Alan Dart: Toy Designs

There must be thousands of knitted toy patterns available.  But the one designer of toy patterns who really stands out is Alan Dart. So I took a leap and started knitting up Baby Pearl just because she was so darned cute.

This is Mr. Dart's picture of Baby Pearl:

My first attempt at knitting up Baby Pearl went well until it came to her head.  I must have read the directions incorrectly because the top of her head was much too big.  After doing some scissor surgery, this is how she now looks.

 

Baby Pearl has five fingers on each hand and overalls that actually go over her body.  The overalls are not stuffed.

Her feet were knit in sock yarn, stuffed with fiberfill.

Since I knew that the doll's face was not knit correctly on the first attempt, I just had to knit it up again and correct that previous knitting mistake.  I used scrap white cotton yarn (Peaches and Cream).  But it was pure white, not a good color for a face.

So I dyed up the cotton pieces: ears, nose and face, in hot tea, letting it steep for a few minutes.  Then the pieces were allowed to dry on the clothes dryer, not in it.

The color was about right for an African American baby face, but she needed some hair.  What to do? Orange hair would not look right on this special baby.  So I plaited up some corn rows from black yarn and added beads at the end of each plait.

This second baby ended up looking adorable with her pink cheeks and button eyes.

Friend Natalie knitted an Alan Dart pattern called Batty (I think).  This is Natalie's Batty:



His feet in spats and his bib and cuffs accentuate his wing span.  Don't you love his ears?  What a great Halloween decoration.

If you are interested in making up a pattern from Mr. Dart, all of his patterns can be accessed here.

These nursery mice are some of my favorites:

The Haps in the Household

What is happening in your world?  Mine, not so much.  Mainly the Mr. and I have been involved in taking care of our wounded pet.  Wounded neither by man nor beast, but by her own exhuberance and increasing age.

Libby Sweetpea, therapy dog and healer of the mind, had a torn ACL.  At six years of age, this is not too uncommon.  She took a flying leap off the back step, as usual, but that one leap ten days ago left her in pain with the liklihood of permanent disability if she did not have surgery to repair the tear.

So she underwent a tightrope procedure and spent one night at the animal hospital.  She probably did not miss us near as much as we missed her.  This was her little shaved leg a few days ago; she was recuperating on the lap of the Mr.

This is how Libby's dad remembers what to do for her and when to do it.  I thought it was cute that he wrote it all out.  She does not mind doing her range of motion exercises too much, and just whimpers a bit when it hurts.

Libby this morning:

I am feeling much better, thank you.

This is a pair of Faceted Rib Socks in progress:

linking to Tami at Works in Progress Wednesday

Tomorrow I am heading out to Las Vegas to play in a Scrabble tournament at the Riviera Casino and Hotel. There will be 56 competitors.  Can you find me in this listing?  Please wish me lotsa luck!

source

 

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Take at look at 313 five letter J words here that I will be studying today to prepare for the tournament.

Leg Warmers to Crochet or Knit

Now that it is winter, maybe you need some leg warmers. Aren't these the cutest?

(photo courtesy of vanillabeanknits) on Flickr.

Here are crochet directions from the webpage: Legwear:

...leg warmers will be most appreciated in the dead of winter when temperatures plummet and winds wail, but be sure to have them crocheted and ready to wear.

Directions are given for size 9-11. You will need two 4 ounce, skeins of 4 ply yarn and sizes I and K crochet hooks.

Gauge: 3 hdc equal 1 inch

Starting at lower edge with smaller hook, ch 30, join with sl st to form ring, ch 2, do not turn.
Row 1: Sc in each ch, join with sl st in top of ch-2, ch 2, do not turn.
Rows 2 through 8: Repeat Row 1.
Row 9: With larger hook, ch 2, hdc in each sc across, join with sl st in top of ch-, ch 2, turn.
Repeat Row 9 to length desired, after last sl st, fasten off

And here is how you would knit these legwarmers: Measure your leg at the thickest part and determine your gauge according to the size yarn you are using. Two skeins of yarn should be adequate for two legwarmers.  Of course, larger needles will make the project go faster.  Marissa Huber on Flickr used Noro yarn.  Any self striping yarn would work well.

I didn't really use a pattern, I just used a little math and knit a 1 x 1 rib. I kept knitting until they were long enough to stretch up to my thighs if cold weather required. (Courtesy of VanillabeanKnits) 

Counting Down the 2012 Knits

Just because I was curious, I looked over on my Ravelry page to county the number of knitted projects I finished in 2012.  Drum roll, please....there were 27 garments.

Wowser Dowser, that was a heck of a lot of knitting in the past year.

Last project finished thus far were for a friend with arthritis, an avid gardener who supplied us with squash and tomatoes all summer.  We really enjoyed his produce.  Here is one of Mr. Gardener's ... actually Mr. Woods'...wristers:

Then the husband said his old ones were not as sturdy as the ones he was modeling, so he wanted a pair like Mr. Woods was given.  But he wanted a pair with the thumbs knitted for extra warmth, so I modified this pattern and should be through with another pair shortly.

Other modifications on the pattern: sport weight yarn was held double to achieve a more sturdy fabric.  The yard used was 90% alpaca from Lonesome Stone Fiber Mill in Granby, Colorado.  They have 70 alpacas they rear and shear and process wool for their family owned business.  This is a picture of their mill:

Lonesome Stone alpaca fibers can be accessed here if you want to purchase yarn directly from their mill.

And these are the wristers for the Mister, half way completed:

fofridays

Fiber Arts Friday

Participating in Finished Objects Friday and Fiber Arts Friday.  Look at others' projects by clicking on the highlighted links.
Update 12/29/12, a pair of wristers for the husband, with an attached thumb:

Reprise of a Footstool

Definition of REPRISE. 1: a deduction or charge made yearly out of a manor or estate —usually used in plural . 2: a recurrence, renewal, or resumption of an action (Merriam Webster)

And here is the footstool in its second life with all pieces cleaned and new accessories.

A lace border (four pieces) was added between newly purchased fringe and the needlepoint top:

 

and corner pieces attached: 

(the flower is by Susan B. Anderson for a pacifer clip with five petals; directions at the Ravelry tag below)

So glad to finally get the ottoman put back together again. Thank goodness for hot glue guns and red duck tape.  The red duck tape was a base for the purchased trim since the wood on the footstool showed under the fringed piece. What crafter can live without our friends duck tape and glue guns?

Linking to Finished Objects Friday and linking to Fiber Arts Friday.

Begun as a Knitted Sock

...except it did not end as a pair of socks.  Somehow my right hand took a beating and is bruised, likely due to pure clumsiness.  And I did not want that sock to just hang around incomplete, knowing it would take a while for the bruise to diminish and the knitting to resume.  Also, rather than start those socks with a special sock yarn, I was being frugal and trying to use up some silk/wool yarn in a 50/50 blend, not smart for sock knitting.

So rather than waste the prior effort in knitting a rather striking sock designed by Cookie A. and found here on Knitty, it was turned into another accessory.

This is Cookie A. (above site) showing off her cute socks she designed.

After two rows of the lace repeat design, I bound off the sock start and added an I cord with a third color sock yarn to produce none other than an iTouch holder.

more about Cookie

Cookie is a knitting addict living in Northern California. She is particularly prone to sock yarn impulse purchasing and knitting, has a darling cat named after a mathematician, and is in search of the most whack haircut ever.

Knitting and Household Tips from Long Ago

One of my favorite things to do is look back at old references.  And of course, knitting patterns hold my attention, and housekeeping tips are fun to look back on and chuckle over.  How did our great, great, etc. grandmothers ever do it all without the "conveniences" we now consider necessities?  It was not that long ago that I remember my grandmother telling about the days when she had to make her own sanitary products from discarded bed sheets. Can we even imagine that? I  think not.

But I digress.  Joyce James, who guides tours through Scotland and is an avid knitter, gave references here about old knitting books and says, in part: 

I've just had a cursory look through some of the pages and it's interesting to read about the knitting techniques, vocabulary and patterns and how they have changed. Which is not surprising considering how far back the collection stretches. Who knits a "Sontag" or "Cephaline" anymore? (From the 1844 issue of My Knitting Book.) 

Another book, printed by The Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen, titled Helping the Trawlers and dated 1800, has a long list of patrons and vice-patrons. In addition to patterns for clothing to help seamen withstand the harsh weather on open ships, there is a section for donations to Labrador. 

source

Go here for Digital Resources from the Knitting Reference Library WSA.  It has books from the early 1800's.

And as far as references for household management, you just cannot beat the Mrs. Beaton's Book of Household Management (free on Kindle).

And The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887) Cooking, Toilet and Household Recipes, Menus, Dinner-Giving, Table Etiquette, Care of the Sick, Health Suggestions, Facts ... [free Kindle Edition] is a real look into the White House management from the 1800's.

It was not a simple life.

This is what I just finished knitting after perusing old references on knitting: baby booties with the free pattern found here.

Mrs. Mouse made a great photo opportunity with the booties.

Some things from the past just cannot be replicated.

 Beatrix Potter is one of my favorites.  You can see all of her illustrations at this site.

This and That and Some Knitting

Something new for fall decoration, cheap, colorful and making the living room smile with cheeriness: colorful plastic acorns.  Now really, don't they look like glass?  You, too, can have them for mere pennies and they are available at Michael's.

The Mr. and I attended two fun events this week. One was a picnic for Hospice of Western Colorado volunteers with a beach party theme.

And the pictures are of the Mr., and friend Mary who was a whiz at hoola hooping.  You can figure out who is who.

Libby Sweetpea is actually the Therapy Dog International volunteer for Hospice and I just drive her around to make her visits with hospice patients. It was the thought on the day of the picnic to leave her home because it would have actually been work for her to greet people, let them pet her, coo over her, and she would have had to be on her best behavior.  So she got the day off after working for four years for Hospice, and we allowed her to sleep in

while her driver enjoyed some picnic food of pork loin.

Then last night was the Gala Event for Community Hospital with the Moulin Rouge theme.  Proceeds ...errr...profits from the gala will be used to buy defibrillator units for our local schools.

On the needles this week is the Broken Rib Cowl:

and these baby booties (except my yarn is pink):

 with the pattern found here.

Thank you for reading my blog.  Thank you for submitting comments; they are very much appreciated.  And thank you all new followers. Please take a visit to these newest followers and say a friendly hello: The Shop Around the Corner, Merione, and Diana Evans.

Knitted Socks Ready in a Casual, Chic Sort of Way

Yup, two weeks later, here they are, as shown on the Mr.'s hands:

I used Knit Picks Stroll in a 75% wool, 25% nylon fingering weight wool.  The pattern is here. Gardening, walking, clogging...these socks are ready to go!

ODE TO MY SOCKS
by Pablo Neruda

Maru Mori brought me
a pair
of socks
that she knit with her
shepherd's hands.

Two socks as soft
as rabbit fur.

I thrust my feet
inside them
as if they were
two
little boxes
knit
from threads
of sunset
and sheepskin.

My feet were
two woolen
fish
in those outrageous socks,
two gangly,
navy-blue sharks
impaled
on a golden thread,
two giant blackbirds,
two cannons:

thus
were my feet
honored
by
those
heavenly
socks.

They were
so beautiful
I found my feet
unlovable
for the very first time,
like two crusty old
firemen, firemen
unworthy
of that embroidered
fire,
those incandescent
socks.

Nevertheless
I fought
the sharp temptation
to put them away
the way schoolboys
put
fireflies in a bottle,
the way scholars
hoard
holy writ.

I fought
the mad urge
to lock them
in a golden
cage
and feed them birdseed
and morsels of pink melon
every day.

Like jungle
explorers
who deliver a young deer
of the rarest species
to the roasting spit
then wolf it down
in shame,
I stretched
my feet forward
and pulled on
those
gorgeous
socks,
and over them
my shoes.

So this is
the moral of my ode:
beauty is beauty
twice over
and good things are doubly
good
when you're talking
about
a pair of wool
socks
in the dead of winter.