The Rosie Doll

I knit this Arne & Carlos doll as a baby gift for my friend's little girl. I was so delighted when she said she would call her Rosie as that was the name I gave every one of my dolls when I was little.

The pink for the tights and the ribbing around the collar is Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran 100% Merino wool in the colour 21227. The gray t-shirt is left over wool from my older son's narwhal. Her skin is knit from Cascade Yarns Elysian 60% superwash Merino wool/40% Acrylic in the colour white (01). All of the yarn was purchased at Mouliné in Montreal. Her hair came in a bag of remnants called "Yarn Bites" that my mom bought me at Ply while on vacation in Texas.

Her dress is knit from the left over wool from this baby surprise jacket project.

I hope you and Rosie have lots of good times together Andie!

A pod of Narwhals

My youngest asked me if I could knit him a narwhal and after a brief internet search I found this great Narwhal pattern. For his narwhal I used a blue wool blend that was a Value Village find and, as he requested, a bright red tusk with yarn from my acrylic collection. It turned out so well that my oldest asked if he could have a narwhal too. We headed over to Mouliné where he chose a grey merino wool, an Extra by Filati Yarns, and the tusk is knit from some Vintage by Berroco I had left over from the kilt hose I'd made.

I became narwhal inspired and bought this beautiful ball of multicoloured Azteca by Katia.

As an experiment, for my first narwhal from the ball, I modified the pattern to be half size. This little narwhal has now travelled to Australia to be with my wee friend Jasper.

I decided these would make great Christmas presents for my god daughter and her sisters, so with lots of yarn left in the ball, I modified the pattern to a three quarters size and knit three completely distinctive narwhals with the remainder of the yarn.

This pattern is easy and works up fast so I would recommend knitting narwhals for all the little whale lovers in your life!

Last Minute Christmas Stockings

Christmas stockings were one of many things I didn't remember to pack for our year away. Left over yarn from my seasonal yarn bomb was used to do a green, red and white striped stocking for one of my sons, but I bought some aptly titled "Christmas Red" 100% Peruvian Highland Wool by Cascade from Espace Tricot to complete the other stocking.

For the striped stocking, I tried the Magic Loop technique for the first time. To make it a time of multiple firsts, I also did an afterthought heel. Both were interesting to experiment with, but for my second stocking I went back to my tried and true four double point needles and traditional heel!

A Seasonal Yarn Bomb for the Chesterfield

With the gray weather, and quickly approaching cold, things are looking a little bleak on my front street. I thought I would create a little holiday cheer for the neighbourhood with this yarn bomb!

In the past I've only used yarn scraps and leftovers from my acrylic collection to create my knit graffiti  however, this time I didn't have the right colours for my vision of a candy cane striped pole. I made a trip to the local knitting shop down the street, Mouliné, to see what they had in stock. I was able to get some great, reasonably priced chunky yarn in the colours I wanted. The bright red is Viking Balder from Viking of Norway and is 100% wool, the green is Van Dyck from Filtes and is 46% wool, 39% acrylic and 15% alpaca, and the cream is Comfort Chunky from Diamond Yarn and is 40% superwash wool, 40% acrylic and 20% alpaca.

To make my work go quickly, I used 9mm (US 13) needles. I used this Lanesplitter Skirt pattern to create the texture and slanted stripe effect.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Rosebud the Fairy

After seeing my pictures of little knit fairies, a friend asked if I would make one for her daughter. My friend and her daughter had made up bedtime stories about a fairy named 'Rosebud' who her daughter described as having a green dress with a rose on it and beautiful green hair. This is my knit interpretation of Rosebud the Fairy. A week after I sent her off in the mail, to my delight, this note arrived for me.

I'm so happy I could bring Rosebud and Lucy together!

Lamp post yarn bombing at the Westmount Public Library

Located across the access road from the Westmount Public Library is one of the vintage style lamp posts that are scattered throughout our adopted neighbourhood. I love them because to me, they're so Narnia-esque. Because of this, I decided the lamp post, (that also functions as a muster point) outside the library would be perfect for a yarn bomb.

This particular lamp post is easy to overlook because of its location close to the parking lot and a garbage can. A little splash of colour is just what it needed! I decided to experiment with knitting different lace patterns. I used the following patterns; Easy Lace Mesh Scarf, Christmas Lace, Spring Lace Scarf, Easy Lace Scarf, Simple Chevron Lace Knit Stitch, ZigZag Lace Scarf, Lace and Eyelets Scarf and Checkboard Lace Scarf. And then, for an extra touch of whimsy, the fairies.

It only took the Westmount Public Security Unit 10 minutes to arrive after I started putting up the yarn bomb. Thankfully, the officer agreed to let me proceed with my project, although he warned me it could be taken down at any time . . . I had a great response from passersby who stopped to chat about what I was doing.

I miss my Saskatoon yarn bomb team, but thankfully I've got a crafty friend here in Montreal that was able to lend a hand!

This is a project I've been working on all fall, and I've worked on it in many places. I discovered one is guaranteed a quizzical look when answering the question, "What are you working on?" with, "It's a lamp post cosy!".

So to lamp post cosy knitters everywhere - this one's for you.

Who can resist knit fairies?

After a summer and fall of knitting more kilt hose, I needed a project that was more colourful and whimsical. I decided on this pattern for a tiny knit fairy.  It was so fun that I made three! It’s a great quick project that can be completed in an evening or two. I made all of them with left over bits of yarn from my collection.

I don’t like sewing seams down the backs of my projects, so for the first fairy (the one with the yellow hair), I started with her head and knit it in the round using quite thin yarn, 3.25mm dpn and this pattern:

Using the skin colour, cast on 8 stitches over 4 dpn (double pointed needles) – a 5^th dpn is needed to be the working needle.

R1: knit

R2: k1, m1, k1 on each needle (12 stitches total)

R3: knit

R4: k1, m1, k1, m1, k1 on each needle (20 stitches total)

R5: knit

R6: k1, m1, k3, m1, k1 on each needle (28 stitches total)

R7-15: knit

Switch to body colour

R16-36: knit

Cast off

I then followed the instructions of the original pattern. The final effect was ok, but I didn’t like how the neckline puckered at the gather and I decided that knitting in the round wasn’t worth the extra effort.

For the next two fairies I stuck to the original head/body pattern and was happier with the overall shape.

Instead of twisting yarn for arms, I made a two or three stitch i-cord, or when using the thicker brown yarn, I made a chain using a crochet hook.

To give the wings a more rounded look, I used this pattern:

CO 4 stitches

R1: knit

R2: k1, m1, k2, m1, k1 (6 stitches total)

R3: knit

R4: k1, m1, k4, m1, k1 (8 stitches total)

R5-9: knit

R10: k1, k2tog, k2, skp, k1 (6 stitches total)

R11: knit

R12: k1, k2tog, skp, k1 (4 stitches total)

Cast off

Happy fairy making!