Catnip Toys for Pets of Friends

I'm allergic to cats (and any other furry or feathered animal), so I can't have one of my own.

But, recently I decided that I wanted to make Oddball Pet Snuggles for animal shelters. Now, a group of us in the Knitting Help Forum are taking turns knitting sections of cushy little blankets for the pet cages.

When we each finish knitting our section, we mail the project to the next knitter on the list. We usually include little gifts in our Oddball packages. Since most of our participants have pets of their own, we will sometimes be sending treats to the pets instead of to the knitters.

I needed to send out 3 pet snuggles to the next knitters. All of them have cats as pets, so I decided to make catnip toys for their kitties. :)

Since I've never owned a cat, I had no IDEA what catnip was. I went to Walmart to see if I could find some in the pet section. Lo and behold, there it was!

I already had everything else I needed to make the toys, including a free pattern I found online called "Catnip Mice". So, I gathered everything together in one spot, so I could get going on making them all: Polyester fiberfill, Catnip, Jingle Bells, Yarn, Knitting Needles, Scissors, and a Tapestry Needle.


Before I sat down to knit, I put the tea kettle on, and made myself two cups of black tea. I needed the strength! I made one cup of Earl Grey, and one cup of English Breakfast Tea.


After a few sips, I got to knitting. Pretty soon, I had the body of my first catnip mouse ready to be stuffed.


I put in one jingle bell, then a little fiberfill, then some catnip, and a bit more fiberfill. Then I stiched it closed, and arranged the tail to look like a mouse.


Not bad! But, I did NOT enjoy making it with two needles. And I wasn't thrilled with the look of garter stitch either.

So, I got out of my comfy knitting chair and found some double pointed needles in the right size. Then sat back down, took another sip of tea, and started in on another mouse.

Much better!


By now, I knew how to make catnip mice with my eyes closed, so I chose another color of yarn, closed my eyes and started knitting. (tee-hee)


It turned out even better than the one before! Hey! Maybe I should ALWAYS knit with my eyes closed! Ha!! (just kidding, of course....) :P

Pretty soon, I had four little catnip mice, ready for battle with some kitties.


After making those four mice, I decided to try a different pattern I found online, called "Kitty Beanbag Zoo". It took a LOT longer to make than the mice, and used a lot more yarn, and a lot more catnip. I didn't really like the look of it either. So, I decided to just make one of those.


(I added a tail to mine, so it kinda turned out looking like a stingray!)

After that little tangent, I decided to veer back onto my original path....and made some more Catnip Mice. Besides....they were quick and easy. ;)

After just a couple hours, I had 11 catnip toys, ready to go!


It was fun. Now back to my regular knitting.

Yay! I Finished the Duplicate Stitch!

Woo Hoo! This morning, I made myself finish the duplicate stitch work on the "Go USA" Oddball Baby Blanket. It turned out nice!

Duplicate Stitch Embroidery on Stockinette Knitting

It's my turn to knit a section on the "Go USA" Oddball Baby Blanket for the Southeast Region. I wanted to do something creative, so I knit a section of all white stockinette, so I could do some patriotic decorations in duplicate stitch embroidery. I've only done duplicate stitch once before, on a Christmas stocking, so I figured I could use some more practice.

I grabbed a book in my craft room called "Tink's Second Book of Duplicate Stitch Alphabets" and a couple other books and patterns of duplicate stitch designs. Then, I sat in my craft room and pondered what would work best. I didn't have any patriotic patterns, so I put down the books and looked on the internet. I finally found some knitting charts for stars, so I decided to use those.

Next, I took at close look at the stockinette knitting I had done for the blanket, so I could see how many stitches I had to work with. 21 rows high by 94 stitches wide.

So, I picked an alphabet pattern in Tink's book that is 18 stitches high. This would make some BIG letters, saying "Go USA".

Then, I got a piece of graph paper, and charted out the stars and letters, before putting into Microsoft Excel. (I decreased the size of the columns in Excel, so they would be the right size for charting.) Next, I copied the design I made into MS Paint, did some variation with the colors, and ended up with this:


Not too bad for my very first charted design! :)

Then, I got together my materials:

Leaflet entitled "A Beginner's Guide to Duplicate Stitch"
Scissors
Yarn Needle
Glasses
Knitted Blanket
3 skeins of yarn for the embroidery: Light Blue, Dark Blue, Red

When I wanted to get started stitching, I realized that it would be much easier if I could enlarge the design for better viewing. So, I did my work at my computer, so I could view the design VERY LARGE on my computer screen.


Then, I started stitching. Here's the star on the right, with the blue part finished, and the red part getting started:


First star is done!


After that, the second star was quick work:


Then, I started doing the letters, from the last toward the first. So far, I've only finished "SA". Tomorrow, I'll get to work on "Go U..." ;)

Frogging and Putting Back on the Needles

I know there are all these easy and fancy procedures for frogging or ripping rows of knitting, and then perfectly placing them back on the needles in just the right way.

Well, I'm not that kind of girl.

I just pull out the needles and start ripping.

Then, I put all the stitches back on smaller needles, and then knit the next row with needles of the original size. It just makes my life easier.

Of course, this would not work with silk or a lace project, but I'm very rarely doing that kind of knitting anyway. Most of my knitting is done for charity, with worsted weight yarn that stands up all by itself when you pull out the needles. Ha!

Now, the other day, I had a MONDO project to frog. I ran out of yarn when there were 50 stitches left on the row. It was one of our Oddball Lapghans, with 200 stitches on each row. And, of course, it HAD to happen on the wrong side row, which I needed to end on in order for the next color change to look right. So, that meant I had to unravel two rows. Bummer.... :(

So, I pulled out my needles, ripped out both rows, then carefully carried the entire blanket (it's almost complete now) and laid it out on my bed, so I could put the stitches back on knitting needles again.



While it was all laid out like that, I decided to measure it and see how big it was so far.
45 inches wide by 40 inches tall. So, it's almost complete! :)

Then, I went back in my craft room, and found a size 3 circular knitting needle that was 36 inches long. Perfect. ;)

Next, I leaned at the edge of the bed, and put the needle through each of the loose stitches. Easy-peasy!



All that was left was to add on my new yarn, and start knitting with the original size knitting needles. Mission accomplished!

Wow! What a beautiful gift!

One of my friends in the Knitting Help Forum surprised me with an EXCELLENT gift. I could not believe it when I opened the package.



Glass Knitting Needles! I feel like Cinderella.....
I've always admired glass knitting needles, but never thought I would actually OWN a set!

I can't keep my hands off them. Now, I just have to decide what project I will start with them. It has to be something EXTRA special, that's for sure.

Neat!!!!

Also, a while back, another friend in the forum surprised me with some lovely peridot earrings that she had made for me! I am so spoiled by my friends in the forum.

UFOs are FOs now!

Yay! I was able to get a lot done this month during our "Turn your UFO's into FO's" knit along in the Knitting Help Forum.

I finished the blue blanket I spoke about earlier:


I completed the "Wildflowers" Oddball Baby Blanket, which was worked on by 6 knitters in the forum.


I finished the "Barbie" Oddball Shawl, which was worked on by 6 KH Forum knitters.


I completed the "Moonlit Forest" Oddball Shawl, which was worked on by 5 forum knitters.


I knit the last section and added a crochet border on the "Fairy Land" Oddball Baby Blanket, which was worked on by 5 forum knitters.


And I bound off the "Pink Power" Oddball Baby Blanket, which was worked on by 6 knitters.



I also completed the "Nursery Rhymes" Oddball Preemie blanket, which was worked on by 5 knitters. I added the crochet border.


And I made a little coffee cup cozy for travel cups. I think I might have made it too small. I'll have to test it out first, and then I'll give a report. I made it with Berroco Hip Hop yarn.


So, it was a productive month for me. I still have several projects to complete, but at least I've made a dent in them!

Right now, I'm still working on these things:

Oddball Preemie Blankets
"Racecar Alley" - adding border
"Cherry Blossoms" - adding border
"Cloud Nine" - adding border
"Citrus Punch" - knitting last section, and adding border
"Beach Party" - re-knitting two sections and adding border
(there was a hole in this blanket that I could not repair, so I had to frog back through two sections)

Oddball Shawls
"Candy Shop", "Magic", "Flower Garden", "Shades of Pale" - finishing up
"Rainy Day" and "Angel Wings" - knitting a section

Oddball Blankets
#1, #2, Lapghan #1, Lapghan #2 - Knitting last sections, and adding border

I also have some personal knitting that I wonder if I will ever get to!

Cabled Baby Pullover for display at Cottage Yarn.


"Dream by Moonlight" Shawl


A bulky cardigan with Thick & Quick yarn.


Some red ankle socks for my son.


A Harry Potter scarf.


A Fair-Isle headband


A baby sweater


And I haven't given up on the rectangle shawl for charity!

Yippee! I finished a Knitting Project!!

Alert the media!!

I actually finished knitting something. This month, in the Knitting Help Forum, our monthly KAL is "Turn UFOs into FOs" (UFOs are "unfinished objects" for those of you that are not wise to that knitting term.)

Here's the first thing I completed. It's a cushy blue baby blanket. :)





I started this blanket back in September of 2007. Using two yarns held together (Red Heart Plush and Lion Polarspun), I cast on and was planning on making the entire blanket with those yarns. Unfortunately, I ran out of the Lion Polarspun yarn before I got to the other corner. What a pain! I couldn't get anymore of the Polarspun yarn, because it was discontinued. So, I had to come up with a different plan.

I decided to unravel the knitting a little past the center, and added a different yarn for the middle section. (Luz Poesia) It's just as thick on its own as the other two yarns were when held together. So, it worked just right! :)



Last night, I finally finished knitting the entire blanket, and it looks great! So cushy and soft.