland

Laddie - Pocket Lambie for snuffykin

The page I sent with wee Laddie

Laddie - Pocket Lambie for snuffykin

You can see that he is wearing the original "grassy" garland that I made for him in this group of photos,
I made the "flowery" one after and sent them both. :o)

and here's Laddie with his two cousins, inside and atop their grassy hillock pockets

3 little pocket lambies

Apologies for the crummy group photos... I didn't have all of them together for long enough to take decent photos.
The first one on the left is Mitzy, who went to my Mum-in-law in Scotland for UK Mother's Day,
the middle one is Laddie,
and the one on the right is Mitzie, who stayed home with us as my dear Hub's Easter Peep

Yes, it's Mitzie and Mitzy... I liked the name! ;o)

I'll post more pics of Mitzy and Mitzie when I put up more of the Easter Peeps. :o)

More peeps pics (but no new ones other than these) on my flickr pages http://www.flickr.com/knittycat

HAPPY SPRING!! :o)

Don't you just LOVE springtime?! :o)

Flowers and Birdies and Baby Animals!! :o) Amigurumi Heaven!

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Valentine's after Easter AGAIN? :o)

nobody@vox.com(knittycat) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:27:57 -0700

Here are the Valentine's pressies I made for my Darling Hub... (yep, I'm mixing Easter and Valentine's Day again, but I'll be back to Easter next time... Lots more Easter Peeps and Baskets to post, soon)

For Valentine's Day and for Easter, I made limbless wee ami's and baskets for them. Here's Peter Pickle Peep, the limbless chick that I made for my Hub for Valentine's Day (yes, I'm very slow to post.... I still don't have the rest of the Easter ones uploaded yet!) I apologize for the quality of the photos... I'll try to take some better ones of these guys at some point. I forgot them when I took the Easter pics. :o/ Oops!

Heart Basket & Peter Pickle Peep & 2 Peas in a Pod

And Next to the basket is....

Two Peas in a Pod

Two Peas in a Pod

We always say that we’re like two peas in a pod, and I’ve wanted to make a set for my dear Hub for ages! Finally remembered to do it. Simple simple… two little green balls with eyes and mouths, and for the pod, I simply knitted a leaf shape in stockinette and it obligingly curled all by itself. :o)

And a bigger pic of Peter Pickle (so named for obvious reasons... he looks like a PICKLE! heh heh) out of the basket

Heart Basket & Peter Pickle Peep

Making limbless wee peeps for my DH’s Valentine’s gift, and for Easter gifts has been such fun! (except for the exhaustion of making so MANY at one time) And it was a nice break from some of the more complicated one’s I’ve been making! :o) (two new "more complicated" ones to see soon) These little limbless guys have a special charm that my Hub and I love! :o)

I made lots of baskets for the wee limbless peeps for Easter, with lots of different yarns, mostly from www.yarncloud.com. Lots of different colors and textures! And this one for my Hub’s Valentine’s peep as well. It was lovely to work with all of this variety! Really fed my addiction! :o) The Heart is made the same way as my “Unbroken Heart” (made all in one piece with no break in yarn), in red mystery yarn, and tied onto the basket. The basket is meant to have a suggestion of a heart shape at the top, which is not apparent in these photos.... I'll see if I can get better photos that show it.

I'll post more of the Easter peeps and baskets soon. :o)

As always, you can see more of my creations at http://www.flickr.com/knittycat or on Ravelry (I'm theknittycat on Ravelry), and an index with links to my patterns and tutorials are at http://www.theknittycat.com.

Happy Spring to Everyone! Hope you're all enjoying the (crazy) weather, and all of the beautiful flowers!! :o)

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HAPPY EASTER! HAPPY SPRING!

nobody@vox.com(knittycat) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 21:52:48 -0700

HAPPY EASTER! HAPPY SPRING!

Here's a preview of the peeps I made for Easter ... I'll put up more shots of them soon. I had such fun making these limbless peeps! And I had some wonderful yarn to play with, sent to me by my friend, Romana, of YarnCloud Yarns (www.yarncloud.com)! The textures and colors were exciting and fun! I loved putting together the various color schemes for each of the basket/peep sets.

More about this soon... (well, we can hope, can't we?)

Happy Easter! group shot

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! group shot - left side

Happy Easter! group shot - right side

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Happy St. Patty's Day - Something Green - the Hulk!

nobody@vox.com(knittycat) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:38:40 -0700

Happy St. Patty's Day, Everyone!

Yep, I missed Valentine's Day... I'll try to post a few Valentine's things in an Easter post... (crossing fingers that I feel up to that).

Here's a Big something Green for St. Patrick's Day

Marvel Comic's The Incredible Hulk for Matt's Birthday with Lambie Pie

Marvel Comics the Incredible Hulk! for Matt's Birthday, with his best bud, Lambie Pie... ;o)

Marvel Comics the Incredible Hulk for Matt's Birthday - back

Our nephew, Matt, had been wanting a Hulk, since I started making these peeps, but I could never bring myself to make one... But, when I ordered a variety of green yarns to get the right shade for something I was making, one of them arrived and I said... Omigosh... it's Hulk green! And I already had some bluish purple that would work for pants... so there I was, making the Hulk! :o) I intended to make him a LOT smaller, but he just happened! ... these things have a life of their own.

I actually finished him just a day before Matt's birthday (Whew!), last September! But I could never decide which photos to post, so he's been languishing, waiting to be seen. He's not really my cup of tea, with his angry face. I like CUTSEY things! With sweet smiles! But he was a challenge, and I learned a lot of things while making him that are useful in other projects, as well. Lambie Pie says that he's much sweeter and nicer than he looks.

Hulk Dares you to knock this peep off of his shoulder!

One of my fellow amigurumi artists said "he's not angry, just having a bad face day, I guess". heh heh And that's how I'm looking at him from now on! ;o)

He's not cross-eyed, just a trick of the camera, and the reflectiveness of the eyes, I guess.

He's the largest peep I've made at 15" tall and nearly as wide! And he's knitted in one piece from toes to top of head, and then each of his arms knitted in one piece, from fingers to shoulders, and sewn onto the torso. I did make notes while working on him, so hopefully I will be able to share the techniques that I discovered, and developed, in the future.

Marvel Comics the Incredible Hulk for Matt's Birthday - hands and feet detail

You probably can't tell from my photos, but the waist of his pants is ragged and ripped looking, with a scrap of white shirt left stuck in it, and the hems on the pant legs are ripped. I didn't do a good job of capturing that in the pics, unfortunately. Didn't have him for long after finishing him, and had to take the pics in a hurry.

Marvel Comics the Incredible Hulk for Matt's Birthday with reference photos

I'm kind of fanatical about not wanting to attach pieces, as you might have noticed, and I was pretty tickled with the method I finagled for making his torn up waist, and hems on his pants, with my trusty knitting needles, all in one piece with his body, and never having to sew any bits on! YAY! Too bad it shows up so poorly on the pics.

Also, I found a new and very simple method of making hair while working on Miss Piggy, for my DH (she's still not finished, unfortunately, so obviously not posted), and I used it to make the Hulk's hair. It's a really versatile technique, and very easy to do, too. You can make short or long hair using this method. I hope to write up a tutorial for it at some point. Or I will at least post a simple description of the process. As long as you use an eyelash or fuzzy yarn of some sort, appropriate to your project, it is super easy to do! And I do like easy! :o)

Marvel Comics the Incredible Hulk for Matt's Birthday - in my hand and head close-up

Happy St. Patty's Everyone!

Index of my Patterns and Tutorials at http://www.theknittycat.com

Lots more Peeps photos to be found at http://www.flickr.com/knittycat

and Pudge photos at http://www.flickr.com/anthor

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MERRY CHRISTMAS! 2008

nobody@vox.com(knittycat) — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 01:56:05 -0800

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! from Pudge 2008

We wish all of you a Joyful and Loving holiday

and a new year filled with Peace and Love

Christmas Peeps

Santas, Angela Mia, Trees & Elves for the kids

Christmas knittycat for theknittycat

a Christmas kittycat for theknittycat

Lovey Dovey - the Christmas Dove for D

Lovey Dovey the Christmas Dove for my DH

Index of my Patterns and Tutorials at http://www.theknittycat.com

Lots more Peeps photos to be found at http://www.flickr.com/knittycat

and Pudge photos at http://www.flickr.com/anthor

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Springtime Peeps! And a new Flying Piggy Pattern!

nobody@vox.com(knittycat) — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 12:16:17 -0700

Lots more Peeps photos to be found at http://www.flickr.com/knittycat
and Pudge photos at http://www.flickr.com/anthor

After the last post, filled with what I haven't completed, I thought it would be nice to show you some of what I HAVE completed lately:

It's been a very PINK spring! :o)

We have two very Pink Ballerinas:

Pippa Potomus for Mia's Birthday

Pippa Potamus for Mia's birthday - holding hands

Pippa Potamus for Mia's birthday - en pointe - with help

Pippa Potamus for Mia's birthday - the end

and Katerina Kitty Ballerina for Kristina's Birthday

Katerina Kitty Ballerina for Kristina's Birthday in my Hand

Katerina Kitty Ballerina for Kristina's Birthday - back

Katerina Kitty Ballerina for Kristina's Birthday

Katerina rehearsing for her debut!

Pippa and Katerina are cousins and have a lot in common - they both love pink and they both love to dance!

Katerina Kitty Ballerina with her cousin Pippa Potomus

and we also introduce:

Kermie 2 for Kristina's Birthday (okay, okay, he's not pink!)

Kermit THE Frog - Kermie 2 for Kristina - with frog legs

Kermie 2 and Katerina are very close

Kermie 2 & Katerina for Kristina - Arm in Arm

Kermie 2 & Katerina for Kristina chatting

Chatting and

Strolling

Kermie 2 & Katerina for Kristina - Family Portrait

Kermie 2 & Katerina for Kristina - Advice from her big brother

Family Portrait

and Advice from Big Brother

And a sparkly little Marisa Mousie for Jill

Marisa Le Mousie for Jill

Marisa Le Mousie in my hand

And before that...

the Peep that we've fallen in love with... I ordered some cool new yarn to try - Moda Dea Fur Sure, and when I saw this lovely yellow fuzzy stuff, it just cried out to be a...

Peepsie Peep!

We've fallen in love with a Peep!

We're all crazy about her and so glad that she was an experiment with the new yarn, and not a gift for anyone, so we get to KEEP her! YAYAYAY!!!

We've fallen in love with a Peep!

Peepsie says "Peeep!"

Which means, "Hi!"

Pudgie Loves Peepsie!

Pudgie loves Peepsie Too! :o)

And here's...

Mossalia the wee Mermaid - my first mermaid experiment. I LOOOOOVE mermaids! :o)

You can see that I caught her (carefully) barehanded. We did not keep her, of course, but had a nice chat, took some photos, said "goodbye", and watched her swim away beneath the waves.

Mossalia Mermaid in my hand

Mossalia Mermaid

Mossalia Mermaid in my hand back

Mossalia Mermaid

And we can't forget the comic fans amongst our ranks...

(okay, I'm one of them, I admit it.)

Marvel Comics' the Human Torch.
FLAME ON!

- my impressionistic interpretation - for Matt. :o)

He's quite small (prox 3 1/2" not counting flames, 4" with flames). I think he kind of looks like a fire elemental. :o)

Knitted on size 2 needles with Senso size 3 crochet thread. Flames crocheted in strips and sewn to body.

Marvel Comics' the Human Torch for Matt

back of Marvel Comics' the Human Torch for Matt in my hand

Marvel Comics' the Human Torch for Matt

And if you have been saving up things to do "When Pigs Fly"....

The Time has Come!

We have a Pink Flying Piggy!

Petunia Phlying Piglet

Petunia Phlying Piglet - the flying piggy for Dorothy

Complete with an easy pattern to make her! To make Petunia, I came up with a new (as far as I can determine) idea for making the legs of a 4-legged peep, all in one, along with the rest of the body. She’s knit in the round, all in one piece (except for wings of course), including legs, ears and tail and just stitching the sides of the legs and ears together when the knitting is done. A nice easy project. I really enjoyed making her! :o)

Pattern for Petunia Phlying Piglet can be found here!

Petunia Phlying Piglet - the flying piggy for Dorothy

Petunia Phlying Piglet - the flying piggy for Dorothy - Ready for Take Off!

More about Petunia and the Loopy Legs Technique in the next post! (which won't be too long away, I hope, because it's nearly finished!)

Hope you are all having a lovely summer! Lots of fun in the sun (with your sunscreen of course) and playing at the beach, and BBQ's, and happy times! :o) Stay Cool! (I sooo want to put ",Dudes" here! heh heh)

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Errata. :o/ and New Patterns! :o)

nobody@vox.com(knittycat) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:41:29 -0700

Please check out www.flickr.com/knittycat for larger photos and all of the peeps.

:o( ERRATA:

Well it was bound to happen... An error in one of the patterns, and a big one! Poor Nellie the Elephant has an error in the instructions for her feet. :o/

Nellie the Musical Elephant

The corrected pattern is in the pdf now, if you prefer to download Nellie again. (since 04/09/08 so if you downloaded it after that date, you have the corrected pattern)

Or you can substitute the following instructions for the ones in the pattern:

Nellie's Feet:

* FEET PATTERN *
Feet
C/o 6 st onto two circs.
Rnd 1: Kfb each st around (12 st)
Rnd 2 and all even rnds: k around
Rnd 3: kinc, k1 around (18 st total)
(increase every other st, using
the increase of your choice - I use the kinc
throughout because it is less noticeable)
Rnd 5: kinc k2 around (24 st total)
(increase every 3rd st)
Rnd 7: k2tog k2 around (18 st total)
Rnd 9: k2tog k1 around (12 st total)
Rnd 11: k around
Stuff quite full and Bind off.
Sew feet to bottom of elephant evenly spaced.
Put front feet as far forward as looks good, so
she won't topple forward.

........

My apologies to anyone who was caused any grief by my error.

And profound thanks to Susan of spinblessing.com for finding this and bringing it to my attention!

On to happier news...

:o) NEW PATTERNS!

Eggy/Bunnies

EggyBunnies

Eggs or Bunnies

Download Eggy/Bunny Peeps Knitting Pattern

Wee Lambies

4 Little Lambs

wee Lambie Meringue for Mia's Easter

Lambie Pinkletoes for Kristina's Easter

Download Wee Baby Lambies Peeps Knitting Pattern

Petit Fours

Petit Fours and Eggy Bunnies for Easter

Download Petit Fours for Peeps Pattern

And, coming in the not too far distant future I hope:

Kermit Peep! (Yes, Really!)

and Hello Kitty Peep!

(--- update --- these have been delayed again, though I have made progress on Kermie)

They're in the works (meaning that I'm working on them), but I'm veeerrry slooow, so not sure how long it will be.

I hadn't planned to make a Kermie pattern, but I found out that our niece, Kristina, likes him, so I'm making her Kermie 2 for her June birthday, and while I'm working on him, I'm recording what I'm doing. I ran into a bit of a problem though, I didn't remember how I'd made his feet and hands. :o/ So that's been a bit challenging, but I'm recreating them. it would actually be easier for me to re-invent them, to just start fresh, and go at it, but since so many of you have professed a desire to make this particular Kermie, I'm doing my best to make the new one as close to my original as possible.

Hello Kitty peep was going to be next, but the need to make a Kermie for Kristina has bumped him ahead, and Kitty is on the back burner for a while. Also, it turns out that I find knitting with white yarn rather boring, so I'm not anxious to get back to her. But I will, eventually.

I've been experimenting with speaking into a digital recorder while I'm knitting, recording the steps I'm taking. This is working lots better than stopping to make notes as I'm knitting, because it doesn't interrupt my flow very much. Whereas writing as I go is very disruptive. I really recommend this method to pattern writers.

..........................................................................................................................

Kermie Update:

Time has passed and I haven't gotten this posted, or completed either the Kermie pattern (though I have completed Kermie 2), or the Hello Kitty pattern. :o(

Health issues have imposed themselves between me and what I want to be doing. So please forgive my slowness. I do hope to eventually get it all done, Hopefully in our lifetimes. ;o) Well it would be really difficult for me to get it done AFTER my lifetime!

Future Tutorials:

I've also begun a couple of photo tutorials that I hope to finish in the not-too-far-distant future (but going by my track record, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting if I were you.)

These are the ones that I have started:

1. making yarn knot eyes (a la Jean Greenhowe)
2. double knitting for peeps

I haven't found any available for these, so I'm attempting to fill that void. At least put a crumb out there.

And there's another one that I'm currently working on:

3. knitting in the round on two circs - from a different perspective
(though there are plenty of great tutorials on this already available, while describing the process to a friend, I recently noticed a great similarity in knitting this way to knitting flat, and I'd like to illustrate it to take the mystery out of a really easy, and useful, technique.)

Next post will be about what I HAVE completed lately!

We hope that you are all having a lovely summer so far, and aren't suffering too much from the heat!

You can see that Pudge doesn't! ;o)

Bliss

"For he loves the sun and the sun loves him."

- Christopher Smart

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What comes between Easter and Mother's Day?

nobody@vox.com(knittycat) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:22:09 -0700

Please check out www.flickr.com/knittycat for larger photos and all of the peeps.

What comes between Easter and Mother's Day?

This post, apparently. ;o)

This blog is becoming a holiday affair... Quite unintentionally, I assure you. But since I make a lot of peeps as holiday gifts, it's just been happening that way.

I'm busting out of that mold today, though.

Belated Easter for Kristina & Mia:
Last Sunday, we had a happy family gathering, celebrating 3 birthdays, and belated Easter for our two younger nieces, whom we hadn't seen since Christmas.

Mia and Kristina got their Eggy/Bunnies, Eggletina and Eggalia:

Eggletina, Kristina's eggy/bunny for Easter

Eggalia, Mia's eggy/bunny for Easter

(Made with Softee Baby "Rocking Horse" and RH Baby Teri "Baby Print")

Their fuzzy lambies, Lambie Pinkletoes and Lambie Meringue:

wee Lambie Meringue for Mia's Easter

Lambie Pinkletoes for Kristina's Easter

(made with TLC Baby Amore and Paton's Be Mine*, respectively)

(Patterns for the Eggy/Bunnies and Wee Lambie Peeps will be coming in the next post.)

* I am not recommending knitting peeps with Paton's Be Mine though, because it's so hard to work with, even though it does make a yummy soft and fuzzy fabric. *

And we (finally) gave Kristina her Christmas Cookie Monster! Made after Christmas, to replace the one that Kristina didn't get at Christmas.

Christmas Cookie Monster for Kristina

When we gave an Elmo to Mia and a Cookie to Kristina for Christmas, wee Mia "adopted" Cookie with such fervor that no one had the heart to take him away from her, least of all, sweet Kristina. So I promised to make Kristina a replacement. And finally, she has him! And she was delighted with him! Hurray!

(Cookie Monster Pattern is available free! See this post.)

Cookie Monsters for Mia, Kristina, and D

Here are all three Cookie Monsters, D's - the original - and Mia's and Kristina's. You might notice that D's felt that he should have a Christmas scarf as well! :o)

Tony's birthday goodies:
The main purpose of our gathering, was to celebrate Tony's birthday. For the occasion I made some goodies for him.

Tony's sunset washcloth

He LOVES hot bright colors, especially orange, red, and yellow, so I made a simple cotton washcloth with a very bright colorway of Sugar and Cream. Just a plain garter stitch. But it made a wonderful zigzag pattern, and the garter st made it nice and cushy. :o)

Don't you love multicolor yarn? You never know what you're going to get.

Moneybag for Tony's Birthday

Next - a money bag, stockinette st, in the round, bright yellow, lion brand soft baby, with a big red dollar sign on one side and a big red t on the other. Filled with money of course. :o) a teen boy's fave gift.

An interesting feature is the closure: I felt that tying the drawstrings or using a bead would be too bulky, but it needed to close pretty securely so the money wouldn't fall out, so I knitted a strip and wrapped it around the drawstrings, snugly, and sewed it closed, making sure it still would slide. It worked just great!

Maxie - Maximilian Monkey for Tony's Birthday

And last - but of course not least to a peep or amigurumi lover - a skateboarding monkey peep, Maximillion, with a backpack full of bananas!

He prefers being called Maxie, by the way.

Maxie's backpack in my hand

Making the teensy backpack was such fun! I felt like Gulliver in the land of Lilliput. :o)

We owe the skateboard to chez michelle... I'd considered making one, since Tony loves skateboarding, but I wasn't sure how a knitted skateboard would come out, so I hesitated to make it. But then I saw this wonderful ami [here] by chez michelle and saw how feasible the skateboard was.

Maxie - Maximilian Monkey for Tony's Birthday back

Construction comments:

Maxie was made with Bernat Microspun Mango, and bright yellow, Lion Brand Soft Baby, using my Wee Lambie Peep Pattern (free pattern for the Lambies coming in my next post, along with the pattern for the Eggy/Bunnies). I made him with longer legs and arms (appropriate for a monkey), and slight modifications for the ear shape. And, of course I did some simple colorwork (which I don't like doing), for the face. The face and head were made the same way as the lambies, but after stuffing and closing his head, I needle-sculpted his face to give him a more monkey-shaped muzzle.

Maxie with his accessories

His skateboard was made with two strands of size 10 crochet cotton, and size 1 needles. Knit in the round, a simple tapered tube, then slipped a piece of cardboard in (cut to fit) and closed up. Added seed beads for wheels and a piece of yellow beading elastic for a carrying strap.

My DH and I were really happy with him! :o) and so was Tony, which is what counts, of course. :o)

Marvel Comics' The Human Torch for Matthew:
I couldn't have peeps for the other nieces and nephews and not have something for Matt, of course, so we took the opportunity to give him the "Human Torch" I'd finished a few weeks ago.

Marvel Comics' the Human Torch for Matt

Unlike the Thing, the Torch peep is much more impressionistic. He rather reminds me of a fire elemental. He's quite small, doubleknitted in my "classic peep" style, with sz 3 crochet cotton (Senso) and size 2 needles. The flames were crocheted in long strips (I've forgotten the hook size), and sewn on.

back of Marvel Comics' the Human Torch for Matt in my hand

The moment I saw that yarn, I immediately thought "The Torch!"

Matt seemed quite happy with him. :o)

I'll be posting the Lambie and Eggy/Bunny patterns with the next post, and I hope that won't be tooooo long from now.

Kermit THE Frog with borders

Also.... I'm actually working on a Kermit the Frog pattern (as I've received MANY requests!). Making a Kermie for Kristina's June birthday, but it's a challenge, trying to remember how I made the original! :o)

Wish me luck!

Many thanks to all of you kind folks who have been so supportive, and so willing to comment so positively on my flickr.com pages, and elsewhere. I appreciate it more than I can say. It gives me strength to do the arduous work of pattern writing. It's arduous for me, anyway. I like to just grab my needles and some nice yarn and just CREATE!! Stopping and thinking about what I'm actually doing is quite a stretch. ;o)

Cheers!

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