All Things Kerflooey

Archive for the ‘Hot Off the Needles’ Category

I am really feeling like an inadequate blogger here. I’m re-commiting myself to making  more regular entries (yeah, right. No, really).

So that said, I’m going to wow you with my current sub-obsession, which is Sugar Skulls in honor of El Día de los Muertos…the Day of the Dead, which falls on November 2nd – All Souls Day. This sub-obsession has strange origins (like so many of my obsessions do): I was falling in love with the idea of knitted or crocheted potholders.

Truth is, I miss knitting now that spring is mostly here, but I can’t bring myself to make winter-y items like hats, scarves and gloves. Afghans might be all right…if I had the patience to stick with one to the finish. But no, I mostly like small, short-term projects because I am a woman of proclivity toward immediate gratification. So, what, what, what, I wondered, could I knit or crochet that wasn’t meant for cozy warmth and isn’t a doily? Well, potholders, of course.

You gotta have them, if you cook or bake at all. And those new-fangled silicone ones do nothing for me, nor do the one finds in stores in sets of matching finger-tip kitchen towels and fridge magnets. You know what I mean. So why not be the Indie girl I aspire to, I thought. I shall make my own.

This little decision led to the delicious neccessity of research. No plain old squares or circles for me – I would find the best, the coolest, the kitcshiest patterns out there and make some damn.sweet.potholders. Doing some web searching I found some vintage chicken potholders, a very punk-cute chickadee pattern, a scottie-dog, a kitty-cat….but, oh my mind siezed with the idea: wouldn’t it be completely perfect to make skull potholders? Now there’s a statement.

So I googled and binged, but all I was finding were patterns for skulls in relief on square potholders (purls on knitted field) or skulls in a contrasting color on square potholders. That’s not what I wanted; I wanted to make potholders in the shape of skulls. I started getting discouraged but then I found some very cool fabric by a designer named Alexander Henry that featured brightly decorated sugar skulls on bright or black backgrounds…

 I’ve already gotten a good start on my first sugar skull potholders (I can’t show them here yet because they are for a friend and I don’t want her to see them until she receives them personally). I have plans for more. And maybe a tattoo.

I am really feeling like an inadequate blogger here. I’m re-commiting myself to making  more regular entries (yeah, right. No, really).
So that said, I’m going to wow you with my current sub-obsession, which is Sugar Skulls in honor of El Día de los Muertos…the Day of the Dead, which falls on November 2nd – All [...]

I found a picture of a similar hat in Ravelry.com. Immediately WANTED to make it, wanted the pattern, but there was no available pattern, so I found a simple pattern for a child’s knitted hat and using that, copied the hell out of the original. Sorry for the stealing, original creator, but you have no right to post something so damn cute and not offer a pattern for sale!!

This only took me a few hours, and it was fun, fun, fun. I made it for my little nephew, Dane, who was born in the Philippines and recently moved to Minnesota with his Mommy.

So, I couldn’t wait to bring this over to try on Dane, but he had fallen asleep, and when he woke up he was in no humor to model caps for us. Still, I took a couple shots. But he does NOT look happy about it, does he? Cute, yes. Happy, no.

I found a picture of a similar hat in Ravelry.com. Immediately WANTED to make it, wanted the pattern, but there was no available pattern, so I found a simple pattern for a child’s knitted hat and using that, copied the hell out of the original. Sorry for the stealing, original creator, but you have no [...]

After several false starts and one complete do-over, I was able to knock out this little braided-cable hat fairly quickly, although I had to use circular needles instead of DPNs for most of it…less confusion for me! I made this for Paul and he loves it, but wasn’t around to model when I was photographing it. I’m planning to make a complementary cowl for him out of the same yarn. I used 10.5 needles and the yarn is a soft chunky Bernat acryllic, so it’ll wash well.  It took less than one skein! The pattern is available on http://www.sweaterbabe.com for purchase and download.

Although I can follow intermediate patterns I can’t yet call myself an experienced or intermediate knitter. New patterns take me many tries, and the results are full of mistakes…but I keep trying! Knitting is zen.

After several false starts and one complete do-over, I was able to knock out this little braided-cable hat fairly quickly, although I had to use circular needles instead of DPNs for most of it…less confusion for me! I made this for Paul and he loves it, but wasn’t around to model when I was photographing [...]