If Not Kansas, Then It Must Be OZ!!!

She's my latest Coffee Can Doll! Here are Dorothy and Toto, about to enter the Emerald City with their friends!!

No, I didn't knit or create the Cowardly Lion, Tin Woodsman, or Scarecrow in the background. But I did knit Dorothy's dress:

Since the details on how to create her will be in my upcoming book about all my coffee can dolls, I will only give a few details here. I call them coffee can dolls because under each doll's dress is a coffee can. I used the Knifty Knitter round looms to create the dress, painstakingly alternating the Red Heart Super Saver Spa Blue and White yarns to create the gingham-inspired pattern. I decided not to include the ruby slippers for her feet, partly because she doesn't have any feet! But also because I didn't think they would look right poking out from under the front of the dress. And in the original story the slippers aren't red; they're silver. I wanted her to be a combination of the "Dorothys" we have come to know and love on the silver screen, not just focusing on a particular one or accurately following her description in Frank Baum's book.

I used some brown yarn from my stash on the spool loom to create Toto's basket, seen here from various angles:







It took me awhile to find a dog that would be recognizable as Toto. I went to crafts stores, searched online, even considered sculpting my own Toto out of clay and painting him. I would find dogs that looked like him, but they were the wrong size. Finally, we were perusing a local Christmas ornament store that had just opened, and I found him nestled inside a Christmas stocking. He was just the right size, the right look, and everything! So I bought him, removed him from the stocking and twisted off the hook from his head. With a marker I carefully painted over the hole to match the color of his fur.

For my Emerald City, I paid homage to the movie and added a little of my own ideas about the city:

And yes, me being the detail-oriented person that I am, I individually drew and shaded every brick on the yellow brick road, even though I knew much of my hard work wouldn't be visible in the photos I took. I made them all different sizes, and drew them in perspective so that the further away they were, the smaller they were. Here's a close-up look:

It was a happy accident when I took the outdoor photos that the sun was shining in the direction that I had shaded the bricks.

So long, Dorothy! May you ever be enchanted by the spirit of whimsy as you follow the yellow brick road to your dreams!

Baby Blankie Gift Set!

Here is the complete baby blankie gift set, at last!

But first, to complete the baby blankie, I blocked it, taking care not to stretch it too much so it would keep it's shape:

After blocking, the blankie measured 24"x30". Next I pinned the blankie to a large piece of pink flannel and carefully cut out the flannel around it. With Coats and Clark pink thread, I painstakingly hand sewed the blankie to the flannel around the outer edges. I made sure to sew every loose bit of yarn onto the flannel around the edges so it wouldn't snag.

Then I pinned a pattern on the flannel side of the blankie and carefully sewed the flannel to the blankie according to the pattern I made. First I pinned about 2" in from the edges to create a box, and sewed that. Next, to make the center x pattern, I lay strips of paper down diagonally until a straight line is formed, and then stuck the strips of paper to the flannel using post-its (regular tape would fray the flannel too much when you pull it off). Then I pinned along the edge of the paper strips to create the line, removed the strips and sewed along the edge of the pins. This helps keep the blankie from sagging and keeps the flannel from separating from the knitting.

Finally, I arranged the hat, booties and blankie inside the box that I bought from a local craft store (Michael's). It has a magnetic strip on the top flap that keeps the box closed.

I'm thrilled with the way that it came out, and I have already started working on a blue gift set!

Engaging Interviews with Fellow Knitters!

I've been having some problems with my computer photo editing software, but I hope to have it corrected soon so I can post the photos of the complete baby gift set!

In the meantime, I’d like to introduce you to two outstanding fiber artists: Michael Leach, who is on a fascinating two year quest to master the art of knitting and crocheting. Prior to his quest, he never knit a stitch in his life! Also, meet Dino Foxx, an expert at yarn bombing, which is the art of transforming ordinary objects into extraordinary art by covering them with knitted yarn. It's a fast growing art form!

You will certainly gain a new perspective about yarn by meeting these two men, and I enjoyed interviewing them both! You can read all about them and see pictures of their work at http://www.creativehelps.com/interviews_4.htm.

Finishing Touches and Baby Footsies

I'm 95% done with the bably blankie now; just finishing sewing the flannel on the back! I took a short break to make the rocket last week and that put me a little behind schedule, but all is well.

In the meantime, I finished making the baby footsies using the flower loom as instructed in Jennifer Stark's pattern @ http://guppylovesshark.wordpress.com/2011/03/02/flower-loom-footsies/ . It's the Bernat Baby Coordinates Baby Pink yarn, using the yarn double stranded 1 over 1 knit and purl stitches. They came out great!

I bought a sweet little gift box to pack my baby gifts in. Next week: the baby gift set will be complete!

Really Red Rocket!!

Here is a rocket firecracker for you to knit up for your Independence Day celebration! It only took me 3-4 hours:

You will need:

Knifty Knitter blue round loom, hook tool, yarn needle

Red Heart Cherry Red and Bright Yellow Yarn, Lion Brand Hometown USA Houston Cream yarn Wooden dowel (mine was .5" x 12", you may want a longer one)

Tape (duct tape would be best, or strong glue), and scotch tape

Empty container (I used a grits container)

Several sheets Red card stock (as close as you can match the Cherry Red color)

Scissors

Pen or pencil

To begin:

Remove the lid from your container. Wrap the container with the red card stock and scotch tape it together. Cut off the excess overlap of paper around the rim of the container and set aside.

Cast on with the Cherry Red yarn on the blue loom using the drawstring method (wrap the outside of the loom with your yarn twice. Then, using your hook tool, pull the bottom row over the odd pegs and the top row over the even pegs.) After casting on, knit 1 over 2 stockinette stitches for 55 rows and bind off with your yarn needle. At this point your project should look like this:

Now you have a decision to make. If you like the stockinette look for your rocket, leave the knitted rocket sleeve as it is and stretch it over the container:

If you prefer a flat knit look to your rocket (which I did), turn your knitted rocket sleeve inside out and stretch it over the container:

Now put the dowel next to the edge of the bottom of the container and trace around it:

Use your scissors to puncture through the container to make the hole. Do not cut your hole too big. You want the dowel to be a snug fit, but don't put the dowel in just yet.

Cinch the bottom of the rocket shut and sew across the hole.

Poke the dowel through the yarn into the hole you made at the bottom of the container, and push it 4" up inside the container. Using your duct tape or strong glue, secure the dowel to the inside of the container. Once the dowel is secure, place the lid on top of the container and set the rocket aside.

For the cone top of the rocket, find a large round lid and trace around it on . I used one that measured 6.75" around. I discovered later that this wasn't a large overlap for the cone of the rocket. You may decide you want a larger circle.

Then using a ruler and your pen, draw a line from the center edge of the circle to the middle of the circle. I didn't measure exact, I just eyeballed it

Cut out the circle, and then cut the line in the circle. Then overlap the line edges you just cut, to create the cone shape:

Once the cone is the desired shape you want, tape it shut using your scotch tape and set aside.

Knit the Cone Top: With the Cherry Red yarn, cast on the round blue loom using the drawstring method, then knit 1 over 2 stockinette stitches for 10 rows. Using the tail (not the working yarn), cinch and sew the yarn shut. Continue to knit off 20 more rows, then bind off using your yarn needle, reserving an 8" tail. (If you have made a bigger circle than 6.75" then you will need to knit off more rows to compensate for the larger size cone head.) Turn the knit cone top inside out (if you prefer the flat knit look) and stretch over the top of the card stock cone until it overlaps. Gently cinch and set aside:

For the fuse and the spark: - the fuse is simply a 6" piece of the Houston Cream yarn. The spark is a simple pom pom made with the Bright Yellow yarn. Knot the pom pom onto one end of the fuse. At the top of the fuse, separate two strands from two strands in the yarn:

Using your hook tool, or your nimble fingers, poke two of the fuse strands through the yarn at the bottom of the rocket right next to the dowel:

Knot the fuse onto the bottom of the rocket and poke the ends through the inside of the red yarn so it doesn't show:

Cinch the top the the rocket yarn over the top of the container. Using your yarn needle, sew the rocket cone top to the top of the rocket:

And you're done!

If you choose to use your rockets as outside decorations, direct sunlight will REALLY make them blaze red! They will practically be glowing:

What a sizzling display you will have! And if you would like to mix it up with thin and large rockets, use the flower loom and the cardboard tube from a paper towel roll to make long, thin rockets! Get creative and add some white and blue stripes to the rockets if you wish!

Baby Blankie 80 Percent done

Here she is, fresh from the loom!

This is before I block it and add the flannel backing to it, which I finally decided I would do. I went to a local big box store and bought the flannel and some pink thread so I can sew the flannel to the back of the blankie, and then it will be done!

As far as the process of knitting it is concerned, here's how I did it. Using the blue straight loom with one additional corner peg, I knit off 1 over 2 stockinette stitches using Baby Bernat Coordinates Baby Pink and White yarns. After casting on using baby pink, for the top edge of the blankie I wrapped the odd pegs with the baby pink yarn and the even pegs with the white yarn and knit off for 20 rows. Then I snipped a 5" tail from the white yarn and wrapped the loom with the baby pink and began knitting off the bobble pattern. Here is the pattern below:

I used graph paper that I taped together so I had 61 boxes, the same number of pegs that I had on the loom. I then created the pattern by putting an "x" in each box that I wanted to bobble, and put the number of the box above the x. Then, on the loom, I used a pencil and marked the top of each peg that corresponded to an the "x" on one row on the graph paper the same number above the "x" box on the graph paper is the number of the beg that I marked to bobble), as you can see highlighted below:

I knit off 1 over 2 on the loom until I got to the peg I marked to bobble, where I knit off the same peg for 5 times and then placed the bottom loop back onto the loom and knit off, then I continued to knit off around the loom until I reached a bobble peg and repeat the process. It took quite a while since I had a limited amount of time to work on it each day, but the results were worth it. The pattern took 13 rows to complete, and in between each complete 13-row pattern I knit 4 straight stockinette stitch rows, just to add length to the blankie. I repeated the pattern in this way for 5 repetitions, then knit off 11 straight stockinette rows, then knit off 5 more pattern repetitions. Next I added the white yarn back in again to create the bottom pink and white blankie border, which I knit off for 10 rows. Finally, using only baby pink, I knit off 4 rows and cast off the blankie from the loom.

The reason I chose this pattern to bobble is when I was young I had a blanket that had a bobble pattern like this.

The next picture I post will be the completed blankie with the flannel added on the back.

Baby Blanket Progress!

So here's how the blankie looks now:

It measures 13" long. I am knitting the 6th repitition of the pattern; I plan on making 10 repetitions before finishing and blocking. Progress has been a lot slower than I anticipated, so I am making it my goal to complete 1 repitition per day. Until now I have been doing less than that with the amount of time I have to knit. Here is a better view of what the pattern looks like:

Simple bobble diamond shapes! When I was first knitting this, I wasn't sure if the pattern was going to look the way I wanted it to. The more I kept at it, the more I still was unsure. It wasn't until I took a photograph of it today that I can see that it worked out. Have you ever had that happen to you? You are working on a project for so long that you don't see how well it's coming out. That happens to me when I create artwork sometimes. Other times I know beyond the shdow of a doubt that it's coming out great (or horrible).

I'd like to complete this blanket before the end of next week, if possible. I still have matching booties to knit!

I also want to get started on another special summer project that won't take nearly as long, though I am creating the pattern from scratch. I've had the idea since last year but did not try it out because I couldn't create a good drawing for it, so I just moved on and worked on other things. Finally last week I was able to create a workable sketch to use as a guide for the pattern, and I'm pretty excited about making it! I think it's fun and different, hope you will too!