My very first design!!!

I'm finally doing it. I designed something that I'm confident enough to publish! Albeit free, but still, it's here!

Maneki Neko Cellphone Cozy
Design by MarieAnge Brouillard

My daughter is a huge anime and manga fan. When she lost her cellphone cozy she asked me to make her a new one. After browsing through countless patterns and not finding anything I liked, I designed my own. This cozy will fit a cellphone that is 4 inches (10 cm) in height and 2.5 inches (5 cm) wide.

You will need:

• Size 6US or 4mm straight needles
• Size 7US or 4.5 mm straight needles for cast on and bind off
• Darning needle
• Size 3mm crochet hook
• Small amount of bulky yarn of your choice for cozy
• Small amounts of white, pink and black dk yarn for embroidery
• Small button

For my daughter's cozy I used Bernat Masala Hyacinth Hues because it was the closest color to match her cellphone.

Stitches used:

• K – knit
• P - purl

Method:

Using a knitted cast on method along with size 7US (4.5mm) needles CO 15 sts.
Switch to size 6US (4mm) needles
Row 1: *k2, p1* repeat to end
Row 2: *k2, p1* repeat to end

Repeat these two rows until the piece measures 5 inches (12.5 cm) unstretched.

Loosely bind off using the same needles used for the cast on.

Lay the piece flat, find the center and fold it to create a crease in the yarn. Mark the crease with a bit of yarn at each end. Unfold your rectangle and you should have a rectangle that looks like the one shown here.

Using a crochet hook and white yarn slip stitch the outline of the cat onto one half of your knitted rectangle.

Slip Stitch on knitting method

Hold the working yarn under the piece, with your crochet hook, from the top poke through the knitted rectangle and pick up the yarn from below. Draw up a loop and stretch it just enough so you have a nice small loop, keeping the loop on your crochet, poke the crochet through the knitted rectangle a short distance away from your first stitch and draw up another loop of yarn through the first loop. Keep doing this until the outline of your cat is done.

With a darning needle, add the eyes, and fill in the ears using slip stitch embroidery.

Take a piece of black yarn, make a triple knot in the middle, pass the two ends on either side of where you want the nose to sit and pull through and knot on the back side of the rectangle.

With pink yarn, add the mouth starting at the nose.

For the whiskers, make a knot close to the end of a short piece of 3 ply white yarn and separate the 3 plies which will give you the 3 whiskers. Poke the needle through where you want the whiskers to sit and make a large knot underneath. Poke the needle through to the right side where you want the other whiskers to sit and make a knot close to the fabric. Cut yarn leaving a short piece that you separate for the whiskers. See picture for placement.

Sew a small shiny button onto the belly of the cat.

With right sides facing, sew the bottom and side of the cozy using the mattress stitch method so both edges meet and do not overlap. You want the cozy to hold the cellphone snuggly.

I hope you enjoy the pattern. Please be respectful of copyright issues. This pattern is for personal use only and is not to be sold under any circumstances. The pattern is also not to be used to knit and sell the finished item. Charity knitting is always welcome along with the use of this pattern.

PS. If you find any mistakes, or have questions, do not hesitate to let me know. Constructive criticism is always welcome.

A hug for a friend

I have a friend who has been there for me through thick and thin. She would say the same for me, so I guess that's what is known as true friendship. We have never met face to face but feel as if we've known each other for years. We've both been through some pretty tough life changing events in our lives and we've always supported each other through it all. One day I hope to meet this sister, this friend, because I would wrap my arms around her and give her the biggest hug she's ever received.

Since I can't do that, I'm going to send her a hug. I have found the perfect knitting pattern for a shawlette I know she will love and wear. It's called the Summer Lace Shawlette developed by Sandi Wiseheart of Interweave Knits. The pattern can be found on Knitting Daily in the free patterns section. I always loved the look of this short shawl and can just imagine my dear friend wearing it like I was giving her a big hug.


The pictures are just a teaser. The one shows the back which is nice and airy and the other shows some swatches of the back and front. I still have to determine what color I will make it in, but I have a feeling it will be in something vibrant since she is a lady filled with energy, love, compassion and caring with a heart as big as Chicago. I will post more as I progress.

The Weekender

Let's see, how about I do some updates before moving on to new stuff.

1. job interview: As I thought... didn't get it. Doesn't surprise me, they may have had poker faces, but their body language spoke volumes. I guess they didn't want a bbw around their office filled with dainty, latest fashion clad admins. Their loss!

2. I forgot to mention my darling daughter also brought me some lovely gifts. 2 books, Picture Knits & I Love Knitting. There is new knowledge to be gleaned from both. I especially like the first one, lots of lovely charts for children's clothing plus a how to read a chart tutorial. I can definitely use that part as well. Knitting left handed creates some interesting problems when reading a chart. I have to keep reminding myself that the row going in one direction goes in the other direction on my knitting. Confusing? heck yeah but I'll learn!

3. She also brought me more Neopets to add to my growing collection. Yes, I'm addicted to these cute little plush animals. They are sooo cute!

4. And last but not least, a package of tape measures! I'm forever misplacing my one and only cloth tape measure. My favorite from the 4 she gave me is this nice small red one that when you press the button zips right back inside with a very satisfying "snick!" I love that!

5. Finished the fingerless mitts for the co-workers friend. I hope he appreciates the work that went into them. I used a generic wristwarmer generator, made some adaptations and went at them. I just have to weave in the ends and hand them to her.

Now for new stuff

1. I cast on another cloth in basketweave, I'm aiming for a hand towel with this design. Pictures to come as it grows.

2. Need to buy US8 circular needles for the gilet Twirl found in Minnowknits, Too by Jil Eaton. I have 2 nieces and a sister in law who would love this feminine gilet complete with fancy wrists and collar. I will change one thing on it though and that is what I'm going to use to knit the wrists and collar. I am going to use furry novelty yarn to give the impression of real fur. All 3 will appreciate it I'm quite certain.

3. I cast on and finished a Calorimetry hat for myself. Put it to the test yesterday in -20C weather and it was perfect. Having long hair makes tuques impossible to wear or give you hat hair which I hate. This hat is like a hairband but has a button in the back so no slipping over the head dragging your hair down with it. I love how it covers my ears and doesn't slip and slide around. Only took me 3 hours to knit from CO to sewing on the button. I also added a smaller button on the inside to anchor the main button better so the buttonhole won't slip off. I didn't cast on the 120 stitches since my knitting seems to be a tad more relaxed. I cast on 115 and it fits perfectly! I also love the shape when it's laying flat. Reminds me of a leaf.

That's it for now. More to come in the next few days.

Commissions!

I got my first commission today! A co-worker was complaining that her hands were freezing while typing and I loaned her my wrist warmers. She wore them and was so happy that her wrists and fingers weren't freezing she asked me to make her a pair. Then she saw my ratty scarf that's 7 feet long and asked me to make her one of those as well! LOL

I'm debating whether to go through my stitch dictionary and show her some very pretty stitch patterns that are much much nicer than my original ratty old scarf (the one I knit for myself 4 years ago when I got back into knitting again). See if she'd rather I make one of those for her instead. :) considering she wants to pay me. Depending what she picks out, I'll likely charge her the cost of the yarn tripled since putting an hourly wage/value to the finished scarf is pretty well impossible.

I've already picked out the yarn for the wrist warmers and I'm going with this pattern. She has such tiny dainty wrists that anything worsted would make them look odd. Since I have a nice, slightly thicker than fingering, yarn and I'm using 3.75 mm needles, I figured that the Knit Cuffs with a Cable Twist by Deborah Pulliam would be perfect for her dainty wrists, not too chunky or thick for the office. The yarn is Patons Canadiana in royal blue, her favorite colour even! And since I can't "sell" the wrist warmers, I'll knit them for her for the cost of the yarn.

I'll update with my own photo of the finished mitts once they are finished.

Baby Wrap / Shaw

A co-worker became a first time Dad recently. A gorgeous baby girl who's pictures get shown around the office every chance he gets. I wanted to give something unusual for the young lady and with the cold weather the way it's been.... what better way to keep her warm than with a wrap /shawl.

I found this gorgeous little pattern that I felt was original and unusual enough that I'm sure this little lady hasn't been gifted with one already.

I had some left over pink yarn, Bernat solids and thought it would be nice to use it since it would make this shawl easy wash n wear. And who wants to fuss with pure wool when you don't know if the baby has allergies, etc.

It was a very quick knit and the pattern was easy to follow. Gambit decided he had to be in the picture with teddy modeling the shawl. I also found some darling pink buttons to use on the back to attach the shawl.

Now I'm working on 2 dishcloths, one with a simple basketweave pattern that's great to do when you don't want to think too much or follow a paper pattern while watching Veronica Mars episodes and the other to knit on during lunch at work. Yes, my life is that predictable LOL

These will especially come in handy when we start watching Battlestar Gallactica, the last season, the final 10 episodes. Yes, can you tell we are BG fans :) Incredibly good show that we will miss when it's over.

I will miss watching Stargate Atlantis though. I'm 200% positive that McKay's character was based on my husband.

Skully Mitts: 1st project for FGF!

My first Fingerless Gloves Fanatics entry for 2009. Done! Skully Mitts from Nadine's Patterns that I found while blog surfing a few weeks ago then discovered they were listed on Ravelry as well.

I'm quite happy with them, I'd never done duplicate stitch before either so I actually learned a new skill getting these done. They turned out pretty cool and my son will love these since he's a huge fan of skulls.

I used up a ball of black acrylic w/ nylon doing these, I'm not entirely sure of the full yardage since it was a partial ball with no label I'd picked up at the local Value Village. It's still one less ball of yarn in my stash!

Winter wear

Since I frogged the Not Quite Straight scarf I had to find something else to knit for my son in law. After asking my daughter for some input, she told me he's not fond of wearing scarves, oh goodie! but he does need a warm winter hat since he feels the cold more than the average person.

Hmn... how about an old fashioned tuque? I remember wearing one as a kid, kept my head so warm I sweated under it. He wears a black jacket, so obviously black yarn has to be the choice. After pawing through my stash, I could only find one ball of black yarn. Uh oh.... The pattern I had chosen to use asks for worsted weight yarn, 2 strands held together on number 10 circular needles. The whole pattern is done in k2, p2 which gives it a deep rib. But with only 1 ball of yarn, what to do. I kept digging in my stash and came across several balls of demin blue yarn in a much lighter weight but figured by using 2 strands of the blue combined with 1 strand of the black, that should meet the requirements of the pattern.

The blue yarn was recycled from a sweater I picked up for 1$ at a church sale. When I started knitting again a few years ago, I did not want to spend tons of money on yarn when I wasn't even sure if I'd be knitting for more than a couple of months and dropping it again. So I had gone to a church sale and picked up 4 sweaters, unraveled the lot, and hand wound the yarn back into center pull balls for reuse. I learned a few things doing that.

1. Don't buy sweaters that are machine seamed. Means that the edges have been cut which gives you pieces of yarn less than a meter long. I spent more time knotting pieces together and finally gave up on that sweater.
2. Do buy sweaters that are handknit. You can tell if they are handknit by the way they are assembled. ie: no machine stitching.
3. And last but not least, buy colors you like! I have 10 balls of dark brick red yarn that I still don't know what to do with yet. It feels like cotton or a cotton blend. I'll figure out what to use it for, but not just yet.
4. Wash and dry flat the sweater BEFORE you unravel it. I found that some sweaters were unwashed and ahhh umm... smelled odd? and no, I don't want to know.

I finished knitting the hat which was knit flat. All I have left to do is seam it and try it on for size. I hope he likes it.

Not Quite Straight Scarf revisited

After a false start; I had to frog my first attempt since I missed a crucial detail in the pattern. (when to start the main pattern) 1 row, that was all I'd missed but it made the scarf do some pretty weird directional stuff.

Gambit passed judgment on the first version so I had to frog it (not Gambit!).

The good thing about messing up the first version was that I discovered that if I followed the pattern exactly, the resulting edge of the scarf would have loops sticking out. I didn't like that, so I went with slip 1, knit 1, increase 1 instead of the k1, inc 1 that the pattern asked for. The resulting edge is much smoother with no loops sticking out.

This is my second attempt at this scarf. The edges are now smooth with nothing sticking out.

I'm using a non wool yarn from my stash since there is a wool allergy where this scarf is going. I really like the wave effect moving on the diagonal. It's a nice change from the "hohum it's a scarf".

In other news, the baby hooded jacket is still at the hood part. I have to figure out the hood before I go any further.

My daughter's Lil Red Riding Hoodie is almost done. I just need to get to a store that sells zippers. Since that involves taking 2 buses, it's going to wait until I need more supplies before I go or I get desperate enough.

I'm not overly fond of using city transit, but it's either that or walking. In my husband's favorite distance descriptive words, "This is more than a fair walk".

Not Quite Straight Scarf

I found this pattern while helping someone on Ravelry with a stitch question. I was intrigued by the pattern and decided to give it a shot since I need to knit a bajillion scarves for Christmas presents!

So far, this is what I have on the needles. I'm using yarn from my stash. The tag must have fallen off and I have no idea what brand it is. It's polyester, I know, not really a good scarf yarn but with wool allergies, doesn't leave a lot of choice.

I really love my brand new bamboo needles from Rikki :) The needles make knitting a lot more fun. No more pain in my fingers from holding on to heavy needles. I also love the fact that after a few minutes using these needles, they seem to warm up in my hands.

Pet clothing

In a previous post, I had done a review of Garn Studios' Drops Designs. I had posted some really cute patterns for dogs and none for cats. Someone commented that they were quite disapointed in the fact that there we no cat patterns. To remedy this, I have scoured the web for cat related patterns and here they are.


Adventures in knitting has a lovely pattern called "Poppy Cat Sweater"

This should make any kitty who hates the cold feel all warm and cozy.




If you really are into patterns for and about cats, the following book would be of interest to you. This book was published January 2008. It's called, what else, Kitty Knits.

Excerpt from Kitty Knits.
The first knitting book entirely devoted to the funny, furry felines in our lives. Discover creative ways to knit up practical projects for kitties to love and cat-themed designs for owners to enjoy. Just like cat batting at a ball of yarn, it's a perfect match. Over 20 projects feature items for cats, their people, and their homes -- along with adorable photos of cats with their knitted treasures. Choose from toys, beds, mats, and more for cats, plus feline-inspired sweaters, hats, pillows, and bags for cat-loving knitters. Find projects in a variety of styles and skill levels, from felted designs to Fair Isle patterns.

Another lovely idea for your kitty is a Kitty Pi bed from Wendy Knits . Wendy takes you through the knitting of this lovely cozy bed step by step. It's an easy knit and a great stash buster since you can use any left over wool yarns you may have.

Some judicious felting, stretching and pulling to give it a nice deep flat-bottomed bowl shape and you have one happy kitty. I guarantee that any kitty who curls up in one of these will not want to come out for months. This would make a very nice gift to a cat owner for their little bundle of joy.

I hope this helps all cat lovers out there find some interesting gift ideas for their furry babies.

Hallowe'en Fun

Such a lovely time of year. Ghosts, witches, goblins, Britney, Elves, Paris, Devils, Orcs, The Hulk, and many more walk about unfettered on this night. What are you going to dress your little ones in this year?

Why not knit a costume? I went looking and these patterns were available free of charge.

The Darling Devil Set available free from Lion Brand makes for a quick knit of horns and tail for any age.

If you're looking for a quick fix to not finding a cool costume and it's Halloween day itself. Take out your knitting needles and sink them into this pattern. Flying Spaghetti Monster According to the pattern, it only takes 4 hours to make this costume and gauge is not an issue! No swatching involved.

Now for something retro. How about a Hallowig? Knitty offers a cool pattern for a knitted wig, but better start it today or you may not have it done in time.

Another option offered by Knitty is the Jackyll & Hide hat. If you live where it gets cold by the end of October as in snow flying and wind blowing up your breeches, this would be a great mask. It does double duty as a hat and scares the living tar out of kids when you pull it down.

You can also get the book Charmed Knits by Alison Hansel.

The book contains patterns for wizardly items such as: a wizard hat, robes, scarf, Errol the owl and more. If your little ones want to walk around looking like Harry or Hermione, this is the book for you.

Fans of "Nightmare Before Christmas" will adore this cute pattern for Zero the Ghostly Dog from Knitted Toy Box .

For fans of Futurama, the Brain Slug from Mychawd, Knitting SAMurai 's blog will be a sure hit.

For home decorating or gift giving, this knitted pumpkin pattern is adorable! You can make it any size you want, just change needle size.

Have fun on Halloween and remember to walk safely, carry a light and get home not too late after dark.

The Perfect Hairband!

Ok, so it's Saturday. What have I accomplished in the past couple of days that has kept me from updating my blog!?!

I'll have to start back around 20+ years ago with wanting the perfect hairband. I have long hair, very long hair. I sit on it long hair. It hangs in my face if I don't tie it up long hair. I love my long hair but let's face it, there are times when it can be a royal pain in the patootie like when you're at work, the phone rings, you pick it up and try to put it to your ear, but your hair got caught in your earring and you end up with a phone covered in hair, earring wrapped in said hair and you can't hear the caller and you can't get the phone out of the tangle of hair... get the picture?

So over the years I have tried a variety of hair bands and each one had it's failings.

• I tried the cloth hairband, it kept sliding back, not good.
• I tried the plastic hairband that sits tightly behind your ears, slowly gouging a red welt into the space and heaven forbid if you wear glasses. Cause then the plastic hairband competes for the space with your eyeglasses that are supposed to rest behind your ears! Glasses 1, hairband 1, me big headache.
• I tried the metal hairbands which turned out to be a total disaster since long hair tends to tangle into the metal tines and removing said hairband is tantamount to the Spanish Inquisition's torture chamber.
• I tried macrame hairbands, they would start off tight in the morning, and end up sliding either forward or backward. Such fun.
• I tried a beaded leather hairband. After losing a handful of hair to the beads and developing a rash from sweating under the leather, let's just say I won't go there anymore

All this to finally lead up to a pattern I found, while cruising the web for knitting ideas, that offered an answer to my long quest for the perfect hairband. It looks simple enough; I-cord with a small buildup of stitches leading into a nice basketweave pattern then back down again to an I-cord. The pattern called for the basketweave area to be 12" long, after measuring my head where I want the hairband to sit, I decided I would make mine a bit longer but still keep the I-cord ties at 12" each end.

I found a tiny bit of leftover yarn in a variegated color that I really like and set to knitting this hairband. For some obscure reason, I could not keep track of the repeats for the basketweave even after repeated attempts, it still kept coming out wonky. Sorry Carissa, not your fault, just my brain not grasping basketweave at 2 am LOL I finally gave up on following the basketweave pattern and just kept knitting/purling my way through until I had the desired length. I figured to myself since this was totally experimental and that it would likely fail, why kill myself over the basketweave not being a real basketweave.

I did the last I-cord stitch this morning, gave it a good stretch to make sure everything was solid and tied it on exactly the way I wanted it and hoped. Four hours went by, nothing had moved. So far so good. My husband and I head over to the local Vietnamese market to pick up some much needed groceries. Instead of my usual tying up of hair, I left the hairband on figuring this would be the litmus test since it was windy. So out we went dragging our bundle buggy behind me to the bus stop. Full wind blowing in my face and it's still not moving! I have a flicker of hope that this may be THE hairband after all. We get on the bus, rode downtown, commenting on the gorgeous fall colors and the blazing sun. Great day in October to be out and about.

Once downtown we walk 4 blocks to the Vietnamese market, hairband still hasn't budged. Cell phone rings, I without thinking twice about it quickly raise the phone to my ear to answer and nothing happens! No tangled hair in the earring or cell phone caught in hair caught in earring! Amazing!


We came home, unloaded the buggy and we made supper, hairband still in place. It's now just before midnight and this awesome hairband still hasn't budged from where I set it this morning! That's 12 hours, no tangled disaster, no hair in the face. I am so thankful that I plan on knitting one of these for each of my nieces, sister, sisters in law, daughter and several more for myself.

Now, I cannot take the credit for this wonderful discovery. I found this hairband at Carissa Knits blog If you look down the right hand column, you will see she has a list of free patterns and the Basketweave headband is the 3rd item down. She is a member of the Ravelry community as well, so go check out her blog.

Thank you Carissa for the wonderful hairband! You have ended my 20+ year search for the perfect hairband.