On the subject of Fun Fur

     We have all done it. In the beginning of the knitting revolution that took place back in 2001-2002 novelty yarn was everywhere. And we all bought them, (in one form or another) the novelty yarns that are now the secret part of our stash we hide from ourselves and other "snobby" knitters. The novelty yarns became a sort of rite of passage turned joke turned shameful secret; specifically Fun Fur. That impossible-to-see-what-you-are-doing-without-flood-lights yarn was all the rage back then. In the US you could go anywhere, walk into any store and see women and children wearing these long furry caterpillar-like scarves. They really reminded me of a trampled feather boa that was left behind after a Mardi Gras parade. Limp, sad, and made anyone wearing them look silly.

     The thing is, I made those scarves. I made dozens of them and gave them out to anyone that commented on liking the yarn or the scarf-to-be. I'll admit, I even held two or more strands of fun fur in different colors together to make even crazier impossible-to-wear scarves. Happily giving them to people and secretly wondering "How on earth are they gonna pull that monstrosity of a scarf off?!". It is rather obvious that I never wore any of my hand knit fun fur scarves. That doesn't mean that I didn't try them on or anything, but they just weren't my style. This went on for months by the way. So it is safe to say I accumulated quite the fun fur and novelty yarn stash.

     Since then I have been slowly getting rid of all of my novelty yarns. And as a matter of fact, all of the fun fur I had is now gone. I added it as trim to wrist warmers, used a bunch of it on a crocheted scrap yarn blanket. (which if you watch the show Nashville and see the crocheted scrap blanket on Scarlett's sofa, it also has fun fur and other novelty yarns knit into it -- might be a new trend!)

And to get rid of a bunch of leftover beige, brown and gold fun fur I even knit it into a crocheted sweater. For a cat. 

I also bought a lot of soft, furry yarns that I knit up with tape yarn ( which I still like by the way ) into impossibly long scarves and thick chunky neckwarmers. 

So why the confession about Fun Fur and other novelty yarns you ask? 

     Well. I may have bought a skein last week from a craft store. 

And I may have been convinced to do so, by Gwen. 

     You see with my family's recent addiction to Hayao Miyazaki films there has been a great deal of discussion over buying some of the stuffed creatures from the movies. Specifically soot sprite/soot gremlins and Totoros. Well, being my crafty self I decided to take on the task of not knitting them and trying to make soot gremlin pom-poms using my pom pom makers. Yah know, to save time.
   
     Lets just say, never, ever, try to make a fun fur pom-pom. I had to bring out the vacuum cleaner ( after the kids had gone to bed, which is a BIG no-no in our house ) to suck up all of the fun fur wispy bits that were everywhere. We will file that mistake under "things you should never do with fun fur".

     So, I ended up knitting a soot gremlin instead, loosely following a pattern I found on Ravelry. Gwen is quite pleased with it and runs around the house quoting Mei from the movie My Neighbor Totoro exclaiming.."I caught a soot gremlin!". 

And so now, I am the owner of a rather annoyingly large "leftover" skein of Fun Fur. 

Maybe I should start another crocheted scrap blanket. After all I hear fun fur scrap blankets are all the rage..  

Happy Knitting!

Kate

An Afterthought: 

While I try to stay away from buying 100% synthetic yarns and buy almost exclusively the "snobby yarns", I still admire skeins of novelty yarns. I look at them and am reminded that those yarns helped to hide my many mistakes as a novice knitter and made knitting truly fun for me. Without them I wouldn't be the knitter I am today. And, I think we all need to be reminded of the fact that using novelty yarns doesn't make you any less of a knitter. So now I have another confession to make. I am very seriously considering buying more fun fur with the intent to knit a crazy novelty yarn scrap blanket. Screw the mini skein blankets. I want a giant furry granny square blanket, and I am not ashamed to say it. 

Getting closer...

To finally being able to call our office "finished"!

     Next week my husband's matching hutch will arrive. So both sides of the office will have a "built in" look to it. I keep joking that we created our own office cubicals. But honestly, I like it because I can actually look at his face while talking to him. What a novel idea huh? 

     Aside from working on the Office this past weekend I've been doing other necessary household cleaning/reorganizing. Like for instance, scrubbing down the shower and decluttering. Lots and lots of decluttering. Some of which was in preparation for Henry's Birthday Party at the end of the month. 

     This week we had lots of Valentine's Day prep going on. Gwen had to write and decorate her Valentines for school and I had to plan our vday meal. Usually we have the kids eat early so we can have a romantic meal together. But, since the kids are older and they really are OUR sweethearts on Valentine's Day we decided on a family meal. Which, of course, included bacon hearts again this year. 

     My husband was quite happy with them and the kids gobbled them up in record time. I think Gwen enjoyed them the most since I had also painted hearts on her nails for the day. She said that the bacon matched her nails. Bacon. The best accessory ever.

     Next week I've got some new knitting projects to share with you all. I don't wait to spoil the cuteness, but let's just say it involves hedgehogs and an emergency fun fur purchase!

Happy Knitting!

Kate

Happy Valentine's Day!

     

When aqua ATTACKS!

     So I know I posted a blog entry yesterday and wasn't anticipating posting again until Thursday or Friday. But, I got a chunk of time this morning where Henry played quietly in my office! This gave me the opportunity to finish working out the chart and pattern writing for his hat pattern.

     When aqua ATTACKS! hat pattern is officially published to Ravelry! It is a free pattern that I will be updating in the future weeks with expanded sizes. But for now, it will just be available in a general toddler sizing. The hat knits up quick and the Fair Isle is perfect for those that have yet to conquer stranded/colorwork knitting. Plus, I even included in the notes how to make this a two color hat instead of a three color hat. I am all for people taking my patterns and changing them to suit their needs and styles.

     Now since I put the pattern on the fast track for publishing there may be mistakes as I don't have a tech editor, and I didn't put a call out for test knitters. So, if for any reason you find a mistake or see a potentional problem please shoot an email to me katydidknitwear@gmail.com. As I was writing this, I did find a few mistakes after I had already published and uploaded the pattern to Ravelry. Everything is fixed, but again if you find any mistakes please let me know.

     As promised, here are some "action shots" of Henry wearing his hat outside in the blustery wind. Again, he isn't a fan of hats, so he won't wear in unless it is super cold.

     We walk to meet Gwen at the bus stop every weekday afternoon. So with the colder temps hitting our region he really did need the hat. Though, he refused to wear mittens. Hrm. Mittens. Maybe I should knit up a pair of matching mittens....

Happy Downloading and Knitting!

Kate

Mission Accomplished!

The painting in my office was started and completed this weekend. 

The end results make my heart sing. And not to toot my own horn, but I did the best job I've ever done with painting a room. I think the wall color turned out great; even though my husband STILL isn't a big fan. (somehow I will win him over in the end...)

     And while we can agree to disagree on the wall color, we did make one official decision. My office will become a shared office. Even though he doesn't like how dark the color is, it isn't retina searing acid green or bright turquoise. Or hot pink for that matter. In the end, he is happy I chose a neutral that is a good backdrop for our ever evolving style. ( Well, MY ever evolving style..he likes contemporary-traditional while I like eclectic-modern-rustic-everything ) Now that we have decided to get back to sharing a home office space we have to configure the space to work for two of these black L-shaped desks. He is thinking a U shape against the back wall. Not sure I agree with it. But again, compromise is the name of the game.

One thing we can agree on, is that Henry is much happier with our office. 

     I can't seem to get him out, so we have embraced the idea of a small toy basket for when one of us needs to do work or research stuff on the computer. Or to just keep him close while I'm putzin' around on Ravelry or Pinterest.

     This coming weekend my husband has the lovely task of putting together the hutch and the second L-shaped desk for the office. I really don't envy him that work. Again, building stuff is not my forte and I am happy he is the one with that task. When that is done, I can finish decorating and making the space functional. Because honestly I've got three hat patterns that are in various stages of knitting and pattern writing that I want to finish so that I am able to move onto more fun and exciting things. The "when aqua ATTACKS!" hat is almost done being written up. My goal is to have it out by Friday on Ravelry but if things get busy with the kids it will have to be pushed to next week. Which is fine. But I like setting and accomplishing my goals. It may take me locking myself in my our newly painted office for an afternoon while Henry is napping. Which, really wouldn't be a terrible thing as long as I can keep myself from admiring the wall color too much.

Off to stare at my walls a bit more and ponder DIY wall art....and pattern writing. ;)
Kate

Getting Geared Up!

     Today I am clearing out my home office for the massive painting project that will be happening this weekend. I've got all of my tools laid out and ready. I am only missing our tall ladder and another set of roller covers. But I am sure if I beg and plead my husband will stop by a Lowes or Home Depot on his way home today to grab me a 3 pack of them. I have no idea where the tall ladder is, so I'll be asking my husband to track it down and bring it up for me. =D

     Yesterday I started taping around the windows and discovered with my post-knee-surgery recovery I can't crouch to tape along the baseboards. So my husband will have to do it for me. There goes my promise to him.. "Oh babe, you don't have to help with any of the painting -- just bring out the supplies for me and watch the kiddos that weekend!". I am sure he will live...but I still feel guilty for having to rope him into helping to tape. And speaking of the tape...Henry was quite interested in the whole blue tape phenomenon in my office and kept peeling it off the walls. It was a bit annoying for me since he was doing it to all of the lower spot which aren't comfortable for me to reach.

But, when he gives you a great big cute smile like this...

...while copying you stretching before round two of taping you kinda gotta forgive him for it. 

     Hopefully Henry won't object too much to my painting over the weekend and will behave himself. And perhaps stay out of the office. He is known for sneaking in and trying to play with my keyboard and office chair. So I am sure that wet dark gray paint will be irresistible for his curious hands. Plus all of the fun tools and items necessary for painting are kind of fun looking too. 

I've gotta get back to taping and then fixing lunch. But before I go, I wanted to share a sneak peek of a  pattern that I will be releasing next week...

     The pattern is called "When aqua ATTACKS!". Because obviously I have a thing for this bright blue. This week Henry has worn aqua shirts three times. So I think it is safe to say that the color will be popping up in my office somewhere too! Currently it is being written in a toddler size only -- but in a few weeks I will update the PDF to include child and adult sizes. That way (if you want) your family can have a matching set. =D 

     And by the way,  Henry doesn't like to wear hats, but yesterday when it was super blustery he actually kept this on the entire time we were outside. Those pics to follow next week when the pattern goes live. =D

Take Care and Happy Knitting!

Kate