Sunday Share

Hi :)

Hope everyone is having a great weekend. We’ve spent the day cleaning the house — it was really overdue! I got a wonderful email from MAKNJ, who shared how she used my “A Day at the Beach” digital scrapping overlay — aren’t the special touches that she added fab? I think the photo of her son is just wonderful, it turned out perfectly! Be sure to check out the rest of MAKNJ’s photos on Flickr HERE! Thanks so much for sharing, MAKNJ! :D

If you missed my “A Day at the Beach” overlay freebie, you can snag it here on 4shared.

And speaking of sharing… I finished up a crochet project this weekend that I thought I’d share, too! It’s a “Bitty Baby” from the pattern here (and on Ravelry here) by Hannah Kaminsky. It turned out… ok. It doesn’t look too bad, but I know where each and every imperfection is and it makes the finished project not feel quite as nice as I was hoping it’d turn out. The pattern itself was fairly easy for a newbie crocheter like myself (just taught myself last week or so) and the hardest part (in my opinion) was stitching it all together at the end — the head was such a pain to stitch to the body, and I wasn’t sure I was really stitching the arms and legs on properly. I’m not very confident that my stitching-things-together skill (yes, that’s a real skill) is very good. BUT, here it is anyway. I’ll chalk this one up to practice and perhaps try making a few more for some of our friends that have recently had a baby in the past few months or are due in a few months. I think everyone we know has had a baby in the past year or will be having one soon. No, we’re not ready yet ;)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and have a great week <3 scrapbook crochet

More Huugs to Feature!

A few months ago I designed a free pattern for a knitted stuffed monster that I dubbed Huug the Hug Monster©. Since then several people have made their own version, and I love featuring them! Sophia Dembling recently made a Huug of her own, which turned into a hilarious ordeal involving her Huug’s face. I love it when I see the way others create something, because no two Huugs are ever the same! Sophia did a little experimentation on her Huug’s face which turned into what she calls a disaster, but I call cute! Though I do have to agree with her — the face and the Huug body separate were adorable. Together… well… not so much ;) This photo is copyright to Sophia and her permission was given to share the picture.

Back With a Knitting Project in Progress

©Weeeee’re back! We’ve returned from our family trip to beautiful Penticton in British Columbia, and we had a blast! We spent most of the day Friday soaking up the sun at Okanagan Lake in the newly fenced in and designated off-leash doggie beach with Oliver and Winston. Oliver was happy to be free to swim without the burden of his leash and really enjoyed fetching his floating orange chew toy. Winston was quick to chase after Ollie, even into the water, until he realized he could no longer touch the bottom. Though his rear end sank like a brick, his doggie instincts prompted him to paddle as fast as his little front legs could and he was an absolute riot. Once he got used to the idea of the ground disappearing from beneath him he would make short trips out into the lake after us, as long as we weren’t too far. Once he reached us we’d pick him up (more like he’d climb up our legs) to give him a break before sending him between us or back to shore. He loved it! They both did. Towards the end of our swim you could tell Oliver was exhausted but he just couldn’t resist the urge to swim out and back a few more times. You can see all of our exciting photos HERE! There are some really good ones :) AAAAND I put together a little video of our adventures that you can watch HERE.

And what would an 8 hour drive between Penticton and Calgary be without something crafty?! We hit a Zellers in Penticton for a few items and they had some Bernat Soft/Boucle yarn skeins on sale for half off and I just couldn’t resist. Especially since Lucas’ grandmother had brought along her sweater project and had shown me her method of knitting. I realized that she knits continental style while I was taught and currently knit english style. It was interesting to see the difference and she seemed to fly through her project. After reading up on it, it seems most agree continental is faster. Thanks to the fine folks over at KnittingHelp.com (my knitting bible), I’m going to try and pick up continental knitting. I’d like to see if picking up continental will be easier or harder for me than being taught english style by Lucas’ mom last summer. I really enjoy english style knitting, but it’d be nice to find which method is the fastest for me in the end. I have a few ambitious knitting projects on the horizon in time for the holidays this year planned already, and I’d like to find which way will help me get the projects done in the most efficient manner. Plus I hear if you’re fluent in both methods, doing colour work via “stranding” is easier down the road, something else I’d like to learn. Anyway, I picked up two skeins of yarn — one in Burgundy stripes and one in The Big Purple. I started a scarf for myself from the burgundy skein on the ride home and if all goes well (which it is so far!) I’ll make my mom a similar scarf from the purple skein since that’s her favourite colour. I’m using nice, big 10mm/US 15 needles and knitting loosely and I think casting on 20 stitches might be a bit too wide. I think for my mom’s scarf I’ll only cast on 15 stitches. I’m not sure how long the finished scarf will be — so far my burgundy one is at 50 inches and I just plan to go until I run out of yarn or until it seems to lay comfortably and suitably on me length-wise. I have a knitted scarf that I received from a student several years ago and it’s beautiful, but it’s 100 inches long and drags too much on short little me, so I plan to make the scarf long enough, but not too long… whatever that means ;) So I guess I’m shooting for a finished length of around 75 inches… in between where I am now and “too long.”

Lindsay's Unique Duck

Yay! It’s a glorious Monday and yet another person has found my knitted duck pattern useful! Check out this beauty by Lindsay — aren’t the non-traditional colours fun? Lindsay’s duck is way adorable. I really love seeing people try out my patterns. The photos are copyright to and property of Lindsay, who emailed them to me and gave me permission to post and use them here. Thank you so much for sharing these, Lindsay!

I love featuring other knitters and getting emails from people who have tried out my amateur patterns. It really makes my day to see someone else make a duck or a Huug! Especially when they add their own artistic flair. If you’ve tried out one of my designs, please let me know and I’d love to feature you, too. :)

Quack! Quack! Have a wonderful week!

Max's Huug the Hug Monster©, by Phyllis

It’s so exciting when people find and try out my amateurish patterns. It’s even more exciting when they share their creations with me, and I get to see someone else’s take on the idea. Today was one such exciting day, and I’m very pleased to feature Phyllis Ray’s version of Huug the Hug Monster©, a free pattern I invented and posted a few weeks back. He is very unique, no? :)

Phyllis sent me an email today, complete with pictures, to share her own version of Huug that she made for her grandson, Max Marcussen! Isn’t he adorable?! (Both Max and Huug!) Phyllis and her grandson live in Connecticut, and the three-eyed hug monster was a big hit with Max. Phyllis says that she has four grandchildren, so there will most likely be more Huugs in her future! That sure is a lot of hugs! :)

The images in this blog post belong to/are copyright to Phyllis Ray, who kindly granted me permission to use the photos that she sent me for this blog feature. Thanks so much for sharing your work, Phyllis! I loved seeing another Huug made, and am even happier to see the smile on Max’s face :) Take care!

Happy Easter!

Just in time for Easter, I whipped up a new little design: meet my tiny knitted “gribbly bunny!” This little guy is made from satin-y acrylic yarn, which makes it really smooth and easy to work with. The pattern is one I developed myself, and I have plans to make various creatures based on the same design in the future. The series will be called “gribblies”

from urbandictionary.com:
Gribbly/Gribblies:
“In gaming, an enemy/monster that is small and/or insignificant, and usually serves no purpose other than to irritate the gamer/opponent.”

and

“In tabletop gaming, a small annoying monster that does little more than irritate.”

So these are just tiny little insignificant creatures hiding in nooks and crannies that will do little more than just irritate you if they cross your path. They like to pester and annoy whomever they come in contact with, and I like to believe that gribblies are to blame for all of those little irritating setbacks in your typical day. Having a bad day? Blame it on the gribblies! Stay tuned for more in the series down the road when I get time to create all of the ideas in my head for other little gribblies :) There just aren’t enough hours in the day!

heyknithappens' Edgar

Happy Saturday everyone! I just wanted to feature the work of a fantastic newer knitter like myself named heyknithappens on Ravelry, who made their very own knitted duck plush from my pattern that I posted a few months back! I love seeing someone else use a pattern I invented, especially when I’m such an amateur at it! You can check out heyknithappens on her blog here: Hey, Knit Happens!

Even more exciting is to find out that she is from my hometown area :) Even though I’m living on what seems like the other side of the world from there now, it’s always a nice surprise to meet others who share the same interests and familiarities of “home.” Small world, huh? Just in case you can’t check heyknithappens out on Ravelry, you can see Edgar, her version of the knitted duck plush, along with all of the other awesome stuff she has knitted on flickr for your convenience. You should definitely check her out… just look at the cute things she has knitted!

The images in this blog post belong to/are copyright to heyknithappens and come from her flickr photo stream :) The first photo is [1] and the second is [2]. Enjoy, and thanks for sharing your work, heyknithappens!

Huug the Hug Monster©

On my way to work the other morning I got an idea in my head for a new knitted plushie pattern I wanted to create. I wanted to name him Huug, and he would be the Hug Monster… so Huug the Hug Monster©! I made a few sketches and started guesstimating stitch counts and then went home and began testing. My final result turned out pretty much how I wanted it; the face is something I want to work more on. The original idea was that Huug has two small beady little eyes and two fairly big buck front teeth sticking out. I’m not so good with embroidery on knitting, so I hope that my future versions of Huug’s face turn out a little better with some tweaking. Anyway, he was originally released here as a fairly popular free pattern, however due to a retail venture I’ve decided to remove it. Sorry :( Huug the character and his knit/crochet pattern was officially and legally copyrighted recently for said venture. I will share more Huugs I make in the future and more backstory about this wonderful creature in the future instead.

Huug the Hug Monster© can / will come in many different colours — I just used orange because this Huug is for my fiance, Lucas. I envision Huugs of every colour of the rainbow and even made from fuzzy and furry yarns to make hairier cousins.

Christmas Craftin' Complete!

With only a few days to spare before we head back to Indiana for Christmas, I have completed all of my Christmas gift knit projects. YAY me! Now that I don’t have any time sensitive projects with a due date, I can focus finally on attempting that neck warmer for Lucas. As you can see, Oliver decided to help me knit this one for “daddy.” :) We have the most handsome dog on the planet, by the way.

So what Christmas gifts have I finished (since the epic blanket) that I haven’t shown you yet? Here’s the list of recently completed works in progress… which means I can officially take them off of the WIP list. I can’t wait to give these to their recipients on Christmas day!

Tiny Toque Christmas Ornaments. These were so fun to make and turned out so cute. First of all, I love the word “toque” and since it’s more a Canadian word (and not one that my family in Indiana is familiar with at all), I decided to make a bunch of these little toques in Christmas colours, which I then turned into tree ornaments. The tags hanging from them will teach my family members this new fangled word and increase their knowledge about Canada ;)

Reindeer Dishcloths. I made one of these each to give to my two grandmothers. The photo doesn’t do these justice — the reindeer is very subtle, but definitely there! (And unlike the pattern says, they really are reindeer and NOT moose!) I packaged up one cloth with a cute decorative Christmas soap (a snowman soap or a Christmas tree soap) in a tiny little holiday basket. They will make sweet little gifts.

Ducky Washcloth. This one I made for my best friend, Somer. It’s a similar idea to the reindeer dishcloths, but this one is made instead from a super soft satin acrylic yarn for the face instead of a 100% cotton blend. It’s got a rubber duck that is fairly easy to see and less subtle than the reindeer cloths. I plan to package this up with some rubber duck soap that I got for Somer at the Calgary Festival of Crafts a few weekends ago and the knitted duck plush I designed just for her. (below.) Pattern for this washcloth was found here.

My Knitted Duck Plush. I am really proud of this one, probably because it’s my own pattern, and technically the first knitting pattern I’ve ever made and shared with anyone. You can read all about that process here and get the free pattern for yourself :) It’s also been published on Ravelry here. I knitted it to go along with the other ducky items for Somer. I think she’ll like him a lot… I know I like to hug him! :)

Baby Santa Toque. Last on my list was a baby-sized Santa toque to give to my cousin’s new baby that I’ll finally get to meet on Christmas Eve for the first time. This was knitted from a pattern in a great book I borrowed from the local library called Simple Knits for Cherished Babies by Erika Knight. All I did to achieve the Santa look was to start out with white yarn and switch to red for the body instead of knitting all in the same yarn. And then I added a festive white pom-pom for the finishing Christmas-y touch. I can’t wait to see this one on.

So that’s about it! While it’s very satisfying and relieving to have completed my Christmas crafting in time, I’m also feeling a little empty! There are lots of things queued up for me on Ravelry to try out, though, and I’ve got this neck warmer project on the go, so I’ll do my best to keep busy! Perhaps I’ll use my Christmas vacation time to learn crochet… ? Move over, there’s something new for my plate!

I think I’m going to need a bigger plate.

Free Pattern: Knitted Duck Plush

A few weeks ago I attempted to make Lion Brand Yarn’s Pocket Pet Duckling. In the end, I didn’t like the Fun Fur, didn’t like the fact it was a duck without wings, and really really disliked the look of using felt to make the beak and feet… wishing instead that it was truly a fully knitted duck. My solution to a better knitted duck plush? Make my own!

I use the same concept of knitting a square that is folded in half to make a triangle for the duck’s body as inspiration, but that’s where the similarities end. This duck sports fully knitted wings, feet and beak, and sits up on its own instead of laying down. Here’s the pattern!

Materials
Size US 9/5.5mm needles
Bernat Satin Solids yarn in Sunrise yellow
Bernat Satin Solids yarn in Sunset orange
ribbon, tapestry needle, black yarn for eyes or seed beads

If you can cast on, use the plain knit stitch (garter stitch), can knit 2 together (K2T) and bind off, you’re set! Here we go.

Duck Body
* CO 30 sts
* Knit (garter stitch) 50 rows
* BO, leaving a 12 inch tail

You now have a square. Fold it in half so that you form a triangle. Using your lengthy tail and a tapestry needle, stitch up one side of the triangle. Open it up and you’ll see that you now have a cone. You may wish to flip it inside out so that your seam looks neater. Stuff the cone, keeping in mind that the pointed end is going to end up being the head, and the seam goes up the stomach of your duck. At the top of the cone, you’ll have an extra “flap” that you now fold over like a triangle. Sew the edges closed, and you’ve formed the rear end that the duck will sit on. Shape it to “sit” up on its rear like in the photo. Now it’s time to make the other body parts.

Wings & Feet – Make 2 in Yellow and 2 in Orange
* CO 9 sts
* knit 5 rows
* K2T, knit 5, K2T (you have 7 sts left)
* knit 2 rows
* K2T, knit 3, K2T (you have 5 sts left)
* knit 2 rows
* K2T, knit 1, K2T (you have 3 sts left)
* knit 2 rows
* K2T, knit 1 (you have 2 sts left)
* K2T to bind off
Weave in ends. Stitch wings and feet to duck in appropriate places. I positioned the wings so that they were like hands — sewing them on their side so that the pointiest end where I bound off was facing the stomach. I used the bottom seam as a guide and lined up each foot along that seam when I stitched it on.

Beak – Make 1 in Orange
* CO 7 sts
* knit 5 rows
* K2T, knit 3, K2T (you have 5 sts left)
* knit 2 rows
* K2T, knit 1, K2T (you have 3 sts left)
* knit 2 rows
* K2T, knit 1 (you have 2 sts left)
* K2T to bind off
Weave in ends. Stitch beak to duck at the end of the face, making sure the pointy end where you bound off is hanging a bit over the edge of the face. Once you’ve stitched the back of the beak onto the face, fold the pointy end under the “chin” and stitch down, making a more blunt beak.

Tie a ribbon around the duck to clearly define the neck area. You can make eyes either by sewing on black seed beads or embroidering the eyes with black yarn. Voila!

Enjoy the pattern, and if you make any ducks, I’d love to see them! Send them my way to craftblog @ pinktoque.com and I’ll showcase them here :) Remember that the pattern is protected under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Creative Commons license, and anything made from it may not be used for commercial purposes. You may not make anything from the pattern and sell it or resell/redistribute the pattern in part or in whole.

As you can see from my WIP list, I am almost done with all of my Christmas gift knitting and crafting with one week to go before we leave for Indiana. Check back soon to see a final post before Christmas to see all of the little things I’ve finished lately just in time for the holidays :)