Frazzled Knits

Arctic Fox Tea Cozy

I had this project in my favourites for so long! When I saw it I fell in love and ordered the yarn for the tail right away, on ebay. Then it sat for seven years until I finally put a kit together using some stash yarns, and eventually knit it up.

I used some Berella Country Garden DK (the American version of Patons Country Garden DK, both discontinued long, long ago) held double for the cozy. This made a pretty thick, bullet-proof fabric but it worked okay. For the head and top of the cozy I used some mystery acrylic or acrylic/wool and I used toy safety eyes and nose for the face instead of embroidering.

The eyelash yarn for the tail is called Sirdar Slinky and it was actually sold as a "no-knit scarf". Which means it's a skein of eyelash yarn tied in a few places that you're supposed to wear in a loop around your neck. I undid the ties and actually knit the yarn. It is the softest, silkiest eyelash I've ever used. Very beautiful. I guess I could wear the rest of the skein as a no-knit scarf now but I'm not sure I can bring myself to do it!

The tea cozy turned out a little too long for my six cup tea pot, but I just tucked the ends under and it works well. I could hem it, but I like that it could fit a taller pot if I ever get one, so I will probably just leave it.

• Pattern: Arctic Fox Tea Cozy and Egg Cozy by Lindsay Mudd
• Yarn: Sildar Slinky for the tail, Berella Country Garden DK for the cozy, scraps of white acrylic for the head
• Needles: 3.75mm for the cozy, 3mm for the head and tail
• Modifications: Yarn substitutions, used toy safety eyes/nose instead of embroidering them on

A little bit longer than needed!

 

 

Zoom Loom squares

On Saturday I took a road trip out to the town of Mundare to spend the afternoon knitting (and eating perogy plates!) with some friends. I finished my Wurm hat, and then realized that the sweater project I'd brought was too tricky to work on while chatting.

So I pulled out my good old Zoom Loom and just played around with that, using various yarn scraps that I had in my bag, until it was time to head home:

These four squares are pretty wildly different from each other! Don't worry, I wasn't planning to sew them together into anything.

The top left and bottom right were made with some mystery yarns from my Aunt Ilse's stash. I really love how the bottom right one turned out! It was a pleasant surprise. Makes a very thick, tweedy square. I don't think I have enough to make any kind of major project, unfortunately. Her stash was all leftovers of single balls, with no labels! Fun, but challenging to use up.

The top right square is made with Briggs & Little Heritage in the eye-searing Hunter Orange, a pretty thick yarn for the Zoom Loom, but I managed to cram it all on there. And the bottom left is a hand-dyed angora blend that I had left over from an old hat project.

I am well aware that Zoom Loom can be used for all sorts of projects, but I kind of just love my giant collection of single squares. They make excellent coasters, and I enjoy them so much by themselves that I have never felt compelled to sew any together.

Wurm Hat #3

I've been carrying this hat project around with me since last fall, and I finally finished it this weekend!

• Pattern: Wurm hat  by katushika.
• Size: One size
• Yarn: Caron Cupcake in 16003 Strawberry Pie (used the whole thing!)
• Needles: 3.5 mm for band, 4 mm for body of hat
• Modifications: The Cupcakes only give enough yarn for 8 pattern repeats, so that's what I did (pattern calls for 9). It works out just fine.

This pattern works so well with this yarn. This is my third one and I've sworn to myself that I will try something new next time. Really I should probably try to stop buying those adorable little yarn Cupcakes in the first place. Wish me luck on that one!

Stash Enhancement

I've had a gift card to a local yarn shop burning a hole in my wallet since my birthday, and today (three months later) I finally had time to stop in. My plan was to be very responsible and just get a new 6 mm circular needle, but this shop only carries lace tips in their fixed circulars. My fingers can't handle those pointy tips, they just make them split open. So my responsible plan went right out the window!

I was wearing a pale blue boiled wool coat that I've had for years, it's a very odd blue that is hard to match. A yarn jumped out at me that looked beautiful with it. The blue was just right. The yarn cost exactly as much as the gift card. Next thing you know...

Yet another individual skein of something pretty gets added to the stash! It's a skein of Ancient Arts Nettle Soft, part superwash merino and part nettle fibre. It's a bit speckled, which is different from what I usually buy. Now I just have to decide if it will be mitts, gloves, or some kind of cowl or scarf!

 

Jupiter Socks #2

I made another pair of these crazy garter stitch socks from DROPS Design:

The socks are knit flat and then folded together kind of like a Baby Surprise jacket (see photo below). They are very stretchy, comfortable socks. The ankle is a little loose on me but this makes them ideal bed socks - it's easy to kick them off once my feet finally warm up!

• Pattern: 167-34 Jupiter Socks by DROPS Design
• Size: US 9-9.5
• Needles: 2.75 mm Addi circular, 80 cm cable
• Yarn: Phildar Phil Folk 100 in the Plumage colourway
• Modifications: The instructions say to simply "reverse shaping" for the second sock but I just knit another exactly the same and sewed it up with the reverse side showing.
• Notes: I knit one size smaller than the last time I made these, and was a little worried they'd end up too small, but the knitting relaxed just right once I washed the socks. I think the socks look best when knit with a stripey yarn, so you can see the way the knitting swirls around the foot.

 

• 

Exeter hat

I am the slowest ribbing knitter in the world, so it took a while, but I finally finished my Exeter hat!

• Pattern: Exeter by John Horigan
• Yarn: 102 grams Briggs & Little Heritage in Hunter Orange (just under 1 skein)
• Needles: 4 mm
• Modifications:
  • Used aran weight yarn and 112 stitches on 4mm needles
  • Was hoping this combo would result in a larger hat to fit the larger heads in my family (we have a couple of 24 inchers) and it worked! Because it's so stretchy is also fits my 22" noggin just fine.
  • I knit the plain rib a little longer than the pattern stated (9" instead of 8.5"), just because I got carried away.
  • Because I used fewer stitches I had to set up the decreases a little differently, placing my markers every 28 stitches to start.
  • Used p2tog as my purl decreases, and ssk/k2tog as my knit decreases

This is a lovely hat. The way the decreases are paired really makes it a stand out. The Hunter Orange is always appreciated around here, especially when we walk on mixed-use trails during hunting season!