I knit some really cool mittens over the weekend. Ok, they’re not done. Not even one is done. I designed the pattern, and dyed both the yarn and the fiber….so I’m probably biased. But seriously, they rock. Even my skeptical husband, who usually says nothing about what I’m knitting (Besides the sidways glances that say “Oi! More knitting!”), so this is momentous. He said, and I quote, “Wow! That really looks like the chart!”. Yep. Gushing man love over the mittens.
No pictures of said mittens. They’re for my secret swap pal, and I haven’t heard whether or not I can post pictures of them to my own blog. I hope so, because I want to put the progress photos up and share how pretty they are. Soon, maybe.
Other than that, I knit totoros. Yes, totoros – from My Neighbor Totoro (The best children’s film ever. seriously, you must see this film! X went through a few months where he would not go to sleep after waking in the night unless Totoro was on. I still love it…..even after watching 15 – 120 minutes of the film every single night for four months. ) Here they are. It’s my own pattern, and if I ever get time to add in the little essential bits, like how to do the cast on and initial increases, felting, stuffing and sewing, I’ll post it as a free pattern. All three sizes are a Katie original. You’ll notice that I kept forgetting the short row tails on all but the smallest one. They’re really easy to knit; sport weight yarn on two size 4 circs, slightly felted, then stuffed and sewn closed. Wah lah! Very satisfying to knit.
These were inspired by the Knitty Woodins pattern. I knit up four of the little guys and I couldn’t help but wish for chibi totoros (Chibis ironically are both the brand of my yarn needles, and the term for the smallest, white totoro that appears in the movie.) Nick was also very skeptical of the Woodins, which clearly state they are inspired by not a direct interpretation of the aforementioned chibis. It son became apparent that we would not rest until actual chibis were reproduced. (I knew this because Nick called me down to show me three pages of Google images of chibis, and then we went and watched movie scenes all while discussing the minute details of what a chibi should be.) So, I don’t know what’s going to happen to the four woodins I already knit, but I need several more tiny chibis, now. Oi. Hopefully the rest of my yarn will arrive so I can knit the tree branch to make sure those tiny ones are the right size. I’ve only knit three different sizes this weekend.
And I’ll leave off with idyllic fall pictures of the kids and I raking leaves yesterday morning. It was a beautiful morning, a perfect morning. great pictures. I love my kids. Even if they were complete stinkers the rest of the day. (Yes, that is a Denver Broncos jersey. I have a Rivers jersey in the alternate color too.)
Dyeing to Knit 