Ramble On

I feel like I lost an entire week, I don't mean that I wasn't busy, I really was, but I had planned on doing a lot of things and not much got done!

Middle girlie was at day camp all week, which means all the kiddos and I had to be up and out the door by 8:30 every morning. Big Deal, you say. I am not and never have been a morning person. It's been a pain for me, but good practice for the upcoming school year I suppose. Ugh. Not looking forward to that!

I am looking forward to the weather turning colder so I can get back to baking and creating new recipes. I'm looking forward to Halloween, and Christmas shopping, and knitting up things with soft wool and using it as a blanket while I'm working on it.



Speaking of knitting with soft wools, my pattern was accepted by Knit Picks and is now for sale on the site! I am beyond excited, it's something I never thought would happen for me. I'm so grateful for the people at Knit Picks for taking a chance on me and sending me the yarn to knit up this sample. It was a great experience!

Bottoms up mini minions [ Rav Link ]




Supplies

• WW yarn in black, blue, and yellow.
• Size 5 needles
• Poly fill stuffing
• Shank button for the eye
• Black sharpie
• Spare needle or waste yarn

Starting with the feet:

CO 6 stitches in black, work an i-cord for two rows
Change to blue continue in i-cord for three rows
Cut yarn and move 6 live stitches to a spare needle or waste yarn
CO 6 stitches in black work an i-cord for two rows
Change to blue and continue in i-cord for three rows
Slip the 6 stitches that are the waste yarn/spare needle back onto your working needle, you will now have 12 stitches.
Now this part is worked flat cause 1) I like to sew things up (yes I am a freak) and 2) I find it easier to attach the eye and make the mouth this way.
Continue in SS with blue yarn for 6 rows
Change to yellow yarn and continue in SS for 5 rows
Switch to black yarn and work one row in the black, leaving a long tail at each end of the row. We’ll use this to make the mouth and hair later on.
Switch back to yellow and work two rows SS
Decreasing for the head:
P2tog p1 six times (6 stitches)
Knit next row
P2tog across all stitches (3 stitches remain)
Cut yarn and thread through remaining live stitches and pull tightly.

Now we’re going to make the face…
Sew your shank button onto the middle of the face on the row you knitted black. I use the yarn at one of the ends of the black row to do this that way everything is really attached.

After your button is attached embroider the mouth.

After the mouth thread the remaining bit of black yarn up though the head.

Stuff your minion and sew up the back seam using the coordinating colors and weave in the ends except for the black bits at the top of the head (that's the hair).

Hair:
Trim the black threads at the top of the head to the length that you like.


Separate all the piles of the yarn but rubbing it the opposite way it is spun between your thumb and index finger. Fluff.

Now that you’ve got your little guy he’s going to need some arms.
With yellow pick up three stitches on one side of the body. Work in i-cord for 10 rows. Switch to black and continue in i-cord for 2 rows. Thread yarn through remaining stitches and pull tightly.
Repeat for other arm.




EYE:
Now to make the eye, simply make a circle in the middle of your button with the sharpie.



And you’re done!

I bought yarn to make xmas gifts (all my kids want blankets), renewed my flickr account, and bought a pattern (pdf from fibertrends, which I still don't have, what's up Fiber Trends!)

I hope my wrists can hold up, which is why I'm starting everything now. My friend is also pregnant and due Dec 7. I'd like to make her a blanket at least and I think I found a pattern for it (which I won't be posting because I don't know if she reads this). So yeah, going to be busy which also means that once again my personal knitting is going to be put on the back burner. Sorry East meets West bag! Hopefully I'll get a chance to work on it again after Halloween.

Here's how the crafting is shaping up so far:

baby blanket (knit, not for xmas - gotta start this first!)
squirrel stuffy (knit)
2 afghans (knit)
2 pomp-a-doodle scarfs (knit)
3 xmas stockings for a friend and her two kids (knit)
random crazy quilt (sewn)


still have no idea what to make my mom (maybe a bag or a scarf) and that's the extent of my xmas crafting. I don't like to make things for a lot of people. In many minds handmade = cheap. They'd rather have a 25 dollar gift card to a random store, and that's fine.