Category: Knitting

Cupcakes Take Over the World!

A couple of weeks ago now, I found an adorable pattern to make a stuffed cupcake on Blah, Blah, Blahhhg, and completely fell in love with it.  It seemed like the perfect thing to make for my nutritionist – She seems to really get a kick out of the knit sweets I bring her in particular.

And so it began innocently enough.  A cute little chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting, sprinkles, and a cherry.  I was so pleased with it, I began to think it might be nice to have another little guy on hand, you know, in case of birthday present emergencies?  Yeah, that’s it…

Almost as soon as the thought had formed in my head, my first cupcake seemed to almost morph over night.  All of a sudden I now I had two, the second one with mint frosting no less.  It all happened so fast, I wasn’t sure if I had even knit them.  That’s when I knew I was in trouble, and that was only the beginning… 

I woke up early one morning to the sounds of a struggle coming from the kitchen, and was horrified to discover… Not another cupcake, but something much worse.  Something that threatened the very existence of cupcakes, something so evil, so maniacal, it could only be…

The Blueberry Muffin of DOOM!!!!

I was horrified; What was I to do?  The muffin was insane, he didn’t even know what he was saying.  Preaching some gibberish that muffins were just unfrosted cupcakes, and that soon regular cupcakes would be obsolete.  After all, muffins are more acceptable as breakfast food anyway!  As I watched in terror, things only became worse by the minute.

With a hostile look in his… er.. blueberries, he swooped down upon my helpless little cupcakes, intending to destroy each offender of his plan for world domination.  Luckily I was there, and I held him off, his potential victims trembling in his wake.  Still struggling, I had a long chat with the muffin, explaining that we needed both types of baked goods in our world to be whole, that there’s no need to be sore over their gorgeous frosting because you have so much to offer on your own.

It took a while for my words to get through to him, but after a few hours of soul search in the quiet of the oven, the he emerged a changed muffin.

Now that they each accepted each other as their own, special and unique pastries, they all became the closest of friends and lived happily ever after.

Aww.

Erm, anyway.  I added an extra increase row at the beginning of the frosting so that they would puff out a little bit more, and (obviously) added little beads for sprinkles.  With the muffin, I just supersized the pattern – Which came out a LOT bigger than I had intended – And added random bits of chunky blue yarn for the blueberries.

Just remember… Friends don’t eat friends!

Hannah (BitterSweet)10 Comments

Smarter Than Your Average Fish

Another fishy project from… Well, I think you know what book it is by now.

I chose this pattern based mostly on the fact that it looked easy as pie, and I could whip it up in an evening. This certainly proved true, and I’m fairly happy with it. The only issue I have is the ugly seam running along the side opposite… I don’t have a worthwhile picture of it, so you’ll just have to trust me when I say that I need to work on my finishing skills.

This book is really beginning to grow on me. While it was initially a huge disappointment, maybe I was too quick to judge, and just picked the wrong pattern to base my review on. I’m glad I didn’t give up and return it, as my mom had suggested when she saw me on the verge of meltdown after struggling to shape my duck for nearly 45 minutes.

Taking this into consideration, I think I will give it a final grade of 4/5 stars. I highly recommend it for beginners; Even the newest knitters will be able to follow the simple instructions and basic techniques.

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Clowning Around

Another attempt out of The World of Knit Toys. I like this one a bit better, as it was much less frustrating to shape. It was just knit flat and then stuffed and sewn together, very simple and fairly rewarding.

I didn’t like how they gave it that ugly embroidered mouth, so I left it out, but under-stuffed it a little to give it a little kisser. Oh, and I decided to omit the bottom fin, since it would just get in the way / look funny, or you would just never even see it.

My little cousin absolutely adores the movie Finding Nemo, so I’m thinking that I’ll save it as a birthday or holiday gift for her.

Hannah (BitterSweet)1 Comment

Mr. Beaky

Why, hello there sir.

For what seems like ages, I had been lusting over the adorable little creatures created from patterns contained within The World of Knit Toys by Kath Dalmeny. Everywhere I looked, however, not a single bookstore could help me. The employee trying to help me would always give me a look as if I had suddenly started speaking gibberish, informing me that this book wasn’t even in their computer. Was it out of print? Simply out of stock? Who knows!

After months of frustration, my mom became tired of my griping and did a little research for me, and discovered it on Amazon.com, and not only was it under $10, but she offered to order another book she was interested in and cover the shipping and handling.  What could be more perfect!  So naturally… I had to consider it for another couple of weeks, because I’m a horribly and almost irrationally indecisive like that.  Then I realized how stupid I was being, and became panicked at the thought that they may run out.

Now, after all that… I have to say, I’m a little bit disappointed thus far.  This duck that I knit is a little… misshapen, to say the least.  I don’t really understand how Ms. Dalmeny expects something knit flat like this to become a nicely proportioned stuffed animal, with a defined body, neck, and head.  To get mine as it currently stands took more than just a little poking and prodding, to say the least.  Another issue I have is that gigantic beak it’s sporting.  It looks like it would better suit a crane or something; certainly not a duck.

Despite his flaws, I guess he’s growing on me a little bit, and I decided to name him Mr. Beaky.  I’m not saying that this book was a complete let-down, but it was a bit less than I had anticipated.  I’ll reserve further judgment until I try out some of the other patterns.

Hannah (BitterSweet)3 Comments

Breakfast of Champions

Finally, a few extra minutes to actually knit something! It kills me how I’ve barely knit at all lately… I used to be pumping out 8-10 projects a week, knitting nonstop… But I was also essentially immobile, so I’m not sure if it was entirely worth it. Anyway, I thought that a glazed donut with sprinkles would be the perfect way to start a long vacation…

It was so easy to whip up, but binding off that thing was hellish. A 3-needle bind off in a space slightly smaller than an inch in diameter?! Let’s see you do it first! I ended up doing a modified style of fake-grafting, and after about an hour longer than it should have taken, I had myself a sweet little donut. It’s still not perfect, so I might try it again at some point… It was so difficult to stuff and then redistribute the batting, you can see how it came out a little lumpy in places…

Oh well, it was still fun, despite the frustration. You can go make your own sweet little doknit using the pattern found at Strange But True.

Hannah (BitterSweet)1 Comment

Hot Off the Needles

As soon as I saw this pattern in the new issue of MagKnits, there wasn’t a doubt in my mind as to what my next project would be.  I had tried a different pattern to knit sushi before, but I ended up with very disappointing results, all of which eventually ended up in the trash, no less.  I was so happy with these little guys though, I ended up making almost twice as many as I had originally intended.  I probably would have made more if I hadn’t run out of that shade of dark green yarn.  Such a great project to use up those tiny little scraps that -other-, non Knitters may see as silly to save…  See, I’m not totally crazy to have 1 1/2 yards of yellow acrylic in my stash!!  …Maybe.

knitsushi.PNG

For those of you who can’t tell, it’s two pieces of nigiri (one maguro, one tamago), one kappa maki, one tekka maki, and two California rolls, with a vegetarian variation closest in the picture.

Hannah (BitterSweet)4 Comments