One whippet

Another one of the projects I mentioned here that I've now finished is the knitted whippet. I actually started this project back at the beginning of March, before I started (and completed) my World Book Day costume. 

The knitting up of this little dog wasn't all too tricky, and when I actually got back to it, it didn't take all too long to finish. To make sure the dog's legs were as sturdy as possible I followed the recommendation in 'Best In Show: Knit Your Own Dog' to use pipe cleaners. This is because the legs are so narrow that the extra support is needed. 

All in all, I'm pretty pleased with the way this whippet turned out, and very much enjoyed that it is only one colour, as this eliminated the need for colour changes.

So there you have him, one more of the dogs from this book that I've knitted up, bringing the grand total to three so far, with one more to do sometime before the summer!

Toto

The third and final part of the Dorothy costume I made for World Book Day (see here) was not something to wear, but rather an accessory to place in the pocket of the pinny I was wearing. It also happened to be the favourite part of my costume for the children at school. I made a knitted Toto. 

To make the dog, I used the book, 'Best In Show: Knit Your Own Dog', as I did when making the pug for my friend, and chose to make the West highland Terrier, and used some wool that I had stashed away from making a bear for my wife several years ago. 

The wool I used made it rather interesting to sew up the dog as it made seeing the individual stitches rather tricky. I took this as both a good and a bad thing though as it meant that although I couldn't be as accurate in the stitching as I might usually be, I figured that equally, nobody would be able to tell!

After I'd finished knitting and sewing up Toto, I made him a little name tag from a length of ribbon and a small circle of card which I simply hole punched and threaded onto the ribbon.

So, there you have it, the final piece of my Book Day costume, all of which cost me £6 in total, and was mostly made up of materials I already owned. It also took only about a week of my time, so all-in-all, took much less time than it's taken me to blog about them!

Craft to do list

Currently, I'm working on about several separate projects, all of which, surprisingly, are for me! I therefore am lagging behind in completing (or making real headway) in any of them. So, here's a list of what I'm currently crafting, or am meant to be crafting:

1. H.M.S. Victory model

This plastic model kit is one I bought for myself at Christmas with some Christmas money. It's been out of its box and occupying this coffee table since the very beginning of January. This is my weekend project at the moment as I don't find the light good enough in the evenings (even with a table lamp) so it's taking a pretty long time. I'm really looking forward to having this one finished (hopefully soonish) as it takes up a whole table! There are pretty much just the masts and sails left to do though so I'm hoping I'll have it done before too long.

2. 'Sampler des 4 saisons' cross-stitch

This is a cross-stitch I started back in March of last year, and has been packaged away until now, and blogged about here. I've been working on this again for about two weeks now, and am nearing completion of the middle section of the design. After that there'll just be the two borders to do. I'm currently finding that this is an excellent evening craft as it doesn't stop me watching TV and is also something I can do even with cold hands!

3. Hexagon quilt

As mentioned here, I'm intending on making a hexagon quilt, and as this is the craft I've most recently decided to do, it's the one I'm most excited about! So far, I've just decided on making the hexagons 7/8" and have printed out 480 little hexagons on regular printer paper. They now all need cutting out before I can start making the fabric hexagons so this is something I've been doing some evenings when I haven't felt like cross-stitching. I've done about half of the hexagons so far, and have been placing them in an origami box that I made from the box for my H.M.S. Victory model so it's nice and sturdy. This is taking a fair while, and it probably should be the last craft on my list, but I'm too excited about getting properly started on it!

4. Knitted Whippet

Like the pug I made in December (see here), this is a dog that I'm knitting for my friend (well, actually, her Mum). I haven't yet started this project, but have recently bought the wool. The whippet I will make was requested to be completely mink coloured, so that makes it easier in terms of the knitting as I won't need to change colour. This project doesn't need to be finished until mid-April so it's not particularly urgent and therefore I'll get to it at some point. 

5. Knitted English Bull Terrier 

Again, this knitted dog is for the same friend who wants the whippet, and is even less urgent as she doesn't need it completed until the summer (i.e. July). Again, I've recently bought the wool (at the same time as for the whippet), and will start it once I've at least finished the other knitted dog.

So, there you have my current craft list. I'm pretty excited about each of the projects (which helps), and they're keeping me plenty busy! I'll keep you posted about how each of them goes; I just don't know how long they will take!

All sewn up

You may recall that back in May of last year, I laid out the Birthday Blanket (as blogged about here) and began the rather large job of sewing all 121 squares together. Yesterday I finally completed that task and gave the finished thing to my wife. She was rather surprised as she had no idea I'd recently been sewing together the last couple of rows, but loved the finished product. 

I know you're wanting to see the blanket now, so here's a photo of it on our double bed (to give you an idea of size):

After all that hard work (and time), laying the blanket out on the bed was very satisfying for me. It was also the first time I really knew the size of the blanket. Upon finding this out, I realised that although the blanket is wide enough for a double bed, it's not quite long enough. This may not be a problem at all, depending on whether we use this blanket as a bed blanket, or as a throw for use on the sofa. It's therefore possible that this blanket still isn't finished! I may yet add a couple of rows to make the blanket that little bit more bed-sized and it's still possible that I'll add a border of some kind, just to finish off the edges.

But, for now at least, this blanket is finished, a year and four months after I started making it!

Who doesn't love a tea cosy?

Well this is a new one, finishing a present way before it's due to be given. My wife and I spent the past weekend back at my Mother's house in Kent, and I knew that this would be the last time we went back before her birthday. Seeing as I wanted to make sure the tea cosy that I'm planning on giving my Mother for her birthday (in March) would fit her teapot, I figured I'd best take it back with us so I could do the sewing up there. 

For the last week or so, I'd been knitting up the pieces for said tea cosy, which was a pattern I found on Ravelry. I made sure that I was at the sewing up stage before we travelled home, and while my Mother was out yesterday morning, sewed them up.

Now I just need to keep hold of the tea cosy until the middle of March, when we'll either post it home or deliver it when we next go back. 

Here's hoping she'll like it as much as I'm pleased with how it turned out!

Puggy

As I mentioned in Christmas presents 2012, I made my sister a knitted dachshund due to being requested to make a pug by a friend of mine. This pug took over a fair amount of time during the Christmas-present-making-time, but was actually quite enjoyable to make. Possibly why I decided to make another breed of dog from the book.

The book in question is 'Best In Show: Knit Your Own Dog', and around the middle of November I received a quick snap of a page in the book with a message asking whether I'd be able to make it. I said of course I'd be able to (after having a quick look at the pattern to make sure I wouldn't be letting anyone down!), and set to ordering some nice wool. And, believe me, the wool was nice. 

Very soon after the wool dropped through my letterbox, I made a start on the dog. It had some stitches that I'd never attempted before and therefore I found sections of it trickier than I might otherwise have done. I also found that whilst knitting up the different pieces was mostly fine, the hardest part about making a knitted dog was the sewing up. I am notoriously bad at sewing projects up (I still haven't finished my wife's Birthday Blanket, but shhhh) but I obviously had no choice here. The pattern directions didn't really help with the sewing up in terms of the specific, and so I mostly relied on the pictures in the book. More particularly, I found the face very tricky to make, as I really have no idea as to what a pug reeeeeally looks like. I googled pugs more than a couple of times while working on this project just to look at their little faces.

In the end though, both my friend and her mother (who the gift was for) were really impressed with the pug, so I figure I did a good job. I also got some homemade truffles out of the bargain, and got to make something I probably wouldn't have otherwise. All in all, a good turn out, I'd say.

So here is the little pug that I knitted:

Christmas presents 2012

Seeing as it's now been nearly a whole month since the big event that was Christmas, I figured I'd best get down to showing what we got (mostly made) for everyone. With a family as large as mine (one brother, three sisters, one step-brother and two step-sisters, along with parents, grandparents, uncles and cousins) and everyone coming over during the festive season we knew we had many presents to get! That's why my wife and I made a start on Christmas presents waaaayyy back in October. 

We knew we didn't have enough money to spend a whole lot on people (and that's generally not our style!) so the emphasis this year was on using crafting supplies that we already owned (as far as possible) to produce a gift that people would appreciate on a low budget. We reckon we pretty much achieved this ... or I hope we did, anyway. 

The first present we decided on and I made a start on making was for my Mother. Whilst looking on Ravelry for inspiration on things to make, we stumbled across this pattern and decided that knitting a pair of socks, seeing as I haven't made one yet, would be perfect for my mama. So right at the beginning of October, I cast on, using my circular needles for the first time, ooooo, excitement! I have to say, I was pretty impressed with both the process and the outcome, finishing them just over a month later. My mother seemed to like them too and said they were plenty warm. Equally, my grandmother was enamoured with them, although partly just to show off her granddaughter's knitting, I think!

So that was one present finished, and it was only the second week of November! Only *counts on fingers* fourteen (at least) more to do, not even including my wife's presents ... that's manageable right?

The next presents -or rather set of presents- that got completed weren't for family, they were for a number of the girls at work and my wife's best friend. These were just a token present each really, and came from ideas seen on Pinterest. After buying the supplies for these presents (Sharpies and mugs) I really hoped that they would in fact turn out ok. Thankfully they did, although we ended up having to bake them in the oven twice and then the colours faded in ways we didn't anticipate, but we figured they still looked good. 

So now we were five presents down, and a million still to go ... but we were getting there. 

Immediately after casting off my Mother's socks, I picked up my knitting needles (straight this time) and set to making this badger hat for my sister, although this actually ended up being the very last present finished as it wasn't fully completed until Christmas Eve! I think that was partly down to the lining of the hat knitting up so quickly that I got fooled into thinking it wasn't going to take very long, not taking into account that the lining was by far the simplest part, doh! This hat was therefore finished off back in Kent, in my Mother's house, and the buttons for the eyes and nose came from my great-grandmother's sewing box, making it all the more special.

Possibly the best part about this gift was my sister not realising when she opened it that it was handmade!

Rather a few of the presents we gave out at Christmas were made during a church craft evening on December 1st. This turned out to be an excellent event that both my wife and I attended along with the girls from school, and at just £6 each and coming away with eight Christmas presents, we figure rather good value for money! Unfortunately I forgot completely to take any photos of the gifts we made, darn it. But ... we made two sets of microwaveable hand warmers, two decorated door stops, two pillowcases and two rustic decorations. All, bar one of these gifts were given out on Christmas day: the hand warmers to each of my two step-sisters, the door stops to my step-brother and Grandad, the pillowcases to my brother and my middle sister, and one of the rustic decorations to my Nannie. As a token photo, I have to include the only remaining gift we still own - the other rustic decoration which was hung in our flat.

For my littlest sister it's always easy to think of things to give; the problem comes down to choosing just the best idea. This year, we decided to make her her own dog as she is always asking for a puppy. The idea for this came from the Christmas present my friend asked me to make for her mother: a knitted pug. For my sister I knitted a dachshund, with a pattern from 'Best in Show: Knit Your Own Dog'. This was also not finished until a couple of days before Christmas, in my Mother's house, and unfortunately my sister managed to catch a peep of it before the big day, disaster! Thankfully she still seemed pleased with her gift and I just had to think of a more creative way of wrapping it to try to keep her guessing!

Finally, there were several presents that we decided to buy. For my wife's Nan and my stepfather we bought photo frames and got photos printed to go in them, and we also bought presents for my young cousins. These presents were not big or expensive by any means, and were a draw your own puzzle for my three-year-old cousin and a paint your own bag for my eight-year-old cousin. They seemed pleased enough to get these presents, although being young they were rather overwhelmed by the number of presents they were unwrapping, especially as they came to see us a couple of days after Christmas Day and so were mostly the only ones unwrapping anything. 

So, there you have it. A quick rundown of the presents we gave out at Christmas. Obviously, this post hasn't included the gifts I gave my wife, but I figure this is definitely long enough and they probably deserve their own post!

Laying out the Birthday Blanket

I set myself a target to complete the Birthday Blanket during our time here in Grenoble, and in this post I had only thirty-nine days to finish the knitting of 46 more squares! I'd like to announce that I've managed this; all 121 squares for the blanket are finished, hooray!

This is them, all of them:

You'll notice in this picture that the cream coloured squares aren't yet blocked. 

So, I figured I'd best lay out this blanket just to check that it looked good in its final design still (although I don't really know what I'd have done if it didn't...)

This is the blanket in the configuration that I drew out on paper

But, as I'd already suspected, the top left quarter was looking a little dark with the brown and purple squares. I therefore swapped out the purple ring from that quarter for the red ring in the bottom right corner, and we had this ...

More balanced, don't you think?

Now I just need to sew all 121 squares together ... not sure that'll get done before we go back to England, but at least all the knitting is done! (...other than the border which will be done at some point, but shhh)

Full Steam Ahead

There are five and a half weeks, or thirty-nine(!) days, until we leave France. That's not very many. It's also really not very many considering I said I'd make the Birthday Blanket while we were here. That gives me thirty-nine days to finish it! 

So, how am I getting on you ask? 

Well, there are 121 squares to be made in the blanket, this picture shows the ones that are finished, blocked and everything:

There are 60.

Then there are 15 more squares being blocked:

Making 75 squares.

Which means I still have 46 squares to knit ... did I mention there were 39 days?!

Best get cracking I guess ...

Adventures into blocking

I learned to knit when I was a child, I don't remember how old exactly, but probably somewhere between 7 and 11. Then I did a little knitting at 17 as part of a school textiles project before putting down my needles until three years ago when I started knitting 'properly'.

I have, however, never blocked anything. 

But, with the Birthday Blanket being my main knitting project (currently, at least) I thought it important that it was done right, which means learning how to block!

This was today's task:

First, I made a 15cm square template out of card to make a masking-tape grid on the bed. I figured this would make it easier to make sure the squares were all blocked to the same size, and I'd be able to reuse the grid as many times as I needed to get all the squares blocked (there are currently 65 knitted).

I then ran some lukewarm water in the bathroom sink, and put in two squares (I wanted to start small).

After letting them soak for 25 minutes, I took the squares out of the water, squeezed as much as I could out of them and then rolled them in a towel.

Then, I blocked them onto the bed, using my grid :)

This all seemed to go fine, so I put more squares in to soak and repeated the process in small batches until I ran out of pins. 

Apparently I can block 15 squares at once.

Now, just to let them dry so that the other squares can get blocked!

Introducing the Birthday Blanket

Today is Wednesday. Wednesday is the day that Bernat releases their clues for this years Knit-A-Long and Crochet-A-Long (Today will be the second clue, released at 10am EST). As I am signed up to receive their email updates, a month or so ago I became aware of these mystery -a-longs. I was very interested in taking part.

However, I am already four months, and 55 squares, into creating a blocked blanket and it was decided that I shouldn't/couldn't do either mystery blanket. At least not now. I am however keeping the clues, just in cases.

Here's a little about the blanket I'm making:

For my wife's 20th birthday, I gave her twenty presents. One of them was Jan Eaton's 200 Knitted Blocks, with a note inviting her to design a blanket using the blocks listed, which I would then make for her.

There have been several designs for this blanket, but the final one (I hope) is this:

Blanket design

The squares so far

There is much more information (and the previous designs) here.

Putting together the Very Pink Jumper

So, it is done, the Very Pink Jumper is complete!

Three weeks after starting, and I'm actually pretty proud of the first jumper I've ever made :)

Sewing up the shoulder seams 

Shoulder seams complete

Sewing up the side seams

Trying it on, side seams complete

Sewing in the sleeves

Finished jumper! :D