Furballs and Hearts :)

The two furball CEOs in the "office" is hurrying me to publish the latest heart pattern so that they will not need to model with the hearts anymore, and as I wrote this blog, one of them is sitting next to me pawing me for attention.  Sometimes, I wondered why my progress was that slow.

Eighth Heart in One String is my second last pattern in the Heart / One String series.  In this pattern I explored surface texture by incorporating a seed / moss stitch pattern.  I also experimented with a different set up in knitting in bias and it turned out nice.

It is not a pattern for colour work.  The purl stitch will make it impossible to have it both sided using two colours or more. Also with the pattern repeat, it became very difficult to find a repeated pattern to change the colour yarns.

This pattern is a quick knit as gift for holidays and special occasions.

The pattern is now available on my Ravelry store .

Happy Knitting!

Long Fish or is it Unagi?

One late night at home while I finished the sample for a new design, we held an adhoc conference and the furball CEOs insisted on naming the dishcloth in something they like ...... like catnip, mouse, fist, etc.  They said the special edge resembled a long fish, so we finally decided the name to be "Modern Unagi"

Modern Unagi is my latest dishcloth design with a special two colour "flat twisted" edge.  The main bodies is constructed with a sharp corner wave pattern that accentuatse the corners of the twisted edge.  Also since the wave pattern is made with knit and purl stitches (no slipped stitches like the herringbone), so the rectangular shape is maintained pretty well without blocking. 

The three sections of the dishcloth is held together seamlessly by intarsia.  Although there is a right side and wrong side to this dishcloth, the intarsia in the wrong side is well arranged and presentable (meaning there is no need to hide :p)

The pattern is now available in my Ravelry store.  It is in both written instruction and knitting chart. Mini photo tutorial is also included to help in explaining the intarsia technique.

Happy knitting!

"Too many hearts, too little time", said Moo Moo

All roads lead to Rome and Sixth Heart in One String is my latest attempt to knit a piece of heart dishcloth using a very different approach.  Instead of mitering, I changed to knitting in bias which is a more familiar technique to dishcloth knitters.  But to make sure everyone on their toes, I changed the normal increase pattern to make it interesting.

Just like all my previous hearts, the Sixth Heart is knitted in one string of yarn from start to finish without breaking or adding yarn to construct the shape.  It guarantees the integrity of the piece and less yarn tail to weave in.

This piece also let me find an ideal place to use the modified kfb and an unusual bind off  technique (at least for me, I don't do it that often and didn't see a lot of it in other patterns).

Sixth Heart in One String and my other heart patterns are now available in my Ravelry store

Enjoy the knitting :D

Working Cat

Cat Mat was conceptualized after knitting the bias Grandmother's Favourite Dishcloth a few times and started to realize its potential.  GFD has inspired me to write out 3 knitting patterns, and Cat Mat is the first one.

It is called Cat Mat because my two furballs lay on it as soon as it was off the needles, so my friend said should name the piece Cat Mat.  The design is of a sophisticated cat looking back at you ...... and you can see his wavy tail and one could tell the mischievous thought in that little brain that is wired for world domination 😁.

Instead of using the tradition knit and purls stitches to construct the cat, I opted to use modified cable slip stitches, bobble stitches and picot stitches to create a 3D space from a 2D surface of the dishcloth. Also being a perfectionist myself, I make sure that the purl bump selvedge is all round without interruption which made it different from the GFD.  That requires a different cast on and bind off from GFD.

During the test knit, the testers gave me valuable input for improvement and thus the addition of a mini photo tutorial to guide the knitters through the two  most difficult rows in the pattern.

In the pattern, I also include simple instruction in making a stockinette and seed / moss stitch body.  This is also inspired by the testers. To say the least, this is a one string piece - no cutting or adding to yarn and only two yarn tails to weave in. 😃

The pattern, Cat Mat, could be purchase from my Ravelry store and I hope you will enjoy as much as I have knitting up the cat knowing they will probably be sitting on the kitchen counter looking pretty and cute lol

"Heart Fatigue" for Furballs

I am too happy to publish two patterns at the same time, Second Heart in One String and Third Heart in One String, but looked like my furballs were not as enthusiastic as me (facepalm). I think they were tired my heart knitting.  They are now napping and not helping in photo bombing (sigh)

The Third Heart is particularly suitable for a two colour combination (half and half). The two decrease columns in the centre make a decorative focal point compatible with the knit stitch column in the Second Heart.

Special thanks to all the test knitters to make this pattern error free (if you find more error in the pattern, blame it on the furballs, HAHA)

You can find the pattern on sale in my ravelry store.

Enjoy the knitting and thank you for your support :)

Two Furballs, Two Hearts, One Pattern :D

With the help of my two trustful furballs, I finally published my second heart shaped dishcloth. They helped by distracting my attention when I needed it most. They wanted to be fed and rubbing when I unravel my tangling yarns. They slept on the computer keyboard when I needed to do typo correction on the computer document. Oh well, the list could go on and on, but I guess that make them as loveable as ever.

The second heart involves more complicated stitches to achieve the look.  The cloth goes well with as a companion gift with a bottle of lotion, body scrub, a bar of handmade soap, etc.  I particularly like the sharp shape of the heart and blocking is not essential (that will save a lot of time, and the shape will still be maintained after usage).  It features a garter stitch construction with neat and tidy selvedge. The centre knit stitch column makes a distinct decoration for the piece.

The pattern is in both written instruction and chart. It is now available from my Ravelry store.  Special thanks to all the volunteer knit testers to make this pattern as error free as possible.

Happy knitting :)

From Furballs with Love :D

How much love could a cat give? Oh well, none or many depending on his / her mood. My two furballs only show me love and affection (and associated attention seeking) when I am busy doing something else, like knitting or staring at the computer screen typing out this blog lol).

 

 

My latest Heart in One String is a heart shaped cloth knitted without breaking the yarn. In one colour, there will only be two weaved in  loose ends. Depending on your preference for knitting texture, sizing could be adjusted using different needle sizes.  I would not say it was my very own concept, but saw one on the Ravelry.  I decided to challenge myself to knit one and what a challenge.  It took me by surprise that it was not the mirror type of knitting and the flaps need to be adjusted (and totally surprised me with the adjustment needed) to obtain a pretty heart shape.  I also tried with using two colours and some experiments were more successful than others.  It is because with using two or more colours, the piece has now the RS and WS. The garter stitch is not helping with the problem either as the basic inherited purl bumps show off the change in yarn sharply (now we have the RS and WS) and thus the management of yarn change become a bit more difficult as the creativity increase.  I don't want to do more yarn add, so have to content with what garter stitch can do (and can not do lol).

I also like a neat and tidy edge, and I nearly achieved that with the cast on and selvedge (and yeah - a big sigh - nothing could be perfect, not even my two furballs, but their imperfections are admirable).

This knitted cloth is perfect to go with your personal holiday or special occasion gifts, like facial or bathing essentials

The pattern is now available in my store in Ravelry.

Enjoy the knitting :)

Dishcloth or Cat Mat?!

In order to take myself away from the cat coaster pattern for a bit, I started to knit dishcloth for the first time. It is pretty addictive, and totally satisfying my need to explore the perfect square lol. Already find 4 different ways to knit a square: miter, centre out, straight bottom up and bias.  Each one has its own merit and to choose which technique to use really depends on the stitch pattern.

The cotton yarn also made it a challenge. Being less stretchy and "compressible" (the problem magnified when trying to knit in rounds with a typical magic loop cast on, it is impossible to close the gap comparing to wool / acrylic yarn), adaptation is needed and reflected in my choice of stitches in the pattern.

The test pattern, My Square box, is inspired by my furball, Oscar, as he loved to sit on the finished project. And yes, only this one particular pattern, but not the others. He even wrapped his tail around to fit his whole body to the square confine of the dishcloth (cutie \o/), so my friend Cornwall suggested to call the dishcloth cat mat instead.

The pattern has a modern look to it and it is near to perfect two sided. I cant really make it so as there are ends to weave in and knots to tie making one side just a little bit different from the other.

Instead of alternating colours for the main body (which will definitely make it one sided), I opted for variegated yarn and solid colour border. Also this will minimized loose ends (I think it is important as each loose end / adding yarn represent a potential weak point in the fabric and with dishcloth being use daily under vigorous condition of pulling and what not, less loose ends the better) but still with enough colour variation to make thing pretty lol

I changed the pattern format a bit and included an End Note to put in all the little details about the pattern that I had accumulated through repeating it, so it is something like my knitting journal. Hope the pattern users will find it helpful

Thank you for participating in the test in advance :) and enjoy your knitting :D

The Rebellous One .... Black CAT or Black and White CAT

I don't have a black cat at home, but Moo Moo, the black and white one is close to it.  Definitely defying medical assumption and drink normal cow milk daily without ill effect :D

This second coaster pattern, Black Sheep (CAT) of the Family, is a technically easier  way to make the cat coasters for intermediate beginner.

The simple cast on make an easy start. One of my testers suggested an alternate crochet cast on which did well too for the pattern.  In fact, it "stabilized" the wavy edge a little bit better. So if you are a crocheter turning knitter, this cast on will be easy for you. Below on the left is the original knitted cast on and on the right is the less wavy crochet cast.

Also, the comment I gathered from last pattern, Rub My Tummy Please, was that the short rows were particularly bothersome as it was executed in such a short space of stitches, and yes, by the time you did a few turns, you lost your bearing.  That is why I suggested to place marker at the start of the rnd. And this time, I have written the curled tail slightly different to make away with any wraps or double stitch in short rows.  In a lot of cases, wraps are not totally essential.  Usually, it is that the pattern welcomed the gaps as part of it (same effect as k2tog, yo) or that the knitting is tight enough to hide the gaps. So if you try out my pattern and find a noticeable gap, switch to needles 1 to 2 sizes smaller and do it again). One of the testers also find a new way to make the curled tail too ... .I am not spoiling the surprise, so please check it out at the project page.

In order to make this pattern interesting, I added simple stripes and intarsia to the body of the cats.  There is no limitation to the patterns you can create and customized .... I made a few new one later on with spur of the moment intarsia pattern (although they are knitting from inside out, it still could be translated to pattern outside in if needed be).

For the face of the cat, I have lower down the difficulty level to knit front and back. Obviously there will be a purl bump noticeable on the RS but with all the eyes, nose and whiskers sewn on, the distraction should be enough to hide this. I also find out there is a way to do the kfb without a purl bump (I recognized it as a two rows L1R, but nobody really agreed with me :p) which you can try, but notice that it is still a directional leaning increase, so it will not be as perfect as a Lift One or Make One increase with direction in a symmetrical increase.  The simplest way to describe this modified kfb will be instead of knit into back loop in the 2nd step in executing kfb, just slip that loop purlwise ...continue knitting until the next row or round, and purl or knit the loop as needed.

The bind off of the face / head has made easier by doing a three needles bind off all the way which I think is an acceptable finish to the head.  The bind off ridge actually gives the face a simple rustic characteristic which will suit the décor of a cabin or cottage in the forest ..... big sabretooths prowling the indoor looking for treats and warm human laps to sleep on :D (Sorry, can't bear the idea my furballs are outside facing unknown danger lol)

The pattern is now available for purchase at Ravelry store.

Finally thanks to all the testers for their valuable comments and hard work :) Enjoy the knitting :D

Furballs and Butterflies :D

I knitted socks for a few years now.  First started with a very basic pattern with picking up stitches and short rows heel. It was not my favourite way of making socks. I preferred afterthought heel.  It is much easier in making the heel and in designing the general pattern as well. One of the drawbacks is the fitting around the heel area which takes a bit of getting use to.

As for Upward CAT, the heel area is still a concern for me. I have tailored the heel opening for a better fit and also a sturdier appearance with using the 1 x 1 ribbing to appeal as a gift. The infamous rolling edge of the stockinette stitch might taken some beginners knitters by surprise. My first prototype is without the ribbing on the sole section and now I have been wearing the socks for two days, I have no problem and once putting the socks on, the rolling edge seems to be tamed immediately (I did not wet or steam block the socks, oh well, I do "natural" blocking by wearing them lol).

I came up with this idea and pattern because the furballs at home is already planning for Christmas and would like to give their favourite auntie a pair of socks. The intarsia pattern is inspired by them, and featuring cat, heart and butterfly. I always like "3D knitting" (my interpretation: making bumps on the knitted surface for texture lol) and the butterfly came out better than I thought. In term of colour choice, I will suggest two contrast colours. I tried with variegated (cat / heart) and solid main colour and it did not show case the pattern that well. I think maybe solid colour for cat / heart and variegated for the main colour might work better.

 



All the specialty cast on / bind off, techniques and stitch are readily available on the internet when you google.  If you are new to button hole making, the gap mending I am talking about in the pattern might not make sense to you, but if you are a avid socker/ mitteners, you will be able to apply your experience in this case. Now that I have the pattern written out, it is time for testing.  Thank you in advance for assisting in the test :)

Stop Tickling me ..... and just Rub My Tummy Please

Finally, I have taken Rub My Tummy Please pattern to the market.  It is now on sale in my store in Ravlry.com.

I need to thanks all the testers that had participate in the pattern testing and for their valuable feedback :)

This pattern is the start of my journey in knitting the round and perfect disc. For experienced knitters, the most logical way is to knit from center out. It is easier for sizing as well, so one can stop when the size (diameter) is reached. Really no brain work in here. The drawback is that you will need to know some kind of special cast on, like Emily Osler's cast on, Judy's magic cast on. Those cast ons are not that difficult but practice does make everything perfect ;)

The challenge then presented was the untamed wavy edge. The stockinette stitch likes to curl up and in a disc shape, it becomes wavy instead of curling up at both edges as in a long rectangular scarf, for example. So I did a "mock cuff" ("real one" will involve double knitting lol) to stabilize the edge. It also gave me a chance to add in the little cutie paws too.

The head and tail are fun to make too.  Different facial expression and tail curling will certainly bring out the charm and resemblance to your feline friends at home.

And if you are an intermediate beginner or an advance knitter looking for challenge, there are two more patterns, Black Sheep (CAT) In The Family and Over CATchievers coming up that might be right down your alley. Similar cat coasters but different in construction :) Stay Tune

To find out where my inspiration for this pattern came from, visit my other page in this blog.

Happy Knitting :D

Over (C)A(T)chiever

Could your cat be an over achiever?  You ask how will I know.  The answer is simple. Did you recognize all the meows and their corresponding commands? I do. Firstly, I can differentiate the meows from my two cats. Secondly, when Oscar meows in distress, it means he needs human elevator service.  Not that he cannot find his way to ground floor, but that he is just too special and need his beloved human to climb the two step ladder and gently pick him up, tell him he is a silly cat, a kiss on the forehead and off he goes four paws on the floor. Thirdly, when I talk to him and he meow back, it means he is in total disagreement with me, and he always has the last meow. Nowadays, when he stared at me while I was knitting, it means he needs his food bowl filled. My other cat, Moo Moo, will meow loud when he needs a human goon to follow him around the place while he is patrolling for intruder. So the name of this pattern is inspired by my two cats and the difficulty of this pattern compared to the last two patterns, Rub My Tummy Please and Black Sheep (or is it Cat) of the Family.

This should be my last cat coaster pattern and to mark the end of my journey in studying the round and perfect knitted disc. I go all crazy to set out to "conquer" the pinwheel intarsia pattern. The challenge is to make a flat tummy (yes, it is for both human and coaster lol), or at least as flat as possible.

 

The small coaster will be able to hold mug / cup / glass about 3 - 3.5" in diameter; the big one can hold water bowl about 6 - 6.5" in diameter

This time I made it two ways to achieve the pinwheel pattern and both has its pros and cons.

Actually, I tried out with the Pinwheel Kitten when I developed the Rub My Tummy Please pattern. It did not go the way I wanted it, so I left it aside. I picked it up again when I had more time and here it is. Make sure you pull the body in all direction after it is done, pay more attention to the centre, to loosen up the stitches.  I am using a one direction / hand to change colour, but perhaps using two strands technique (that is, the Fair Isle technique) will be better in term of achieving a looser tension needed in this piece. I welcome a tester to try out both ways for me if anyone interested.

The Pinwheel Kitten will also need the knowledge of crochet, maybe intermediate beginner level, to do the cast on. It is not just simply magic circle cast on but need to switch colour yarns too.  So it will need someone to be quite comfortable with the cast on technique together with the know how to switch colour in crochet

The Quick Silver (Blue) Kitten is really quick to make, at least for the body, as soon as you get the hang of the pattern. So far, this is the pattern I like the most for simple cat coaster. It took me some time (counts in days please lol) to find a perfect solution for the ridge problem. If you have test knitted my other cat coasters, you will see how different it is :D

As for Happy Papa, he is a pinwheel as well but constructed differently to his kitten. There are many roads to Rome lol. I hope you can see, once you finish the project, how the kittens are related to their Papa :)

Happy Testing :)

Black Sheep (or is it CATS?) of the family

Everyone must have at least one in the family lol and if you are looking at sheep coasters, I am sorry to disappoint you. Although sheep are nice, CATS are nicer (I have the furball CEOs staring at me while writing this). I named them Black Sheep because they are constructed differently compared to the Rub My Tummy Please coaster, but they look nearly the same ... yes, if you look closer, you will see the difference.  It is not a bad thing though, we are all different after all, and Happy Mama likes her litter all the same.

This pattern took me about one week of experimentation. It is a bit of a challenge to handle the curly edge of a knitting a disc in stockinette stitch, but I think I made a good solution to the problem

This line of coaster is technically downgraded so more can enjoy knitting it. It is suitable for intermediate beginners which are now comfortable knitting in rows and ready to progress to knitting in rnd. No specialty cast on necessary, no make one increase stitches. There is a lot of pick up stitches practice but totally manageable.  And with that in mind, I only kept it at small coaster.  Don't expect me to pick up 104 sts soon after making Happy Mama :D

One important note to the technique of the coasters: for intarsia of Pink Lady Kitten, I recommend anchor every stitch to make the WS neat and tidy; otherwise, if using 2 or more floats, might need to sew on a piece of fabric, e.g. felt, to finish

I will bring it to test soon and hope it wont be a disappointment to my testers :D

Happy knitting!

How cool is your cat?!

Cool Cat is my latest knitted cat toys pattern inspired by the self entertainment writing between me and my friend, Cornwall. What could be cooler than my magical cat in the story, Oscar, laying on his back, putting on his sunglasses and sun tanning.

It is a seamless design with the tail sewn on. It is a good knitting work out for advance beginners to practice knitting in rounds (instead of the old boring scarf with 4 row pattern repeat :p) The cast on and bind off as well will be challenging but not to the point of mission impossible for advance beginner level; and since everything is in small scale, so it is much easier to handle compared to trying out in larger projects like hats or mittens.

This is my first pattern tested by volunteer testers :) and they were very helpful. Through the testing, I found that the most tricky and challenging part is the final bind off which involves transition from 3 needles bind off to Kitchener stitch. Most testers read the Round's instruction too fast and completed the work with 3 needles bind off from ear to ear. There is nothing wrong with it. I can see it is logical and easy to keep on doing the same bind off to the end, but the 3 needles bind off leaves a ridge / seam that could be improved by switching to Kitchener stitch. The transition from front to back will look totally seamless.

So I add a mini photo tutorial to assist the knitters to complete the bind off and learn a new trick :D All the resources on the other knitting techniques used in this pattern, they will be very easy to search on the internet.

As you are familiar with the pattern, you can use variegated yarns or intarsia to customize the look according to the intent recipient (above, right is my Moo Moo :D). I particularly enjoy posing the cat tail at the back as we all cat lovers know how expressive the cat tails are.

From the cat's prospective, Cool Cat has a big tummy to hold a lot of catnip for hours and hours of enjoyment.

The pattern is now available for sale at in my Ravelry store
Happy Knitting :)

Purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, I like tummy rub :)

My 4th knitting pattern has come to a brick wall. I was trying to fix it with mini photo tutorials, and smoke came out from my ears. In order to preserve my sanity, I went off for a detour and looked for knitting ideas from the web.

And here I was, came across the crochet cat butt coasters. They are so cute and those talented crafters had made so many different variations, It nearly made me want to pick up my crochet hook. Looking deeper, I find that there weren't any knitting version available, either free or paid. I am sure there are at least two good reasons knitting version does not exist. Firstly, crochet is so much faster than knitting, so this little coaster that could be done in 20 minutes will take up to 1.5 hrs in knitting. I am sure crafters looking for this kind of pattern would like a speedy one. Secondly, crochet makes a thicker and sturdier fabric which is more suitable for coaster. Keeping that in mind, I challenged myself in drafting up a knitting version.

After a few trials, finally knitted one up and showed it to the broad of directors of my company ( that will be my two furball CEOs ). They gave me a dirty look. I knew they wanted more respect and butt exposure is not acceptable. So off I went back to the drawing broad and made a Disney version :D No butt nor nipples exposure lol

In this final pattern, Rub My Tummy Please, Happy Mama is teaching her two little sleepy kittens on Human Control 101 - how to make human rub my tummy :D Just roll over and start purring, human will be mesmerized and rub the cute little cat's tummy by reflex :D

Rub My Tummy Please composed of 2 coasters for human (for Mommy and her significant other) and 1 coaster for cat's water bowl. Well, and for those others humans that dare to enter the house, they will hold their own drinks lol

One advantage of this knitted coaster compared to the crochet one is the ridge around the outside. If the cup is of the right size, the ridge will cling onto the cup, so anywhere the cup goes, the coaster will be there to do its job :D So it wont be that difficult to make size to fit coaster for your cups in the cupboard by altering the needle or yarn size.

As for the technical part of the pattern, I have kept the complication to a minimum and advance beginners should have no problem following it. Please keep in mind that this is not a tutorial pattern, meaning all techniques will not be demonstrated in words. One needs the basic to proceed. For example, the special treatment of the working yarn in turning in German short rows will not be explained but simply stated as sl1k^ and sl1p^. In this digital world, it is easier to research on the net for videos for techniques. I do not put in link for those videos etc. because those videos are not my production and I can not guarantee they will not be taken down, and you somehow got a blank link.

The pattern will be tested soon and hope to publish in the near future. I am incline to make this a half charitable pattern to help out cat / animals shelter, but need to work out the logistics and final details.

Happy Knitting