Flagel Knitting Files

I remember when Lex was very small I used my right index finger and thumb pressed together to create a beak and my remaining fingers as head feathers.  He named the finger birds Beaky.  I was responsible for managing the Mama Beaky and he created the Baby Beaky.  The difference in the sizes of our hands was part of the fun.  As I think about it, it's hard to believe I lacked the wherewithal to figure out something like finger puppets would have made the game better, but then we did have lots of fun telling stories to each other.  Perhaps this was the start of his having to be creative, when all he had was his hand to use as a toy. So when I had a chance I decided that Kai should have finger puppets to tell his stories.  I did some looking on the internet and found this free  pattern .  It includes instructions for a Lion, Tiger, Bear and Elephant.  If you compare mine with the photo on the pattern you'll see I took some liberties with the instructions.  The project also gave

After my beloved Green Bay Packers fell out of the running for the Superbowl this year I can honestly say I lost interest in which teams are in it; but that won't keep me from watching the game on Sunday anyway.  I have a special reason to watch this year. I learned to love professional football at home.  Every Sunday afternoon during football season the entire family, Mom, Dad and my two brothers and I would sit down to watch Bart Starr, Paul Hornung, Forrest Gregg, Jerry Kramer and Ray Nitschke win games.  (If you don't know those names there could be a couple of reasons:  1) you haven't paid that much attention to the Packers or 2) you just aren't as old as I am.) In fact for Superbowl II played in January 1968, my Dad bought a colour television so we could see the game in all its glory.  I remember the Ice Bowl as it is lovingly referred to (the temperatures outside in Green Bay that Sunday were something like -15F or -21C sans the windchill and it was a windy d

So as U 900 remains on sabbatical, I have been busy.  As I said before Xmas I got a request for some of the food items I've already posted here.  So I was able to complete a piece of cake.    There are two other items I completed this week, a whole wheat ham and cheese sandwich and a Kaiser sesame bun containing a cheeseburger.  My whole wheat ham and cheese sandwich  The bread you've already seen and the ham slice was made with the bologna yarn I was so happy to find a few months ago.  The new yarn here is the cheese.  It is actually leftover from a baby sweater I knit about eighteen months ago.  It is a high quality cotton yarn and the colour is perfect for a slice of cheese.  The cheeseburger on a sesame seed bun  Again you've seen this before, but this time I added the sesame seeds.  I also was able to get a better photo of the burger and that great multiple colour cotton yarn I used for the first burger.  The cheese slice is made with the same yarn as t

It was hard to miss the event last year, Prince William and Kate Middleton got married.  We got an awful lot of detail about the event, in fact, the wedding was the top story in the news for weeks leading up to April 29, 2011.  Perhaps Canada got more than our share of details because we are more closely linked to the Commonwealth.  But it seemed the U.S. news media got into the event as well. My boss knows about my obsession with all things knitting and at one of our meetings last spring before the wedding she mentioned this pattern book .  Be sure to open the book and look at some of the characters by clicking on the Look Inside tab above the photo on the cover.  The wedding party is quite complete, down to the corgis. I have to admit the thought of knitting this wedding party is intriguing, but I have yet to buy the book.  One of the reasons I've hesitated is the number of accessories on the characters, and of course these accessories are what make them.  The variety of bead

I never really thought about it, but handmade knitted items could be a hot item in movies and especially so if the movie is set in the past.  So imagine my happiness when I found out that War Horse actually hired someone in England to knit the scarves, mittens, and sweaters for the German army.  All those extras got to wear handmade/homemade knitwear from the needles of one Mrs. Jane Whatley from Send, UK. An Army from War Horse Check out her story here .  As you read the article you'll see how Jane got into the business of knitting for movies. Of course, it is not a full-time job but it appears when the request comes in, knitting becomes more than full-time work to complete the projects on time. The most devastating thing about this story to me is that even Jane didn't recognize her own work in the movie.  All except one sweater were "weathered" (aka, dropped in the mud and/or tattered) to make them look like the German soliders were actually fighting in WWI

So the U-900 characters will be on a sabbatical for a bit.  I am not happy with the way the arm looks so it has been removed, and I'm still perfecting how to improve it.  It is time to go back to something with a pattern. I started working on another bologna sandwich.  I recently located the perfect recycled cotton yarn for a whole wheat slice of bread.  Multiple pieces are needed to made a slice of bread.  First I knit the two parts for the center of the bread.  Here they are:  Here are actually four pieces for two slices of bread  See the hump on the top of each piece.  It is done with increases and decreases.  If I alternate the sides, the humps match up perfectly because increases tend to look slightly different from decreases.  Then there is the crust.  It is made with a darker yarn and is only four stitches.  The pattern calls for using a slip stitch at the start of each row.  The slipped stitch makes for very firm edges and makes attaching the centers of the bread

As you can probably tell Rabbit U and Bear 900 are taking me time to figure out.  That means parts are attempted, found to be unsuitable, taken out, and tried again and again until they are close to being right.  Rabbit U's body started out too big, then it was too small and I think now it is just right. I had the same problem with his arm.  It was too husky with six chains and too small with four, but with five chains going to three as it tapered off seemed just right.  So here Rabbit U is so far.   Hope Rabbit U is right-handed    See the silver vest tucked under the ukulele, it is tiny!   A certain amount of mental energy has gone into figuring out the silvery vests for both Rabbit U and Bear 900.  Tin foils is too flimsy, anything made out of steel is too inflexible so I have tried to find other things around the house that might work.  There was a silver coffee bean bag, but it has a design on it.  I have a bag of macadamia nuts that has something

I've worked on Bear 900's head.  Here's a picture:  My version of Bear 900  Since I've taken this photo I've continued to shape Bear and now his head is broader and more oval in shape thus looking more like  the  Bear 900.  More to come on both Rabbit U and Bear 900 as I figure out the bodies, arms, legs, fingers and silver vests. Now the story of U 900 and the T-Pain microphone Dack, my youngest got for Xmas.  Personally I was not familiar with T-Pain so I needed an explanation about the microphone.    Perhaps you too need information so check out this link .   So as I understand it this microphone has the capacity to alter one's voice and it is especially good if one uses a falsetto voice.  Dack is a wonderfully playful guy, so he took full advantage of the T-Pain mic singing several melodies for us.  Then he found out about the U 900 and managed to T-Pain them.  And finally he shared the  Black Keys Lonely Boy Video  which apparently is a big hit.  

My inspirations come from a wide range of sources.  This particular one came to me as a request from a former colleague.  She is a talented painter and scrapbook enthusiast, but this time she asked if I could make something with/for a ukulele.   So without giving it much thought I told her "sure" and that evening looked into ukulele knitted and crocheted stuff.  I found a pattern to make: This  felted  ukulele case looked interesting.  I forwarded the image to my colleague, but this wasn't quite what she had in mind.  She asked me if I knew anything about U900 and then forwarded a link .  (You do have to watch this video.)  As you can see there are two crocheted characters in the video:  Rabbit U and Bear 900.  The video is shot using stop-action and I have no idea how they managed to get both characters moving to the beat of the music, but I digress. My colleague wanted me to make each of these little cuties.   I love a good challenge and this would be one.  The

So this is what Mike, Kai's dad, got for the holidays:  The almost complete third stocking  As you can see it is missing a loop, Mike's name and some other decorations.  Now from my point of view it is generally 98% done, but a purest might expect that this all be done.  And of course that purest would be right.  (BTW the stocking was done with instructions Mom shared with me.  I purchased the woolly top at my LYS and am very happy with the results.) So Kai's dad got a plastic bag with the stocking, the holly berries along with  some green and black yarn.  Now this is what it looks like:  The complete stocking   Since we were all out of our homes for the holidays, I can't bring myself to feel too badly about not getting this completely done for 2011, but Mike, you will have it for 2012.  Tell Kai it too is not designed for him to use the loop as a head band.

So I said in December that I'd made Kai a stocking for Xmas last year and his mom suggested that she and her husband could use one as well.  I managed to get half of that request done.  Mom got her stocking and Dad got to look at his.  Here's what two of them look like together at home, with a posing Kai.  The Snowman and Holiday Goodies Stockings  A closer look at only Mom's stocking shows it is just a white sock with a gingerbread man, candy cane, Xmas tree, holly berry, cookie, star, candies and a couple of gifts as decorations.  I like Kai's green stocking along side his mom's white one.  The Holiday Goodies Stocking  The instructions for this stocking  were free but not without a problem.  In the gusset section it tells you to K27, but it should be K17 instead.  If you make that change the heel will work out perfectly.  I had to do it wrong, get help from a colleague who makes lots of sock and then redo it.  A small detour to get this satisfac

Yes, I took the holidays off to be with family.  It was great to spend quality time with my sons and their wives as well as with Paul's son and daughter and their respective partners. Kai was there as well.  It is rare that we manage to get all of us in one place, but this year we succeeded!    But alas, the holidays are now over so it's time to get back to real life  and that includes writing about what I'm doing with regard to knitting. I can now start revealing the holiday gifts I have been making throughout the year.  Remember back in October when I said I splurged and purchased the tape-like yarn in Seattle?   In that post I showed the tape which starts out looking like this:  Part of my October yarn splurge  Well the 4 skeins of tape yielded these scarves.  Four Ruffly Scarves  The pattern is a very, very simple one, just pull the tape apart, picks up 8 stitches and then casts them off.  Repeat, many times to the end of the tape.  Here's a real