Flagel Knitting Files

Christine Grant is my kind of knitter; she designed a pet tarantula.  This is what Christine has to say about it:   "It is an exact life size copy of the Mexican red-knee tarantula.  I designed him to get over my fear of spiders and despite finding out his sting is like a wasp sting I'm still absolutely TERRIFIED!!!!!  With the festive seasons approaching this would make a great gift for any spider lover." A Pet Tarantula that looks so very real Here's the real Mexican red-knee tarantula I have to say I think Christine did a pretty fine job of duplicating this pet with yarn, even down to the beady little eyes.  And you have to give her credit for facing her fears with yarn.  I know that's how I'd approach it. You should check out the wide range of things Christine makes at her website .  There are sea gulls, pigeons, doves, a Tasmania devil and  Movember mustaches as well as some really cute hats.  But getting back to the tarantula.  What a perfe

While I was home I decided to record a couple of the things Mom knits to share.  Mom is reluctant to be put on stage herself showing her work, however, was OK.  But before we get to her output I should talk about how she taught me to knit. Mom can crochet but much prefers to knit.  She taught me to knit in the same way she taught me to do many things like cooking or sewing.  She would get me started with all the tools I needed, give me some books to help me if I got hung up and then left me alone.  I found this to be the perfect way for me to learn. Mom didn't hover or nitpick about my errors, she'd let me determine if something needed to be fixed. However, she was available if I asked for help, but I did need to ask.   So here we are 50 years later and we're both still knitting. A sample of Mom's fall collection of baby hats  Mom uses her skills in very practical ways.  Most of her great grandchild have a sweater, blanket or other useful piece she has made.  Mo

Yes, it has been a while.  I was travelling and took three large projects with me. One obviously the dachshund. I was with my family of origin so it was possible to clear up the questions I had about the live badger my Dad had trapped.  It is interesting to get two other perspectives on the situation, my Dad's and one of my brother's.  There were three of us remembering the situation completely different but I think we've pieced the true situation together, at least well enough to satisfy my curiosity.  These family gatherings bring with them the family stories.  Of course they are about 45 to 55 years old, but these old saws don't fail.  In my family the tales include a ketchup incident, a failed pumpkin pie, and the cracked tile in the bathroom.  They have been told so often not only do my nieces and nephews tell them, but now their kids know and can tell them as well.  That's part of what makes us a family, I guess, shared experiences of sorts. Additionally,

I left off with my knitting a dachshund for Paul.  I had the pattern from  Knit Your Own Dog , intend to increase the size by using bulky yarn and #10 needles.  All was moving along as it should. The front and back legs for the right side The legs came together quickly and the intarsia (colour changes) were very simple to do.  I moved on to making the right side of the dog. The right side with the legs added It was easy, but the labeling I did so well on the legs (note the green labels) are missing from this side.  By the time I had both sides done I hadn't marked either of them and had trouble determining one side from the other.  This problem is heightened for me.  Most people are able to tell their right from their left, but for some reason I struggle knowing readily this basic information about myself.  This becomes even more difficult when I'm trying to figure out which a particular side on a knitted animal might be.  I did have a 50 percent chance of gues

If you look up the background of the dachshund you'll find the standard size is bred to flush out badgers. Remember this image - it should reappear as a knit item Now badgers are ill-tempered beasts.  I remember the time my dad caught one in a trap meant to capture something else (I forget if it was set to get a skunk or fox.)  I was about 10 or so at the time and the thing just scared me to death because it was BIG.  It lunged at me and made terrible hissing sounds, plus it had an odor, very beastly indeed.    (As an addendum, check out what the University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers are doing to track the recluse badger,  here .)  At this point you might be saying, enough about badgers, this is supposed to be about knitting.  Bear with me, the set up is going to take a bit more time. A badger in the wild, look at the claws After I left the farm I moved to Madison and the University of Wisconsin, now my alma mater. Their mascot is a badger who goes by the na

I have been remiss in not giving appropriate credit to the person who inspired me to begin blogging.  She is a retiring type and will more than likely be embarrassed by this, but Nicole, you more than anyone got me thinking I could write about something I enjoy doing. Nicole in her kitchen Dack, my youngest son, and his wife, Nicole, eat well because they cook and bake well.  Both my sons had to learn how to cook as a survival mechanism, mainly for my survival, not theirs.  When they were young their dad traveled a lot as traveling salesmen are known to do.  That left the three of us having to get a meal on the table at the end of the day.  I needed to prepare dinner and wanted the guys to stay in sight; my solution was to get them in the kitchen with me.  Once there I put them to work.  Today both sons are better and more adventuresome cooks with a wider repertoire than me.  Visiting them and having them feed me is such a treat.  Nicole has been a good sport in taking up the mea

Today was my day out.  I needed to vote, get groceries, have my hair done and pick up some red eyelash yarn (stay-tuned it will be revealed).  As I'm waiting for my beautician, I pick up the October 24 edition of  People magazine.  Generally all I do is look at the pictures from magazines like this and skip everything else, but this title caught my attention:  "Cat Hair Crafting".  OK I'm game. Crafting with Cat Hair (I read Japanese, right.) Kaori Tsutaya wrote the book,  Crafting with Cat Hair : Handicrafts to Make with Your Cat, apparently in 2009.  It was translated to English and republished in 2011.  This nearly 80 page book (who knew you could write about crafting with cat hair for this long) covers making finger puppets, book covers, tote bags, coin purses, pincushions, badges, mittens, gloves, hats and scarves with what most of us think of as a nuisance.  The author goes out of her way to make sure the owners know they must brush their cat to get this

I didn't work today and knew it was a day I should get a number of things done.  The heavy rains this morning made it a good time to stay inside.  I finished several items on my to do list including 2 projects.  They aren't quirky and even have to fit someone.  I do have moments when I  knit normal things, I have to admit. Two baby wrapper sweaters I've been working on these Baby Wrappers for some time so I've got the pattern down.  The pattern comes from  Perl Grey  a designing pair out of Nova Scotia and appears to be available only to retailers which is where I purchased my copy. This design made sense to me because I remember the dynamics of trying to get a sweater on a squirming little one.  Having a sweater that simply wraps around the baby's body seemed like a good solution. There is a fair amount of picking up stitches that must be done to complete this sweater.  First you pick up stitches for each of the sleeves, second you pick up stitches to creat

As a kid I ate my fair share of bologna sandwichs.  However, as an adult I decided to not include it in my diet.  But what fun to knit one and be able to enjoy it that way.  Yup it was another of  Susie Johns Fast Food patterns . My bologna & cheese on whole wheat I love the yarn used to make the whole wheat or maybe it's multi-grain bread.  It was found at  Yoko Yaya 123, a dollar store located in the International Village Mall in Vancouver.    It has speckles of light and dark beige as well as yellow, and the darker crust looks pretty realistic to me.  I also found the right material to stuff the slices so that it even feels like real bread.  (It's a solid packing material, something used between plates.) It was the pink for the bologna that was difficult to get just right.  In my stash I had all these choices: My pink stash At first glance you might say any of these should probably work.  I thought that way as well but found it wasn't the case.  I knit

I watch a certain amount of public television, some Canadian and some from the States.  Nancy Guppy's Art Zone from Seattle, WA is a weekly show that keeps me up to date about what's going on in that city. David Chatt's creation made from beads You can image how easy it was for me to follow the story associated with this image.  What you're looking at is a toast purse, eggy glasses, bacon earrings and a slice of orange brooch all made from beads.  And they are all free-standing works (not sewn to a shape). Nancy Guppy in her October 28 episode spends just over 5 minutes (see  video ) talking to  David Chatt  the artist who creates this work.  Mr. Chatt expresses his wide ranging interests and the desire to do something creative.  If you watch the video to the end you'll find he articulates this drive better than most.  I find in him a kindred spirit, that drive to do something inspired, if not a kindred skill set.  Just to save you some time looking through

Margaret Atwood, one of Canada's most celebrated authors, (think Handmaid's Tale ) knits.  Who knew?  She recently contributed to a London UK show called the Ghosts of Gone Birds.  Her choice was the great auk, a penguin-like bird that lived almost exclusively on Canadian islands in the Atlantic.  This nearly meter/yard tall bird weighed 5 kilograms or 11 pounds.  It was flightless, apparently tasty and had useful skins and feathers all causing it to become extinct in the mid-19th century.     Great Auk Margaret Atwood said during a CBC interview she selected this gone bird because it is quint-essentially Canadian.  She went on to say she visited her LYS to purchase yarn and asked about converting a photo into something she could knit.  She was referred to Knitpro 2.0 and it brought her to this result: Margaret Atwood and her great auk I'm so surprised that 1) Margaret Atwood has time to knit and 2) that she makes quirky stuff like me.  Not sure if the photo below

Frozen Tundra shared a few book titles with me a while back.  I decided to check out the book, Making Mathematics with Needlework by Sarah-Marie Belcastro and Carolyn Yackel.  Making Mathematics with Needlework This is what the Library Journal had to say about the book: First, there's an overview intended for both crafters and mathematicians, so it should be understandable to mathematicians who don't know anything about crafting and also for crafters who don't know anything about mathematics. Then, there's a section of detailed mathematics which is intended for mathematicians. All of the authors have made an effort to include basic information so that mathematical enthusiasts who are not professional mathematicians can follow the bulk of the material. The third section of each chapter contains teaching ideas, and these range from elementary-school level to graduate level. Finally, every chapter has a project, with instructions written for and tested by craf

For years I would find a great bargain and buy some skeins of yarn only to find when I wanted to use it for a particular project I didn't have enough to complete the project.  I tried to carry a small card with the amounts I needed for some of my favorite patterns but couldn't make the adjustments (instant mathematics required) if the yarn size varied in how many stitches per inch it made.  So even though I tried to be prepared when I found a good buy on yarn, I still either came up far too short or bought way too much. A constant companion in my purse Then I found Ann Budd's Yarn Requirements  brochure.  This thing contains help in determining how much yarn to get for mittens, gloves, socks, tams, scarves, hats, sweaters and vests.  Sizes of the finished project range from 2 years old to adult and, if you are someone who needs to be able to buy in either meters and yards, this guide has you covered.  Finally it includes gauges that range from 3-7 stitches per inch.

Kai got an entire meal when he received the burger and fries.  (I wanted him to feel as if I knew what a full meal would include.)  There was a dessert included, a slice of watermelon. A slice of a not-at-all seedless melon The pattern came from Susie Johns: 20 to Make Knitted Fruit .  I thought at first glance it might be a challenging fruit to make, but once I started I found it was quite easy.  This slice is made in one piece, folded in half and then sewed up along the white rind.  The seeds are simply crocheted chain stitches embroidered on after the fruit is stuffed. For this one I didn't follow the instructions as written first.  I used the stockinette stitch on the outside as you see here.  When I make another, and we both know I will, I'll follow the pattern as it is written and reverse it with the purl side on the outside.  It will be more convincingly melon-like if I do.  Two colours of green were used to get a bit more realistic stripes of a watermelon.   B

I didn't want to brag too soon, but yes, I did clean up the stash last weekend.  The best way for me to motivate myself was to set a certain length of time and then go at it for just that long and then stop. So mid-day on Sunday while I was doing the laundry I moved all six bins of yarn from the room I store it in, often referred to as my mess, to our bed.  Now there was a plan here.  If I wanted to sleep in the bed that evening I'd have to finish.  I couldn't dilly dally around.  (Like I've said before I enjoy looking at yarn; it inspires me.) During the time it took one load of laundry to dry in the dryer, (about an hour) I finished the job.  When it comes right down to it, I spent more mental energy thinking about this task then doing it.  Here are the results. My stash is managed again There are six bins in total.  What it hard to see are the clear plastic bags I used to put colours together as well as to separate acrylic from wool yarns.  In the back and w

My obsession with knitting food really took off in early 2010.  I found a 9-page pattern booklet call Knitted Yummies from StitchinKitsch.com .  It was the piece of cake that was of real interest to me.  My finishing skills needed a boost so quickly knitting these small projects and then stitching them together would help me. My first piece of cake (poc) was done exactly as the directions said including the chocolate cake and pink frosting colours.  After making a few I decided I didn't like having to sew the small  bead of "frosting" on the top of the cake after the fact, so I just knit it in as I went along.  Additionally I found it possible to attach the top and bottom to the side frosting of the cake without extra hand work.  (So even though I wanted to improve my finishing skills it appears I was doing everything I could to avoid doing too much of it.  What a shock.) One of the first with picot edging  I also wanted the top rim of the cake to be more di