Ickle Bed Bug!

I finished another project from Knitting Mochimochi today. This little bite-free bed bug was a request from my sister (one of many after she had a flick through the book). He took no time at all to knit. I used basic double knit which was left over from another project. These little critters are a great way of using up left over yarn. The feet and antennae were a little fiddly. Mainly because you are knitting so few stitches on the round. Worth it though. I Might be a little reluctant to let him go.

Posted this on twitter and my friend immediately requested one. I then showed him to my mum who also put in a request. So I am on my way to starting a swarm of bed bugs. Just as well they are the cute, friendly kind.

Plucky Mushrooms!

Meet plucky mushrooms Hermes and Herman. I knitted this very quickly yesterday. The design is by Mochimochi of Mochimochi land. I got it from the book Knitting Mochimochi by Anna Hrachovec. The pattern was very easy to follow and I took about an hour to knit it. It calls for fingering yarn so I just used up some of my left over sock yarn. Mine differs slightly in that the eye are on the opposite side (purely accidental on my part) and they are also blue (just using what I had). I gave this one to my sister (who also named them) but I am definitely going to knit another for myself.

If you like cute, weird and wonderful then you will love this book. Just check out the others blog (linked above) to get a taste of what you might find there. The photographs in the book are fantastic and the instructions are so simple and easy to follow. I have a list of other things in the book that I plan on knitting in the future. My sister has already mentioned she wants a bed bug and slippers. Whilst my mum has hinted at the grouchy couch. Me, I want the skyscrapers. Other than my sock knitting books I would have to say this is one of my favourites. I just hope the author brings out one with all her tiny patterns.

Toe-up baby socks

A friend saw my toe-up baby socks and asked me to knit some for her. Her sister is expecting next month. Only problem is her sister doesn't know the sex of the baby and so the colours had to be neutral. I chose cream and toffee and I used Rowan Cotton Glace. The yarn is slightly more expensive but I was able to get four pairs of socks out of it rather than three. To be honest I was unsure of the colours. Thought maybe they were too boyish but everyone else seems to like it and the main thing is that my friend does.

If you remember two posts back I showed my very pink hat. Well, I was asked if the pattern page on ravelry could use my photo. Obviously I said yes and then geeked out a little. You can see the pattern page on the following link. My hat is the one labelled Karensi. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/buffy

My Ugly Socks!

Yay! I finished my ugly socks this morning. Truth be told I don't actually think they are ugly. They are just a little colourful and I love them. I would have finished them sooner but have been reading mostly. I have also been working on anther one square barn raising quilt. Will be a while before that one is finished though. In the meantime I have a pair of lovely new socks to enjoy. I have to admit that when I got to the heel I was in two minds whether or not to continue them for myself. My sister would LOVE these colour combinations. I stayed strong though as I actually rarely knit things for myself. I think I will have to get some more of this yarn though and knit her a pair to put away for her birthday. In the mean time I need to get back to work on baby socks that a friend asked me to make.

Winter Woollies!

There are a few things I always plan on doing and never quite manage it. The first is to make sure that I give something handmade for birthdays and Christmas. I usually never give myself enough time so maybe only a few people end up with something hand made amongst their gifts. The second is to make myself some winter accessories. The priority is always on the gifts and so I never manage that either. This months copy of Lets Knit came with some free wool and a little booklet with hat patterns. As I liked the colours I decided to knit myself my first winter woolly this year. The yarn itself is basically acrylic which isn't the nicest of yarns but I loved the colours and I loved the pattern. It fits almost like a slouchy hat. The pattern itself was very easy to follow. My only complaint is that I did run out of the lighter pink 5 rows before the end. I can thank my mums gift of her free yarn to finish it off. I would definitely knit this again but in other colours.

Another week in the life of SV7

Sister and I are still keeping up with the photo exchanges.


SV7 gives the Tardis a shake, hoping it will bring out the Doctor.

SV7 brings a new friend to his cause.

Unfortunately the new friend is a loner and turns on SV

SV7 retaliates and gets a bigger friend

Of course he turns on SV7 too.

Sv7 wonders if he has some robotic competition


Dinosaurs! The perfect pets for a robot.

Lastly my favourite on of Shaun from my sister. Shaun does a bit of archaeology.

Because clearly I have too much time on my hands!

Early last week I came across some funny Stormtrooper photo's. One was taken each day for a year. They amused me greatly and if you are interested you can see them here on flickr. I sent the link to my sister and inspiration hit. We have since been emailing pics back and forth. I've been using SV7 from classic Dr Who episode "Robots of Death" and Lorraine has been using Shawn the sheep.

SV7 worships the Irn Bru God.

SV7 sends a message to the Doctor.

SV7's therapist has told him knitting will help with the stress of being an evil killer robot.

SV7 attempts to get his feeling out into his diary.

Any humans in here?

Looking up some killin' tunes.

Sneaking into my knitting bag to find some humans at the Fort.

Befriending Dilly the duck.

Of course had to add in one of Shawn. Here he is feeding the ducks.

Socks and more socks.

I finished these socks for my gran last week. Unfortunately I have no idea what yarn it is. When I first took up sock knitting I went a little bit mad with stash buying. This yarn was from that but the label went missing. I quite like the colours mind you. It's a shame as a few people were asking about the yarn. The pattern is once again from "Favourite socks". It's called Cable Rib Socks and was designed by Erica Alexander. I am not that enamoured with them. The pattern was easy enough but I think I would like it better had I used a solid colour. My gran loved them though which is the main thing.

I have other projects I should be working on but I'm not really inspired to work on them. This yarn has been continually catching my eye. I bought it a few months ago. It's Merino by Lana Grossa and the colourway is called Partie. I'm using just the basic sock pattern as I think the colours would hide anything else. It's knitting up into the most hideous striped colours and I love it. I can't wait to finish them.