Baby gifts for a baby shower

A baby cupcake hat (with a cherry on the top) ... look carefully!!!!

Welcome to the world little Kaedence (!) I hope these will keep you warm and toasty!!

Everybody loves a pinwheel! 'Specially cats!

Mmmm, mommy knitted me a blankie ...

Ooooh, nice !

Thank you

Thank you

Thank you!!

Likes my new blankie

Wot??!! Not MY blankie ....!!??

Hmpf, never liked it anyway!!

Christmas was a busy time ... knittingwise

I love love love Alan Dart patterns - they are so clearly written and exact to every stitch ... if you ever get a chance - try one, you won't regret it!

I got so carried away knitting Christmas ornaments (some Alan's and some my own design) that there were too many to hang on my puny little tree, so they just congregated on the table .... next year I will make them into a wreath for the front door.




(In case you can't recognise them, they are ... cupcake, stocking, apple, gingerbread heart, candle, mouse, polar bear, Father Christmas, hat, candy cane, angel, elf, snowman, Father Christmas hat, mittens, bell, wreath, cracker)

So, what did I knit this time??

My dh is no longer shocked when he asks me "What are you knitting, dear?" He is used to getting weird answers, like "A penis purse" or "A yak". So this time, when he asked THE question, he barely raised an eyebrow when I answered "A prawn". Yup, a prawn ... well, sushi with a prawn on top, actually!! For dd who is obsessed with all things Japanese at the moment, especially sushi. So, for Christmas I got her all the doodads that one needs to make one's own sushi and packed them into ..... a knitted sushi bag!!



Her response on opening the present was fantastic ... She looked at it blankly, looked at me .... looked back at the gift ... and as it dawned on her what it was, started yelling ... oh my god, oh my god, OH my god, oh MY god, oh oh oh oh my god! It was hysterical to watch and soooo worth the effort of knitting it!



So, this is what we ate for starters on Christmas day ....

I looove my sister ....*

*says lulu through gritted teeth!!

The idea of knitting a little something for my sister for
her upcoming 50th birthday, led to this ...















Which led to THIS !!!!















Which FINALLY led to this ...















Being modelled on dd who is a size 8 ...
Sis is .... um .... NOT a size 8!!















Ahhhh .... sisterly love!! I haz it!!

I LOVE Opal sock yarn

I love that the yarn does all the hard work for me ... making it look like I am a "fairisle" wizard. I love that non-knitters think I changed colours every stitch, and sometimes halfway through a stitch!! Suckers!!!

PS : I swear I did not TRY to make the stripes exactly the same ... it just happened that way!

LOVE

LOVE

LOVE!!

More neck socks ....

Version II : Using thin mohair type wool - more for show than actual warmth, but pretty nonetheless















Version III : Made with some kind of thick fun fur wool - it turned out to be very warm and very very very soft

I thought I was sooooo clever ....

I got an SOS from my sister who lives in South Africa ... she was freezing in their "Arctic" winter .... well, it does get pretty cold in Cape Town.

She wanted a scarf, but I went off on a creative spree and designed a round scarf ... which can also be worn as a headscarf when she is outside in the cold and pulled down around her neck when she gets inside!

I AM BRILLIANT!! Or so I thought!

Once I had figured out (read : guessed!) how many stitches and how many rows .... I looked up "cowl" and "neck sock" and "snood" (who the hell made up THAT word?) on some knitting sites and found that many brillianter knitters had beaten me to it! Oh well, I think it turned out pretty well, and my sister loved it! So much so, that I am knitting her a few more variations ...

Precious and the Yak

Precious still loves her yakkie ...

Chemo caps

My stepmother is battling cancer and chemo has claimed her crowning glory (her hair). She has been remarkably positive, using this as her opportunity to break out of her normally dignified and staid pose. She wanted to make her hairlessness an upbeat time to be offbeat!

Of course, needles were immediately whizzing on this side of the world, and these are the results (modelled by DD)

















And now I am going to cross-stitch her a little motivational sampler ....

...

NSFW (not safe for work)

...

NSFK (not safe for kiddies)

...

IFNSAA (in fact, not safe at all!)

...

The most useful thing I have ever knitted ....

A while ago I won a couple of skeins of home-dyed yarn from Qessentia (http://qessentiak.blogspot.com).




She comes from my home country (South Africa) and included wooden carvings of some of the wild animals that roam the streets of Johannesburg.
(No, they don't really roam the streets, but some people still believe they DO!)



The yarn was so beautiful, I decided that it had to make something very special that I would keep forever. Not a hat or a bag or anything as mundane as that ....

I searched the whole world wide web and finally decided on ... A bolster cushion!! I have never knitted one, or had one, or actually even seen one before, but got to work creating one.

Easy really..... knit a rectangle, sew to make a tube, get husband to roll section of foam from baby matress into stiff sausage (!), stuff ... the tube, tie ends.

Don't you think it looks like a giant sweet? That just makes me love it all the more!!

I can use it behind my lower back, shoulders, neck, head and even prop up my tired ankles. OH!!! I am so in love with it!!





Have a go, you won't be sorry!
And thanks again to Qessentia for dyeing such beautiful yarn - and sending it to me!! Jy is 'n ster!

Each one, teach one

In the spirit of passing on my knitting addiction, I taught DD the basics ... and this is what she created :








Methinks the student will soon become the master ....

I KNITTED A YAK!!

Well, no ... not a real yak ... let me 'splain .......

Firstly, it would be worth your while to note that I am um ... er ... rather rotund (read "really fat") with broad shoulders and an even broader butt.

Anyhoo, a family member (who does actually LIKE me!) sent me some yarn and a pattern to knit for myself ...


The yarn is very soft and huggable, BUT it is that hairy, fun fur and is a bright blue just to make matters worse!

After the coughing/laughing/snorting fit, I showed DD who declared "Mom, you would look like a YETI or a YAK in that thing!" - Hence the blog title!

I felt obliged to knit the yarn up, but opted for a throw/afghan, which Precious the Cat immediately decided was her long-lost mamma cat, snuggled into it and claimed it for herself! At least SHE doesn't look like a yak in it!

And so it continues .....

I can hear you all now ... saying ... "OMG, just what is that Lulu knitting NOW???"







Any guesses???








Well, here are the other constituent parts ...














Aw, a teddy for my other friend "J" - couldn't give "K" the *purse* without giving "J" something too .... She wanted a Mr Bean Teddybear. I thought there would be hundreds, nay ... thousands, of patterns to choose from .... WRONG!! N-O-N-E !! So I designed one from pictures I found on the internet. DH offered to stuff it with foam - no such thing as toy stuffing available here! It grew and grew and grew as DH got more and more enthusiastic with his stuffing (*ahem*). Finally it was the size of a five-year old child. So I had to begin again with a smaller version, which I stuffed with the insides of a pillow that I inherited from the Dubai mega pillow fight (but, that's quite another story!!)





A bit more realistic, I think ...

NSFW .... A-G-A-I-N !!

...Or, How the Penis Purse became the Penis Picnic Pack ...

You all remember the Penis Purse, don't you?


W..e..l..l, SOMEBODY'S husband was mightily upset when he saw HIS WIFE knitting it - saying "People will think you modelled that midget thing on me!! OMG"








So SOMEBODY'S WIFE said "Give me the measurements YOU think it should be"
And it turned out like this :
(I am not going to take the bait and say anything about there being place for some liquid refreshment and a bag for your nuts)














As compared to the Penis Purse!




All SOMEBODY'S WIFE can say is : Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha*cough*hahahahahahahahahahahahahahah
*wishful thinking*
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

Definitely NOT SAFE FOR WORK OR KIDS ....

May I present to you ..... a gift made for my friend "K"
(because I can SO see her whipping it out to pay for something at the store)

.....

.....

NOT SAFE FOR WORK !

.....

Gives new meaning to "Shake your money-maker"

.....

Ladies and gentlemen .... the Penis Purse ! Complete with coin "sack" and note roll
And, btw, the more money you've got, the stiffer it gets!

Been busy ....

A month ?!?!? Has it really been A MONTH since I last posted ...omg, time sure flies when you're having fun!!

I have been having me some fun - with my knitting. I hauled out all the UFO's that have been mocking me for months ... some were frogged with glee, some were neatly repacked back in the cupboard and some were actuallllly turned into FO's!! Have a peek at these :

DD's new "butterfly" jersey - I love this colour on her, and it goes with lots of other colours.















The yarn I bought in Italy recently is slowly becoming a shrug/shawl/jersey - based on Knitty's Convertible, but, as usual, with loads of my own modifications.















At the moment it looks kinda like a crazy coloured butterfly ....

Still hanging onto Harry

We received some blue and some silver yarn in our Harry Potter Swap (DD is a Ravenclaw after all!) I wanted to knit her something kinda magical/not-run-of-the-mill, but because (a) there was only one ball of each colour and (b) it is really thick yarn and we live in a desert ... it was difficult to imagine what to do.
But, viola, inspiration hit and this is what it said : Knit a star, knit a cushion ... wait, knit a star cushion!!


















I wanted it to be flat, not stuffed with lumpy stuffing (if you get what I mean ....) So I bought a crib matress and cut it to fit. I edged it with black sparkly thread crocheted all around (well, it IS a star, it has GOT to have a bit of sparkle!)
Of course, madam Princess had to inspect it first, but luckily she approved.
It really turned out well, DD sits on it, lies on it, props it behind her back, cuddles with it, uses it as a bed accessory, and just basically lurves it!

Pixieriot also sent us the Charmed Knits book and the embroidery yarn recommended by them to knit a bookmark ... so I knitted it too ...



Let it be noted here and now that this is the VERY very very first time I have actually knitted a pattern EXACTLY as written and with EXACTLY the recommended yarn!!
(Big step for me!!) ... For goodness sake, I even cut the bloody fringes EXACTLY the length the book said!