I can’t BELIEVE I didn’t take a picture of the finished Great Big Cat! Not even with my phone! Argh!
He was a BIG guy!
Just imagine his arms and legs.
Upsized Ginger Cat
Tag Archives: knitting
Travel Time
Last week was an out of town week. Ellie and I visited my parents and sister in Peachtree City. I made a Hippo.
Shadyside Farm Studio’s angora/wool. I’ve got a dwindling stockpile of it.
Then we came home, I washed a bunch of clothes, re-packed, and we went to spend the night at Mary Esther. I finished that Elephant.
Nature’s Choice organic cotton.
And knit a longer tail for the Ginger Cat.
This Cat came back. That’s never happened with a Cat before.
So this Cat came back because he was too small for his intended purpose. I suspected that would happen – but what I did not suspect was that the customer would want me to make a bigger version. With this same yarn. So I’m doubling the hand spun from France (be still my frugal heart) and using US8s and (according to the math) he’ll come out with a 20″ middle. It’s going to be exciting.
When Mega Cat is finished, I have had an epiphany and am ready to start a new pattern. I am very excited! It’s way more fun to start a new project than go back and problem solve for the one that’s making you crazy…
At Long Last
He’s done.
Acting all casual.
I can hardly believe it.
I even remembered to attach his tail.
I’ve been working on this guy since May sometime. There were so many interruptions (and chenille is sooooo sloooooow AND I kept running out of yarn) that I really started to think I would never be done. Now that he’s all finished, I’m sad to see him go.
He gives really good hugs.
Ginger Cats
The biggest difference between chenille and handspun wool (if anyone should ask) is that chenille drags its feet and wool is in a hurry to get where it’s going.
You can really see the difference in the dye lots!
I still love this yarn.
Girl Scout Camp
Ellie is off at Girl Scout Camp this week with her BFF. Just for the days – neither one of us is ready for overnight camp. It’s good to have something to look forward to anyway.
On the front porch of the Dining Hall.
Tuesday was Twin Day.
Up until Wednesday they had a great time. Wednesday: “Boy Scouts came and all they did was talk all day it was super boring.” I said to be sure to put it in her evaluation. (They didn’t just talk all day, there was a ‘nature walk’ with disposable cameras to record stuff.)
These long long days with both hands free has finally given me the time to finish the sheep.
Just need to decide on the ear color.
I’ve never run out of yarn on a project like this before. It makes me feel like I don’t know what I’m doing. I understand running out of chenille (it knits so much bigger than the listed gauge) but I should not be out of that dark grey. If my customer wants dark ears, I have to order more. The last scrap is in that too small example left ear.
I also mopped the whole house.
It’s been an eventful week.
Stuff
The sheep I’ve been working on since around book fair time is close to finished. He’s only missing a head and ears. Oh, and a tail.
Disassembled toys can be confusing to look at. Or maybe just disturbing.
I used Henry’s Attic Pigtail for his wooly bits. While I like the effect, I’ll need a great deal of incentive to work with chenille for a toy again. Pigtail listed as an Aran weight yarn, but that’s got to be a mistake.
It only shed when I wound it up.
This stuff is thick with plush – the sheep’s body has ended up enormous and actually ran out of yarn and ended up needing to order more for his head. I should have been able to make two sheep out of 194 yards! Even with that frustration, Pigtail still wins the award for Best in Chenille. The woven core (instead a central ply) means absolutely no worming*! The finished fabric is dense and heavy but not stiff. And it’s very very plushy. Working with it is still hard on the wrists, but might not be so bad on a much larger needle as a throw or something.
When this sheep is finished, I’ve got another Ginger Cat to make. Then maybe I can get back to the pattern I abandoned months ago…or maybe not. Maybe I’ll start something new.
Speaking of cats.
Big Grey Kitty
I never told you that we figured out where Big Grey Kitty is! Someone from the subdivision back of us came over a couple weeks ago looking for her neighbor’s dog. We hadn’t seen him, but I told her that if she came across a fat, grey cat with a bad eye and a flea allergy to please let us know. She knew exactly where that cat was – Big Grey Kitty shows up on her porch for supper every night. I sent Big Grey Kitty’s Other Mother home with flea stuff. Big Grey Kitty is due for shots this month so I’ve got to go over and see if we can round her up.
*Worming – think about a disposable straw in it’s paper wrapper. Now think about how the paper scrunches up into a wad as it slides down the straw. Like when you wrinkle straw straw paper on purpose if you were going to do that thing where you get the scrunched up paper wet and watch it expand into a wet wormy mess on the table? Here’s a helpful Youtube video if you have no idea what I’m talking about. That’s what many chenille yarns do when you knit with them: the fuzzy outside scrunches up as it slides down the ply in the center so you end up with a skinny bit where you’re working and a fat mess of fuzz at the other end of the yarn.
Oh, Internets, How I Missed You
Look what we did while we were cut off from civilization!
We’ve got these things here called “thunderstorms.” Maybe you’ve heard of them? On Tuesday morning, lightning came in through the phone line and took out the internet (and the land line but we don’t care as much about that). The internet just got fixed last night.
Did I miss anything?
Field Trip
Today is Field Trip Day. I brought the camp chairs.
It’s nice in the shade.
Three more days to go, y’all.
Anybody’s Guess
You know how sometimes you just don’t have time to do a thing, but you decide to do it anyway? Fuzzy Mitten (Barbara Prime) is doing a little Mystery Toy knit-a-long. She’s releasing just a bit of a new toy pattern each week – so far we’ve made a little cardigan.
I’m leaning toward the yellow buttons.
I went for sleeveless since spring is basically here but the pattern has two other sleeve possibilities if you’re still chilly. It’s not too late to catch up if you want to play along! The pattern is available on Ravelry. She sends an update with a new piece each week.
I can’t wait to see what I’m making!
Here comes the Sun!
The sun came out yesterday afternoon! It was a crazy time. Even with all the help I got from my good friends, I did get the tentacle connection pictures finished.
Y’all. I’m trying to work.
Now I just have to beat the test knitters to the next stage of octopus construction that needs visual aids. And hope for nice weather.
I think that’s called a ‘long shot’.