New Anticraft!

Okay, so a new issue of The Anticraft is out today, and I'm as happy as a pig in mud... erm, that probably should have been my comment about the last issue, but whatever! This theme, Melange, is chock full of knitable goodies, even an adorable doll!


Okay, maybe adorable wasn't the right word... Adorably evil? This bunny may not be the best gift at the next baby shower, but a monty python fan would love it!


Check out these lolita ankle warmers... I bet, with some alterations, they'd be adorable wristlets...

I know a lot of readers that would be smug enough to use this bookmark ;)

Anyway, check out all the cool things, especially the Vlad the Impaler contest winners. That's some creative knit design!

Ziggy and Boing!

See what a loyal blogger I am, even in this heat?! Next, I might even tell you what i'm doing, haha. Anyway, today features the patterns of the lovely Clare Taylor, of Quilty's Corner. These two little critters are sooo adorable, and really easy-looking, if you ask me. I've yet to figure out what they are besides cute. I THOUGHT they were owls, but several others who help me pick patterns to post have offered up kitty, and totoro, to name two.

Anyway, knit these and figure that out for yourself! Ziggy is the bigger one, Boing is the smaller one.

Oh, and I hear there's another on the way to this owly. . . erm. . . kitty. . . uh. . . totoro family. So, when that one comes live, you can hear about it here! (Or, just read Clare's blog. . .)

I don't! Really, I don't. . .

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CAMEL!

So, I haven't done much crafting since this horrid heat wave hit my area a few days ago. Time has been spent reading or vegging in front of the fan, napping, or hanging out with my boyfriend (who has been blessed by the air conditioning gods.)

Once I get some summertime yarns, though, I'm SOOOO going to make this camel. Scroll down to the bottom of the page, open the pdf, and look at it! It is pretty sweet, and you can thank the nice Aussies down at YARN magazine for this sweet addition to your 'chives. Hurry and save it quick, though, because it's a limited time thing!

Some of their other nice patterns are here to stay, though, so check those out! Also, I would buy some back issues, too, because they look pretty sweet. Only 11 dollars if you're an aussie! (For poor little me in the US, it's 16 dollars! Thank goodness we haven't yet dropped below the aussies. )

Anyway, I'll be staying cool if you guys will.

Bzzt!

So, A new month, a new knit amigurumi pattern! Here's a cute little love bug created by my favourite, Raynor. Why's the Knitted Toy Box blog my favourite, you might ask? Well, because it posts amigurumi patterns so often!

Anyway, this little bug is too cute! It's the knitted version of this crochet pattern, which is totally cool with me.

Oh, and happy June! It's my birthday month, along with graduation! Hooray!

D-d-d-d-d-dora!

So, I am aware of the Spanish-speaking children's icon, Dora the Explorer. I am also aware of her little companion, Boots. You probably are, too. . . but were you aware that a lovely lady by the name of Jennifer Wilson-Parkes has designed her very own Boots Doll?

You weren't!? Well, I feel I've done you some sort of service. Note though, it's a ravelry download, so I don't know how you non-ravelers will work it.

And to all of you whining and cheesing to get more Amigurumi, or "why haven't I posted this or that pattern," well, send me an email at lynough@gmail.com with something for me to post. If you don't send me an email, don't complain when I take my time telling you all about my wonderful cupcakes or. . . whatever I feel like blogging about.

Tweet Tweet

Alright, so I know that there is a considerable amount of people that want ami patterns. . . so I'm posting them as I find them. I was going to add this before all the AP exam/art show madness, but I just didn't. Blame laziness if you want, but my computer has been totally infected. Ad ware, evil stuff like that.

Anyway, this little bird is so adorable! And, it's also simple! Knit on straight needles, in garter stitch and sewn up, this would make a lovely springtime gift for a little kid. . . or even an older kid! Looking at it, I can imagine a mobile made out of many colored little birdies hanging over a bassinet. Hmm. . .

Oh, um, while we're on the subject, make a note of Raynor's site, "Knitted Toy Box." It's relatively new, but it stays on topic (unlike myself) so it might hold your attention more easily.

Knit Kitty!

So, it's been a while since I posted some amigurumi patterns. Well, for all of you who come here just to see them. . . poo to you. Here you go.

I've seen a few varieties of this up on ravelry. It's so cute! Knit it up, sew it up, and thank geobabe for putting it up!

Knit-Test!

I found this contest on the internet, and at first I thought. . . "Would putting this up on my blog hurt my chances of winning?" "Would putting this up on the forums I frequent hurt my chances of winning?"

Then, I thought: No. If my design is good enough, it'll win! So, hurry up and enter Metapostmodernknitting's Sock Challenge! I dare 'ya!

(P.S.- Check out the site!)

Knit Knit!

Well, I'm back from NYC, but I'm still obsessing over this book I bought at PS1! It's called Knit Knit: Profiles and Projects from Knitting's New Wave. I absolutely adore it! It has people, groups, patterns, sites. . . and a ton of pictures of innovative knit-things. They also have a website and a magazine. . . I want them T__T

Anyway, the book is devoid of any "You can knit, too, horray!" Slap-happy vibes that many other knitting books have been cursed with. On the contrary, it's much more of a "Look at this person. Don't you wish you were that creative? Envy." Seriously, some of the stuff is amazing:This house!? I bet I could find some way to make that. . . And this knitted room!? How awesome!

There's also patterns, for those of you who CAN'T buy a knitting book without patterns. Some of them might be a little hard to do, like this fiberglass teddy bear:

But some, like knit boxing gloves, a hat insbired by geodesic architecture, and this AMAZING cable cardigan, are definitely within my realm:
All in all, I think this is an amazing book. If not for the designers, for the inspiration. If not for the inspiration, for the patterns. If not for the patterns, for looking over them with your knitting friends and having quite the giggle. Definitely a buy! When's the sequel!?
(P.S.- The picture at the very top is designer Freddie Robbins. All the dolls in the background? KNIT AMIGURUMI.)

How to Knit a Flat Circle

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Downtown DiY: KNITTING.

Well, how nice! I came home yesterday and my mom had bought me a nice little book, on a whim! And a knitting book, on top of that! I have so few knitting books (I plan on changing that in the future) and this one had such a sweet cover. LIES!

First of all, I was really happy with the table of contents page. I love how it was laid out, love the pictures. As soon as I turned to this page, my eye was drawn to the cap in the upper right. Hey, I want to make that! So, I turned right to the page. What do I see?

The same picture on the cover. Okay, first I think: JIP. LAZY. But I forgive it. The instructions are pretty simple enough. They even have a nice instruction section, which explains the basics of knitting. I keep flipping through the book, and I notice a trend. . . NO PHOTOS.

Now, this makes me slightly irked. I really don't like working a pattern when I have nothing to go off of. They could have even used the same tiny pictures they put in the contents section (which I thought were lovely) and just made them bigger. But no. Instead, they do these arty, doodly sketches that look like they took the most of five minutes with a tablet and Corel Painter, with some knit textures paint bucketed in where the "project" is supposed to be. I don't know- maybe this was supposed to be "chic." Maybe their photographer had a mental breakdown and they hired a last-minute illustrator to fill some page space.



Whatever the excuse is, "it sucks and I hate it!" Is the only quote I can think of to describe this book. There's no pictures to go by except the tiny ones in the table of contents, the patterns, while presented in a fresh and clear way, are in no ways breakthrough. In fact, thinking back on the book I can't really even remember what designs there were. I do remember the sketchy little page fillers which, aside from serving no purpose but to distract you from the lack of knitting in the book, seemed to beg to be embroidered on something.

I especially like this one:

In conclusion, buy downtown DiY: Knitting for that tween in your life that thinks knitting and DiY is "cool" "indie" and "chic," but will probably never pick up a pair of needles in her life. Yes, I said her. Please do not buy a young pre-adolescent boy this book. It is obviously aimed for girls (another minus, on my docket.)
If you really liked this book, I apologize if I've offended your bad tastes. If you're the AUTHOR of this book, call me before you make a sequel, I'LL take the photos!

We're just lucky they don't have an equally humiliating crochet version. Or a Sewing version. WAIT. . .

Bugga Boo!

I'm just angry today. No idea why, it's just one of those days. I think I have last-day-of-vacation blues. That, and ANOTHER set of size 5 dpns has gone missing. Well, okay, half a set. I don't know why, but there were only two in my needlecase. . . How does that happen!? I think some sick needle fairy comes and takes them when I'm not using them. . . really. Hopefully, they won't end up in some school official's hands, bent in half.

On a more productive note, I've read Hamlet, Sewn a shirt, and made a few random things on the machine. I've got two patterns in the making, but I have to finish the gloves first. . . (and in order to finish the gloves I NEED MY BLOODY NEEDLES.) Here's a bookmark:

And here's a bucket I made for throwing my flosses into. This was really just practice for the bucket hat sweetie may or may not recieve. . . depending on how competant I am at making it.

I got the sewing pattern from Ric-Rac's Bucket tutorial.

Notice that I appease you all with the spiffy pictures. Hooray! I think I'm going to reorgnize the archives of this blog. THAT should be fun @_@; Heck, maybe I'll rename it and give it a cool look, and move it to typepad as well ;)

Super Exciting Flash Games!

. . . Okay, not really. Not really at all. But, you know, someone out there besides me must have thought: "Hey. . . I'm sure there are knitting-inspired flash games on the internet." No? Um. . .

So I was bored! Anyway. . . I found this monstrosity. It's Korean, but easy enough. Click the red ball of yarn to start, then use the arrow keys to "knit" and use the space bar to switch colors.

So yeah, I'd like to say that obsession with this has been keeping me from posting, but that's not it at all. I'm just hanging out with my boyfriend all the time. . .

KMV (Knitting Music Video)

I just thought it was cute. I can speak French, so I can actually understand the song! :3

Monkeeey!

I haven't posted any patterns up in a while, so here we go! This is a cute sample from Tracy Chapman's Toys To Knit. Soooooo cute! Check it out here.

We Love Katamari!

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The Sun's Gunna Come Out!

. . . Tomorrow. Yes, I promise tomorrow my super-uber-cool new pattern will be up, promise. Cross my heart. To provide a few hints, I'm gunna post some links you might like :3 I'm so nice!

First up is this amazing hat!
Then, this hat!

Any hints as to what my new pattern will be? Hmm. . . .

P.S.- Wish me luck with the last midyear exams of my high school career (also starting tomorrow, but probably less interesting.)

Badger Badger. . .

Oh yes, I can make jokes! I was exploring the interweb today and found this cute pattern for mushrooms. Why? Well. . . I don't quite know why. I just think they're cute! Who needs a reason?

The designer is one Kathryn Ivy, a knitblogger who (IMHO) is representive of what good knit blogs everywhere should be. Tutorials. Free patterns. Actually talking about a project as opposed to what some people do *coughselfshamecough* . . . which is "OMG LOOK WHAT I DID YAY!"

Anyway, tis a good blog. With a good knitter. And good mushrooms.

Treat Yourself.

So I've thouught about my super-duper surprise, and thinking about it I realize that I probably won't be able to sell it anywhere, as it violates copyright. Oh well, it's still a surprise! I'll post up pictures when I get to download my camera's piccies.

For now, here's a picture of a cute lobster that can be made, thanks to dirigo, knitting by the sea. kawaaaiii. . .

Can't have a lobster dinner? Knit one instead!

A Wave of Relief!

Well, so, I sent in all my scholastics stuff yesterday with a kiss in a prayer. Hopefully I'll know soon! T_T

Two nights ago, I went to Michael's and bought a ton of yarn! Including (but not limited to) yarn that I'm going to work my next doll with. It is, once again, a surprise (how me is that?) and part of it is worked on straight needles! Gasp!

For now, I'm finishing up the scarf I mentioned. All I have to do is sew it when I get home, yay!

Oh, and for the 'rumi post of the day, check out http://www.ariadneknits.com/ for totally cute kitty (PDF warning).

I've had so much inspiration in the past few weeks about things to make, I need to find a new way to organize my notes.

Mmmm Pocky!

So yes, I've been wanting to add this pattern to my collection of "kawaii knit foods" and, here it is! It requires very little gauge, and only knowledge of how to work an i-cord. If you don't know how, then this is a great way to learn how, I guess. I just used red Heart Super Saver, and size 8 straight needles.

Instructions:

CO 3 stitches of Brown. Work an i-cord for 5 inches

Switch to Pink and work one inch in i-cord

Increase: K1, M1. K1, M1, K1. You now have 5 stitches.

Start wrapping your i-cord around previous work. Pull work up behind the needle, wrapping the yarn for the next row around your work as you slide the stitches onto the needle. Do this for four inches, and bind off.

Now, here's how you hide the icky back part. Do you know how to pick up a stitch using a crochet hook? What do all those lines across the back look like? Exactly! Pick up these loops like you would a dropped stitch.

Embroider as you will. Little faces, "Oh no" expressions, whatever you want.

Taaaa daaaa. Only takes about half an hour of work.

Brain Slug, oh my!

So hey, I'm a member of Ravelry now! Hooray! Aren't you excited? I am, I'm officially addicted.

This jump into the craftsworld has made my pattern stash ever so larger! Look what I found in my travels! A brain slug! It's soooo cute, and can be found here.

I bet you've all been saying "Come on, thank you, the only reason I come to this blog is for those cool patterns from people." Well, here you go!

There's also a Knit Gir Pattern on the Free Patterns page! Sooo cute.

As for me, school starts back up tomorrow and I'm going to start another doll. . . *yawn*