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 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.
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?
I’ve had this week off work. Inexplicably I’ve made:
• 1 loaf of sourdough bread (routine) • 1 loaf of stilton and pecan bread (to have with some butternut squash soup I’d made previously) • 1 loaf of malted wholemeal bread (to use up the flour before it goes out of date) • 1 batch of oat biscuits (to feed someone who wanted something sweet, and we didn’t have anything ready made) • 1 malt loaf (sweet, not bread – because I like it, and I finally bought another jar of malt extract recently.)
Actually, it’s not really inexplicable, is it? I’ve just explic’d it.
Some of it is now in the freezer. The stilton and pecan loaf of was honestly the biggest loaf of bread I’ve ever seen. It’s nice – surprisingly light, but absolutely enormous, and frankly, not a picture to look at. I would make it again, but I’d halve the recipe. It was from the Paul Hollywood ‘How to bake’ book (£0.99p Kindle deal ages ago)- but if you google it, you’ll find the entire recipe online, should you fancy making it too. Goes well with soup.
It’s been ages since I last posted here. I’d just started making an elephant in my last post.
I went from not liking this yarn to loving it again. It’s really soft. Probably not that robust for toys, but actually just makes toys that feel like they’ve been loved forever. This elephant is a really lovely size too.
I started out with a t-shirt and pinafore. Also in Krea Deluxe. Then for some reason (and this happens a lot) decided that wasn’t the right outfit. So I made her a dress instead:
And actually, I’m not sure it’s better now I look at it. She’s also really hard to photograph. Lovely in real life, but just doesn’t come across that well in pictures.
I think the issue I have with this yarn (aside from it being a bit splitty) is that it doesn’t feel like it sews up that well. Probably better if you’re knitting in the round, maybe. But still the best range of colours.
I’d also just finished another pair of mismatched socks last time I posted. I’d bought 3 colours of Cascade Heritage yarn: purple, red and coral. They were an odd colour choice to be honest, but I just liked them when they were all together. And you get a lot of yarn for your money, and 3 colours gives you a lot of choices about what to do with it.
I used the same stitch count as before, and the same pattern from Winwick Mum. I think each of the stripes is 7 rows, but the rest of the lengths/rows I just made up as I went along. I held up sock 1 to measure it against other socks I’d made as I went, and sock 2 to sock 1 to get them the same. Lazy bones.
They came out really nicely actually. I’m not keen on the jagged look of the coral colour at the start of the heal, so maybe I’d change that in another pair, but overall I’m pleased with them.
And they do actually look like a pair. We’ll see how they wash though. The socks I made in Drops sock yarn have really felted – or actually one has. One was striper than the other, and the one with the big block of red (and less stripes) has felted lot in the wash. I’ve been chucking them in the machine rather than hand washing them, because… well, see lazy bones comment above. If you’re curious, the best ones in the wash are the KnitPicks Felici self-striping ones. They’ve kept their shape and colour and haven’t felted at all. They’re also really soft. I just wish they did more colours I like.
I also made two small bunnies for two parents to be, at the request of someone from work. They asked me how long they take to knit, and I decided I’d keep a note this time, as people often ask. Turns out I’m a poor note taker. I’m already a distracted knitter – I’ll often stop after a row or two to google something, stare out of the window or just generally faff about. So trying to time myself was a bit of a minefield. This is roughly what I got:
Body: 71 mins Arm: 21 mins x 2 = 42 mins Foot: 40 mins x 2 = 80 mins Ear: 28 mins x 2 = 56 mins Head: 53 mins
Roughly 5 hours? That’s just to knit the rabbit. Then there’s sewing up, and making the clothes. Which I completely forgot to count.
I’m a slow knitter though. Not really sure how long it would take a quick knitter. These are knitted in Cascade 220 wool, held with Kidsilk Haze for the fluff. Then the t-shirts are Krea Deluxe cotton, and the Schachenmayr Catania Denim Originals (152) for the dungarees.
And yep, that is a different t-shirt than shown in the first pic. I swapped one out as there was too much blue with the dungarees. I was pleased with these. I really like the fluff, actually. Also, that Cascade 220 is pretty robust. Makes for quite a solid rabbit when it’s knitted on 2.75mm needles. I think I made the grey t-shirt on 2.5mm needles, so it wasn’t too big. (The blue one was a bit big).
This week I’ve also knitted a dress and 2 cardigans for larger rabbits. Mainly because I decided I didn’t like the ones I’d made previously. These are for rabbits still waiting to be gifted, after, what… 2 years, I think. Pandemics eh?
I’m sitting in the garden. It looks like it’s going to rain any minute, but actually it’s quite nice. The birds are singing, and aside from that it’s quiet and fresh. I’ve just made tomorrow night’s dinner and there’s a plum clafoutis in the oven too. Actually, I tasted half a plum while I was prepping it, and it was completely tasteless, so we’ll see. Might sound like an episode of the good life, but we’re not there yet.
I’m still in sock and gardening mode at the moment. (Although I’m also making a pink elephant.) After the woolly-wholesomeness of my last socks, I fancied knitting socks in a really bright colour. So I bought some Cascade Heritage yarn which seems to get good reviews – and actually, is quite cheap for the amount you get in a skein.
I started the stripy one first. Then, we went to see friends (finally!) and I thought it would be good to take something easy and mindless with me, so I prepped the second sock. Sometimes I like knitting while I’m talking. In the end it was such a joy to see them, and to sit in their beautiful garden, I didn’t knit much. But I carried on with the simpler sock when I got back. I was intending to make a corresponding pair for each, but now I’m not so sure…
Originally, I was going to reverse the stripes on the stripy one. Thinner at the top, wider apart at the bottom. But now I’m thinking I could just make another 2 socks using the same yarn in any way I fancy and mix and match them. If they all use the same colours, who’s to say they’re not a pair? Plus, I’ll only wear them at home anyway, so does it matter? Not really. So I’m using these as ‘trying it out’ socks and knitting whatever I feel like. I’ve got a hunch I’d prefer this yarn on a smaller needle, actually. We’ll see about that.
Last summer I made some bunnies for the children of friends abroad. I have no idea when I’ll get to see them and hand the bunnies over. The kids’ll probably be fully grown at this rate. But a few weeks ago I decided I wanted to reknit their clothes. Just suddenly decided I didn’t like them. I was going to knit them in the Krea Deluxe cotton I bought – but it’s so splitty! The colours are absolutely beautiful, and it’s organic cotton yarn, but it really does split and if you’re knitting on small gauge needles you’re forever picking up the single strand of thread that gets left behind. So I put the clothes on pause. Then inexplicably decided to knit a pink elephant with the yarn instead.
How this is different to knitting clothes, I haven’t worked out. But the beauty of a hobby is the option to abandon all logic and/or quality control when you feel like it and just get on with things.
This project bag is lovely – a xmas gift from the friend I mentioned earlier.
If you’re the sort of person who might make the elephant pattern using the Krea Deluxe yarn and wonder if the yarn is strong enough to take the weight of curling up the trunk, the answer is no. It took 5 attempts at sewing that up before it did what it was supposed to. Krea didn’t cut it, nor did some random (what I thought was strong) yarn I found in the drawer. Eventually I used a bright red yarn – maybe a cotton glace? Luckily it’s true – you can’t see the thread you use to sew up mattress stitch. It does get buried in the stitches themselves. And now the head is done, she’s quite nice. I’m making an elephant with shoes on. I haven’t made an animal with shoes in ages. We’ll see from the finished article if there was a reason for that I’ve forgotten.
Occasional Crafter 