Tag Archives: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Jul21

More crochet and sewing fun

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It’s getting to the point that I can’t fit my Mimic Shawl into the shot. I am still enjoying this project, especially as I do love the pink section in this yarn, which will soon become another lime green one. Actually, very soon, as I don’t think there’s enough pink left to complete the next row, so I am going to do a little splicing, like I did the last time I hit this juncture.

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My evening project yesterday was to sew a book bag for my great-niece. I picked up a panel of quilting cotton from work a while back with The Very Hungry Caterpillar on it because when she was born two years ago I made her a Very Hungry Caterpillar blanket, cocoon and hat. I thought that maybe I’d make a quilt but then I had other ideas. Two parts of the panel became a bag, along with two contrast fabrics, one for the lining and one for the pocket. (The pocket is divided into sections for pencils and other stuff.)

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The widest section with the butterfly was made into a pillowcase. It’s not very big, but she’s only two! I won’t be filling it with stuffing ahead of time, because it has to go in the mail. The contrast fabrics were ones I had already.

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I’ll be seeing her in October, along with the rest of my family, when we drop in for a few days after Yorkshire and Yarndale (whoop whoop!) and so I am going to mail it to my mum ahead of time so that I don’t have to carry it in my luggage.

I’m itching to sew some more with my stash of quilting cottons but haven’t yet decided what to make.

We had a lovely weekend with Yin Yoga, weight training, shopping, and tea at our favourite tea shop (OK, Tai Chi Man probably would rather not have had to mow the lawn and today I cleaned bathrooms and vacuumed but, you know, these things have to be done). I couldn’t leave the cleaning ’til tomorrow as I’m working. Once it’s cooled down a bit, I want to have a walk around the neighbourhood and that will be the ideal end to the weekend.

 

Jan1

2017 project review

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2017 project review

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Hi all and Happy New Year. It’s getting to the end of the first day of 2018 and I’m ready for bed (and it’s only 9pm). Last night we didn’t do anything special to see in the new year (as usual). Tai Chi Man was in bed early (as usual). I stayed up and binge-watched season one of a series on Netflix called Rectify. I found it strangely compelling.

So what I’m saying is that I did stay up past midnight, but not because it was New Year’s Eve!

The trouble with watching too much TV is that your brain is hopped up on electronic vibes and when you do go to bed, overtired, you can’t get to sleep easily. Still, I just lay there knowing that I would eventually get to sleep, and I did. But of course I woke up at the usual time so didn’t get enough rest, and I’m feeling it now.

I just did a quick review of the projects I have knitted and crocheted in 2017. This is why I love Ravelry. I can quickly scroll through  my project page, noting down what I made (of course if I had remembered to tag each project with the year, I could have done it even more quickly).

My favourite projects of the year would be the Spill Shawl, Anouska’s bag (the camper van one) and the Hungry Caterpillar baby blanket and cocoon. (All links to my Ravelry notebook.) I picked the shawl because the yarn worked perfectly with the design, and it’s in my favourite colours, the bag because I designed it and my niece loved it, and the baby blanket because it was a labour of love and the new parents loved it. And they’re all cute!!!

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So, what did I make last year.

9 scarves/cowls, 2 baby blankets, 2 loveys, 1 pair of baby booties, 1 baby cocoon, 31 hats, 4 squares/coasters, 7 bags/cosies, 8 dishcloths, 3 baby sweaters, 1 poncho, 1 twiddle muff, 2 towel loops, 1 tank top, 1 baby dress, 6 rugs/cat mats, 2 shawls, 1 wreath (sunflower, pumpkins, leaves), 1 basket, 3 pairs of mittens, 1 pair of slippers

That makes a grand total of 88 items, counting the bits for the wreath as only one. Not bad at all.

However, there is an absence of larger projects. No big throws or blankets (I do already have a good pile of those so didn’t really NEED another one) and no adult sweaters or other garments, except for the linen tank top. So what I’m thinking for this year is that maybe I’d like to make a goal (NOT a resolution, of course, because I don’t make those) of knitting or crocheting a sweater a month. Doable? Maybe. FullSizeRender (1)

As for WIPs, I still have a couple of those and I’m not sure whether or not they will be finished. And I have some squares that I made for a blanket out of DK yarn (pictured above) that were joined together, but I decided I didn’t like how it was turning out so I took them apart. The ends were woven in on the squares so I didn’t frog them but will have to find a use for them later on.

I see a new thread was started on the Ravelry forums today – Flash your Stash 2018 – and I may well do that one of these days. My stash is quite manageable at the moment as I used some up or gave some away, so it wouldn’t be a huge task to pull it out and photograph it. I had culled the vintage stuff out and just kept the ‘nice’ stuff, but of course this then seemed to create a vacuum into which more yarn arrived. A co-worker gave me a bag of her unwanted acrylic. I kept it, though, as much of it is black and can be used in future scrap blankets or whatever.

So what else? I’ve already mentioned my thought of making a sweater a month. Another monthly goal that would be awesome to follow through on would be to sew myself a garment. I would add unique items to my wardrobe while getting more proficient at making things that I can wear in public. (I still want to make the sweater pictured below, it would be a quick knit, achievable in a month, but I STILL haven’t found the right yarn for the job!)

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Weekly goals are simple. Continue hosting my Hygge group on Monday nights, keep in touch with friends, and call my mum. Daily goals include doing something active (gym, walking, yoga, work) and being grateful for everything. I shall have to write these out and put them on the wall somewhere so I see them every day.

Now it’s time to love you and leave you, as they say, and I will talk to you again soon. Happy crafting.

 

Feb6

FOs: Caterpillar blanket and hats for Swaziland

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The Very Hungry Caterpillar – TA DAH!

The Blanket, Hat and Cocoon are finally ready to wing their way across the Atlantic, along with the board book. Full details on my Ravelry project page.

I don’t have much time to chat, as I have to leave for work in a moment, so will quickly show you the first of a stack of baby hats that I am making for the friend of a friend. She goes to Swaziland every year – runs an organization called SwaziKids.

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I started using a Basic Beanie pattern on Rav, but quickly realised I can churn these out easily enough without a pattern.

It’s a beautiful sunny day here, which is made extra bright by the fact we’ve had about a foot of fresh snow the last few days. Have a great Monday!

 

Feb2

It’s a happy sunny day!

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We’ve had a few snowflakes today, and it’s currently about minus 7 outside, but inside it’s bright and warm. The sun has been streaming into the south side of the house and it has motivated me to do an extra great job on the weekly clean (plus I have friends coming over this evening so that’s a good motivation too)!

I took a couple of photos of my kitchen and dining room and posted them to Facebook with the comment that I had to record my enjoyment of the five minute period between finishing the cleaning and having it messed up again. Oh, if only we didn’t have to eat and pee, things would stay cleaner SO much longer 😉

What do you think of these cute little Baby Janes?

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This yarn has proved difficult to photograph. Must be the colour, because my iPad just won’t focus on it. Tai Chi Man’s iPad did a slightly better job. These are made with Red Heart With Love in Boysenberry. I’ll take them to work so that they can be displayed temporarily with the bubble gum blanket.

The update on the caterpillar blanket:

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The hexagons are a bit of a slog. To distract myself a little, I sewed the face and feet on, though I haven’t fastened off the ends or woven them in yet. I added the three and a half hexes in that top row this afternoon. My white yarn is getting low – I think I may have to visit Michaels with coupon in hand for another ball.

Okey dokey, time to hit Publish and get on with other things. Happy crafting!

Jan29

Knitting, crochet and courses

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Whoopee! I am now a graduate of the Centre for Nutrition Studies whole food plant-based nutrition programme. I even have a badge for my blog, which is now in the sidebar near the top. It doesn’t fit in that well at the moment. I think it may be time for a renovation around here. I’ve been using the same WordPress template for, like, forever!

So that’s one FO! A finished course, for which I will get a certificate. I did the course partly for myself, partly so I could help others by educating them about healthy eating by not just giving them my opinion but actual facts backed up by actual science. And now I CAN!

The other FO is a crochet one which I whipped up in a little under an hour today.

It’s a cute lamb lovey, made from a kit that we sell at the store. It’s more expensive there than online, but I get a staff discount. And I’ve been eyeing these kits for ages. They come in many colours (always with three different colours/textures in one ball) with a different animal head or ball to go on top.

Rather than go with the crowd and knit a hat, I crocheted a granny square and added the lamb’s head to the centre. I was inspired by someone on Ravelry who has been posting photos of her projects to one of my favourite groups, the Colourful CALs/KALs group.

If you can’t find these at your local yarn store, they have them at Herrschners.ca. They are called DMC Top This knit hat kits.

What else? Ah yes…

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Knittin’…..started these Baby Janes a couple of days ago. Haven’t picked them up since. But if I actually get them finished they will match the bubble gum blanket’s border and will make a cute set. It’s a free pattern from Red Heart – I found it at work in the yarn section.

And the caterpillar is coming along. I did  add some hexagons today, and as you’ll see from the photo I positioned the bits for the head and feet. Tonight I sewed them on because I was too impatient to wait until I had added all the hexes.

We had a very pleasant Sunday. A slow pace, a walk along the waterfront, a cup of tea at Chai Baba. And a couple of interesting new recipes, which the boys were very dubious about. Beetburgers (a beautiful colour) in buns with grilled pineapple (another idea from Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease cookbook) with salad, followed by lime custard tart. I used an unbaked crust idea from the Fat Free Vegan blog (because I couldn’t find the right ingredients for the original crust) which was made with rolled oats, dates and fresh orange juice. The filling was silken tofu with lime juice and maple syrup layered with fresh fruit. It was rather good!

Despite all the doom and gloom in the news (best not to watch) I hope you manage to stay joyful and positive and spread good news instead of bad. ❤

 

 

 

 

Jan25

WIPS: blankets

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I’m multi-tasking tonight. I have two windows open on the desktop. One is playing Episode 25 of Kathryn of Crafternoon Treats’ podcast. The other is, obviously, WordPress.

I thought I’d show you the progress on the Hungry Caterpillar blanket. His body is nearly finished – just two dark green hexagons among the white ones in the next row. Then it’ll be a plain white row. Then a colourful one, which will be pretty quick, as the coloured bits are already  made.

After that, there’s a border to do. I made his face last night, while watching The X Files, but he doesn’t have any eyes or antennae yet.

The other WIP is actually now an FO.

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Pre-blocking, the blanket wasn’t square, and the border was very ruffly. I did eke out almost the whole ball of the Red Heart With Love in bubble gum, up to and including the sc round around the edge. Then my ball of boysenberry was used for the shell edging.

It’s now been blocked aggressively to straighten things out, square it up and open up the lace pattern. (It still has a few damp patches where the iron dripped while I was steaming it.) This is the Dreamy Lace Baby Throw from Lion Brand, free (as long as you sign in). I think I linked it in my last post. It’s a smaller version than the pattern, as the yarn was limited to what I was given by my boss to make it for display at the store. Stretched out on the blocking mat, it was about 31 inches square.

And I know I’ve said this before, but I really have to stop getting distracted by other crochet projects, because the caterpillar blanket needs to be a priority. Baby’s due in three months.

I’m getting a little excited – I have a quote for flights over to see the family in the spring, I’ve checked with my family and boss to make sure they have no objections to the dates I’m thinking of going, and all that remains is for me to commit! I invited my oldest son to come with me, as he didn’t go with us last summer when we went to visit, but he hasn’t given me a Yay or Nay yet.

Well, back to the hooking. Hope you’re having a great week!

 

 

Jan18

WIPs and Windows

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I do like a bit of alliteration, don’t you? The title just flowed out of my fingertips.

I am holed up in my bedroom this morning. This is Day Three of the window/door installers invading our house at 8am and changing out all the windows and doors. That’s about 15 windows, a sliding patio door,  and three regular external doors. The first day, I was at work most of the day, so it was just the two boys who were at home, literally chilling out! We had to turn the heat down because there was so much activity, with guys coming in and out, windows coming out and new ones going in. And the noise! Hammering, drilling, voices, music.

Day Two was ok as they were mostly working downstairs and the thermostat is upstairs so it was fairly comfortable.  Today I have turned it down again as they are doing the three doors, one of which is in the kitchen on the upper floor.

I know we will have a much warmer, quieter house when all is said and done, but poor old Tai Chi Man now has a new job on his home maintenance list. That of painting the primed window frames inside. We will have to get the bathroom and kitchen ones done ASAP so they are sealed against moisture.

Lurking in my bedroom is actually rather pleasant. I brought tea in here, my laptop, crochet, iPad (you know, all the essentials), I have an en suite half bathroom, so I can stay here while the guy working in the kitchen does his thing.

And I took a couple of quick photos of my WIPs to show you…

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It’s hard to get this all in one photo, but I am working bottom to top on this baby blanket,  (that’s a link to my Ravelry project page) and right to left. The green of the caterpillar is now coming in. There are only two plain white rows of hexagons in the whole blanket, which is good, as the colours make it more interesting to crochet. I am being sure to weave in all ends as I go and with the join-as-you-go method there will be minimal finishing.

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This second WIP is the Dreamy Lace Baby Throw from Lion Brand. (My project page.)

My boss said the other day at work that someone had over-ordered on the pink Red Heart With Love so she gave me a ball of it to work up a small baby blanket. The pattern asked for Pound of Love, and this ball is only 7oz, so rather than chaining 141 I did 101 to make a smaller version. The ball suggests a 6.5mm hook and that’s what I’m using. After the initial set up row, it’s a one row pattern with an easily memorised repeat. This progress was made last night at a friend’s house.

Before picking up this pink project again, I will be adding more to the caterpillar blanket, as time is ticking by and there’s a baby on the way.

My plant-based nutrition course is going really well. I have completed two parts now – Nutrition and Society, and Diseases of Affluence. Next, putting it all into practice – Applying the Whole Food Plant Based Diet principles. This third part starts today and has to be completed in the next two weeks.

I noticed that Forks Over Knives has a cooking course starting at the end of the month – it’s $349 if you sign up now, $399 after the 21st. I was tempted to go for it but then I realised that the information may be presented in the course that I am already paying for. So I’ll see how that goes, then if I feel I need more,  perhaps they will offer it again at a later date.

If you haven’t watched the Forks Over Knives documentary, I highly recommend it. It’s one of many documentaries that are available now on healthy eating to prevent and reverse chronic disease. A quote from one of the doctors on the course, “Food is the chemotherapy that you take three times a day.” That’s why it’s the most important thing you can do for your health.

OK, time to get some yarny stuff done. Have a wonderful day 🙂

 

 

 

Jan11

January WIP update

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The time flies by! I just checked the date of my last post and it was 6 days ago! And I had forgotten I already showed you my stash flash, because I was about to post the photos…again!

Hmmm, guess my brain is all full up.

The Hungry Caterpillar blanket isn’t coming along as quickly as it should, but here’s the progress so far…

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The first two (green) segments of the caterpillar’s body are now incorporated. I’m working right to left on each row, and this is row 4 of 9. The edges are curling a bit, which will all be fixed when I add the border. I could have used a 5.5mm hook, with hindsight, and if I had I could have used my Addi Swing hook. Ah well, too late now.

Have you heard the word “hygge?” It’s a word that’s being bandied about on the interwebz and it is a Danish word with a complex meaning that needs a bunch of English words to describe it! A friend and I have started a women’s group of the same name. We had the first gathering last night at my house. Just four of us for the first one, though I’d like to add a few more. One woman recently had a baby and brought him along. OMG, newborns are so tiny and cute. I asked her to give the caterpillar hat a trial run, because I was nervous about the size. It was PERFECT! So I guess I don’t have to make another one.

And funnily enough, Kathryn of Crafternoon Treats was talking about the exact same thing in Episode 24 of her podcast that I watched today.  Have you seen her podcast before? I love it.

Last night, one friend was knitting on a pair of socks, another was knitting a rat cave which she intended to felt, and I was crocheting a really easy cowl. I wanted something I could do mindfully and mindlessly at the same time! You know what I mean? You can concentrate and enjoy the lovely fuzzy feeling that comes with forming the stitches with the colourful yarn, and if you want to chat you can continue crocheting because every row is the same and easy to memorise.

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This is Loops & Threads Facets. 100% acrylic, a bulky yarn in the colourway Capri Blue. This is a daylight shot but it still doesn’t do it justice. At the end of the first skein, I had a piece 20 inches long, which wasn’t quite long enough to join into a cowl. So as I was going to be starting the second ball anyway, I decided just to use up the whole of the second ball too and hopefully get a cowl that I can double up around my neck. I doubled the amount of pattern repeats across as my yarn isn’t anywhere near as bulky as the one used in the original design. Agnes Lace Cowl

Since starting this, I have become quite attached to it. Rather than give this one away, I may just weed out and donate some of the other older accessories I have. I might even make a hat to match (time to grab a Michaels coupon)!

Well, I must make some more progress on the blanket and also put a couple of hours in on my eCornell plant-based nutrition course. I’m at mid-point right now. Halfway through the second module of three. I am learning a lot and it’s getting me all fired up to share more with people about the health benefits of a whole food plant-based diet. I am cooking without added oil now and the kids are having to get used to dinners without fake cheese. Whilst we are keeping maple syrup in the house, once the coconut sugar is gone I won’t be buying any more. Ditto the white flour.

I am being a lot more outspoken on my personal Facebook page about animal rights at the moment. I’m sure some of my FB friends would like to/have blocked my posts but the truth really does have to come out. And it will, one way or another.

Hope you’re having a compassionate week.

Dec31

Only 4 hours of 2016 to go

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Here I am, sitting on the couch with my crochet and laptop as usual. Well, they do say you should start as you mean to go on!!

It’s been a good week.  A few not-too-busy shifts at work. A fun potluck last night with friends. And only one WIP to start off the new year.

The current project is The Very Happy Caterpillar blanket by Artisan Loops Designs, aka Ne11 on Ravelry. (Yes, that IS Nell with two ones.) It’s a paid pattern which she kindly sent me as a gift some time ago. My Ravelry project page says that I started it on December 6th, but despite that I haven’t made much progress. The blanket has a row of coloured circles in the top row and two rows at the bottom, so I crocheted these circles first. The final white joining round is one I was dreading a tiny bit as the layout of the pattern has lots of little picots around the circles for joining them to each other and I was getting in a tizz about them. But as usual, getting them done was easier than I had anticipated and now I have a full row done. I did make a teensy weensy mistake on the last circle, adding an extra picot where one wasn’t needed as it is a corner circle. That is now fixed.

The yarn is Loops & Threads Impeccable, which is an acrylic worsted weight yarn from Michaels, and these colours are yellow, purple, orange, blue, dark green and red. The green looks better in real life, and the photo isn’t showing much differentiation between the blue and purple. Anyhoo, so far, so good. I have pushed through the thing that was making me procrastinate and I am off to the races.

If I need a small portable project at all, I think I will make another caterpillar hat in a larger size. I would hate for the one I made to be too small. Better to have it a bit too big than too small. And the cocoon, well, I think I will be adding a drawstring to the top of it, as the opening looks huge. Just my thoughts as I type away here, excuse my rambling!

I hope 2016 was good to you. Make 2017 great!

 

Nov19

FOs: Caterpillar Cocoon and Hat, and a Coaster

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I just completed three full shifts in three days and to be honest I just didn’t feel like crocheting after I arrived home after 9pm Thursday night. However last night I pushed ahead with the cocoon and called it done when it looked big enough. I have been really bad at following the pattern as I felt I couldn’t really trust it. No gauge info, no final measurements to give me confidence.

I started weaving in the ends at home and finished them on breaks at work today. I really hope that this set looks good on its intended recipient, but I suppose as it’s meant to be a photo prop it only has to look good for a short time and any (potentially) excess cocoon fabric can be tucked around the baby.

Another small project that I finished today is a double thick coaster. It’s an African flower motif, but I’m not going to bother linking to the site I was using for instructions as the “pattern” was really vague and I had to peer at people’s photos to see if I was interpreting it correctly. I suggest a search on Ravelry for a better option if you’d like to make this motif.

I made two motifs in different colourways out of Stylecraft Classique Cotton DK and a 4.25mm hook, then slipstitched them together back to back. I’ve been wanting to test out this motif for a long time. It’s really easy and one day I hope to make a larger project with more of them.

This item is for a fellow Ravelry member who was let down in a swap. I think her parcel got lost in the mail. A few people are sending her small extra things to make up for the disappointment. I will add a few bits and pieces to this coaster and send them off soon.

Another bit of mail I need to send is a few grams of Stylecraft Special DK in Copper to a Raveler in New Zealand. She has nearly finished a blanket and just needs to finish half of a row in Copper. She didn’t want to buy a whole new skein so asked on one of the forums if anyone had any they’d be willing to send her. I have half a ball left over from Demelza so I will be putting some in an envelope and mailing it off soon.

I just love this Ravelry community. It has added so much to my crafting life.