Oooh, that's Zingy.

I'm sure you've all seen the ad, and know someone who's fallen for this little guy. Owen definitely had, especially when a flyer came through the letterbox in the shape of the mascot. He really, really, really wanted his own Zingy to cuddle. So mama set to work - scrap yarn from the "oh my - why did  ever buy this colour? Oh yeah - knitted carrots!" bag, a pattern found free on Ravelry (not that it isn't easy enough to make up on the hoof), a few scraps of felt, and a spare hour whilst the littlies park themselves in front of a Tom and Jerry DVD.

So here he is - Zingy:

Owen loves him, Cain wants one too. Whoever thought that a little orange blob on an energy suppliers advert would be such a big hit?

Mind you if you would have seen the price these knitted mascots were selling for when they first hit EBay I' sure you would have knitted up a few yourself. They were originally selling for up to £10+!! For barely 10g of acrylic DK and a scrap of felt. And not even an hours work. That power company certainly missed out on a moneyspinner. Makes a change for one of those companies ;)

Editing - Just realised when adding the link that the pattern is no longer free as some unscrupulous people have been taking advantage of the designer by selling the pattern on EBay.

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Oops!

Well every three months isn't very regular is it?

The problem is that I can either craft....or write about craft. I don't seem to have the time or energy for both. And it's not just here, the other blog is fairly neglected to, although I am trying to make an effort over there. 

So why the lack of posts? Well I'm just so tired lately. Nine o'clock is about my regular bedtime, or earlier as often as I can manage it. Dear me, I feel old. 

There has been a little making going on though. I have some things to show. But really today I wanted to share a special something :)

A couple of weeks ago we were celebrating a third birthday. Yep, Heather is that old already. Doesn't it just fly? She had a lovely day and her most favourite gift was a handknitted friend:

Isn't she lovely?

She goes to bed every night with Heather, we can't possibly forget. And then back down every morning when attention becomes a little more hit and miss. Sometimes she joins us for breakfast, lunch, shopping trips, playtime, and so on. Other times she slides into the sofa cushions and stays there ignored all day long. Until the cry goes up at bedtime....."where's rabbit...?"

I can't take any credit for this much loved little friend though. The work was all Helen's. Pretty wonderful don't you think? Definitely her mama's daughter when it comes to hobbies, and ideas, and non commercialism too. Well you know, I fib a little. The whole work wasn't strictly Helen's. The knitting was, the stuffing and make up too, and the features. She presented the lovely gift wrapped naked bunny to Heather for her birthday where she was instantly loved, but a couple of days later Heather decided she needed clothes. And so I had to create the little dress. Helen might be becoming a dab hand at knitting but she still has no interest in the sewing machine. An unfortunate incident in school resulting in sore bleeding fingers has put her off this particular craft.

Still, she's a lovely rabbit, don't you agree?

Now to drop a few hints about another little person and how they might like a big sister handknitted friend...........

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On the go....and not!

Sorting through my project bags today I realised I don't have that many on the go.

There's this:

A cardigan I was supposed to be knitting for a Christmas gift for a grown girl but which got cast on, quite literally, and then left without one further stitch worked. In fact I didn't even finish casting on, I was 14 stitches short when I pulled it out of it's bag today! So where did all those extra rows come from I know you're asking? Well after counting and finishing the cast on I decided to just work a couple of rows to see how the colour looks worked up. I love it. Hmm, I'm about the same size as the grown girl I had in mind, maybe I'll sneak this one away for myself?

Next up was this:

One single sad sock. Well actually it was a sock and a bit but I couldn't work out where I was up to with the lace pattern so I pulled the second one back ready for a fresh start. Probably a good idea as my tension may well be completely different by now - I completed this first sock getting on for two years ago now!

Then there's this:

Another of those little KC Dolman jackets. I enjoyed working the first one so much, after the initial worry over what I was actually doing, that I cast on this next one straight away. Haven't got too far have I? Well at least pulling it out of it's bag has reminded me that I owe Dawn an email (thanks for your pm btw - the patterns would be lovely and you got the email address right x).

And finally there's this:

The crochet bobbly cardigan. Not many projects on the go really is there?

Actually there's one less:

It wasn't the sore fingers making the bobbles that forced me ti rip it back - honest :) It was just that I felt the many colour changes in the yarn were swamping the pattern rather than allowing the bobbles to be the design feature. So it is no more. I still want to make that cardigan though, I'll just have to go through the stash and find a nice single colour yarn to work with.

Oooh, talking of stash, do you know I have bought only 2 skeins of yarn so far this year - how good am I? As always I started the year resolving not to buy yarn until I had seriously dented the stash. And then I lost my crafting mojo which meant I didn't even want to buy yarn, oooer. But now my mojo is back it seems, so I'm determined to start denting that stash......

Better get back to it then. Hmm, which project shall I pick up?

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Two little things

Both from the same book.

First up this little hat, knitted in an unknown yarn, which I think is most likely pure wool with maybe a little cashmere, it is so wonderfully soft and lovely to work with. I came across a bag of miscellaneous yarn at a charity shop and this was in there, only the one skein but enough for this super cute hat. So good to finally use it after having it in the stash for several years.

And then this little wraparound cardigan:

Worked in Sirdar Bamboo ribbon yarn, again stashed away for several years. This cardi used around 70g so I still have some left although it might be a long while before I use it again. I really don't like using ribbon type yarns - far too slippery! Actually this cardi was very quickly turning into a disaster as my tension was way off but I didn't realise until I had knitted the fronts and back and then wasn't going to rip back and start again! I kind of stretched bits and gathered in others and it looks ok, don't you think?

By the way - what do you think of my model? She's my demo baby for work when demonstrating breastfeeding positioning but now she has a second job too modelling my makes. Good job she doesn't want paying for all her work, she does more hours than I do......

Oh and I know I was supposed to be coming back with a finished bobbly cardi, and I will, but I needed a little break from all that hooking already. Maybe I'll get back to it later, especially if this rain, wind and cold continues to keep us inside......

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Yarn along

Keeping the yarn flowing and joining in with Ginny after a long break.

After the knitty makes of the past week a return to the hook after many month of them being hidden away - well apart from the constant that is the Granny stripe blanket (now in hibernation).

Working away on this cardigan from the book weekend crochet for babies using yarn from stash. It's a bit of a detour from my usual hooky skills (or lack of), I'm pretty much sorted with basic stitches but this cardi uses a bobble pattern with a stitch called htr3tog which means making one stitch from 7 hoops for every other row. And seeing as my crochet is worked very similarly to knitting as I still can't get the hang of tensioning the thread in my left hand, this means an awful lot of stopping and pulling the hook through the loops individually. It's coming along though and I'm envisioning a finish by this time next week. Who said crochet was faster than knitting then??

Reading at the moment, Breastfeeding special care babies. Support is offered to mums right cross the newborn services so I spend a proportion of my time in the hospital in the SCBU as well as the delivery suite, the postnatal and of course the community. Knowledge is fairly basic around special care babies and breastfeeding and refreshing this knowledge is always a good idea. And it's of genuine interest too so not just a "work" read.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone else is up to this week :)

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Oh no, it's a.........

Gruffalo!

Well kind of, I haven't been able to get him back long enough to add his horns, Heather is rather fond of him you know.

Not sure he is quite as Gruffalo as I'd hoped but hey, Heather recognised him straight away and she's the one I was knitting him for although that may be more down to "the purple prickles all over his back" Can't think of any other creature that has such lovely features?

So now we have the Gruffalo himself to watch the DVD repeatedly, throughout the day, with Heather. And to be read the books too. Oh, and of course the video all about his child too..... In fact Heather keeps changing her mind as to whether this is the Gruffalo or his child, I think there is a little of the fear factor when it comes to the Gruffalo himself, although not so much as the BIG BAD MOUSE where Mama must always have her eyes covered by a tiny persons hands although he's not really big you? He's just a shadow ;)

Pattern found on Ravelry of course and knitted up on 3mm needles from scrap bag DK. 

Right, upstairs to see if I can ease him out of her sleeping hands and give him the horns I have waiting for him.....

 

Will it, won't it?

So remember I told you I had 20g of the Fyberspates yarn left after knitting the cardi and hat? I really wanted to use every scrap as it is such yummy soft yarn, but what to make with such a small amount? The thought process went kind of:

.....20g can't make much and I don't want to knit away and run out near the end. If I knit something that can be be made in two halves at least I can measure one to be sure I want run out on the second. Mitts with matching card is a bit...hmm...woolly overload, so maybe footwear?"

So I cast on using a very old Woolworths' knitting booklet:

I knitted away and getting towards the leg part realised I didn't have an awful lot left. I decide to leave the pattern and make a little roll cuff finish instead. It looked very sweet but I was a bit wary of how much yarn was left. Still if there was less than half at least I'd only wasted an hour knitting up one, rather than longer and running out. So I grabbed the scales hoping for it to flash up with less than 10g for the weight of the finished piece. And you know what? It weighed...............10g exactly! The length of yarn left weighed exactly the same. Well that wasn't as great as I'd hoped! Now I would have to cast on the second bootee and hope that the finished 10g bootee was just on the 10g, not 10.4g, or 10.5g, but 10g exactly. And of course that the 10g remaining was at least 10g, maybe 10.5g, or even 10.2g,  as long as it was exactly, or more than, the amount used for the first bootee.

So I cast on, knitted frantically, not once daring to look at the dwindling amount, all the while wondering if I could tweak the first bootee further and skip a row somewhere.  And you know what? This is what I ended up with:

Do you want to see what was left? Here you go:

Could it have been much closer? John very kindly asked why I had worried, why not just get another skein of the yarn? Well I couldn't tell him how much just one skein costs, could I? He still lives in the world where yarn costs a couple of pounds for enough to knit a whole jumper, where it's more economical to knit your own than to buy....... He knows I have some nicer yarns, but I don't think he knows what a short distance they actually go. You and I on the other hand, well we know don't we? We know that getting all of these from just one £15 skein of Fyberspates handpainted sock yarn is totally worth every stitch and every penny :)

So the crafting hiatus is over, I'm back with a vengeance. In fact I might even be back in a day or two with a completely different finished knit, something I'm already working my way excitedly through.

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