Good, Bad and Ugly - Really Ugly

Right, we'll see what's been good lately.

The Koolhaas Hat for Elly is all finished.



I very much like how this turned out. I made it smaller than the small size (only three pattern repeats in depth - Elly's got a small head). Ian modelled it for me and I think the size should be just right. I sent it off to her in a little parcel which should arrive sometime this week.

To fill out the box a bit, I made a dishcloth for her new flat.




Can you read what it says, "Knit Now Dishes Later". I found the pattern on Ravelry. It's not really advice, more like permission.

Made with Pakucho Organic Cotton in the natural colour. Now, everyone who knows Elly knows she's not really a "natural" girl; maybe "Betty Page Red" or "Tim Burton Violet", but not "Organic Cotton Natural", however, it was in the stash and I thought the pale colour might make the words stand out more. To be truthful though, in reality it's very hard to read, it just photographs well.

Also good, I made a new dress for Maggie. White with multi coloured polka dots, and a green gingham pinafore too.



Doesn't she look happy?



But along with the good, there's also bad.

Months ago I admired the Kusha Kusha Scarf and thought it might be a great quick project. The yarn was very unusual - Habu Silk and Stainless Steel mixed with JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk. I bought enough yarn to make one in white and one in black.

I started with the white, and in no time I'd finished all the knitting. I thought it looked not too bad. Oh, but then - I continued to follow the instructions.

After knitting, you're suppose to felt the scarf. Which I did.



It was bad. Two-thirds have the felted wool and stainless steel and the other third is only the stainless steel. I love the stainless steel, it's like a moldable mesh. Very cool. The felted part is too stiff. I also didn't care for the colour, when the JaggerSpun was felted the white became more of an off-white. A bad off-white. Icky. I preferred the scarf before I'd felted it.

So I moved on to the black one.



Better. I won't felt this one. Though I wish I'd just made it with the plain stainless steel - it would have been better still.

So where's the ugly?

Well, thinking I could possibly improve the white scarf by dyeing it a different colour. I tossed it into a purple dye bath.



The hot water in the dye bath only made it felt further. Now it's almost the thickness of leather. Awful, it's not like a scarf at all anymore - more like a belt.



Ugly, ugly.

Maggie

This is Maggie. Mum made this doll through a series of workshops a few years back (fifteen, perhaps). She did a fantastic job on her- hand painting the face, arms and legs, sewing the body, and adding the hair and eyes. Maggie has fair skin, dark hair and blue eyes (like Mum and like me), that's not an easy look to find if you're shopping for a doll - it's always blonde and blue-eyed or dark hair and brown-eyed (sigh). She also sewed the blouse and cord dungarees. It was heaps and heaps of work.

Here she is wearing the wee sweater Mum made for her:



and here she is in the hat Mum started and I finished, the pattern called for a pom-pom on top, but I'm better at tassels, so that's what she got:



I think Mum thought these were the same yarns, however the sweater is off-white and the hat is white, sorry Mum, I know it doesn't happen often, but you made a tiny boo-boo. Still a very cute set.

Isn't she sweet. Maggie has lived with Mum and Dad a long time now, but Mum promised her to Elly "when I go". I doubt Mum is going anywhere soon, but when Elly went to visit them last week Mum insisted that Maggie return with her.



Maggie is going to live with us while Elly is studying in Ireland. She starts school this September and will be gone for three years. So now I have two foster children.



Here's the bunny shots of the day. They all opened their eyes yesterday, and started to wander a little ways from the nest.



I needed to mow the back lawn today and since they've started to move around, we put them in a cardboard box and set them in the shade on the deck (I wouldn't want them running under the mower - ick).

Dot and Gerry hiding their faces in the corner:



Here's Flipsy. A corner of his/her ear is missing. I blame Gus, though we do keep him on a lead when he's in the back.



They're growing so fast that they may be gone from the nest before I have to cut the lawn again!

More Than Bunnies

Let's open with some knitting, shall we?

Despite the blog's appearance, there's been more than just bunnies growing.

Progress continues on the seaweed stole. The dark red yarn in the photo is a "lifeline". It's there in case I make some kind of horrendous error, I can rip out all my stitches back to where ever the thread is. It's a very useful tool when working a complicated pattern. I've never used one before, but this is a design beast and my concentration skills aren't what they once were.

Since this such a slow-going project, I've got a couple of easy options waiting for me in the knitting basket.



This will be a cosy for one of my many tarot card sets. Hardly a necesary item, but it should be a quick and easy knit and I'm using up odds and ends from the leftovers bag. specifically, this yarn is Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool. It's an excellent yarn, there's lots of metreage per skein and it's a lovely combination of the softness of wool and the chalkiness of silk, a great multi-season yarn (not overly pricey either). The colours are fabulous too, I've got leftovers of purple and black - perfect for the particular tarot card set I'm knitting this for, I'm going to show them to you another day.



I've also been finishing up one of my Mum's projects. Years ago she made a doll called Maggie (there's going to be a special post about Maggie tomorrow). She's a beautiful doll, about the size of a newborn. Mum sewed an outfit for her and knit a wee sweater and most of a matching hat. In the photo you can see the pieces for the hat. I've finished the hat and will post photos of Maggie wearing her new togs tomorrow.

I know many of you want to see how the bunnies are progressing, and here they are this morning.



They just barely fit in the nest.

Elly has started naming them. The one with no white on the forehead is Flipsy, that's the one she was holding from a previous post, it flipped out of her hands right after the shutter snapped. The one with the large white blaze is Dot, and the one with the small white blaze is Gerry.

Aaaawww...