Truth be told, I made a mouse in January, it turns out. I just didn’t quite get round to writing about it. I had some holiday to use up from last year so I ended up taking a fair amount of time off in January and February. And, seeing as I’d bought the mouse pattern months before, I thought I’d finally try and use it.
Reader, I am still terrible at sewing. It turns out that if you’re not very good at sewing, just never doing it doesn’t somehow make you better at sewing when the time comes. I made the dress too but it was all too exhausting to sew a button on, so it’s held closed with the ribbon. I think that my sewing machine needs tweaking though – the tension isn’t right and I can’t seem to fix it no matter what I do. I also made a ship’s sail for a model my partner is making, and in the end, I sewed the bigger seams on the hand cranked Singer and some detail by hand.
Anyway. This is what she looks like wearing a cardi, because of course you would wonder about it.
The pattern looks like it’s based on the Maileg Mouse but is nowhere near as cute – I assume for copyright reasons (!). I’ve honestly never met a Maileg toy I didn’t like. They absolutely have their aesthetic nailed. I can barely look at the website for how cute it all is.
Since then I’ve been knitting a few more toys for people – a lot of people at work are having babies.
These are two likely lads, before they got their faces. Both now have faces, but honestly I am not at all sure about the one in the red t-shirt. We’re 3 faces in, and I’m still not convinced. I might unpick it and give it another shot. Stay tuned…
Hello! I can’t believe how bad I’ve been at updating this blog this year. But looking around, I’m not the only one. Lots of the craft blogs I used to follow seem to have stopped, and lots have migrated to Instagram. Much easier to share a quick snap of work in progress than it is to write a blog post about it – which is a shame actually. I like crafty blogs and they’ve taught me a lot. (Apologies, it’ll be a miracle if you ever learn anything from this one: sadly, I’m not very skilled!) Anyway. Two things I’ve made in the last week:
I made a little duckling (a Claire Garland pattern), and a little christmas hat and scarf to go with it. I was quite pleased with the hat, actually – just knitted 30 stitches and then decreased gradually. The scarf is a 4 stitch icord. And the wee duckling is very cute, even if I do say so myself. That said, I made one right before this one, which was also nice but.. just a bit small. I think I didn’t give him enough stuffing. He needs more than you’d think.
I also made a loaf of sourdough bread. To be fair, this isn’t big news as I usually bake one a week, however, they’re unpredictable, which means making them for other people is always a risk (for me). This one was for my parents and seemed to go ok. I have another loaf on the go right now for friends. The starter is just coming up to speed, and I’ll begin the loaf later this afternoon and bake it tomorrow morning. It is a faff. But usually a useful, tasty, preservative-free faff, so that’s something.
Aside from that, I’ve been bashing out socks as my go-to pickup/putdown project. They look like socks, which no one is ever that excited about so I haven’t bothered writing about them. I need another shawl-type project. Something that’ll keep me going through the year. Despite the fact they usually drive me a little bit nuts, I do like it when they’re over (!) and I miss them when they’re gone.
Some of the oldest socks I’ve made are almost beyond repairing now… Although I’ll think about patching over the patches (maybe this exhibition would have some ideas?) Ideally, it feels like there must be a neat way to detach the foot from the ankle, as the ankles are always fine. That said, it’s not like I have a sock shortage.
I also need to knit three more bunnies or bears: three friends have babies on the way. I’ll make two small ones, I think, and one big one. The big one is for a baby brother to a child I’ve already made a big bunny for. Seems a bit rude to give the younger brother a smaller one. We’ll see.
Plans for the new year? Not sure. But I should make more things, if I can. We’ll see. Anyway: here’s to 2025, I hope you have a happy, healthy, peaceful new year. x
After making a too small red dress for the previous bunny, I thought I should make a new bunny to fit the dress. Pink wasn’t the best plan… it really doesn’t go well with the red. Also, as it turns out, she’s a bit small for the dress anyway.
Luckily I found a pink dress I’d made at some point which was, I assume, too small for the bunny I made it for, but a perfect fit for this one. However, you can’t really have a pink bunny in a pink dress.
So I guessed the needles (2.25mm), and made a new dress in yellow and grey instead. Success. (Forgive the photos, the colour balance is all over the place).
Now I just need to make rabbits for the red and pink dresses – this is madness! Still. I’d been thinking of practising colourwork again, and actually, knitting the dots was a delight. (Except for the bits I mis-counted and had to unpick). There’s something really nice about seeing the dots appear, and I’ve got half a mind to work on a scarf or a sock in a proper colourwork pattern now. I need to relax my tension though, it’s still far too tight.
This rabbit is quite small – and looks even smaller in photos:
She also makes the first small rabbit I knitted look like an absolute bruiser – these are the same stitch counts, just different yarn. The pink is Krea Deluxe cotton and the white is Cascade 220 + a thread of a mohair mix.
Aside from that, I’m in the middle of knitting the second sock of a pair, but need to start a new ‘pick up put down’ project after finishing the shawl. I was also wondering about a jumper, but what I really want is group in real life to work through a ‘first sweater project’ together. I think I need help on measurements and gauge and… maybe it would just be nice, too? I just need to actually find a group near me at a time/place I can get to. You would think that would be simple in London, but it really isn’t.
It’s taken a while to get round to documenting, but this was the shawl I’ve been knitting being blocked, on 1 April 2024. Since then I’ve been wearing it, and I must say, the yarn – De rerum natura ulysse – is really soft. I like it it. It’s also nice and light, which was another thing I wanted, seeing as the Almina shawl is so heavy. That said, as the Almina shawl is more of a solid colour, the stitch definition is much better.
(Although this happens to be the one photo where the definition on the new shawl looks ok…) I really wish the new shawl was a little longer, but as I ran out of yarn (and started it in 2023!) I thought it was probably sensible to call it quits. Actually, I am wearing it now, and it feels so soft I wish every garment I own was knitted in the same yarn.
Over Easter I darned 6 socks – for the record, that is a lot of socks to darn. By the end of it, I never wanted to see another sock again. I used the knitted patch method again, via this video, which is super helpful. The patches have kind of worn themselves in now, so they’re comfortable enough.
Yesterday I knitted these little pantaloons for this bunny, because her dress is too short. But actually the pantaloons are tiny, and really don’t fit. As this is a gift – and a late one – the choice was to make a smaller bunny or larger dress (and quit moaning), so I made a larger dress.
Must remember, small Little Cotton Rabbits knitted in Cascade 220 potentially with a strand of fluff too, will not fit the small rabbit clothes, if they’re knitted in Krea Deluxe on 2.50 needles. Not the way I knit. Use the pattern for a full size rabbit. Cascade 220 does make for quite a chunky rabbit actually, but still, I think she turned out nicely in the end.
And she does seem to look quite comfortable wrapped up in my shawls.
I’m mid-way through a second sock, and I probably will make another smaller animal to make the most of the clothes, but aside from that, I’m not sure what to make next. I did just buy a pattern for a nice looking short sleeved cardigan, but it looks quite complicated! Also… will I make that tiny too? Who knows. I hope not.
I gave myself a break yesterday and knitted another strawberry. I’ve been trying really hard to knit this shawl but I still have a ball and a half of wool to go. I’m knitting it on carbon fibre needles which I bought after two different cable needles came to sticky ends. I think the cable snapped on one and just popped out of the needle on the other. It’s a 3.5mm needle.
Ideally it would be finished now. Now is the perfect time to wear it. The only reason I’m knitting it is because I love my Almina shawl (finished in 2020) but, as I think I’ve said before, it’s a bit heavy to take out of the house. I kind of fancied making another one I could put in my bag and use a bit like a cardigan. (I’m too scared to make a cardigan). I knitted it over xmas and new year, and it’s grown a lot, but it’s still not there. Gah. Soon.
Also, my eyesight is all over the place. Better to knit it without glasses or contact lenses at the moment. If I wear contact lenses then I have to wear glasses to fix my vision for close up work. I’ve become one of those people who can only see a menu if someone holds it up the other side of the restaurant. Well, not quite, but you know what I mean. I went out with a friend last week and the restaurant was so dark, I used the torch on my phone. Ten minutes later a couple came in and sat on the table next to us. Unprompted, one of them did the same thing. Vindication.
I’m not sure what’s going on at the moment. Time spent making things (well… knitting) doesn’t feel quite right. I keep feeling like I ought to be doing something else. Even reading, actually. Hard to relax. That said, my boss is pregnant so I should probably knit something for her, so… best figure out what.
(Sorry this isn’t a very exciting post, but one day, maybe I’ll be glad to look back and think ‘Yep, this shawl that you are currently wearing and looking fabulous in, really did take a long time. Do not make another one.)
I made a mouse! This is only small, but saints alive, it took a long time. He must’ve had about 8 different faces.
I almost gave up (and err… took his head off to make a rabbit 🙊) but in the end I refused to be beaten. I don’t know why but I just couldn’t get his nose and mouth right. I almost left the mouth off, but I gave it one last try, and that was the one that stuck. Looking on Ravelry, I think a few other people have had trouble too. It’s not hard to do technically, but it is hard to make it look cute for some reason. I think perhaps I didn’t pad his cheeks enough, so his face is a bit pointy.
Here he is in my hand for scale. You can’t see clearly but I stitched a tiny white highlight in each eye. I’ve seen some of the brilliant Japanese knitters on Instagram do this, and I was desperate for anything that would make his face work, so I copied them. It’s not bad actually. Might do it again if I make another toy.
For the photoshoot I got out some odds and ends I made a while ago. A little basket, a toadstool, a strawberry and some acorns. I don’t know why I knit these things, but sometimes, I can’t help myself. Actually, I really like the patterns for the strawberry and the method for constructing the mushroom. The pattern is from Shinocraft – for the acorns too. Even just looking at that toadstool makes me want to knit another one. Or a radish. What is wrong with me?
In the meantime I’m still making a shawl that I thought I’d have finished by now. (Oof, just looking at previous posts – I started this shawl In February.) It’s okay, but a bit of a slog. I’m also knitting it on a cable needle and I the cable snapped, which wasn’t the greatest. I thought about unravelling the whole thing, but actually, I would like the finished shawl. In the end I managed to pick up about 200 stitches and get them onto another needle. I’m tempted to move into the ribbed portion of the shawl now, just to get it done. We’ll see.
Last night I was chatting to a friend who has started doing crewel work, but with silks rather than wool. I ended up showing her my tatting, (I’ve known her for about 18 years, not sure why this hasn’t come up before) and she loved the idea of it—so much so, she was going to look it up and buy a shuttle. I had a little panic that I wouldn’t remember how to do it, as it’s been so long, but luckily it’s all still there. I should probably start doing it again. I miss it.
A while ago, I tried to knit a unicorn, for a friend’s newborn baby. I knitted his head, and added different colour threads for his hair (which took a while). Then decided it just wouldn’t work, so knitted a bear instead.
But after a while I knitted the head a body too, just to see – still no clothes – and he sat in the yarn bowl, naked for a while.
Then, Julie released a pattern for a horse/unicorn/donkey, which was just what I needed, but a bit too late. This prompted me to make him a T-shirt. And once I’d done that, it wasn’t that much harder to finish him off properly:
Actually, I really like him, after all that!
He’s got pretty solid / robust ears, as originally they were made to withstand a baby pulling them about, and a little tail, which I’m too lazy to photograph. In the end, I think he worked out pretty well. Poor thing.
Now I’m trying to decide if I should actually give him to the intended recipient after all. She was so kind about the bear, and said that it was the perfect size for a newborn – the only thing he had that was the right size to hold. (The bear didn’t have any buttons on his clothes, in case you’re worried.)
In the spirit of tidying up, I also finally made the light grey elephant a dress. I can’t even remember when I knitted her she’s been waiting so long. Now I just need to force her onto someone who may appreciate her. (You can really see why Etsy took off as a business, right?) I have a horrible feeling I’ve given a knitted toy to anyone who may want one. Maybe it’s finally time to knit something else. Or knit neater and sell them for charity, maybe.
Anyway. Tidier. Fewer naked animals lolling about in the heat. Can only be a good thing… I think?
I know. These photos are never going to make me an influencer, but I guess I’ll have to live with that. I darned my socks! I was a bit annoyed when they got a hole to be honest, as it felt like I’d only had them for 5 minutes. But according to the internet, I finished these in May 2021, which is not a bad life for a pair of socks. I wear these a lot at home.
I assumed I’d make a hash of fixing them, but actually, I didn’t do too badly. I used this video to help. It’s good. I knitted a patch because, as much as I love all the woven visibly-mended stuff, I didn’t think it would be strong enough for a heel.
Actually, that patch above is a preemptive one, as the yarn is wearing thin. It’s the second patch of the day. The first was to cover this hole:
It was a huge hole. Also a huge pain, as I had to add stitches to widen the patch as I went, because it started at the narrow end of the heel. The blue thing peeking through is a massage roller ball. Not that good for massaging muscles, but does ok as a darning egg in a pinch.
I don’t love the left and right edge stitches being a little bigger on both of these, but they’re slipped so they get a wee bit baggy. I assume they’ll tighten up when the socks are washed. Things that seem good about this:
You’re supposed to knit the patch with a smaller needle, so the stitches are naturally a bit more dense, which seems like a good thing
The original wool should felt itself into the patch as it’s worn and washed, so that should make it stronger too
So that’s that. i thought I’d hate doing it, but actually I enjoyed it. Not sure why.
In other news, I need to make another duckling. We had guests on Saturday, and the duckling was quickly adopted by K, 5. It came to the park with us, down the slide, on the roundabout and back again. Come hometime there were pleas from K and apologies from parents. I offered to make K a ducking of her own. “How long will it take? A day? Ok, we’ll come round tomorrow”.
I’ve been wondering about Claire Garland’s patterns for ages. For a long time she wrote patterns for more realistic animal knits, like this bunny. But, I’m a lazy knitter and the patterns always looked a bit tricky for me – also, what would I do with the finished article? (What do I do with anything I knit though, aside from foist it on people?) Anyway.
You may have seen Claire’s work more recently, because she made a frog pattern, which India Crawford then knitted and used in a stop-frame animation, which she posted on Instagram. Suddenly Instagram was awash with actually rather lovely knitted froggies. (And the animations are brilliant).
So, while everyone was knitting frogs, I thought it was finally time to knit the lucky ducking.
Saints alive, it’s a cute pattern! Look at it!
Full disclosure though, this one was without feet for about 2 weeks. I just wasn’t keen – they didn’t look as neat as they should.
Here is the duck when it was literally footloose, but probably not fancy free ^.
I shouldn’t take photos when the light is terrible – not sure where the focus is here, but never mind. It’s knitted in sock yarn, on 2.75mm needles. I also stitched the eyes, because although I do have safety eyes the head is so small the stems on the eyes would bash into each other. So I might buy some beads to use and knit another one. I think a bit of reflection in a black beady eye would be nice.
It’s a quick knit, if you don’t dither about over the feet. There’s a bunch of ‘wrap and turns’ which I’d not done before, but overall, it’s not hard, and it’s explained clearly. This one fits in the palm of my hand.
I’m still working on the shawl in the background, and I’m still not that sure about it. But never mind. Also I’m making a pair of socks, in Felici which…
I mean, look at that! Honestly. Put some effort in. I chopped it out, and rejoined the colour in the right place. I’m not in love with this colour combo, but I do like Felici sock yarn when it’s knitted up (soft, machine washable, hardwearing). So when the yarn is on offer, I buy the least worst combinations. Anyway. There you have it.
What year is it? I didn’t call this blog ‘occasional crafter’ for nothing. That said, it’s not like I don’t always have some project on the go, it’s just that often it doesn’t feel momentous enough to mention. No matter. These projects are still not momentous, but perhaps an un-momentous life isn’t a bad one. Anyway. Here we are.
In my last post (2021!) I’d made a grey dress for the pink elephant. I decided it didn’t suit her and made her an entirely new yellow one instead:
Much better. I gave her to a friend as a leaving gift and she seemed to like her, so all good. And I gave the grey dress she was wearing to the bear. Feels like that worked? It needs the little cardigan to lift it, colourwise, I think.
…flicks back through photos – Oh! And I put that dress on a dark grey elephant, mostly for this photo – looks like it’s desaturated, but it’s not, obviously:
I made her a new, more colourful dress, but I’ll post a picture of that another time; I think that’s enough elephant pics for now. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been making a bear, for a new baby:
I finished him off and popped him in the post yesterday. I’m hoping he’ll arrive today…
The dungarees ended up taking much longer than I’d hoped as I unpicked them in part and reknitted them. You’ll see (if you’re a knitter) on the left and right of the bib on the chest, there are diagonal rows of knit-2-together and SSK, which should mirror eachother nicely and flow in a nice line. Yet again I’d got them a stitch out, so the line was broken on the bib. The only way I could solve it was:
on the right, place a stitch marker 2 stitches to the right of the SSK
on the left, place a stitch marker 2 stitches to the left of the 2tog
when casting off k1/p1, work up to the marker and then stop
Annnd once I’d done that I was still a stitch out. That’s when I realised I wasn’t casting off the final stitch on the right – the first past the marker. (Don’t worry, these notes are more for me than you, unless you’re about to knit these dungarees). Anyway. It was worth fixing, despite the fact it almost made me late. If a job’s worth doing it’s worth doing well, etc etc. I decided to sew all the clothes onto this chap too – I don’t normally, but thought I’d be extra cautious and remove all the buttons this time as it’s for a baby.
I’m also working on a lighter shawl. I still absolutely love the Almina shawl I made in 2020 – honestly, I really love that thing. But it’s still a bit heavy to take out of the house. (That said, it’s getting softer and more flexible with all the wear it gets at home). I also like having a project I can pick up and put down easily without having to think about. So I’m making Rosi – you can see it in the background of ^ that photo.
I’m still in 2 minds about it, to be honest. Not the pattern, but the yarn choice. Weirdly, it’s the same colour, almost, as the bear:
But the bear is in Cascade 220 Heathers – Doeskin Heather (8012), and I splashed out on some De Rerum Natura Ulysse (Poivre et Sel) for the shawl. Now I’m wondering if it’s *too* lightweight. Or if the needle is a bit big. I dunno. I’m sure it’ll be fine. We’ll see. I’m not sure this picture helps actually, but here it is, on its own.
I also noticed that the socks I made back in 2021 have got holes in the soles now. This is really sad actually, because I like those socks. Which means of course, that I’ll have to try and darn them. I’ll let you know how that pans out, but don’t hold your breath.
So that’s where we’re at. I’ve spared you the other socks I’ve made inbetween. If you’re still out there, I hope you’re well. Have a great weekend, see you soon?
Occasional Crafter 