MERRY CHRISTMAS! 2008

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! from Pudge 2008

We wish all of you a Joyful and Loving holiday

and a new year filled with Peace and Love


Christmas Peeps

Santas, Angela Mia, Trees & Elves for the kids

a Christmas kittycat for theknittycat 

Lovey Dovey the Christmas Dove for my DH

Index of my Patterns and Tutorials Here


Lots more Peeps photos to be found at http://www.flickr.com/knittycat 

and Pudge photos at http://www.flickr.com/anthor

Springtime Peeps! And a new Flying Piggy Pattern!

Lots more Peeps photos to be found at http://www.flickr.com/knittycat 
and Pudge photos at http://www.flickr.com/anthor

After the last post, filled with what I haven't completed, 

I thought it would be nice to show you some of what I HAVE completed lately:

It's been a very PINK spring!  :o)

We have two very Pink Ballerinas:

Pippa Potomus for Mia's Birthday

The End

and Katerina Kitty Ballerina for Kristina's Birthday

Katerina rehearsing for her debut! 

Pippa and Katerina are cousins and have a lot in common 

- they both love pink and they both love to dance!

They're very good friends, too!  :o)

Katerina Kitty Ballerina with her cousin Pippa Potomus

and we also introduce:

Kermie 2 for Kristina's Birthday (okay, okay, he's not pink!)

Kermit THE Frog - Kermie 2 for Kristina - with frog legs

Kermie 2 and Katerina are very close 

            and they enjoy strolling and chatting

 Katerina often goes to Kermie 2 for advice from her big brother






















Also not pink:
a sparkly little Marisa Mousie for Jill























And before that I made...
the Peep that we've fallen in love with...  I ordered some cool new yarn to try - Moda Dea Fur Sure, and when I saw this lovely yellow fuzzy stuff, it just cried out to be a...

Peepsie Peep!



We've fallen in love with a Peep!


We're all crazy about her and so glad that she was an experiment with the new yarn, and not a gift for anyone, so we get to KEEP her!  YAYAYAY!!!

Peepsie says "Peeep!"  Which means, "Hi!"

Pudgie loves Peepsie Too!  :o)



And here's...

Mossalia the wee Mermaid - my first mermaid experiment. I LOOOOOVE mermaids! :o)


You can see that I caught her (carefully) barehanded. We did not keep her, of course, but had a nice chat, took some photos, said "goodbye", and watched her swim away beneath the waves.

 And we can't forget the comic fans amongst our ranks...  (okay, I'm one of them, I admit it.)

Marvel Comics' the Human Torch.
FLAME ON!

















 
- my impressionistic interpretation - for Matt. :o)

He's quite small (prox 3 1/2" not counting flames, 4" with flames).
I think he kind of looks like a fire elemental. :o)

Knitted on size 2 needles with Senso size 3 crochet thread. Flames crocheted in strips and sewn to body.

And A NEW PATTERN!!!

if you have been saving up things to do "When Pigs Fly"....  The Time has Come!

We have a Pink Flying Piggy!


Petunia Phlying Piglet

Petunia Phlying Piglet - the flying piggy for Dorothy

Complete with an easy pattern to make her! To make Petunia, I came up with a new (as far as I can determine) idea for making the legs of a 4-legged peep, all in one, along with the rest of the body. She’s knit in the round, all in one piece (except for wings of course), including legs, ears and tail and just stitching the sides of the legs and ears together when the knitting is done. A nice easy project. I really enjoyed making her! :o)

Pattern for Petunia Phlying Piglet can be found here!

Petunia Phlying Piglet - the flying piggy for Dorothy - Ready for Take Off!

More about Petunia and the Loopy Legs Technique in the next post! (which won't be too long away, I hope, because it's nearly finished!)

Hope you are all having a lovely summer! Lots of fun in the sun (with your sunscreen of course) and playing at the beach, and BBQ's, and happy times! :o) Stay Cool! (I sooo want to put "Dudes" here! heh heh)

Errata. :o/ and New Patterns! :o)

Please check out www.flickr.com/knittycat for larger photos and all of the peeps.

Nellie the Musical Elephant

:o(   ERRATA:
Well it was bound to happen... An error in one of the patterns, and a big one!  Poor Nellie the Elephant has an error in the instructions for her feet.  :o/  






The corrected pattern is in the pdf now, if you prefer to download Nellie again. 
(since 04/09/08 so if you downloaded it after that date, you have the corrected pattern) 

Or you can substitute the following instructions for the ones in the pattern: 
 
Nellie's Feet:
* FEET PATTERN *
Feet
C/o 6 st onto two circs.
Rnd 1: Kfb each st around (12 st)
Rnd 2 and all even rnds: k around
Rnd 3: kinc, k1 around (18 st total)
(increase every other st, using
the increase of your choice - I use the kinc
throughout because it is less noticeable)
Rnd 5: kinc k2 around (24 st total)
(increase every 3rd st)
Rnd 7: k2tog k2 around (18 st total)
Rnd 9: k2tog k1 around (12 st total)
Rnd 11: k around
Stuff quite full and Bind off.
Sew feet to bottom of elephant evenly spaced.
Put front feet as far forward as looks good, so
she won't topple forward.
........
My apologies to anyone who was caused any grief by my error. 

And profound thanks to Susan of spinblessing.com for finding this and bringing it to my attention! 



On to happier news...



:o)  NEW PATTERNS!

Eggy/Bunnies

EggyBunnies

Eggs or Bunnies

Download
Eggy/Bunny Peeps Knitting Pattern



 









Wee Lambies

4 Little Lambs

wee Lambie Meringue for Mia's Easter

Lambie Pinkletoes for Kristina's Easter

Download
Wee Baby Lambies Peeps Knitting Pattern



Petit Fours

Petit Fours and Eggy Bunnies for Easter

Download Petit Fours for Peeps Pattern




And, coming in the not too far distant future I hope:


Kermit Peep! (Yes, Really!)
and Hello Kitty Peep!
  (--- update --- these have been delayed again, though I have made progress on Kermie)


They're in the works (meaning that I'm working on them), but I'm veeerrry slooow, so not sure how long it will be.
I hadn't planned to make a Kermie pattern, but I found out that our niece, Kristina, likes him, so I'm making her Kermie 2 for her June birthday, and while I'm working on him, I'm recording what I'm doing.  I ran into a bit of a  problem though, I didn't remember how I'd made his feet and hands.  :o/  So that's been a bit challenging, but I'm recreating them.  it would actually be easier for me to re-invent them, to just start fresh, and go at it, but since so many of you have professed a desire to make this particular Kermie, I'm doing my best to make the new one as close to my original as possible.
Hello Kitty peep was going to be next, but the need to make a Kermie for Kristina has bumped him ahead, and Kitty is on the back burner for a while.  Also, it turns out that I find knitting with white yarn rather boring, so I'm not anxious to get back to her.  But I will, eventually.


I've been experimenting with speaking into a digital recorder while I'm knitting, recording the steps I'm taking.  This is working lots better than stopping to make notes as I'm knitting, because it doesn't interrupt my flow very much.  Whereas writing as I go is very disruptive.  I really recommend this method to pattern writers.



         ..........................................................................................................................



Kermie Update:
Time has passed and I haven't gotten this posted, or completed either the Kermie pattern (though I have completed Kermie 2), or the Hello Kitty pattern.  :o( 
Health issues have imposed themselves between me and what I want to be doing.  So please forgive my slowness.  I do hope to eventually get it all done, Hopefully in our lifetimes.  ;o)  Well it would be really difficult for me to get it done AFTER my lifetime! 


Future Tutorials:

I've also begun a couple of photo tutorials that I hope to finish in the not-too-far-distant future (but going by my track record, I wouldn't  hold my breath waiting if I were you.)
These are the ones that I have started:
 1. making yarn knot eyes (a la Jean Greenhowe)
 2. double knitting for peeps
I haven't found any available for these, so I'm attempting to fill that void.  At least put a crumb out there.
And there's another one that I'm currently working on:

3. knitting in the round on two circs - from a different perspective
(though there are plenty of great tutorials on this already available, while describing the process to a friend, I recently noticed a great similarity in knitting this way to knitting flat, and I'd like to illustrate it to take the mystery out of a really easy, and useful, technique.)


Next post will be about what I HAVE completed lately! 



We hope that you are all having a lovely summer so far, and aren't suffering too much from the heat!

You can see that Pudge doesn't!  ;o)

Bliss

"For he loves the sun and the sun loves him."
                                        - Christopher Smart

What comes between Easter and Mother's Day?

Please check out www.flickr.com/knittycat for larger photos and all of the peeps.

What comes between Easter and Mother's Day?
This post, apparently.  ;o)

This blog is becoming a holiday affair... Quite unintentionally, I assure you.   But since I make a lot of peeps as holiday gifts, it's just been happening that way.
I'm busting out of that mold today, though.  

Belated Easter for Kristina & Mia:
Last Sunday, we had a happy family gathering, celebrating 3 birthdays, and belated Easter for our two younger nieces, whom we hadn't seen since Christmas.


  Mia and Kristina got their Eggy/Bunnies, Eggletina and Eggalia:

Eggletina, Kristina's eggy/bunny for Easter

Eggalia, Mia's eggy/bunny for Easter

(Made with Softee Baby "Rocking Horse" and RH Baby Teri "Baby Print")










Their fuzzy lambies, Lambie Pinkletoes and Lambie Meringue:

wee Lambie Meringue for Mia's Easter

Lambie Pinkletoes for Kristina's Easter

(made with  TLC Baby Amore and Paton's Be Mine*, respectively)





(Patterns for the Eggy/Bunnies and Wee Lambie Peeps will be coming in the next post.)

* I am not recommending knitting peeps with Paton's Be Mine though, because it's so hard to work with, even though it does make a yummy soft and fuzzy fabric. *

And we (finally) gave Kristina her Christmas Cookie Monster!  

Made after Christmas, to replace the one that Kristina didn't get at Christmas.

Christmas Cookie Monster for Kristina

When we gave an Elmo to Mia and a Cookie to Kristina for Christmas, wee Mia "adopted" Cookie with such fervor that no one had the heart to take him away from her, least of all, sweet Kristina.  So I promised to make Kristina a replacement.  And finally, she has him! And she was delighted with him!  Hurray! 

(Cookie Monster Pattern is available free!  See patterns and tutorials.)

Cookie Monsters for Mia, Kristina, and D

Here are all three Cookie Monsters, D's - the original - and Mia's and Kristina's.  You might notice that D's felt that he should have a Christmas scarf as well!  :o)


Tony's birthday goodies:
The main purpose of our gathering, was to celebrate Tony's birthday.  For the occasion I made some goodies for him.

Tony's sunset washcloth

He LOVES hot bright colors, especially orange, red, and yellow, so I made a simple cotton washcloth with a very bright colorway of Sugar and Cream.  Just a plain garter stitch. But it made a wonderful zigzag pattern, and the garter st made it nice and cushy.  :o)
Don't you love multicolor yarn? You never know what you're going to get.

Moneybag for Tony's Birthday

Next - a money bag, stockinette st, in the round, bright yellow, lion brand soft baby, with a big red dollar sign on one side and a big red t on the other.  Filled with money of course.  :o) a teen boy's fave gift. 

An interesting feature is the closure: I felt that tying the drawstrings or using a bead would be too bulky, but it needed to close pretty securely so the money wouldn't fall out, so I knitted a strip and wrapped it around the drawstrings, snugly, and sewed it closed, making sure it still would slide.  It worked just great!
 

Maxie - Maximilian Monkey for Tony's Birthday

And last - but of course not least to a peep or amigurumi lover - a skateboarding monkey peep, Maximillion, with a backpack full of bananas! 

He prefers being called Maxie, by the way.
 

Maxie's backpack in my hand

Making the teensy backpack was such fun!  I felt like Gulliver in the land of Lilliput.  :o)





We owe the skateboard to chez michelle... I'd considered making one, since Tony loves skateboarding, but I wasn't sure how a knitted skateboard would come out, so I hesitated to make it.  But then I saw this wonderful ami [here] by chez michelle and saw how feasible the skateboard was.
 

Maxie - Maximilian Monkey for Tony's Birthday back

Construction  comments:
Maxie was made with Bernat Microspun Mango, and bright yellow, Lion Brand Soft Baby, using my Wee Lambie Peep Pattern (free pattern for the Lambies coming in my next post, along with the pattern for the Eggy/Bunnies).  I made him with longer legs and arms (appropriate for a monkey), and slight modifications for the ear shape.  And, of course I did some simple colorwork (which I don't like doing), for the face.  The face and head were made the same way as the lambies, but after stuffing and closing his head, I needle-sculpted his face to give him a more monkey-shaped muzzle.

Maxie with his accessories

His skateboard was made with two strands of size 10 crochet cotton, and size 1 needles.  Knit in the round, a simple tapered tube, then slipped a piece of cardboard in (cut to fit) and closed up.  Added seed beads for wheels and a piece of yellow beading elastic for a carrying strap.
My DH and I were really happy with him!  :o)  and so was Tony, which is what counts, of course. :o)







Marvel Comics' The Human Torch for Matthew:
I couldn't have peeps for the other nieces and nephews and not have something for Matt, of course, so we took the opportunity to give him the "Human Torch" I'd finished a few weeks ago.

Marvel Comics' the Human Torch for Matt

Unlike the Thing, the Torch peep is much more impressionistic.  He rather reminds me of a fire elemental.  He's quite small, doubleknitted in my "classic peep" style, with sz 3 crochet cotton (Senso) and size 2 needles.  The flames were crocheted in long strips (I've forgotten the hook size), and sewn on. 

back of Marvel Comics' the Human Torch for Matt in my hand

The moment I saw that yarn, I immediately thought "The Torch!"

Matt seemed quite happy with him.  :o)




I'll be posting the Lambie and Eggy/Bunny patterns with the next post, and I hope that won't be tooooo long from now.

Kermit THE Frog with borders

Also.... I'm actually working on a Kermit the Frog pattern (as I've received MANY requests!).  Making a Kermie for Kristina's June birthday, but it's a challenge, trying to remember how I made the original!  :o) 

Wish me luck!








Many thanks to all of you kind folks who have been so supportive, and so willing to comment so positively on my flickr.com pages, and elsewhere.  I appreciate it more than I can say.  It gives me strength to do the arduous work of pattern writing. It's arduous for me, anyway.  I like to just grab my needles and some nice yarn and just CREATE!!  Stopping and thinking about what I'm actually doing is quite a stretch.  ;o)


Cheers!