What? No Knitting?

No Time?  

Does it ever feel as you're racing the clock?  There's so much to do at home and precious  little time--or energy--left for the fun stuff (i.e. crafting).


Other than the finished amigurumi from earlier this week, there's been little knitting this week.  To be fair, I did finish one sock (only heaven knows when its mate will be cast on).  A sleeve on my beloved--albeit much neglected--Bohus Redux saw some action (its hard slogging through it now).  And necessity required that I start a small project too . . . .  And I would have photographed it all and blogged properly 'bout it except for one small problem: I'm sick. :(  


Everyone in the house is on the mend, so now its my turn to sniffle and sneeze (I'm really quite the sight with my red and raw nose, bundled in my jammies, surrounded by used tissue and an empty Kleenex box--not pretty.  Not one bit).


So please forgive me if I'm less than enthused 'bout the post, the blog and craftiness in general.  See you on the other side.

A Day Off

My youngest was feelin' a wee bit under the weather, so I decided to keep him home today.  It gave him a chance to rest and get better; also it gave me the chance to finish my Kirby amigurumi. 

Waiting for their Faces

Don't they look cute even without any facial features? I cut out pieces from plain old felt to make the eyes and mouth.  Using acrylic paint, I painted the details.

Waiting for Paint to Dry

 Once the paint was dry, I sewed on the features with plain thread and needle.

Kirby with Friend

My boys are both terribly pleased with their new friends.  I'm already contemplating the addition of more friends (my boys are putting in their requests for Waddle Doo and Meta Knight)


Have a great week! :)

About the Slipper Mods

Through the Woods

A few knitters have contacted me through Ravelry re: row-by-row instructions for the child version of the non-felted slippers.  So I decided to publish my changes here on the blog so I can re-direct other knitters here.  You will still need to print off the original pattern.


Child Version of Non-Felted Slippers

Here are my changes: Cast on 40 sts 
Row 1-K20 PM K20 
Row 2-Increase as per original pattern (44sts) 
Row 3 (and all odd rows)-Knit 
Row 4-Increase (48 sts) 
Row 6-Increase (52 sts) 
Row 8-Increase (56 sts) 
Row 10-Increase (60 sts) 
Row 11-Knit and remove markers

Instep: Row 1-Knit 
Row 2-P27 PM P6 PM P27 
Row 3-K20 ssk twice K3tog K6 sl 1 K2tog psso K2tog twice K20 (52 sts) 
Row 4-Purl 
Row 5-K16 ssk twice K3tog K6 sl 1 Ktog psso K2og twice K16 (44 sts) 
Row 6-Purl 
Row 7-K25 ssk (43 sts) 
Row 8-sl 1 P6 P2tog (42 sts) 
Row 9-sl 1 K6 ssk (41 sts) 
Row 10-sl 1 P6 P2tog (40 sts) 
Row 11-sl 1 K6 ssk (39 sts) 
Row 12-sl 1 P6 P2tog (38 sts) 
Row 13-sl 1 K6 ssk (37 sts) 
Row 14-sl 1 P6 P2tog (36 sts) 
Row 15-sl 1 K6 ssk (35 sts) 
Row 16-sl 1 P6 P2tog (34 sts) 
Row 17-sl 1 K6 ssk (33 sts) 
Row 18-sl 1 P6 P2tog (32 sts) 
Row 19-sl 1 K6 ssk DO NOT TURN K11 (31 sts) 
Row 20-P18 P2tog P11 (30 sts) 
Work cuff as written in original pattern.

Please remember this is NOT my pattern.  This great slipper pattern comes from Yuko Nakamura who has kindly provided her work for free here on Ravelry (it's a PDF file you can open and store on your computer or save in your Rav library).


Hope this helps out anyone who wants to make a child-sized version. I'll be back with a proper post soon.

Winter's Bounty

Some Distractions

Mixing dry ingredients

Instead of finishing my wee little Kirbys, I was busy doing other things.  Of late I've taken to baking every other weekend, usually muffins and occasionally cookies.  

Stirring dry into wet 

There's something terribly satisfying about makin' stuff from scratch: it feels like I'm doing something good for my family and they truly do appreciate it.  Everyone enjoys a muffin for breakfast or snack.

Spooning batter into tins

And I have a really good basic recipe that can be used with just about any fruit.  My fave are with bananas, but I've made them with apple sauce and pumpkin puree.  I bet you could easily substitute other fruit (although come fall we'll have a tremendous amount of apples to use up 'cuz we got loads of apple trees).

Freshly baked banana muffins

Not sure where it originally came from, but my mother-in-law gave me the recipe.  Thought I'd share with you my most fave muffin recipe:


2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2  tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)


2 eggs 
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups fruit (applesauce, mashed bananas, or pumpkin puree)
Note: for pumpkin puree use 1 cup of pumpkin mixed with 1/2 cup water


Mix dry ingredients thoroughly.
Mix in sugars until well combined and the stir in raisins (optional).
In another bowl mix wet ingredients until smooth.
Stir dry into wet (don't over stir.)
Spoon into greased muffin tin and bake at 350 F (180 C) for  20-25 min.
Makes a dozen muffins.


Enjoy!  And hope you're having a great weekend too. :D

Small is Good

Not much happening in the the sticks-and-string department (sorry Bohus Redux), other than working on my portable sock. Happy to report one sock is almost done with only an inch or so left to go (hurray for naps!).

Crochet Hooks (courtesy of Google)

While the needles are relatively quiet, there's lots going on with me hook!  Still on the small-project kick.  Slowly working through the long list of amigurumi in my Rav queue which include Luma, Mario, Luigi, a minion and Sackboy.  Can you tell there are video game addicts in my household?

Kirby (courtesy of Google)

The current fave is Kirby.  That rotund dude of pink fluff loves to eat (hmmmm, loves to eat . . .  sounds like me!).  And he is rather cute with his big eyes and happy smile.

Kirby Pieces

The pattern is quite straight forward.  You can find a link to the free pattern over at Ravelry or you can go directly to the designer's website (I love the site's name: nerdigurumi. She's also got links to videos if you need some visual assistance).  There are only a few pieces.  And even without the eyes and mouth, he looks sweet once he's assembled.

Prince Fluff (courtesy of Google)

My other son also wanted a Kirby, but he wanted different colours.  Initially we were gonna go for Prince Fluff. But my son wasn't crazy about the "angry" eyebrows.  So we're gonna keep the same colours, but  add Kirby features instead.

Kirby II

So far we only have a body.  Hoping to finish the feet and flippers this weekend.  Then I can assemble the thing during the week . . . 


There's just so much to do and I only have a finite amount of time and energy.  *sigh*  So many patterns; so little time :S

Sometimes . . .

Big Slipper and Little Slipper

When I get the urge, I'll start a small project.  The thing might languish in my basket for a while.  But sometimes, the thing gets finished before I know it.  Go figure?!

New Slippers for my Son

Remember those lovely warm slippers I made before the holidays?  Well I tweaked the numbers in the pattern and made a pair for my son.  His old pair were wearing a wee bit thin in the sole (there was a small hole forming too, no doubt made by a loose nail in the old wood floors).

You can find the pattern for Non-felted Slippers on Ravelry (its a PDF file).  The version there is for an adult woman.  If you're interested in the child size, print off the original pattern and then make the following changes:

Cast on 40 sts and work the increases as indicated in original pattern with the marker placed in the middle.  Stop increases at row 11 (60 sts) and then work instep at follows:

Row 2: P27 PM P6 PM P27

Follow the original pattern to work the decreases and shaping.  I went down to 30 sts before working the cuff. I also added two extra rounds to the cuff before binding off.

Feel free to PM on Ravelry if you'd like more extensive row-by-row notes.

Happy knitting! :)

The Year of the Sock

Yup 2011 was full of socks.  Given that the first half of the year found my knitting mojo often waning (and sometimes non-existent), socks were the perfect project: small, portable and sometimes non-committal.  Amongst the socks are a few items that might look unfamiliar (a vest, a blanket and a baby outfit).  They were the last projects for BlogBernat (sadly that partnership has ended but it was time for me to move on anyways).

The Finished Items of 2011

On the plus side, I learned some new techniques (hurray for toe-ups!) and published my first pattern.  And I'm still plugging away at my cardi, so I'm hoping to get another pattern published in the not-too-distant future.


And to be fair, I did work on some bigger projects that didn't quite make it to the finishing line: lots of "almost done".

The Works in Progress of 2011

Let's hope they get finished in the new year.  Maybe 2012 can be the year of FOs?  Let's hope it'll be better than 2011.  It's already off to a better start.


Cheers :)