cosmicpluto knits!

a secret xmas gift

If I see you in person, you might’ve heard me talk about this project – but since my handsome fella reads my Twitter and Facebook, and sometimes Flickr and this here blog, I couldn’t really talk about it online at all!

I saw this pattern ages ago, and since we’re both big fans of Futurama I decided I just had to make one for Christmas.

Presenting…Bender Bending Rodriguez!

I super-sized him by using Berroco Vintage Chunky, though I did have to go down to a 3.25mm hook – apparently I crochet pretty loosely! The fabric is really nice and solid though, which is what I was going for. I’m not a big crocheter but I do know my way around pretty well, and I found the pattern pretty easy to follow despite the lack of actual instructions!

I made a pile of pieces.

I also decided to make a wire armature for inside him, so that the arms and legs would be posable – it didn’t turn out THAT amazing, but it’s pretty good for my first one! I made a skeleton out of thick beading wire, then wrapped it with some fiberfill and masking tape.

I cut circles of cardboard and laminated them with packing tape, and also taped down some little bags of decorative floral sand to make weights for the bottom of the feet.

He looked a little weird with a finished body but no arms or legs!

I crocheted the footcups and weighted them, then wrapped the wire legs in roving before sewing the top of the legs to the body. Pretty much the same thing with the arms. A bit of embroidery for his door, and the segments of his arms and legs, and I was pretty much done! Not that it wasn’t a lot of work – it was. But the end result was totally worth it!

He got into a lot of trouble around my apartment. I think he discovered the whisky shelf.

He can be pretty helpful though!

And he dressed up really nicely for Christmas!

And the reaction when the boyfriend opened his present? Amazing. He had no idea! Of course, he was appropriately impressed by my mad crafting skills. I’m a little impressed with myself!

a hexagon blanket, for a wedding

A long time ago, I bought a whole whack* of Noro Silk Garden Sock in two different colourways, both neutrals – one in black/brown/tan, and one in tan/cream/white. I set about making a blanket. I didn’t really work on it very often, just went on jags once in awhile. I took the hexes travelling with me to more than one place – Rhinebeck, TNNA in California, and the UK!

(Trafalgar Square!)

Finally in June the yarn was all used up. I set about putting the hexes into their order for the blanket that I’d decided would be for some very good friends who were getting married at the beginning of July.

I sorted them into piles by shade, then laid them out. The blanket wasn’t quite as big as I’d hoped, but it looked like a great size for the couch.

I started with the darkest in one corner, then moved across to the lightest in the opposite corner, diagonally.

It was a classic race to the finish! There was crocheting the hexes into strips, then the strips into a square; crocheting a border around the whole thing and then about 500 ends to weave in, plus it needed a good blocking. So you know what that means? No photos of the finished blanket! D’oh! I laid it out to dry the night before the wedding, packed it up the next afternoon and off it went. I was very pleased with it.

I’ll have to ask Vivek and Gina to send me some photos of it in its new home.

Meanwhile, it all begins again….

*edited to add! In this case, a whack means 8 skeins (4 of each), plus an extra skein of Tanis sock yarn to put it together with : )

what I made while I was away

I took just 3 projects while I was traveling – a sweater (which isn’t very far along still), a shawl and a blanket.

A blanket? That doesn’t seem like a good traveling project! Well, that’s true, but my blanket is made up of many many individual crocheted hexagons. So they were actually great for going around – the yarn didn’t take up a lot of room (two 100g skeins) and the individual pieces were easy to start and finish. Plus, I mailed the completed ones back home as I went! I’d made over half of the hexes in the last several (okay, many) months, but the deadline is approaching and I needed to step up my game.

Of course, now I have to put the whole thing together! I’m not sure if it’ll be quite as big as I wanted, but it’ll be fine. I’m out of yarn, so it’d better be!

The other main project I worked on was a shawl, out of two colours of Handmaiden Casbah. It really makes such a lovely fabric, and this texture stitch is easy and fun.

I’m hoping to get this shawl pattern out to you soon – just have to find some time to block it and take photos.

When I got home, I picked up a project that I started before I left, a pair of Conwy socks (from Knitting on the Road). I substituted my usual toe, not really on purpose but because I didn’t read the instructions very carefully! I made these as a birthday present for my dear friend Jane. I missed her birthday while I was away, so I wanted to give her something special!

1 skein of Socks that Rock lightweight in “Ruby Slippers”, 2.25mm needles. Fun! I’ve had tons of socks on the needles lately – they’re such nice comforting, soothing knitting.

May 11-12: London, part 1

Crap, the blogging is getting away from me! I’m having someone look at my site still, but I think I might’ve caught what was troubling it – still have to make sure it doesn’t happen again though.

On Wednesday the 11th I got to the Leeds train station with lots of time to spare – much better than rushing! I got 2 seats to myself and did some photo editing and knitting until I started feeling unwell, then just closed my eyes and listened to music. Got into London Kings Cross, loaded up my Oyster card and took the tube to Paddington, where I checked into my hotel. It was easyHotel, which was cheap and a good location. The room was….eh. No furniture other than the bed, and about 16″ of clearance on 2 sides (the bed was in the corner). A bit difficult to navigate, but it was okay. The bed was comfy, anyway. After leaving my stuff I headed out to explore – I took the tube to Oxford Circus (so crowded omg) and walked around Liberty, Carnaby St, Covent Garden, the edge of Chinatown, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and down Whitehall to the river to see Big Ben.

Walked along the Thames to Embankment, then I took the tube up to High Street Kensington where I got some dinner before heading back to the hotel.

On Thursday (May 12) I had breakfast at a coffee shop near the hotel then headed for a walk through Marylebone to Regent’s Park. I stumbled across a street market, and walked past the Sherlock Holmes museum.

Then I took the tube to meet up with Alice for lunch! We went to a delicious Italian cafe, then got a sweet from Ottolengthi in Notting Hill. Then Alice showed me her studio – it’s lovely, with a view of the canal and lots of light and space for dyeing. And yarn, lots of yarn.

I walked back to my hotel to grab my knitting and catch the tube out to Loop for knit night. It’s a lovely shop, with lots of nice yarns including quite a few local ones. I picked up a little bit of Wollemeise.

The knit night ends quite early at Loop, so a few of the gals and I went out to the pub to continue. It was super! Great conversation and just a really lovely time. Thanks gals!

May 7-8: Manchester, part 2

Blogging was interrupted a bit by dodgy internet access! Here’s hoping it’s better in the next place…

anyway, where was I? Oh yes. Saturday evening in Manchester my hostess Elizabeth invited a bunch of Manchester knitters over for a potluck! There was tons of food, lots of knitting and great chat. And I made butter tarts for a Canadian treat.

In the morning I headed off just a couple of blocks to Purl City Yarns, who had me in for a lovely tea and knitting/chatting session! Unfortunately, Canada Post has let me down yet again – the “3 day guaranteed” box that I sent 7 days prior never made it, and it was full of samples to show off. We had a lovely time anyway.

The rest of the day I just walked around some more, went to Cornerhouse, walked through the galleries and bought some magazines in the shop. Didn’t go to a film though – I wasn’t really up for subtitles. I had a lovely dinner that evening at Ning in the Northern Quarter.

leeds?

I’m thinking of going to Leeds instead of Newcastle – any recommendations for places to stay? Areas to avoid?

This whole trip planning thing is overwhleming! And the planner in me thinks I’m leaving things way late. Luckily train tickets still look pretty reasonable since I won’t actually be going anywhere until the 2nd week of May.

And for a little fibery content, a project I’ve been working on (not very hard) for ages is finally starting to come together. It’s a blanket, though this isn’t the final configuration at all – just needed to see how many more hexes I need!