Hope the knitted horse

I've been very busy working lots of hours lately, but still managed to finish this in under a week. It's a knitted version of my sister's new pony, Hope. I have made one of these before, in January, and it seemed to take forever, mainly because my increases were really tight which made for hard work for my fingers. This one's turned out better, mainly because I used less stuffing (the legs are still a bit stretched though) and because I've got better at knitting and seaming.

I used less than one ball of the Mystery Mohair I bought in Abakhan Fabrics, I am going to have to make a lot of monkeys to use up the rest... the pattern is Claire Garland's Basic Horse, which I found via Ravelry.

Here's the previous version, done in cheap yarn from the market:




now just another labrador and to finish off a knitted cat for Christmas and I can kick back with some mince pies and crap telly.

I knitted a doggie!

I got asked by a girl at work to knit a labrador. I tried looking for labrador patterns everywhere but all I could find was Alan Dart's gorgeous labrador puppy- great pattern but a big commitment this close to Christmas for someone who isn't family!

So I improvised this little guy.



I'm planning to type up the pattern to publish on Ravelry... when I find time between my two jobs and all my Xmas knitting. All comments and suggestions welcome!

finding knitting time

My knitting time's being severely curtailed at the moment- I start a new part time job tomorrow so will be working about 55 hours a week, my colleague in my main job's been off sick for two weeks so I've been doing her job too, which means no real lunch breaks to knit in- and now my evil cat Betty has slashed my left palm (well the ball of my thumb) deeply enough to make knitting painful. Not really her fault, her claws are really long and sharp, she got stuck in my jumper and panicked- and she REALLY doesn't like you touching her paws/legs. Ouch.

So I still have a load of Xmas decs to finish, also a labrador puppy for someone at work (the only pattern I could find was Alan Dart's and they need longer than a week in my experience, so I am making it up as I go along EEK!). Still got to Swiss darn the markings on to Binford the Cat, and haven't even started knitting ponies yet.

Still, this time last year I'd never have thought I'd still be knitting now- here's what I was making then:



These were some of my first knitted toys, really simple jelly babies. They ended up being included in a present for my friend's 40th birthday- as he lives in Florida the package didn't arrive until well after his birthday because I am really disorganised when it comes to posting stuff in time. He's a pilot so I also made this plane (couldn't find a pattern, so had to improvise)



Managed to get a total of 40 things for his 40th birthday- not all knitted- and the package cost an absolute fortune to post, but it was well worth it when I got his thankyou- he is a big kid and was especially pleased with the crocheted 'juggling boobs' which I won't post here as they were incredibly crap.

So anyway, going to try to knit tonight when my hand's hopefully not quite as sting-y, got stacks to do!

Yarnia!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

I actually have a Yarnia, it's a 'secret' room you get to through the wardrobe (yes really) and among other things, my yarn lives there. So this made me laugh

jealousy

My best friend and her husband are currently on a giant road trip across the US, to their new home in San Francisco, which is where I have wanted to live since reading Tales of the City. Their Facebook posts and photos are just making me green with envy, my Facebook posts recently have been about sick cats (my little kitty has been unwell), the weather here in the UK, and generally being miserable. I really need to cheer the hell up.

So here's something I made (much) earlier:






It was my first ever no-pattern toy (other than tiny dolls) and it's supposed to be a boxer dog, that looks like my sister's giant slobbering bundle of love. It's a bit crap but makes me smile every time I see it.

Back to Xmas knitting

My little brother left last night after a week with us. He's incredibly handy, and has fixed a load of niggling little things around the house as well as building us a cabinet for our oddly-shaped bedroom... YAY shoe storage!!! (and freed up some boxes for yarn storage too)



So, back to knitting Xmas decs. I knitted all 24 of Alan Dart's Advent Calendar decs and a friend took them off my hands- having posted pics on Facebook I got an order for another 31 assorted decs, so here is my progress so far:



They are lovely to knit, but some of them are a bit fiddly and have 6 or more little parts! So I've got the fiddliest ones out of the way first.

It's finally got cold here, after some unseasonably mild weather and then a week of pouring rain. Have a couple of chores to do today (baking bread for one) but then I think some serious knitting. I have a labrador to knit as well as some ponies once the decorations are done!

Found a shop in Liverpool that had some knitted toys for sale- a couple of Jean Greenhowe clowns, some Alan Dart dickensian mice, and some cakes and fruit and veg. Sadly the owner was on the phone the whole time we were there and we didn't have time to wait so didn't get to ask about them. I don't know what the copyright rules are about selling in shops, but there weren't hundreds of them! I think it was this shop- Retro 49 Lark Lane, Liverpool, Merseyside, L17 8UW. e-mail: Email: retrolarklane@hotmail.co.uk

The Joy of Knitting

Got a message from my friend Sallie today, saying how she never thought she'd be a knitter- me neither! If it hadn't been for my redundancy I'd never have discovered the sheer joy of making something from scratch, especially when it's for someone else. But there's also the benefits of the actual process of knitting. I have a really overactive mind and always found it hard to just sit and watch a film. My mind would wander and I'd find myself planning the next incentive for my staff, or reminding myself to add something to the shopping list... anything but focussing on the film. With knitting in my hands enough of my mind is occupied so that I can really enjoy a good film!

Also, I've spent a lot of time in hospital waiting rooms over the last year. Knitting is so much better than reading for hanging around- I find myself hoping that I'll get another 5 minutes rather than wishing the doc would hurry the FiretrUCK up. If I could, I'd travel to work by public transport for more knitting time. And knitting at work at lunchtime has ended up bagging me some commissions that have earned me YARN MONEY!

I now carry some needles and yarn everywhere. A trip back home to Scotland resulted in a lovely stuffed elephant, which I will post pics of when I have the laptop back (my OH has it with him at rehearsal).

In the meantime here's a pic of my adorable, sorry evil, cat Nuno with an unfinished knitted version of my Dad in the background. He ended up looking like Susan Boyle in a boilersuit but that's for another day.