Life is too short to knit with ugly yarn.

My cousin had a baby back in may, a little girl named Mila. She's the cutest, smiliest, easiest little girl in the world, really. When they all came here in July, we got to discussing blankies, lol. My cousin wants her daughter to have something special to cart around and grow up with, so she still hadn't gotten her a proper "doudou" (that's what we call them here in france). Poor little baby! So this is when I offered to knit her one, making it from scratch. It did take me longer than I was hoping, between thinking about textures and safety, and work, but she now finally has her very own, very special doudou. I don't know if it's unique enough for her mother's tastes but it was made with a lot of love and I like the idea that Mila will get to carry it around and snuggle it to death (probably literally, I'm foreseeing many a "fix-my-doudou-up-auntie-please" sessions). So here it is! Mila's very own little doudou!



( Couple more pictures behind this cut... )

You can see more pictures, particularly of the details, on the ravelry project page: Mila's Little Doudou.

This doll was inspired by fanfiction and was initially meant to be part of a big story challenge thingy that I would rather not talk about or link here. That being said, it’s most importantly a piece of knitting that I am insanely proud of, so I figured it was time to share it with fellow knitters and otherwise knitty-interested fellows. :-D

She was initially made following the pattern for the Sally, The Eco Fairy doll from Knitty. I made the body according to the pattern but then improvised for the hair. I wanted the doll to have an upswet hairdo so I used strands of yarn that I attached one by one in a circle around the head, then pulled together in a ponytail and then a chignon.

The ears, dress, handbag and shoes were made up as I went, though I did use the pattern instructions for the bottom of the dress because I like that particular lace pattern. The earrings were made with real earrings (d'oh!) and the little corsage rose is made with a bit of silk ribbon donated to the cause by my Friend MC. My friend MC who's also the one who embroidered the smile, because that's one thing I didn't feel I could do well. *g*

Mostly, the doll was made with a lot of love. Because of course I enjoy knitting, but I don't think I've ever had this much fun knitting something before. ♥



( More pictures of Ms Spencer... )

For more info and pictures of the doll (including in progress pics), see the Ravelry project page here. :-)

I haven't posted anything for three months, when really, I've been a lot busier than you'd think! Mostly Christmas knitting, obviously, even though I'd promised myself I wouldn't let people demand stuff anymore so I could knit for myself. Oh well... At least I've been productive? *g*

In Octobre, I found some nice yarn for a very cheap price at a discount store near the Marseille hospital. 75% wool, sock yarn... I fell in love. I was there to be with my grandfather and needed something to keep me occupied so I started randomly knitting a tube which ended up as a hat. I love that hat. It's exactly the right kind of shape and size for my head. So since I had more of the same yarn to use, I also made myself a Baktus scarf. I loooooove my Baktus! That is a fantastic pattern and I love the way it looks. The shape is pretty awesome for a scarf. Which is why I ended up making a couple more for friends of mine. :-D



More details and pics on ravelry: hat, baktus.

*****

( So. Much. More. Stuff. :-D )

I've been making stuff a lot lately. Small things, not much knitting because I haven't had much time so it's easier to make a few rings than to knit, but that doesn't mean I haven't been knitting as well!

Over the summer hols, I went with a couple of friends to an Emmaüs sale and found some really lovely buttons. I also got a few from a friend, and some of them were so pretty that I immediately wanted to turn them into pretty jewels.

 

( Rings galore! )

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I recently bought myself a pouch laminator for work and had the idea to put it to use for something else. I used some of my own favorite photographs, made some edits in photoshop and voilà! Bookmarks! I love reading and I'm always reading more than one book at a time, so I need more than one bookmark at a time!

   

( Read a book, mark your page... )

And if you want to see what the designs really look like, you can find them here.

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And of course, I'm still knitting and have managed to finish a couple of things since the last time I posted about knitty things...

 

( Knitty! )

So yeah, I've been pretty busy. Stress does that to me. :-)

The last two days have been so unproductive, it's very frustrating... but what can you do? Migraines tend to make me waste a few days to the pain. At least I finally feel better. Though having been in bed most of today, I am now unable to sleep. I'm completely exhausted, mind you, because migraines also do that, but the diet of too much caffeine I'm on (because caffeine is the only thing that can help get the migraines down most days) means I'm not sleeping. *sigh*

So instead, I sat down and knitted a few things for my stash, and then looked into what I need to do to set up an etsy shop. I'm not sure I'm ever going to be able to set up one, I find the whole thing pretty intimidating... but in the meantime, I have more knitted stuff to share, including a new kind of keyring! Yep, a keyring that doesn't have tentacles, lol.



( Meet Bob the blob. :-D Isn't he adorable? )

So yeah, I've been busy, I guess, lol. As for etsy... gah. It's so complicated. I don't know what to call my shop, I don't know what to upload as a banner, what policies to have... like I said, soooooo intimidating!

In an effort to make up a stock for possibly selling later, I've been knitting more and more tentacles lately. These ones not for giving away right away, lol. I don't know that anybody will ever be willing to actually shell money out for these little guys but well, no harm in trying, right?

Anyway, I made three more this week. One for my friend castalie and two to add to my stock.

( More and more tentacles! )

Still keeping in mind the possibility of setting up an etsy shop, I had an idea for a little... flower brooch. Or maybe you'd call it more of a "rosette" (is that how you say it?). I made two out of different yarn and while I love the colors of the brown one, I think the yarn is too thin and slippery for this kind of project. Thicker yarn works better. Still, a cute little project that you can pin on a lapel or something!

( Rosettes! )

Finally, the one project I really had a lot of fun with these last few days is one that was initially inspired by the Tentacles pattern, but then turned out a little bit different. Instead of a bigger octopus, like I was initially aiming for, I ended up making a cute little pink jellyfish. And I love it!



( More jellyfish cuteness under the cut! )

This little guy can be found here on ravelry.

Been rather busy since school let out, catching up on some of the knitting I didn't have the time for during the last month of the school year. So yes, this is going to be a bit picture heavy. *g*

First of all, more tentacles! They've proved quite popular, these. Everybody at school has one, everybody in my family has one... lol. We're drowning in tentacles!

( Tentacles! )

These next ones are hopefully the first of a stock I plan to make to later sell on etsy.



Ravelry project page here.

I've also been trying to come up with a new kind of small animal keyring/brooch and been working on an elephant head. My first attempt is not quite right but I still like it. I need to work on the trump a bit more, though. :-)



Ravelry project page here

And for those who don't have a ravelry account, more pics of all of these can be found at my flickr.

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Earlier this year, I also signed up for Sweet Charity and offered one scarf and matching wristwarmers to the highest bidder. I ran a bit late with them but they're finally done, woohoo! I'm quite happy with them, though not as happy with the yarn as I was hoping I'd be.

( Sweet Charity wristwamers & scarf )

Ravelry project pages for these here and here.

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Last but not least, I made another book cozy for a friend.



Ravelry project page here.

So yes, I've been busy! Woohoo! Knitting makes me happy, I didn't get to enough of it the past two months. *g*

So, my first octopus keyring proved to be so popular with my colleagues that I've been making tentacles for almost everybody i know. *g* So many tentacled little beasties! But hey, it's not like I am not chuffed about this. It makes me happy that almost everybody at school is now sporting a knitted keyring. It's like a new mascot or something. *g*

So here, have a look at the little guys I've been making!



( More tentacles!!! Warning: picture (and tentacles) heavy. )

These little guys are all on ravelry, here, here, here and here.

And for those who want to make their own, here's the pattern. Any questions or comments (because I'm not entirely sure I explained the assembling & shaping parts clearly enough), don't hesitate to let me know. :-)

Download the pattern from scribd.com here, or click on the following pictures for a readable view.

( Pattern! )

I finally finished the cabled scarf for my friend Mouse, the one that was inspired by the scarf worn by Jared Padalecki in Thomas Kinkade's Home for Christmas. I think it looks pretty nifty and now I can't wait to give to her for her birthday. :-D I even succeeded in blocking it satisfyingly which with Phildar yarn is always a hard thing to do, so yay! And I also wrote up a pattern which you can find at the end of this post. If anybody's interested, that is. :-)

And now, pics!



( More pics behind the cut, woohoo! )

Mouse's scarf on ravelry.

And now, the pattern! :-D

( Pattern for Mouse's Christmas Cottage scarf behind the cut, PDF format. Downloadable from scribd.com. )

I was playing around with a knitting mill earlier today (you know the kind, the ones that make icords, easy to play with particularly if you're a kid which is why I was playing with it: I intend to use it with the kids I teach) and found myself with a couple neat icords. Didn't want to waste them so I came up with this idea and thought I'd give it a try. You guys, I'm so happy with the result! Cute little easy keyring that will make a cool present, I think. I'm going to give it to one of my colleagues tomorrow, one I'd promised a little charm thingy like the ones I'd done for my other colleagues. Hopefully she'll like it! I'm also thinking I'll definitely be making more as presents because it was quick and it looks cute so they'll make great little insta-gifts, no?



( Click for more! Also click on the pictures for bigger versions! :-D )


The head was made with DPNs, starting with 54 stitches over three needles, decreasing down to 18 stitches over three rows. I then knit in the round until it was a size I liked, then decreased to 9 stitches over three rows, pulled the yarn through the last remaining stitches to bind off. I then laid out 4 icords in a sort of cross, bound them together with extra yarn through the middle of the cross, folded the bundle I got that way in two and stuffed the center inside the head. then it was just a matter of adding the eyes, securing the legs to the head by pulling yarn through the top of it, which yarn then served to attach the whole thing to the keyring bit. Last little thing, I threaded some extra yarn all around the base of the head, just before the widening part, and pulled tighter, binding off through one of the legs. And voilà! From head to bottom of the longest leg, this little guy is just over 4 inches (not counting the metal keyring part, though). It’s about the size of the keyrings I usually buy and use. :-D

Not sure the explanations are very clear but basically, it was super simple. Dunno if it’s even worth writing up a pattern for this, really. :-)

If you have an account, you can find more info on my ravelry project page.