Ewok Test : Teeny Tinny Little Bear

I finally got around to try out the yarn I purchased for the star wars character knitting project I am going to embark on. Since I did not just want to make a felted blob I decided to knit up a tinny little bear. He was very easy and fast to put together. I think overall it took me about 3 hours (embroidery, felting and all).

The felting process was great. I am very happy with what I got and with how much control I had over it. I soaked him in hot water and then just rubbed parts I wanted to felt between my fingers. Worked out great. I got the result I wanted and I am ready to start the Ewoks now.... Well almost at least. First I need to finish the socks I started on my US#3 Double Pointed needles. For now here is a picture of my tinny 2inch Bear. That has already been adopted by my husband and is sitting on the X-Box to fully dry off...

For those interested in making their own tinny bear here is how to:

Material: left over brown worsted weight yarn, feltable (I used Knit Picks "Wool of the Andes" in Chestnut), scraps of black for embroidered features, scraps of white, and some pink felt for the inside of the ears. A pair of Straight US size 3 (3.25 mm) needles. Tapestry needle.

Body: Cast on 5st, (kfb) 5 times, purl all, (Kfb K1) 5 times, purl all, (Kfb K2) 5 times, purl all, (kfb K3) 5 times, purl all, (kfb K4) 5 times, Stocking net for 9 rows, (ssk k4) 5 times, purl all, (ssk k3) 5 times, purl all, (ssk K2) 5 times, purl all, (ssk K1) 5 times, purl all, (ssk) 5 times, pull yarn through all stitches. --> sew together and stuff.

Arms: Cast on 6 stitches, knit stocking net for 5 rows, ssk 3 times, pull yarn through all stitches --> sew together

Legs: cast on 10 stitches, Knit stocking net for 3 rows, ssk 5 times, pull yarn through all stitches --> sew together

Ears: cast on 5 stitches, purl all, ssk k1 k2tog, pull yarn through all stitches, cut little felt insert that will fit and sew to the wrong side.

Finish: Sew arms and legs to body. Pull yarn ends from arms and feet to back where you want the tail and make a tight big knot (this is going to be the tail), felt in hot water, let dry, sew on ears, embroider face.

I am sure you can also knit him in the round (which would save you a lot of seaming).

Lots of Bordeaux and Wonky Turtles...

Keeping myself busy this weekend was a really easy task. I knitted two projects and finished them. Project on is what I call my Bordeaux Spring Thaw. It is a small shawlette that fits perfectly around my neck and locks great with my leather jacket... And this time I am definitely going to keep the shawl.

I also knitted a pair of fingerless gloves in the same yarn a few weeks ago which I gave away... (as most of my knitted items)

And then there is of course the Turtle. This was a request and it had to be green and pink. So I made the top part of the shell pink and purple which turned into a beautiful flower. The rest of it is knit in two different shades of green and two different yarn weights (dark green is a worsted, light green is a DK which I doubled). The reason I call her wonky is because of all the seed stitch used for her shell.

The pattern for the turtle can be found in Fiona McTague's Book "Knitted Toys". The shawl pattern is available on Ravelry by Cheri McEwen "Spring Thaw Shawl" and the Fingerless Gloves a worked after a pattern by Laura Peveler called "Leafy Fingerless Gloves".

A note on Franny...

A while back I brought all of the monster and animals I knitted into my German 2 class. My students were supposed to give their monster a name, describe the way it looks and talk about what it likes to do in its free time. The exercise was a huge success. My college (!!!) class had a blast with it, they were super creative and spoke German. Mission accomplished!

On Wednesday, I was talking to my students before class and one of them told me that she dreamed about me leaving to go to Switzerland. They got a new teacher and that teacher was super mean and would not belief her that I had an owl that I brought to class and that that owl was super colorful and that her name was Franny.... The student said she was super upset about the dream and was glad it was only a dream.

I guess teaching with my knitted creations had some kind of a lasting impact ;) That lesson also had an impact on me since I liked the name my student gave the owl so much I decided to keep it. So my rainbow owl has been called Franny ever since ...

It feels like spring

Today for the first time this year it really felt like spring outside. How fitting than that I got around to blocking my Echo Flower shawl. It is knit in Knit Picks Gloss lace yarn in a wonderful bright yellow called Dandeline. The shawl sure looks like spring. And I cannot wait to wear it. But see for yourself:

Birthday Yarn

So my birthday was a couple of weeks ago... and just last week I finally decided on what to order from KnitPicks with the wonderful gift card I got for them. Well, I did not so much decide as just finally click on the send-order-button. Otherwise I probably would have changed my mind a million more times. Anyway, the result of my shopping spree came in the mail and here is a picture of what I got!

So as you can see one of the things I got is a ball winder... which is great for all those hanks of lace yarn you see on the top... Winding 440 yards of super thin flimsy lace yarn by hand is definitely not fun so I am hopping the ball winder will make the process less painful. Ok, so the top row, except for the one ball of gray, is all lace yarn ranging from 100% baby alpaca "Alpaca Cloud" in Tide Pool Heather and Raspberry Heather to Shimmer in Eucalyptus which is 70% Baby Alpaca and 30% Silk to 2 Hanks of Oregon Coast Heather and Forest Heather Shadow Lace Yarn (100% Merino Wool). My birthday also brought me 4 more hanks of Bordeaux Gloss Fingering Yarn (70% Merino Wool and 30% Silk)of which I already had 2 hanks. One half of a Bordeaux hank has already transformed into a beautiful fingerless glove. I also designed my own Butterfly Fingerless glove with the rest of the Kenai from my Haruni. Pictures soon to follow. The rest of the lace weight yarns are probably going to transform into lace shawls of various different styles to test-knit some patterns for a wedding shawl. The first hank I knit into something will probably be one of the baby alpaca blends... I keep taking them out to touch them. They are sooooooooooo wonderfully soft!

The bottom row of this picture is for a big special late birthday/possibly Christmas birthday present that had been on hold due to a lack of feltable yarn and time to go to the Local Yarn store to pick some up. So now there are plenty of browns and great ball of Onyx Heather (super dark gray) plus a nice light green called Green Tea Heather and tiny 50 grams ball of Shine Worsted Yarn called Robot. I can already envision Yoda in the Green Tea Heather and Maple Syrup Brown...

I also got 5 balls of City Tweed in Tahitian Pearl.... that are going to be a cardigan....

So I will be busy. Stay tuned

The Magic of Blocking

Finally, I took the time and blocked the Haruni Shawl. And I could not be more pleased with the end-result of all the work. The shawl is absolutely beautiful. Well, of course, I am a little biased ;) So see for yourself. The first picture is the unfinished, unblocked shawl in progress. The rest shows the wet but pinned into shape end-result. Enjoy!

Big Triangle and Little Triangle

For the past few days I have been working on two triangular shawls. The first one I started is knitted in a color called Kenai. It is fingering weight and knitpicks.com brand Gloss . I absolutely love the color... Which is probably why it looks almost completely like the blue I choose for the cardigan. I bought them both on different occasions without even being aware of the fact that they are so close in tone.

The pattern for this shawl is called Haruni and you can find it on knitpicks as well as ravelery. I really like how it came out. I can't wait to see the finished shawl. Unfortunately that is going to be delayed just a little longer since I am almost out of yarn (as you can see by the tiny yarn ball in the picture) and I had to order another skein for the last 6 rows... oh well. Hopefully the yarn is shipped soon and I can finish this project.

I also started knitting this beautiful pattern. I am knitting it in Gloss, lace weight. The color very fittingly is called Dandelion. Since the pattern is calling for a fingering weight yarn I am right now adjusting the amount of stitches. I think I will knit 9x15 instead of the suggested 5x15, which is almost double and should be sufficient to obtain a good size. This one I am actually making for myself. I always wear scarfs or shawls for teaching and in general so I actually own quite a collection by now. And I am always looking for a new addition. This one will be perfect. Again I can't wait to see the finished product. And I may just cast on another ginko shawl in the canopy Tonal Shadow I have in my yarn stash waiting to be used.

Have you ever wondered how to knit a Giant Clam?

At the beginning of January I was asked by Andrew if I can make a giant clam and a box jelly-fish... By the end of the night I had a long long list of underwater creatures that he would like for his 8th Birthday. I got to work right away but lost interest after one or two weeks and went on to other projects. Since the birthday was this Tuesday I had to get moving on finishing the various underwater creatures requested... And I did.

I already blogged about some of the creatures featured in this birthday present like the Nautilus Shells and Blue Sea Star Others just got done last night. Among those is the beautiful red and yellow sunflower starfish, which is a Hansi Singh pattern and featured in her book Amigurumi Knits. I absolutely love the vibrant color combination, the way how the knitting direction of the arms contrasts with the stitch direction of the body, and everything else about this fun and fast (if you don't hibernate it for weeks) project. I was really surprised at the decorative effect the whip stitch gave the bottom of the arms as well.

Another project that hibernated for weeks and got finished Thursday night is the jelly-fish. It is a modification of Hansi Singh's Pattern. The purple tentacles and navy-blue strings are 100% Hansi Singh while the body is a heavily modified version. The whole point was to make the body as "boxy" as possible. I am still not sure if it is square enough but this is what I got. I could make another one that is more box-like but at this point I really don't feel like making another one. Maybe at some point in the future...

Have you ever wondered how to knit a Giant Clam? Well, me neither. And according to my extensive internet pattern search not many people do in general. So I was on my own. To make matters more difficult I had strict requirements for this knit: You have to be able to open and close it. It needed to be as big as possible. There needed to be a pearl in the middle. I started out casting on with two strings of yarn and then separated the loops into two rows (which gave me a nice strong and indestructible joint for the upper and lower shell). Then I knitted a very basic shape in a rib pattern and ended in an i-cord cast off. (I can write up my pattern if you are interested). I picked up some stitches on the inside outer edge of each shell piece and knitted the inside in a great gray. It changes from light to dark gray which gave the inside a really interesting spiral-like pattern. Then I knitted a little ball in white and attached it to the middle of one side. It is not perfect, of course, and I may experiment with shaping the outside shell with short rows... I think I know how this would theoretically work... But I am sure the 8-year old in question will be just fine with this very basic version of a giant clam.

Now all that needs to be done is the wrapping... and we will hopefully have a very happy 8-year-old.

Ice and Knitts...

Snow... ehm Ice Day!!! Which means I don't have to teach today and it also means the lessons I prepared can be used on Friday and I don't need to prepare... Very exciting. And even better it gives me time to knit a few things that have been on someone's birthday wish list. I kind of have to make it up as I go and hopefully I will be more successful than the last few times I tried. We shall see.

On another note, I finally got around to blocking my rainforest scarf. Which is very exciting. I think it came out pretty well. Although I am not sure I will wear it. I have a million green scarfs among others a great big tube scarf from Urban Outfitters. So I don't know I may just give this one away... Not sure.

I also finished my very first cardigan. I really really like it. The pattern was super easy and it was flexible enough to be changed to fit me. I am still really really in love with the color of the yarn. It fits great and looks amazing. I actually wore it for teaching yesterday and it kept me nice and warm on the long drive to Montclair.

Recently, I also got some new yarn that I am very excited about. They are all KnitPicks brand. The beautiful Gloss Bordeaux is going to be a nice little sweater designed by Veera Välimäki called Plain and Simple. Of course the two hanks I got are not going to be enough... So I will just have to order a little more. I still don't know what I am going to do with the rest of the beautiful yarn. But I am sure I will come up with something. So stay tuned. New stuff coming soon.

Teaching Tools and New Yarn

As a language teacher I am always trying to find ways to make students interact with each other and have fun at the same time. One such method is to use a ball that is thrown from student to student. Students then either ask each other a question and elicit an answer or you go around reading something one line, word, letter at a time. I generally like to use the ball, because I don't have to pick people and students will keep track of who had a turn and who did not themselves... so its fun, they interact and I don't have to keep track... Yeah.

In Missouri, we had a tennis ball for such occasions. And quite honestly I never liked to use it because obviously you can really hurt someone with it.... Not a good idea even in a college classroom. So for the most part I use a very soft cow... (Yes the animal you would usually see on meadows grazing...). Obviously I do not have any of those things here in NJ. So I just knitted a ball-like thing.

It worked perfectly as we went around the room reading the alphabet... No one got hurt... We do need to practice the throwing... but all in all well worth spending the two hours to knit this. It also used up most of my left-overs from the owl-knit.

I also purchased new yarn today... Very very pretty blue. It is a heather so the color varies just a little throughout which adds some interest. Originally, I was looking for a nice gray. But this color just caught my eye and I had to have it. It is also perfect for my very first cardigan of which I have already completed 7 rows.

You may be asking what happened to all the stuffies I made in the beginning and why I am not working on those anymore... And no worries, there are still stuffies being made, although considerably less. I just finished another ninja. Since he is going to be a birthday present pictures are going to have to wait till March though. But he turned out quite well. I still have not decided on his special weapon though. I am also still working on some underwater themed stuffies for Andrew although I have not been having much luck with the box-jellyfish and giant clam so far.

Rainforest

Yeah... it is done. My first Lace project is all finished and I am in love with my new beautiful scarf. I still need to block it (and figure out how to block a knitted piece first) but I could not be more satisfied with the result.

Admittedly, I don't know how many times I had to open up entire rows again because I forgot a Yarn Over in the pattern row before.. but it was all worth the trouble.
I will definitely post another picture once it is blocked and even more beautiful.
The pattern is available for free on knitpicks. It is called Winter Flame by juliet romeo juliet.

I also still had about 1.25 skeins left after I finished the scarf so I went and started a pair of fingerless gloves. They are done with central cable... Very pretty, if you ask me. I have by now finished the first one and I really like them. I can't belief how easy they were to make.... I guess I always think things are way more complicated than they actually are... go figure. This pattern is available as a free download on ravelry. It is called Humanity by dlotter.

I also started another Ninja... So many birthdays coming up soon that I have quite the list of stuffies to make.... The ninja was just the easiest choice for right now... I guess I will start on the more complicated stuffies this weekend... (Permitting lesson prep does not take up all weekend....)

Finished and in Progress

I finished the starfish from Hansi Singh's Amigurumi Knits The center is knitted a little too tight. So the arms are really sticking out, but it's fine. I like how he came out. I love the changing colors in the yarn (Red Heart Super Saver Brand, Color 0794 Bay Print)

The under-sight was also done in a Red Heard Super Saver yarn which is called Aran Fleck Color 4313.

Right now I am working on Hansi Singh's Sun Star and I am designing a box jellyfish. I also started my very first lace project. Admittedly I am not doing it in a lace yarn but you have to start somewhere, right? And I read that it is better to start with a thicker yarn so I choose Lion Brand Amazing in color 202 or Rainforest. After 4 repeats I am in love with the look of it. Pictures of the finished product coming soon....

Mine and Semi-Mine

A little while after I started knitting and making stuffies I was over at my host parents house for dinner. That night their son Andrew told me about his biggest wish for Christmas. He wanted a stuffed animal Lilo and Stitch Experiment 345. Unfortunately no one makes such Elastico (the name of the experiment). So I had my work cut out for me. At that point I had knitted enough stuffed animals from Knitted Wild Animals so I started experimenting with the forms.

I started with the hands. The first hand I made had fingers but the wrist was all wrong. In order to fix that I made a second one with a modified wrist and thumb pattern. In order to safe me some time I did not give this trial piece fingers though. On the finished stuffie I did a combination. I used the second wrist and thumb and gave it the fingers from the first trial. I modified the fingers in the finished one by knitting them in the round instead of straight with seaming.

Then I worked on the body. This part was fairly easy. I just had to get the placement of the purple dot in the middle right. Again I ended up making two and got it right on the second trial.

Then came the most daunting part. I had to make the head.... As you can see it is not the easy kind of head. It is actually constructed of a total of 11 pieces: the head itself, the white mask, two dark green eye patches, a nose, and three "spikes" on top each made out of two pieces. I found the finished product rather creepy and jokingly called it the creepy alien clown every time I talked to my host parents about him.

Making the arms and legs was fairly easy. I finished him just in time. An hour before I went over to my host parents house on Christmas Eve.

Andrew (the lucky 7-year-old) was very happy about the end-product. And Elastico is well cared for now. He gets to sleep in the bed every night and is kept safe from any harm. He even gets to take refuge in the car when something is happening in the house ;)

Apart from this big pre-Christmas project, I also experimented with the patterns I had in the books. I changed the monkey body from Knitted Wild Animals . My modified version is wearing a jacket and a blue tie. Doing this was sort of confusing at first, because I had only been knitting for a few short weeks and did not really know too much about patterns and how to best modify things and figure out how everything will fit together in the end product etc... but I figured it out. I like Mr. Monkey with the tie. He is very cute and was adopted into our stuffie collection.

Book 3

The most recent book I acquired is Hansi Singh's Amigurumi Knits. I literally just got this book a few days ago. It is by far the most challenging of the three books i knit from. But it also has the most detailed and intricate designs. I so far have knitted only one pattern out of this book:

And it is a vegetable... or more specifically an eggplant. It was fun knitting this. I also tried the jelly-fish in this book... unfortunately I messed up somewhere and it just ended in a big mess so I opened it up again and I am going to try again... when I am less tired.... If you want to try you can find the free pattern here.

I also knitted two Nautilus shells. This pattern was written by Hansi Singh as well and is available for free on the internet here.

I am currently working on the sea star featured in the book... and one arm in it is going well....

More Christmas Gifts and other Knits from Book 2

The second book I have been knitting with was written by Katie Boyette and is called KnitWit: 20 Projects for Beginners and Seasoned Knitters. I love this book. The monster inside are really creative and fun to make. I find the patterns in this book a little more challenging since most of the things are knitted in the round and bodies and heads are generally made in one piece... so it is a little harder to follow what is going on in the structure once in a while... but I figured it out and once you have done one or two it is very very easy... (I have to admit I also started with one of the most difficult patterns in the book)... Well here is what came out of it:

The angry squid now lives in a stuffed animal hotel located in a seven-years-old room. He even got his own bed and cover...

Frank Monster lives with us. He also found a spot on our increasingly crowded sofa. My husband took him in since he had to live without an eye (and hat) for over 4 weeks. I simply did not have felt to make them with...

The small red ninja was initially intended as a gift but my husband (and everyone else) got really sick over Christmas and so I he got to keep the ninja and it made him very happy...

This black Ninja is going to live in Brooklyn once he gets picked up (or I receive a mailing address). He is a bit bigger than the red one, simply because I knitted him with size 5 instead of 3 needles.... Because he is bigger he got to have two shuriken and I knitted him Nunchucks (10 row long 5 stitch i-cords with a braided white connection...)... He is truly ready to fight ;)

This is Rosie. She currently is looking for a nice home and has taken shelter on our sofa. I might knit her some ears at some point but have not really felt like it yet....

Little Digit is made out of absolutely amazing yarn. It is all fluffy and changes color slightly as you use it.... he also has five heads of which you can see 3 in this picture. He also lives on our sofa and has become really good friends with Frank Monster...

This young lady is called frock. She has 6 legs and is wearing a really short skirt. I am not really happy with the way her eyes came out... So I may change them soon...

This funny critter just got done yesterday. He is a parrot-owl and quite happy. He is the first pattern in this book but I actually found him more challenging than any of the others. It took me a few tries to figure out how to join the eyebumps together... Maybe I was just really tired when I made him as it was late at night...



I am definitely going to make more of the monsters featured in this book. I really really like making them. And I have quite a few requests for knitted Ninjas.....

If you are interested in seeing more of Katie's creations go and check out her blog and Etsy store.

What I knitted for Christmas... Book 1

As I said I started knitting about two and a half months ago. I taught myself how to knit when I was really young, maybe 10 from a kids book. I am German so I learned the Continental (I belief) style of knitting, which really confused me in reading the patterns I was knitting from. But I figured it out. I started out messy... by now I can achieve a pretty good amount of details, my knits look "clean", and I am pretty sure I can knit every animal, monster, or other being that a child could come up with.

I mainly use three books to knit my stuffies.

I started out with Sarah Keen's Knitted Wild Animals and most of the knitted Christmas Presents I gave this Christmas were patterns from her book:

My husband wanted a koala... so he got this little critter.

The Panda's eyes somehow ended up looking a bit creepy, which I think was my fault. I kind of messed them up a bit when I sew them on....

I think the elephant is really really cute. Unfortunately the kid who received him really wanted his brothers stuffie instead and thus ignored the poor little elephant...

The monkey is one of my favorites from this book.... so I changed the pattern a bit and also made one that is wearing a tie and jacket....

I love the tiger. My graduate schools Mascot was a tiger and so this lovely lady went out to Missouri to make my former roommate happy. I also knitted her the scarf she is wearing since it can get really really cold out in Missouri...





I also knitted the giraffe and another snake like Harry (which is also a pattern out of this book). I enjoyed knitting the patterns from this book. They are really easy to follow and it is a good start if you want to knit stuffed animals. All of the patterns are made up of individual flat pieces that are latter sewn together and stuffed so it is really easy to follow the development of your animal and get familiar with the structural components that a stuffed animal is build with. The animals in this book are also great for smaller children since the animals are fairly big and there are no small parts that can end up as choking hazards, which makes these ideal as presents for the next baby-shower,... not that I have ever been to one...