Fancy Hen - Finished!

And she is all done, and packed up and waiting to be picked up out of my mailbox and sent on her way to her new home.  Putting the knit blockers inside to open things up really helped speed up the drying, and I was able to stuff her yesterday afternoon and sew up the bottom.  That was a little bit fiddly at the beginning and end of the opening, especially at the end, but I managed to make things look neat and tidy.  She is adorable, I may have to make another one for myself.  It is a pretty quick knit, if you focus on it, although the needles that I used had very sharp points, so my index finger tips did get a little bit sore from being poked - even when I tried to be careful and not use my finger tip to push on the needle tips.  The gauge is tight, as required by something that you’re going to stuff, so the knitting is not effortless.  I can do two-handed Fair Isle with a color in each hand, which makes the knitting go pretty fast, and the yarn easy to control.  It doesn’t take much yarn - about 50 grams/120 yards for the body and 25 grams/60 yards for the contrast.  I used a 16 inch circular needle for the body, and then used two 16 inch circular needles for the neck/head and tail, as well as the beak.

Pattern:  Fancy Hen by Ella Austin

Yarn:  Rauma Garn 3-Trads Strikkegarn

Needle:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm)

Tessellation Nation - Making Progress

No that I have a path forward I’ve been making progress, making pentagons and joining things as I go, filling in the diamonds, boats and stars as I can.  I changed the diamonds to be essentially two star points, with an extra triple crochet, so I work one extra chain before anchoring.  It is far easier and quicker to make as compared to what the pattern calls for, which was definitely very fiddly.

Pattern:  Tessellation Nation by Sue Maton

Yarn: Scheepjes Terrazzo

Hook:  3.75 mm (F)

Fancy Hen - Knitting Done!

I finished up the body this past Saturday, and once the body was done, the head and tail worked up quickly and I finished all the knitting on Saturday as well.  I did make one slight modification to the pattern, I did not like the look of the knitted comb, it just seemed too big, so instead I did a line of single crochet along the top of the head, and then worked three sets of half-double, double, and triple crochet stitches to create the scallops.  Then came the blocking.  I started out just laying it flat and pinning the bottom edge to combat the inevitable stockinette stitch curl, but after letting it sit a couple of days I realized that it was going to take forever to dry - two layers of colorwork fabric - so I changed how I was blocking it.  I put knit blockers inside the body to open it up, and then put T-pins through the edge to prevent curling.

That sped things up considerably.  I checked it this morning and it is almost dry.  The side that was in contact with the blocking mats is still just slightly damp, so I flipped it over this morning and put the knit blockers back inside again to hold it open.  I did not pin the edges as they are dry.  Hopefully it will all be dry tomorrow and I can stuff her and sew her up and get her on her way to her home.

Pattern:  Fancy Hen by Ella Austin

Yarn:  Rauma 3 trads Strikkegarn

Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm)

Fancy Hen - Cast On!

There has been a craze lately for knitted comfort chickens, and not so long ago I spotted a kit for a Fancy Hen on the Woolly Thistle web site.  It was pretty adorable, and I have a friend who likes chickens, so I decided to knit her one.  I also have some chicken-themed tea towels to send her along with the knitted chicken.  I picked out some colors and ordered the kit and at the end of June I finally cast on.  After the first few rows it sat around for a little while, but this past week I have been working on it a little more steadily.  To make it easier I added some markers to identify where the increases go, and I also switched the type of increase I was using.  The pattern calls for picking up the strand between stitches, but that is a bit fiddly, so I went with lifted increases.  At this point I am through all of the increases, and halfway through the colorwork.  The colorwork was one of the things that drew me to this pattern.

My cast on edge was curling a lot and it was annoying me, so I clipped the cast on edges together to keep them from doing that.  This is my first time using this yarn, it is Norwegian, and is, as they say, rustic, but I have lately come to appreciate the qualities of yarn that hasn’t been superwashed, which really does strip it of any woolly characteristics.

Pattern:  Fancy Hen by Ella Austin

Yarn:  Rauma Garn 3-Trads Strikkegarn

Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm)

Mulberry Nila - Cast On!

Having finished up a couple of things I decided to cast on a new project.  Plus, having completed my Practically Handspun vest I wanted to make another garment.  This will become Nila by Natasja Hornsby, also known as Moonstruck Knits.  I’ve been wanting to knit it for a while, and actually swatched for the patten over a year ago.  I also knew that I wanted to make it out of one my Unique Sheep Gradiance sets, and chose the Mulberry set.  I had been knitting a dress in this set, but I didn’t like how it was coming out so I frogged it.

The top is worked top down, and this is the back.  It has some interesting shaping, as well as a surface texture.  I started with the fourth skein of the set, and have reserved the first three skeins for the sleeves, which are not full length.  I will do the cuffs and collar with one of the darker skeins for contrast.  I am making good progress on the upper back, although I did have to rip back seven rows because I had forgotten an increase.

I used a little less than half of skein 4, and have started working with skein 5.  My gauge came out a little tighter than the pattern called for so I went up a size to compensate.

Pattern:  Nila by Natasja Hornsby

Yarn:  Kiri by The Unique Sheep

Needle:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm)

Practically Handspun - Finished!

I finished the knitting this past Saturday, and did the bind off and blocking Sunday morning.  I still have some of the purple and the orange left over.  The lighter purple that forms the main body is all used up.  The length came out perfect - it just comes down to my knees.  I am delighted with it, my first garment out of handspun yarn.  It wasn’t super consistent yarn either, but it wasn’t bad.  The knitting looks good.

I like the way the color blocking worked.  Please pardon the hall-way selfie, it is too hot to model this outdoors.

Pattern:  Practically by Kelly Herdrich

Yarn:  Handspun Merino Top

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Wild T. Whiffit - Finished!

Way back in 1979, Bernat released this latch-hook kit.  According to the poster on the reverse of the instructions, it was part of the Wonderful Wide World of Whiffits.  I have no idea what a whiffit is, and google searches came up empty.

According to the poster, the T stands for Tiger.  I have always loved tigers (having been born in the year of the Tiger) but I would never want an actual tiger skin rug, so this seemed a perfect solution.  Fun, and whimsical.  I did the latch-hook part right away, and sewed one ear front and back together, and then the parts traveled with me through my life and around the country for the next forty-six years!  The amazing thing is that I did not lose any of the pieces, or the materials.  The materials, and the all-important instructions, traveled in a box from a Rike’s department store (a Dayton, Ohio store) that is probably long since gone, along with two embroidery hoops and an old margarine container of beads and sequins (probably from a Christmas ornament kit).  It should be noted that the only thing neatly contained in the box were the beads and sequins, the organizing of the yarn bits was done today.

When I was organizing my studio after my retirement I pulled everything out and promised myself that I would finally finish it.  The hardest part, of course, was assembling the head.  The top of the head was part of the body, but the sides and the throat were all separate pieces and had to be stitched together.  The instructions said to whip stitch the canvas edges down, and sew the pieces together with the wrong sides facing, matching up marks to make sure that everything lined up correctly.  The problem with that approach is that as soon as you sewed the canvas edges down you could no longer see the all-important marks that you needed to line up.  So instead I assembled with the right sides facing, and did a running stitch through the canvas grid, tightening things as I went.  It made the assembly easier, but then I had to turn the head right side out.  That was a bit of a struggle, but I managed it without tearing anything apart.  Stuffing the head was easy, but used a fair bit of stuffing.  Sewing the ears on was also a little difficult, I whip stitched those in place.  I have also basted the canvas edging under to prepare it for the final finishing.  The instructions call for rug binding, and I have some coming tomorrow, but I might get some felt and just back the whole thing.  The head is just adorable.

And Jezebel approves, as can be seen in this photo of her laying on it after I had partly stuffed the head, but before the ears were attached.  She is a little bit hard to see, being a black cat.