Seamus's son

Mike retired last friday...woohoo he is very excited and enjoying the need NOT to get up early to go to work each day. Mind you he still wakes up early:)
I bought him some lovely long stem red roses and a hellium filled balloon to mark the occasion. I also made him a card.

He wished to give a lady he worked with recently a little owl like Seamus (see earlier post). Smaller than Seamus was easy I chose a 4ply wool instead of 8ply and used size 12 (2.75mm) needles. He turned out to be about 6cm tall and a fraction wider.
Very cute we thought.

Baby Gnomes

I found this cute pattern for baby size gnomes at this website.
http://www.naturalearthfarm.com/
Could not resist making a few...well 8 actually:) I knit them in 5ply wool on a size 12 (2.75mm) needle. They take very little wool and I had so many colours in my stash I just kept on knitting. After knitting the red one I thought a Santa would be cute so I gave him black boots and mittens and a belt. A beard and a pom pom on his hat finished him off.
I stitched a bell on one gnome's hat then thought that it would not be very baby friendly so put a bell inside the hat before attaching it to their heads. These will probably end up at a charity I donate knitted garments to called k.o.g.o. (knit one give one)
http://www.knitonegiveone.org/index.html

The Owl and the Pussy cat went to sea...

More knitting last night saw these two little critters come to life.
More free patterns found here on the Natural Suburbia Blog.
http://www.naturalsuburbia.com/2012/07/owl-knitting-pattern-and-tutorial.html
Seamus the owl and Beans the cat.
I knitted them flat then stitched them up the back.

Julius and Julianna

I found a pattern for a knitted doll who is all rugged up in a scarf and beanie to keep him warm. After I made Julius from the free pattern from Drops Design.
http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/en/pattern.php?id=5909&lang=en
Mike thought he should have a girlfriend! So Julianna was born. The pattern calls for knitting Julius on 4 double pointed needles(DPN's)...no way I could do this I thought so I knitted him on straight needles and stitched him up the back! His arms and legs and hat also required to be knitted on DPN's. I did his hat and arms flat but when it came to his feet and legs flat was not an option so I struggled and managed to knit them in the round on the DPN's BUT they were inside out...hmmm I just turned them out stuffed them and stitched them on to his body. When it came to knitting Julianna I thought I would give the DPN's a try. Thought I had the hang of it and quickly knitted up her body then her arms which had to be stuffed before joining into the body to continue on to make her head all in one. Well small problem the arms I turned out the right way and stuffed them but her body was inside out!! I am obviously doing something wrong so I turned her body out the right way but before I tried to knit any further I went to visit my friend Lynette to see if she knew where I was going wrong. We could not come to any definitive conclusions as to why I was knitting inside out so next stop was my LYS (local yarn shop) Wondoflex. The ladies there soon worked it out...I was knitting into the back of the stitches instead of the front!! Dumb!
So home I head to rectify my knitting style...woohoo it works. Now for her legs and stitch her together. Of course she looks quite different to Julius as when you knit in the flat all rows knit as the pattern indicates you get garter stitch but when you knit all rows in the round you get stocking stitch! For the same number of rows she turned out taller than him ah well such is life:)

Knitted Hearts for Valentine's day

My knitting craze has not slowed up yet:)
I made Mike a heart for Valentine's Day and also one for my Auntie Bett. Bett lives in a Nursing Home and uses a walking frame. The ladies sometimes get a bit confused about whose frame is whose so I knitted a red heart and tied it with some tartan ribbon on to Bett's walking frame to help her pick it out when they are all lined up:)

Fish Rug Completed

Woohoo it is done and all stitched up. 96 fish in total. It measures 105cm by 77cm. A baby blanket or knee rug. The aim of the game was to use up my stash of 8ply wool...well I still have a rather large bag full.  Enough fish for now I will have to think of something else to make with what I still have, children's jumpers or beanies for next winter perhaps.

Toys for Nicole's grandson

I had a request from a stamping friend for a reindeer to give to her soon to be born grandson. Do I make any other knitted toys...well no but I will give anything a go once.
So I made a teddy and a mouse. Teddy's I am happy to reproduce ... mice NEVER again, think I am all over Reindeer too...LOL
The teddy is 16cm high, the reindeer 24cm from the top of his antlers to the tip of his toes. Mr Mouse is 9cm sitting but 17cm when standing.

The bunny was knitted as a square then stitched to take its shape and a pom pom added for its tail.

Home made Stencil

I have had fun with my Cricut today after my darling husband manged to get my computer to talk to my Cricut. Seems they had had a falling out and it required updating of my Sure Cuts a Lot software. Anyway they are the best of buddies again and I can now make stencils etc to my hearts content.
We have a couple of male friends who fly planes and as both their birthdays fall this month and I am trying to get my cards for the month completed I thought I would make a stencil of planes to use on their cards.This is how the stencil looks

Then I used it over a presprayed background.

Next I made a card.

I am pleased with the outcome and have learnt a bit about what happens when you spray on a gloss card stencil, from a distance to get an even spray works best and don't dab off too much better to let it dry or use your heat gun...sponging with Distress inks worked well, Distress Stains are a bit too wet.