I made these Totoro mittens for Mr. A earlier this winter, and am just getting around to posting about them now. I’m not thrilled with these photos of the mits, since I don’t think they do them justice. I recall taking them at night, on my desk, because Mr. A wanted to wear the mits the next day. I should have tried for some better daytime photos, but when the sun rises and sets while you’re still at work, you do the best you can.

Anyhow, this pattern is based on the characters from My Neighbor Totoro, a really charming Japanese Anime film from 1988. It’s one of Mr. A’s favourites, so he got pretty excited about the idea of Totoro mittens. I had made him a scarf a long time ago, but nothing much else, so it was fun to knit for my “significant other”.

The pattern is called Norwegian Totoro Mittens, by brella (ravelry link). It was the first time I’d done colourwork in a few years, so it took me a while to get used to it. Bit of cussing involved, but it wasn’t the pattern’s fault. The only adjustment to the pattern that I made was knitting a liner for the mits, which made them super-warm and took care of the yarn carry-overs on the back of the knitting.

I used some good old Lion Brand Wool-Ease, so we could wash them if necessary. Colourways Oxford Grey (#152, darker shade) and Grey Heather (#151). Even with the liners, I don’t think I used more than one ball of each colour. I really like how they turned out. Mr. A does too, and that’s all that really counts.

Now, if you know me, you’ve probably learned I’m not a huge fan of monkeys. No idea why, they just kinda bug me. However, through this knitting project I’ve earned a new appreciation for the little guys. Still not my favourite animal, but now at least I know I can knit a cute one.

Why knit a monkey? It is a present for my boss’ new child. I know the boss loves monkeys, so it was an easy choice. I looked high and low for a nice pattern, through my toy books and online, and I eventually found this great free pattern by Sarah Keen. Click to enlarge all photos.

Here he is from the side. He’s got a little bit of junk in the trunk so he’ll sit upright. As you can see, he’s been knit in pieces and seamed, which was the only fiddly part of the pattern. He wasn’t too difficult otherwise. Assembling the monkey, especially the face, was a bit tricky, as the instructions weren’t too specific on the placement of pieces. I had to take a look at other peoples’ monkeys to see if I was on the right track. In the end, I think it worked out fairly nicely.

He is made out of Knitpicks Swish DK, in Nutmeg (light brown) and Cinnamon (darker brown). I used about 1.5 balls of Cinnamon for the body, and maybe half a ball of Nutmeg for the hands, feet, ears, and face. I really overshot the yardage necessary and bought enough yarn to make about 3 more monkeys. With Knitpicks’ prices, the yarn was under $10. The stuffing was a few bucks, and I used some leftover sock yarn to sew on a face and make his spiffy little scarf. Not bad! Hopefully he’ll be a hit with the new kiddo.

I have finally finished these socks!
You know it’s a bad sign when you can’t even remember starting a project. It’s been over a year. I know I started them while I was living in the other apartment, and we moved in February. I’m not even sure why it took so long. I just kept finding other things to knit, and the socks just became a back-burner project. Mind you, I like having at least one pair of socks on the go, since they’re good for knitting in front of the tv, or in the car, or wherever. I just kept these on the go for a while.

Anyhow.

They turned out pretty nice. I got the size almost perfect, somehow. The stripes don’t match, as I’m not that anal. They were knit on circular needles, using the magic loop method.

Pattern: my own toe-up try-on-as-you-go pattern

Yarn/Needles: Felici “Clay” from Knitpicks.com, 2 balls. On 2mm needles.

Started/Finished: doh? / September 5, 2010.

I know I’ve been slacking when I can’t remember the last knitting update I made on this blog. It’s a knitting blog, right?

Anyhow, the latest project that I’ve photographed is my little sun glasses case.
I’m not going for structural support with this project. I’m not kidding myself – if I was to sit on this thing, those glasses will be toast. Toast contained in a nice little knitted case, however.

It’s made of Noro Kureyon Sock yarn. I do love this stuff, oh man. It’s scratchy, like most Noro yarn, but it’s so gorgeous. No one beats Noro as far as colour combos. This colourway is #180. I used maybe, 1/5th of a skein, if that. You can see I only went through a few colour changes.  It’s knit in the round, on size 2 needles.

Here’s an action shot – you can see the little eyelets a bit better when there’s something in it. When I’m using yarns like Noro, that is, yarns that have a lot of colour changes or texture variations, I try to keep the stitch pattern simple. Otherwise, I find both elements distract from each other.

Anyhow, I just wanted something to keep the dust off and maybe cut down on the scratches when they’re rolling around in my purse. This little case serves its purpose. I wouldn’t recommend it for people who spend more than $25 on sunglasses. I don’t know why people spend more than $25 on sunglasses, unless they’re prescription.  Never seemed like a product that one needs to spend a lot of money on. If you’ve got tons of money to spend on sunglasses, congrats! I doubt you’d bother to knit something to cover them, if that’s how things are. That being said,  it took very little time to make – I’ll write up a little pattern if anyone’s interested.

So, I made this hat a long time ago, or at least it seems that way. It was a birthday present for my brother, so I think I finished it in mid-January. I was hoping to get a photo of him wearing it, but since that pretty much never happens, I was smart enough to take some photos before I sent it off. That’s me, ahead of the curve… though it took me several knitted objects and a zillion unfilled requests to get a clue… Anyhow, I liked this pattern, The Boy Hat. It would look fine on a girl too, obviously.

In fact, that’s it on a girl right there! It’s really difficult taking a photo of your own head. Kiki is making an appearance in these photos too, in stray hair form. This is before I picked all the fur out of the hat. I wish she didn’t shed so much.

My favourite part of the hat is the ribbing pattern. The decreases at the crown are pretty neat.

Again, possibly not the best photo, but you can see the decreases.  My head is waaay bigger than my brother’s, so I’m sure it looks better on him – but who the hell knows. He never sends me photos. Heh.
Anyhow, the yarn is Knitpicks Swish Worsted, in Black. Took me about a day and a half to make. Nice & easy.

I guess I never posted this set.  I sent it off to its new owner a few weeks ago.

I started this little set a few months ago. I made a post about it when I started it, and I had a good chunk of it done then. Baby stuff is fun. It usually goes quickly (when worked on consistently, which I never seem to do) and it’s pretty cute. I like making stuff for other peoples’ kids.  If/when I have kids, I’m going to make tons of little outfits and stuff for them.

The finished set turned out quite cute, at least in my opinion. The neckline on the sweater is super-stretchy, so a giant head can go through there. I was worried that the hat would be too big, even though I knit the smallest size. Anyhow! I already sent the little pattern book back to my friend, and I can’t remember what it was called. It’s Bernat Softee yarn, and the pattern was in a little Bernat booklet.

What is it? It’s a tea cozy. I’m not sure why I’d been putting off knitting one, since I’ve really needed one for a while. I finally searched out a pattern yesterday afternoon and just whipped it up. Started yesterday, finished yesterday. It was so quick and satisfying.  I’m so ridiculously pleased with how it turned out.

Here it is with the teapot what needed coverin’. It’s a really old teapot. My dad’s mom gave it to me when I moved out of the house into my own apartment. I think it’s from the 30′s. That’s what she thought, anyhow. They did things right back then – it doesn’t drip at ALL.

And here they are together. So cute. I haven’t decided if I’m giong to sew that little tail at the top down or not – I kind of like it standing up like that in all its wonky glory.

Some specs -

Pattern: Autumn Tea Cozy from Not Another KnitBlog!

Yarn: Noro Kureyon #152 (discontinued), a little less than 1 skein

Time: 3 hours? something like that

I started these socks in MAY. How embarrassing. Mind you, they’re not the only socks I’ve been working on since then, but still. I’m glad they’re done. I’ve got a bunch of non-sock projects to finish up, so I’ll probably be working on those other things for the next little while.

As usual, my own toe-up pattern. Short-row toe & heel. I love this colourway (Regia 4-fädig Sierra Color #17664) and the way the yarn knitted up. Also, if you don’t look too carefully, the stripes match up on each sock!

(If you do look carefully, they’re off by about 2 rows, but who is that anal? Seriously.)