Octo-Mom!

Last weekend I went back East for a wedding and to spend time with the family. It was a much needed break from the craziness going on in LA. I also had a knitting motive. I found a pattern for the toy I wanted to make Mickey Mouse and I needed to add a few new techniques to my knitting repertoire. So JJ and I talked beforehand and decided we would make learning how to knit in the round our group lesson.

Marmie sat down with much patience on a hot, humid east coast day. We sat on the front porch, sipping pink lemonade, and trying to handle 4 dpn (double-pointed needles, for those newbies out there.) ;-) Mom did a great job and we each knit a little round nothing, which ended up looking a lot like colorful sushi when we mushed them all together.

I brought my newly found talent back to LA and this weekend I took on the task of remembering the technique and combining it with increasing and decreasing. In addition, I had an opportunity to refresh my crocheting skills when I made the curly legs of the octopus.

Here are the steps in the process, knitting in the round, stuffing the head/body, and adding those curly-q tentacles. Voila! I am now an Octo-Mom, living in LA....but not THAT Octo-Mom.



The only problem with making all these adorable toys for my loved ones is that I get so attached to them and want to keep them, hehe!

Happy knitting!

Spinster as Predicted?

For reasons not so wonderful I have had a bit more time on my hands these past few days. I'll avoid that topic, as this is a blog about knitting, and not my personal life. The new time has allowed me to finish the baby owl, or "Owlie" as he is referred to in his pattern. He is a teeny-tiny guy with big eyes.

I decided to go for button eyes this time, to create that big owl eye thing. I am pretty happy with how he turned out. The ears could have used a bit more tweaking but it is by far the easiest toy to knit so far. It took me a little time to figure out how so little knitting could produce an adorable owl but it all seemed to work out in the end.

Here he is, welcoming the world, nestled in some California poppies, and studying to be the big wise owl he is supposed to be. No Nikolas this time, birds and felines don't get along.





Now my only question is, with my nerdy/quirky photo sessions and my newly created friends...have I finally turned into the spinster I have been so desperately trying to avoid becoming? If I learn to crochet doilies, somebody stop me!

Koalas and Kahlua!

As Miss JJ noted we are all anxiously awaiting the next Howe woman. The Howe women are a force to be reckoned with and it is about time that another was added to the bunch. I am pretty sure I will knit something for Mickey Mouse (that is what her little brother Nate is calling her until they get an official name) but for now my focus is on my toys!

As I mentioned before, my friend requested a koala and an owl. Today I finished the koala. It is amazing how much more difficult this toy making is when the toy is really tiny! Here he is deflated, before stuffing and attaching parts.



My koala is only about 4 inches tall and it took me a couple of tries to attach his appendages properly. Here he is, Nikolas's new BFF until it gets shipped away.


All this talk of koalas and JJ's mention of martinis are drawing me to the kitchen...maybe I can whip up a Koala Kahlua Martini!

knit this...

so i've taken a break from knitting. after knitting not even half the amount of slippers that marm was working on, i was burnt out. my little fingers felt like they were going to die. so i took a break - am still taking? bygones.
the worst part about my little knitting vaca was that for my bday marm sent me a knitting kit! and i was super excited and considered getting off the bench- until i tried to wind the yarn into a ball myself. holy hell did that not work. like last time when i watched horton hears a who and wound balls, i grabbed a glass of wine, popped in good hair, threw my sabres pillows into a big pile on my bed, and set about winding balls. again, holy hell did that not work. i think i managed to unwind like 4 feet and then was left with a jumbled mess. and like a good little knitter, i gave up. thank god marmie is coming to the rescue! the skanes are sitting in a little box on my bed waiting to be shipped back to colden to be balled up by someone else. *sigh*

now on to my next project.....

aside from making a new pillow cover for my big pillow, im working on something else. big brother steve-o is finally expecting a little girl...my first niece!

needless to say, im super stoked. not that i dont adore the three devils they already own, but come on. unless they can sit and drink a martini with me, the thing better be wearing a tutu or im just not that entertained. which segues into my next project: baby tutu #1. now this may seem odd, as lil milla and i used to entertain ourselves by climbing trees and making mud pies, but there was that one time were given a pink barbie briefcase and boy oh boy did we use that. so we had out girlie moments. and someone enrolled us in dance class even though only one of us had any rhythm. again, bygones.

so let me introduce.... the baby tutu!!



now my baby tutu will probably not actually look like that- but i think its a good representation of what it could look like... if i actually liked babies.
So my plan is to buy a couple onsies- an adult size for moi as well- and then some tulle. my only problem is im not sure what color to make them. i was thinking pink, but that's so cliche, even for a baby. so then i was thinking light green with pink ribbon? but then i bought baby blue, orange and brown ribbons. so there goes that idea. so ladies- what are your thoughts on colors??

A Toy Story

We Howe women appear to be pretty busy these days. Miss JJ traveled across the country to the Pacific Northwest to visit our youngest brother. Marmie has some exciting stories to tell about her own adventures with knitting but I will leave the telling to her. In my own knitting life there has been a bit of a hiatus.

This past week I sent my Monkey Moo back to Boston to live with his new best friend Nico. (My own Nikolas James Pumpkinhead is coping with the loss.) I find that I miss the little guy so I have decided to make another one. I went to the craft store to pick up a new color for his t-shirt. I am thinking of making this one a girl.

My latest project, however, is not the Monkey. A good friend of mine requested a few things so I am getting started on two more toys! I will be knitting a koala bear and an owl. I got both patterns from the same site as Monkey Moo: http://knittedtoybox.blogspot.com/. I love her toy designs and I love the fact that she is knitting and not crocheting. I might get into crocheting later but this is a knitting blog, after all.

The toys are fun, and who knows, I may just end up a toy maker!

Introducing my new family member!

I have also been MIA recently but for a much different reason than JJ. I have been a busy little knitter! At my last post I mentioned that I would be straying from my normal scarf projects to make my first toy. Marmie visited and we took a trip to the store to purchase all the necessary tools for my monkey. I have been knitting away with teeny tiny little needles (size 3 and yes, I know that 3 is not very small but consider that previous to this I was only knitting with size 11.)

In addition to this I also ventured across the country for my first knitting lesson! I was planning on teaching a group of 3rd graders how to knit. Before I mention my monkey, let me give any of you considering teaching kids how to knit some pointers.

1. When you visit a website that tells you to teach kids to finger knit before using needles, follow that advice. (unless, of course, it is a one-on-one lesson.)
2. Draw diagrams to show kids exactly which holes to place their needles in. Again, this is for large group lessons.
3. If you do decide to skip the finger knitting, definitely start by casting on and knitting one row. (This is something that I actually did!)
4. Have something to give them when you are done because chances are they will have more tears and frustration than knitting. I wish I would have knit them each a back-up-swatch just in case.

All-in-all I would say the trip was successful. The kids did not learn how to knit but they got to see the process, learn a cute little phrase for remembering how to knit, and I got to see them again! Thanks CLCS for letting me visit!

I was in Boston last week because it was my Spring break. It was also a beautiful coincidence that I decided to start my previously mentioned Monkey Moo on this trip. Vacation is a great time to start knitting something! I had a lot of time to devote to my monkey. The head was the first part I made. I learned how to increase (thanks Marmie!), decrease (thanks Stitch n' Bitch!) and reviewed some other important techniques.

After the head I moved on to other body parts. I decided to postpone the mattress stitching to the end of the project because I didn't have the stuffing in Boston. After a few days I had the entire body finished and a deflated version of my monkey.


Then came the other new technique: mattress stitching. Thanks to a tutorial linked through the Monkey Moo page (http://mochimochiland.com/weblog/2008/03/mattress-stitch-tutorial-for-toys/) I was able to complete all the seams on my monkey and start to stuff him.


This morning I added the finishing touches: the eyes, eyebrows, nose, and attaching all the limbs! So here he is folks. Introducing for the very first time...Maggie's Monkey Moo!


I have to admit, I am having separation anxiety. I am not sure I can send this guy to his intended owner. I might just have to knit more! The other good news is that some folks were so impressed with my knitting that I now have more requests to knit things! Let the games begin!

M.I.A.

so i havent posted in a while again. and theres a real good reason for that. not only have i lost my camera for the millionth time- ive also broken my computer! ugh oh. made it 26 years without getting the blue screen of death but it finally happened! im hoping the laptop fairy stops by my apartment sometime soon, but im thinking the chances of that are slim to none! and the worst part is i have tons of pics of my knitting that i could upload on a different computer- but that damn camera just wont be found!

oy vey.