Haven’t You Always Wanted a Monkey?

Monkeys are very silly creatures. With long arms and legs, they can hang around pretty much anywhere they want


I first met this particular monkey's cousin when my knitting group friend Heather made one of her own. It was stolen by her daughter, who is a day younger than my niece.

I figured that hit my target demographic for a Christmas gift.


I pulled some Vintage Chunky on a Saturday at the store. Started knitting on Sunday. Put all the pieces together on Friday. Boom. Gift finished.


By the time I was finished with arms, legs and the tail, all very narrow tubes, I was kind of over it, but the results are so cute, who could really argue?


There’s a reason that DangerCrafts patterns are so popular. Rebecca is very attentive to detail. I love the monkey ears. It took a bit of work to find safety eyes at my local JoAnn’s (several “you want WHAT?” looks from store employees), but I did eventually find them and got them attached fairly evenly.

The mouth is a bit funky, but I decided that just added personality.

On Heather’s advice, I stuffed the ever-living crap out of this toy. I don’t think any more fluff would fit in there.


This monkey was fun to knit, and makes me happy that I purchased Rebecca Danger’s book last summer. I’m sure I’ll be knitting more DangerCrafts beings in the future.

Jerry, the Musical Monkey

Pattern: Jerry the Musical Monkey by Rebecca Danger
Yarn: Berroco Vintage Chunky
Color: Aster and Petunia
Quantity: 1 skein of each
Needles: US 7/4.5mm KnitPicks Options. Used both 40” and 32” cables.
Started: 4 December 2011
Finished: 9 December 2011
Mods: Inadvertently knit the legs a little skinny. By 2 stitches. No biggie. Also did mirrored decreases instead of all K2TOGs. That was on purpose (once I decided to do it, mid-noggin)

Bonus points to anyone who can identify the source of this blog post title/headline

McHenry

I finished three projects on Friday night. Yeah, none of them needed much work, but still. That’s a big day!

The first thing I finished is McHenry, a Christmas present for my 2-year-old nephew in Little Rock. The minute we got Interweave Holiday Gifts 2011 in at the store, I flipped through it and saw a Susan B. Anderson toy section. At that point, I knew I was buying the magazine.

Because I think Susan B. Anderson is magic.

Anyhow. McHenry


I had this picture in my head the entire time I was knitting McHenry. Fortunately, Sydney’s humans let her out right when I was taking pictures yesterday. And she cooperated, for the most part.

Like all Anderson patterns, McHenry is knit in pieces and everything is sewn together. He has poly pellets (inside some old panty hose) in his butt and is otherwise stuffed with polyfill.

He’d been done for most of a week, and I kicked off Friday’s Finishing Frenzy by embroidering his face.

As always with Anderson's toys, I can’t quite manage to get the drape in the limbs that she achieves. Yes, I am a tight knitter. Why do you ask?


Susan’s patterns always have great little details. This dog would have been cute all by himself, but the spot on his back is particularly adorable. The spot is knit separately and sewn on, same with his tail.


I think it’s slightly hilarious that I used Blue Sky Skinny Dyed cotton for one of my favorite vests, and the scraps from that sweater are in at least two other projects. The collar is also cotton and came from the scrap bin at the store.

Unsurprisingly, McHenry is incredibly cute and is already on his way to Little Rock. Here’s hoping he has a long and fun life with my nephew.

McHenry

Pattern: McHenry by Susan B. Anderson. Available in Interweave Knits, Holiday Gifts 2011
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Skinny Organic
Color: Clay
Quantity: Less than a skein
Source: Bloomin Yarns
Needles: US 5 DPNs
Started: 26 November 2011
Finished: 9 December 2011
Mods: None. You think I’m gonna mess with the Toy Master?

WiP Wednesday

So McHenry is finished, and I’ve moved on to the next bit of Christmas knitting.

I needed something for my niece, and I figured it was about time that I tried something from one of the more prolific toy-designers. Rebecca Danger!

Meet Jerry, the Musical Monkey.


I started Jerry’s torso during the Steelers game on Sunday. Arms were finished by bedtime on Monday, I did two ears and a leg last night. All that’s left is a second leg, tail, mouth and assembly.

I love toy knitting. It goes so quickly and the results are SO cute!

Once Jerry is ready for gifting, I’m feeling the urge to clear the little projects that have been living in the bottom of my knitting bag for far too long. Of course, I also have a bunch of non-knitting stuff that needs to get finished before Christmas. So we’ll see what I have to share next week, OK?

WiP Wednesday

Another boring knitting week. I actually didn’t do much knitting at Maryland Sheep & Wool, a trip that I’ll recap tomorrow. Meanwhile, back at WiP Wednesday …

My plain vanilla Miss Babs socks are chugging right along, but since I haven’t started the heel turn, they still look exactly the same as they did last week, so no new picture.

Shortly after taking last week’s WiP Wednesday photo of my giraffe, I went to knit night. While there, I finished the Giraffe Torso:


Yeah, it looks like a pear. I’m sure it’ll improve in appearance as soon as it has limbs and a head. Actually, that’s the back of its head on my DPNs to the right there.

In the car on the way to MDSW, I actually was a passenger rather than the driver, and did a little knitting. Sadly, my Chart Tracking System for the BFF socks is small-notation driven. I struggled through about 10 rounds, then got massively frustrated and gave the hell up. Still, some progress!


I have a sweater vest I should start. I’d give just about anything to show you even one warp thread’s worth of progress on the rep weave placemats, but there just isn’t time. Speaking of which, I need to get back to the writing gig.

MDSW recap coming soon…

Bunny Luv

So my niece turned two recently. I needed a present to go with a couple of board books to complete her gift.

Enter this guy:


Yet another home run pattern from Susan B. Anderson and Itty Bitty Toys. He’s even cute from the back!


I had to resist my urge to do a “proper” full pom-pom with as much yarn as I could stuff into my Clover maker. Instead, I counted wraps just like the pattern-writer said and I took the additional step of using my sewing machine to sew all the pom-pom bits together. I figured the biggest pom-pom danger is having pieces fall out. Hopefully this will keep Mr. Bunny’s tail intact for the long haul.


Of course, Susan was right. The slightly scraggly pom-pom looks much better than the really full one!

I figured Mr. Bunny wouldn’t mind meeting some of the other animals in the store. He played with Baby Bobbi Bear for a little while


And he hung around with the store’s Gauge Chickens for a little bit too.

See those three chickens? Knit with the exact same yarn and exact same needle by three different knitters. That’s why they’re “gauge chickens.”

All in all, another Susan B. Anderson success story. If you want to knit toys, Itty Bitty Toys is full of great patterns.

Bunny

Pattern: Bunny from Itty Bitty Toys by Susan B. Anderson
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Worsted Cotton
Quantity: One skein did everything but his feet and ears. Ears were leftover yarn from the Owls, as were his feet and tail.
Needles: US 5, magic loop, KnitPicks Options
Started: 17 April 2011
Finished: 26 April 2011
Mods: None

WiP Thursday

Holy week that sucks. Tons of stuff to do before I leave for Maryland Sheep & Wool. Running out of hours to get them all done.

And yeah, I’m a day behind on WiP Wednesday. Sorry about that. These photos were taken on Wednesday morning, though, just like normal. Here’s what I’ve been up to:

Itty-bitty progress on the Miss Babs socks …


Another tiny little chunk of progress on the BFF socks …


A giraffe tush … yeah, you heard me. I finished it at knit night on Wednesday night. Now it looks like a gigantic pear. Started its head Thursday night …


And, finally, I managed to start warping the loom. Hallelujah.



This is going to be my first Maryland as a weaver. I hope I find some cool stuff and can stay within a reasonable budget. So I can have leftover cash for my weaving class next month. Geez, that’s right around the corner!

Thursday Replacement

Oops. I kind of missed Wednesday. Totally meant to do my WiP Wednesday post yesterday, then I forgot to take my power cord on my field trip.

So here’s the update. Minimal progress on the Cleopatra sock


And I am frantically bunny-knitting for a Sunday birthday party for my niece.

Torso on the left, head on the right, finished outer ear on top, second in-progress outer ear on the needles at the bottom. Some assembly required.

This photo was taken Wednesday afternoon. I finished the second ear and both ear-liners at knit night and got most of the way through the first arm. I think with a good solid effort I can have a finished rabbit in time for the party. Wish me luck!

Give a Hoot

This is a very picture-heavy post. This was possibly one of the most photogenic things I’ve made and I simply couldn’t narrow down which photos to use.


A few weeks ago, I was perusing a stack of new magazines at the store while doing some mindless store sample knitting. When I got to the back of the KnitSimple Holiday 2010 issue I knew I had found a Christmas gift for my year-old nephew.


I’ve knit Susan B. Anderson toy patterns before. You may remember last year’s A Hippopotamus for Christmas, and last week’s Snake was also from Itty Bitty Toys.

The Owls hangin’ in their birthplace, the Blue Sky Worsted cubby at Bloomin’ Yarns.

All of her toy patterns are written for four DPNs, so you’re knitting in a triangle. Aside from the rapid increases on the owl-butts, they are simple and quick knits.


I did make one departure from the pattern. You may have noticed that these owls have no feet. I knit all six feet, but the more I looked at them, the more I didn’t like them.


After polling my audience both at Thanksgiving and at the store during our Black Friday sale, I was happy with the decision that the owls did just fine as Weebles. They have poly pellets in their butts (poly pellets are contained in a piece of knee-high stocking, so no choking hazard), so they stand up just fine on their own.

Owls with most of the rest of the store menagerie.

Dealing with some of the other small bits, including the pupils, required some manual dexterity, but all the pieces went on to the owls quickly and easily. No complaints on the construction at all.


This parliament of Owls is currently terrorizing Bloomin’ Yarns until they need to fly south to Little Rock, where they will hopefully be enjoyed by our nephew for years to come. Another A+ project from Susan B. Anderson!

Give a Hoot

Pattern: Little Owls by Susan B. Anderson
Source: KnitSimple Magazine, Holiday 2010 issue
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton
Colors: Drift, Pumpkin, Aloe, Toffee
Quantity: Scraps of all. I used the most of the Toffee.
Needles: US 6/4.0mm Susan Bates DPNs
Started: 13 November 2010
Finished: 26 November 2010
Mods: Skipped the feet. These dudes do just fine as Weebles. Especially for a 1-yr-old.

Snake, Not on a Plane

People sometimes ask about instant gratification projects. Toys are always very high on my list for that particular topic.


This was an extremely fast project. As with all of Susan B. Anderson’s toy patterns, it’s written for 4 DPNs. This particular snake was knit with a single 50g skein of self-patterning sock yarn.


I did one more set of increases, working the body of the snake over 30 stitches instead of 24. I though 24 looked a little puny, but that was a pretty simple mod. I also ignored the suggested length and just knit until I was nearly out of yarn. I also skipped the “force the snake to curl” step. I figure this way he can be whatever shape he wants, whenever he wants.


The tongue was knit from a teeney little scrap of sock yarn I found at the store. I figured sewn-on yarn eyes wouldn’t stand out on the orange/black background of the snake head. So I used some invisible thread out of my quilting stash and two white sequins from a $0.99 package at JoAnn’s.


This guy is headed to my niece for Christmas. Gotta love handknit toys for the under-4 set!

Nate the Snake

Pattern: Curly Snake by Susan B. Anderson from Itty Bitty Toys
Yarn: Zitron Lifestyle
Color: 1863 Multi
Quantity: 1 skein/169 yards
Needles: US 3/3.25mm wood DPNs
Started: 19 October 2010
Knitting Finished: 30 October 2010
Embellishments Finished: 26 November 2010
Mods: Knit over 30 sts rather than the 24 directed by the pattern. Ignored length guidelines and did not forcibly curl the snake.

Buckling Down

There’s some holiday stuff I’ve been busily crafting away, but can’t show you. You’ll get over it. Meanwhile, here’s what else I’ve been working on.

I’m totally addicted to my crochet project. I think someone may have to hide it from me until I’m finished with my deadline/Christmas crafting.


Love it. Must step away from the crochet.

In other news, I’ve been knitting away on my owls.


I started sewing features onto the owls last night, only to discover that the instructions for the owl feet had confused me. And I like the look in the picture much better than the look of the goofy-looking feet I’d created. So I may be re-knitting some owl feet. Grr.

But the good news? That’ll go quickly and I am already planning a really fun FO-to shoot in my head.

And finally, I think the towel-in-progress on the loom will polish off this warp. Hooray! Then I can move along to the commission weaving that should be pretty quick.


I have a great finished project to show you. Hopefully I can get that post written tonight to post tomorrow, but just in case I don’t manage to do that, Happy Thanksgiving and thank you for reading my blog!

Oh Crap

Hi. I started with a bit of Holiday Crafting Panic this morning. There’s no way I’m going to be able to get everything done. I think. But I’m gonna give it a shot and try hard to do the gym first thing in the morning, then do a “timed tasks” thing. I can weave for 30 minutes, but then I need to do something around the house for 30 minutes. It worked really well last Wednesday and I had a blow-the-doors-off-my-list kind of day. Here’s hoping it continues to work that well.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, here’s what I’ve been working on!

I’m still chugging away on Nonpareil. This is the first button band. I’m hopeful I can finish it at Hurricane Knitters tonight.


My Musique socks are also chugging along. They got some good air time at dinner on Saturday night. They may have to take a back seat for a bit. Christmas knitting, dontchaknow.


Of course, there’s nothing better than when “Teh Shiny” meshes perfectly with deadline knitting. While working on a shop sample on Saturday, I was flipping through the new magazines at the store. There were a couple things in KnitSimple’s Holiday 2010 issue that looked promising, then I got to the back of the magazine and found some Susan B. Anderson toy patterns.

Bought the yarn right there, then started knitting owls as soon as I got home. Christmas present for the nephew! Even better? These are FAST!


I got in some fabulous time on the loom last Wednesday. Remember that super-productive day I mentioned? Of course, I haven’t touched it since, but Wednesday is for Weaving. Guess what I’ll be doing as soon as I post this blog entry?


And then? There’s one new thing on the agenda. I’ve had two rounds of interviews in the last two weeks. So I figured I needed to take care of something now, since I may not be able to do it later. Crochet!


It’s the “Meditate” CROCHET afghan pattern from the Berroco Comfort afghans book. Our fabulous crochet teacher at the store works on Tuesdays, so this is what I did yesterday! It’s a foundation chain of 210 and I am totally off to the races on this pattern. I’m gonna be a crochet expert by the time this puppy is done. It’s purple and white, so it’s for the Hubster in Northwestern colors. Go Cats!

So that’s what’s happening around here. Hope you’re just as busy as I am!

Sleeve Island

I don’t normally get stuck on sleeves. Miles of stockingette don’t bother me at all.

But I’m on the island now.


Fronts are done. Back is done. First sleeve is nearly to the shaping. I have to wear long sleeves while I work on it because it’s making me itch (I’m pretty sure it’s the angora. I was worried about that. I’m thinking the fact that it took this long for me to start itching means I’ll be OK to wear it with long sleeves underneath. Once I manage to finish knitting it.)

The socks are getting tiny bits of air time here and there.


I put the markers for my arch expansion in yesterday, so progress actually is being made.

But last night? When I needed to knit during the baseball games? I just plain couldn’t face Nonpareil. So I jumped in on a Christmas present! That’s reasonable, right?


It’s a snake. The one in “Itty Bitty Toys.” It’s for my niece for Christmas. And yes, I did cast on last night around 7 and got 16” knit before bedtime. Yay for quick knits!