A Very Special Octopus

So I've had a bit of an unhealthy obsession with the Susan B. Anderson's Octopus lately.  I started one on the drive back from our little vacation last weekend, and hubby timed me.  It turns out that it takes me about 3 hours to make one.

Before going home though, I wanted to finish up a really special octopus for a friends daughter, A,  who has a really scary condition.  A is a month younger than my daughter, so it has been fun comparing milestones as they grow up (way to fast!).  At around 8 months of age A was diagnosed with Craniosynostosis - basically, the soft spots on her skull were fusing and not allowing her brain to grow as it should.  If not treated she would risk having developmental issues.

If caught early, the prognoses is generally quite good, however, the surgery that is required to fix the condition sounds super scary and leaves a unique zig zag scar across the crown of the head.  So I thought it would be perfect for A to have an octopus that is just like her.

I'm happy to report A is doing great recovering from her surgery and getting back to life as a normal 9 month old.

Octo-gift

I love making gifts for family and friends, but birthdays and Christmas always seem to come up way to fast so it is so nice to find quick knits.  

What would you say if I told you I found a pattern that you will not have to buy yarn for, is seamless (!!!!), quick, completely adorable, and baby approved!!!

Prepare your needles friends!  This is my new favorite pattern from Susan B. Anderson: Octopus. 

This delightful stuffy will use up little bits from your stash in any color!  The pattern is written for both worsted and fingering weight yarn.  Look at him!  

Can you believe he is seamless!? I love not seaming! 

 He is going to baby Isaac for his first birthday.

He seriously looks great in any color!

Our purple friend is going to baby Grace for her first birthday! Can you tell I have a lot of friends having babies?

Baby Della has already tested out this one even though she hasn't had her first birthday yet, as her mother (yours truly) is a pushover.

She loved it!  It is so easy for her to hang onto the legs.  He is squishy like a ball and his legs stretch out nicely and bounce back into place. In addition to not having to do any finishing, being seamless means that it is impossible to pull off the legs, which is the first thing babies do when they get a hold of these things.  Sewn on extremities have not always fared well in our house (I'm not a great seamstress yet...) and amputations have happend.

The first two are the worsted weight size.  This last one is the mini octopus in fingering weight.  I was able to finish each of them in a couple of hours.  The only change I made was that I embroidered the eyes on instead of using safety eyes as I get nervous with little pieces of plastic around babies.

Check out my Ravelry project page: marphia for more details on the yarn, etc.

Mitten Time Out

I am currently making a pair of mittens from some of the most luxurious yarn I have ever acquired. It is Alisha Goes Around Pulchritude of Peacocks DK and it is lovely!

The pattern is Diamonds Go Around Mittens by Alisha Broberg, who also happens to be the creator of this beautiful yarn.

The stitch is called the royal quilting stitch and it is relatively easy and quite stunning. I knit the matching hat (Diamonds Go Around Hat) before I started on the mittens. After almost ten years of knitting under my belt, I am finally getting brave enough to change up more than just the yarn in the patterns I use. I had never knit myself a hat that fit really well so I had always given them away - usually to my husband or a friend with a larger head or thicker hair.

I love the stitch and the yarn, and purchased it and the patterns specifically to go with my coat so I was bound and determined to make a hat that fit. I would knit a few inches, try on the hat, knit another, try it on, and so on until it seemed like I needed to decrease. Looking at the pattern, I knit less height for the hat than the toddler version recommended - Ha! Maybe this is why my hats never fit?! No matter, the hat fits perfectly and I love it!

Upon my first completion of the mittens, I was really disappointed. The mitten looked great up until the very top. I finished casting off using Kitchener stitch which I usually love because it looks so clean and seamless. The mittens looked boxy at the top - somehow not mitten-y. I ripped it out, (if you have never ripped out Kitchener stitch, it is a royal pain!) and tried the other suggested cast off - the three needle bind off. Ugh, it looked even worse! Now they were boxy and had this huge seem at the top. I ripped that out and put the mitten in Time Out.

Time Out can be any location - behind the couch, in the freezer, or anywhere it doesn't raise my blood pressure - and is an essential tactic of any (un)successful creator. It is not dissimilar to waiting 24 hours before sending an angry email, but instead, wait 24 hours before you rip the whole darn thing apart. I then like to work on another project that I know I cannot screw up to get the good mojo going again. Mine go to is The Bee Keepers's Quilt by tiny owl knits. Yep, this situation happens often enough I have a backup project.

I waited the obligatory 24 hours before getting the ball winder out, and during that time I kept thinking, I've made mittens that I've been super happy with before, what went wrong? Then I remembered thinking as I was knitting the mittens that it was weird how few decreases there were before I cast off. This would definitely contribute to their boxyness!

After putting my daughter to bed, I rushed over to my mitten - that I was excited to see again and no longer wanted to destroy - and frogged a couple of rows. I added some decreases and my hunch was confirmed Even before casting off, I could tell they were going to be awesome. I wrote down what I did - I gotta make another one of these things and it WILL match - and cast off using Kitchener. I am so happy with it!

Can an Impractical Art be a Practical Blog?

Fiber artistry, especially knitting, from the outside seems like such a practical skill to have.  I can make custom hats, gloves, socks, and clothes and I am often told that I should sell my wares.  Every knitter knows that there are very few people who want to pay the full cost of supplies for that scarf they want, much less the cost of the time spent knitting it.  ("You spent $40 and you won't have a scarf for another six hours?!?!?!)

How do you turn an impractical craft into something practical?

I am going to share with you some practical information along with some (impractical) things that I love as I create fiber art:

• Fibers and notions 
• Inspirations
• Fiber/Yarn shops
• What's on my needles
• Problems and (hopefully) solutions to fiber art dilemmas
• Other fiber-y goodness!

It just doesn't seem fair to keep all this good stuff to myself!  And if someone on the internet told you it necessary to spend $30 a skein on the softest, squishiest, hand-dyed merino you've ever felt, maybe you can convince yourself (and your loved ones) that buying that yarn is the practical thing to do as knitting with it will keep you from losing your mind the next time you come home from an evening out and the kitchen sink is overflowing with dishes you didn't even use.

That merino wool is less than therapy.

And you can pet it.