Something Knitty: Soccer ball and hearts

Watch out, actual knitting content. 

Felted Heart Milagros

Pattern by Mags Kandis. Yarn is Lion Brand Amazing in the Glacier Bay colorway. Not so much felted, but still squishy sweet. If you are a Ravelry member, I highly recommend browsing through the project gallery for this one. People have put together some amazing heart stashes. 

Sonar X9 modeling Felted Heart Milagros 

Futbol

Pattern by Yana Ivey. Yarn is Hobby Lobby’s I Love This Yarn in black and white (for obvious). So that a soccer-loving friend can play ball in the house. Knitting the thirty-two pieces was great. But there was EPIC SEAMING. Next time: I’ll use wool instead of acrylic so that a little bit of light felting will help tighten up and even out any little bulges and puckers.  

Sonar X7 modeling the hand-knit soccer ball

Pop Culture Knitting: A Dr. Watson Scarf, I presume

Knitting is full of whims. For the modern knitter, just choosing to knit must be whimsical on some level. So I have no good explanation beyond whim for why I made this scarf. I haven’t even seen the movie in which it appears, only a trailer and a few still shots. But I will. Eventually. I would not have chosen this color combination (brown, blue, and cream). But I love it. I love that combo enough that I am now knitting matching slippers and planning to repaint my living room.

Jude Law’s movie version of the scarf comes down to his knees. I may have overshot that a bit. Mr. Law is surely taller than I am, but not enough to make a nine-foot scarf come down to his knees. Correct me if I’m wrong.  

Please click pictures to embiggen. 

Our grapefruit tree, sporting a Watson Scarf

Eglentyne wearing a Watson scarf in a balmy South Texas winter

A Bit Dusty Around Here, eh?

Give me a few days to sweep out the cobwebs. Let some cultural (or culty, if you prefer) knitting and the brown-eyed Sonar hold us over. Oh, and Happy New Year.

Sonar X8 busting a ninja move in a Jayne Cobb hat.

Don't faint, I have some knitting: Cherry Swiss Cheese Scarf

I’m experiencing a little wobble in the work-life balance this week. Actually if I’m not getting any work done, I suppose there’s no balance to be found. Mostly I’m rolling around enjoying the last week of school with the Sonars. I’ll get back to it. To prepare for summer, Sonar X6 made a sign for my door to make sure people know I’m writing. If the youngest of them can get that I need writing time, there’s hope for me. 

In other news, I finished some knitting. A gift for a special person in our lives.

Cherry Swiss Cheese Scarf in Yarn Bee JubileeApologies for the crappy dark photo on my rumpled bed. My good sunny photography spots have been filled with roofing materials for a couple of days. 

Yarn: Yarn Bee Jubillee

Colorway: Cherry

Pattern: Swiss Cheese Scarf by Winnie Shih

Needles: US11

Finished dimensions: almost five feet by a little more than one foot. There’s a lot of room for stretch in both directions.

Pattern Mods: When I reached the desired length, I did almost one more pattern repeat, omitting the final buttonhole row, then binding off. This made both ends of the scarf symmetrical with one another. Because the yarn is so much thicker than the lace weight called for in the pattern, I knit fewer repeats, but still got a scarf that can do double-duty as a light-weight shawl.

The pattern is acheived by interrupting stretches of garter stitch with giant buttonholes. I love the drama and versatility of this pattern. It looks great with this thick, frizzy yarn, but the eyelash obscures the wave effect that forms around the buttonholes. I’d love to try it again with a smoothly spun yarn. The scarf is long enough that the wearer can put her hands through two holes near the end and make “sleeves.” Or the whole thing can be worn like a keyhole scarf with one end drawn through a center hole. The Sonars also suggested draping it over the front of the face like a ski mask. Sorry, no picture of that one. 

Put a Little Heart in Your Love

This Valentine’s Day I did a tiny little bit of knitting, making a pink and brown striped and felted bottle cozy for a teacher gift. Of course I forgot to take a picture of it before sending it off to school today, so you’ll have to settle for knitting love of Valentines past.

A few years ago, I made these hearts for the Sonars using the Heart pattern from MochiMochiLand and then felted the wee lovelies. If you’ve never seen the clever little knitting at MochiMochiLand, go treat yourself to a wander around.

Felting is not required, but I love the way they turned out. The adventurous among you could knit the entire Luv Gun and put a little Cupid in your life.

Some of mine are a single heart, some are two hearts sewn back-to-back to give a puffier look, all are very quick to make and tuck in to a pocket or bag to spread a little love. The Sonars still keep them, stashed away in their treasure boxes. Where would you stash yours? 

Knitted, felted hearts

And if you remember those hearts, you might also remember the next one. In an impulse that was more startitis and less love, I made Knitty’s more anatomically correct Heart for Partner using some of the most delicious leftover Fleece Artist sock yarn sent to me ages ago by Crys (hi Crys!). Partner keeps it staked to his bulletin board above his desk.

A somewhat anatomical knitted heartHappy Valentine’s Day, everybody. Thanks for being out there and for putting a little love in MY heart.