Viking Celebrations

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Annette / Soft Like Kittens

We’re well into our Month of Family Celebrations now – between February 14th and March 14th we have Valentine’s Day, JSR’s birthday, our wedding anniversary, my birthday, and finally Willow’s birthday.

We usually bundle the occasions into one or two dinners out and only give presents for the birthdays, so I was superbly surprised when JSR gave me a huge box of Valentine’s chocolates last Tuesday. HUGE! Like a hat box, but full of chocolate! It lasted until this morning, which tells you a lot about the heft, as I can make chocolate disappear like a magician ;)

Then came JSR’s birthday, for which I stealthily crocheted a set of father-and-daughter Viking hats.

It took a couple of late nights crafting after he had gone to bed, but absolutely worthwhile. Look how great they are!

I used the Lael Viking Helmet pattern from mamachee on Etsy which has lovely built-in detailing and was a pleasure to work – full technical details are on my Ravelry project page.

During the photo shoot Willow leaned in for a kiss. AW! HEART MELTING! She’s fond of kisses at the moment, usually accompanied by a long, exaggerated MMMMMMMMMMMM-WAH! noise and a very firm grip on your face. It’s darling, I can’t get enough.

Crafty Tools Tidied

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Annette / Soft Like Kittens

Yesterday I made a little roll up crochet hook case – my dear hooks have been languishing in a plastic bag for too long!

The fabric is a remnant from one of the skirts I made, and I think the ribbon came from some gift wrapping? In any case, all the materials were already in my craft box :)

I didn’t use any pattern or reference for the construction, just thought about what I wanted and folded up a scrap piece of paper to make sure all the seams would end up enclosed. I figured out how to do it with one rectangle of fabric and one seam down each side! Then I sewed the pockets and it was done. I made spaces for all my current hooks, plus three extra – two smaller ones for regular size hooks, and one big fellow over on the right, since I’m interested in the concept of making a rag rug one day out of t-shirt strips and might need a giant broomstick of a hook.

To close, you fold the top flap down, roll and tie. My one problem was making the ribbons a bit too short, so making a bow is tricky – I’m thinking of replacing them with a loop of elastic and a button.

While photographing I pulled out my freshly arranged knitting tool and amigurumi supply cases too. These are both flat plastic boxes from $3-Japan shops, perfect for keeping everything sorted but accessible at a moment’s notice.

The knitting case has (top to bottom, left to right):

T-pins for blocking – most currently in use
Safety pins
Stitch markers
Row counter, yarn guide, thimble for sore fingers
Magnifier, clip and rubber band for general securing
Smooth cotton yarn for lifelines, provisional cast-ons and holding stitches
Scissors, cable needles
Thread conditioner, knitter’s hand cream
Measuring tape
Sewing needle assortment
Pens, ruler, chopstick for poking stuffing into small spaces, pliers for pulling needles through thick materials – more important than you may think, I have a chipped front tooth from doing this idiotically!

I’ve still got several empty spots for more tools, though one thing I like about yarn crafting is that you really don’t need much equipment.

The amigurumi case is mostly safety eyes of different colours and sizes, plus some DMC perle cotton for embroidering noses and mouths, and invisible mending thread for joining delicate parts. The front row of eyes are clear, which is my preference, as you can paint the back with acrylic paint in any colour you like – they came from excellent Etsy seller 6060. I wouldn’t buy any other kind these days, but as you can see I have plenty of older coloured ones from Spotlight to use up.

That just leaves knitting needles. I have two interchangeable sets, each of which came in their own cases – a metal Hiya Hiya set with sizes 2-8 which I use for almost everything, and a plastic Denise set with sizes 5-15. The Denise set isn’t great to knit with, but I keep it around because I do need one of those larger sizes occasionally.

Mmmmmmm, the joy of having tidy things!

GUnit

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Annette / Soft Like Kittens

I’ve recently started attending the local weekly craft group GUnit (as in gee, you knit?, though apparently a confused hip hop fan or two has tried to join the facebook group, ha ha!) It was very nerve wracking the first time as I only knew two of the others over Twitter and hadn’t met anyone at all in real life, but it turns out they are all salty sweethearts. It’s really nice to have an activity out of the house, and to meet more crafty people who understand when I say things like “I couldn’t sleep last night because I was too busy thinking about yarn” :D

I’m saving up the ‘boring’ bits of my Hobbergobber Blanket to take to meetings. I’m currently at a stage that involves lots of loooooong rows of single crochet, and it’s not unpleasant, but doesn’t require any brainpower either, so it’s perfect for being social. I’ve got all of the motifs for the blanket done, and now I’m making some zig-zag stripes to separate the rows. There’s no point racing along on this project between meetings as I have a feeling I’m going to run out of the background colour before I’m finished and will have to order more from Webs, but it’ll be a few weeks before I can afford that. Especially considering I’ll have to add some other yarn to my order to make the shipping worthwhile. Oh no, being forced to buy yarn, what a hardship!

The stripes between each row will go beige-cream-colour-cream-beige, with a different colour for each one.

Yesterday Willow’s new habit of pulling chairs and boxes around in order to climb other furniture led to a tumble off a desk, and she skinned her elbow on the way down. I had to apply her very first band aid! As I did so I found myself thinking “oooh, this is what a mother does, I am doing a mothering thing”, which is a bit weird since I am a mother, and I do various mothering things pretty much all the time. I guess I’m still not entirely used to it. She’s been climbing back onto the same desk all day today. Sigh!

Hobbergobbling

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Annette / Soft Like Kittens

Willow has recovered from her cough (thank goodness!) but not before she gave it to me. I am a lot better now but there were a few miserable days in there, wheezing and rattling and coughing uncontrollably, so no wonder she was unhappy! Poor sausage. I feel so bad for her when she’s sick as we can’t really explain what’s going on, and her sleep really suffers.

Quiet times at home have given me the opportunity to craft a little more often. I’ve completed a couple more of my secret-squirrel gift knits, and also a few more squares on my Hobbergobber Blanket. It’s moving slowly as I only pick it up in between other projects, while I’m deciding what to make next or waiting for supplies to arrive, but I have enough now to have an idea how it will turn out.

It’s a very restrained palette, with only six colours plus the cream edging, but I think I’m getting enough variety in the combinations for a pleasing finished effect. No real idea how big it will be yet, I’ll keep making squares until I get near the end of my coloured yarns and then see how many there are. Perhaps 8×10, 8×11, 9×12, who can say :)

Hobbergobber Conundrum

Posted on June 12, 2011 by Annette / Soft Like Kittens

This is the start of the next blanket I’m crocheting. The colours were inspired by Willow, with her light brown hair, blue-grey eyes and sweet pink lips and cheeks. I am calling it my Hobbergobber – i.e. hobgoblin – Blanket in an attempt to make that sentiment a touch less mawkish (though you may still roll your eyes at me if you wish).

But now I’ve begun I have a conundrum. I cannot decide whether to edge and join the squares with a creamy, buttery neutral or a crisp, clean white! I made a couple of blocks with each and the choice still isn’t clear to me. The cream works well with the interior shades, but doesn’t offer a lot of contrast and the overall effect is quite yellowy and antiqued. The white is more modern and will provide a better showcase for the colours, but it’s not as soft and gentle.

Opinions very welcome!

I can put off the decision for quite a while and carry on making the inside of each block, but eventually it will have to be one or the other.

Finished African Flower blanket

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Annette / Soft Like Kittens

YAY! I finished my blanket! I’ve been working on this since February – I could probably have done it in a month if I didn’t keep changing my mind, running out of yarn and stopping for other projects but that’s fine, there’s no rush :)

It’s 102x122cm, with 70 (slightly modified) African Flower pattern hexagons and a 7 round border of dc and hdc. I’ve put all the technical details of the pattern and yarn on Ravelry.

Receiving the curious sniff from Monty.

I tried to wrap Willow up sweetly in it but she’s too old for that now, I had to wait until she was busy drinking her milk even to get her to sit near the blanket long enough for a photo. Oh well, she’s a busy girl, she’s got lots of baby business to do!

Catching Up

Posted on May 19, 2011 by Annette / Soft Like Kittens

The problem with (unintentionally) taking a break from blogging is that each day missed makes it more difficult to catch up. I don’t want to miss out anything fun or important, but most of my thoughts fade pretty quickly… nevertheless, a few bullet points:

Willow and I had dinner with Joanna and Nikki and friends last Friday, at Canton in Kingsland. I hadn’t been there before and it was so good. Willow was well-behaved and adorable as usual, though it’s lucky Nikki’s friend who was sitting on the other side of her was happy to be on the receiving end of baby antics. She grabbed the end of his chopsticks, mlurbled away to him, fed him some of her beans, all very sweet. We’re so lucky to have a child who can go out without fussing (at least for now). It was lovely to see Joanna again as I think it’s been a couple of years since we last saw each other, I really should try and get to Wellington every now and then.
Wil and I also went to lunch with Amy on Saturday, at Mexican Specialties in Ellerslie. I hadn’t been there before either, and it was also extremely tasty, though very busy and a little small on the portion sizes. (Take that with a grain of salt, remembering that I am quite greedy). I would have liked to browse their grocery section too but it was just too crowded, I’ll have to go back one day outside meal times and buy some Mexican cooking supplies. Amy did get a bottle of their “Magic Powder” seasoning for me, which I have been using on grilled chicken with great success.
I’ve been doing a lot of yarn crafting lately. I cast on a few days ago for my first proper knitting project in years, these cute Lepidoptera Mitts to practice my new lace skills, and I’m getting very keen on the idea of trying my hand at a sweater. I’ll probably do a baby one first, but I’ve got a handful of patterns bookmarked for me too. I hope I am good enough, I’m oddly shaped and could really use some custom-fitted clothing.
I’ve also been making a few crochet scarves for Foxes. I don’t plan on doing crochet to sell regularly, but Jessica floated the idea when we were having coffee last week and some simple, soothing work to do while I was waiting for the last yarn for my African Flower blanket sounded fun. That order arrived today, so I’ll be back to finishing the blanket very soon.
Willow is getting more steady on her feet every day. I’m not over the novelty of a walking baby, and squee inside every time I see her little drunken-Frankenstein gait. Too, too charming. She’s also got her 15th tooth!
I’ve been having a bit of a bad week again, business hassles and money worries and not feeling very good about myself. It’s so tiresome, and I have had several mouth ulcers from the stress. Not sure what to do at this point, since nothing is really wrong. Soldiering on.

Blanket Cats

Posted on April 26, 2011 by Annette / Soft Like Kittens

My flower blanket is coming along. Last photo I posted had 19 joined hexagons, now I’ve got 37 joined hexagons and another 24 that just need their final round before being added on. 18 more once they’re done, and a border, and it will be finished.

The cats are already making use of it! A couple of nights ago I had the first four rounds laid on the table to assess the size and Monty had to get in on the action…

… then half an hour later his spot was taken by Pippin…

… and yesterday when the blanket was sitting on the couch Otto came in for a snuggle.

Here is Otto sleeping again, which has nothing to do with my blanket but look at his little face! He is keeping his nose warm!

We’ve had a busy Easter weekend (by our standards) and today was also quite full-on. I had to catch up with orders from the last few days, and I’d let the house slip a bit so there was lots of laundry to put away, scattered toys to corral, paperwork to sort, recycling to handle… it’s important to keep up with these little jobs because I find mess can throw me very easily into despair these days.

Things are sufficiently back in place now that I think I can justify some relaxation in bed before I go to sleep. I will read a little, then play some Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box on my DS.

That reminds me, must note down things I’ve bought recently…

I rented the Professor Layton game from the library, which cost $5. I’ll have it finished before it needs to go back, so that’s a pretty good deal. I loved the first game, and this one is very similar – point and click exploring with dozens and dozens of puzzles to solve. Plus the art style is beautiful, and I often find myself studying the screens in great detail.

A late night search on eBay last week found an inexpensive swift for yarn winding, and I couldn’t resist buying it, since so much of the yarn I like comes in hanks. It was ~$40 including postage, which is less than half the price I usually see. I don’t have a wool winder, but I think the swift will make hand winding much faster, and if it’s still frustrating there are often second hand ones for about $25 on TradeMe. (I wonder why swifts never seem to come up there? Weird. Maybe people just buy winders and sell them again because they’re awkward to use without a swift?)

I bought two pairs of socks from the supermarket because I had to throw out some old holey ones, I think they were $10 or $11. Thrilling stuff :)

Finally, I splashed out and chose some 5ml bottles of perfume oil from the Possets spring collection. There are a lot of niche perfumeries I like, but I can’t afford to keep up with them all, and Possets is both well priced and wearable so that’s where I tend to buy from. Five bottles come to ~$60 and qualify for free worldwide shipping, so it would be silly to buy less, right?!

My choices were:
Opulentia – Peach, carnation, crystal musk and ginger.
Silver Lavender – Sweet ‘silver’ base, lavender and sandalwood.
Terra Diurna – Strawberry, pinks, greenery and water.
Terra Incognita – Five black musks, pink pepper and black pepper.
The Great Actuary of Babylon – Black musk, copal incense, black cherry, cherry blossom and wood resin.

I’ll report back once they arrive… I’m really looking forward to the last two in particular, they sound deliciously dark and interesting. I should write some reviews of my current collection too, I used to do that as a matter of course and really enjoyed it. On the to-do list it goes!

African Flower blanket, the Second

Posted on April 16, 2011 by Annette / Soft Like Kittens

The new version of my African Flower blanket is coming along well!

It took a long time to decide what to do once I took the deep pink hexagons out. I tried lots of other colour combinations, but nothing looked quite right with the yellow. Yarn comes in a relatively limited number of shades, so sometimes it can be frustrating trying to make a combination that clicks! I had extra constraints in this case too, since I needed three shades that worked together to make each flower, and of course they needed to be flower-y colours.

After a dozen failed trials I changed tack and decided to experiment with using more texture instead. Adding an extra final row of alternating dc and FPtrc turned out to give a lovely raised effect, a little like knitted ribbing, but also reminiscent of the veins on leaves. Additional colours became unnecessary, and I am now working with just two yellow variations, the marigold-edged original and a lighter version with a creamy ivory centre.

I blocked the blanket once I had assembled the first three rounds (19 hexagons) to see how it looked flattened out, and I really love the result, it’s subtle but so pretty, and definitely worth all the effort to make it work! The shape I’m planning will require 79 hexagons in total, but I’ve already made all of the darker flowers, so the assembly seems to be flying along.

Additional Willow milestones: in the last couple of weeks (12.5 months) she has cut her 14th tooth and learned to wiggle backwards down stairs, and yesterday (13 months) she took a few lurching steps! It wasn’t exactly walking, but she did travel some horizontal distance on her feet. I think we’re very close.

Snuggling and Blankets

Posted on April 2, 2011 by Annette / Soft Like Kittens

Thank you so much for all the kind and supportive comments on my last entry. I know that the size of our family is something we don’t need to justify to anyone but trying to express these feelings coherently helps me a lot!

I’ve just put my beautiful baby to bed. Seeing her snuggled there warm and safe and sleepy is one of the most comforting experiences I know, and every night it makes me want to jump straight into bed myself :) She’s never been interested in co-sleeping but I hope that one day she will take her afternoon nap next to me, so I can watch her sleeping face as I drift off.

I’ve made 36 yellow African Flower motifs over the last couple of weeks, while waiting for the rest of the yarn for my new colour scheme to arrive. I had been planning on combining these with a paler yellow combination and some light pinks for the second attempt, but now I’ve made a few hexagons using the new yarn that arrived yesterday I’m not sure about them either! This project is driving me bananas! I’m going to make a handful more and try different arrangements before I join anything together, or start dreaming up a third plan.

For now, the stacks look rather handsome. And I WILL figure out how to make this work!

Monty on the beanbag, where he spends approximately 23 hours a day. The last hour is reserved for running, flailing and skittering about as though possessed. He is a cat of extremes! I feel a little bad because his tag is smaller in the cloud than Otto or Pippin, even though it’s just because Otto is new and Pippin runs away so darned much. They are all special in their own ways :)

Soft Like Kittens

Idle life with yarn, cats and a small hu-man.

Tag Archives: crochet