Furballs love to 逗利是

Chinese New Year is the most important time for Chinese around the world.  Here is a few of my works for the festivity

Furballs Strike by Luck 鴻運當頭 is the last creation in the collection but the first to publish because I can see that it will take some time [ average six (6) hours for a hat and two (2) hours for a dishcloth ] to make this hat.  This hat is made from top down and using short row in the round to shape the crown.  This leave half the hat from top to bottom as a creative panel with no decrease line interruption, totally made in heaven for this design.  For more of this kind of crown construction designs, please take a look here

Furballs are so Fortunate 福 is a design I had done years back and never really make it into a k&p pattern.  I think now is the time.  It will look so lonely by itself, so there come the others to make it meaningful and complete

The second one is Billionaire Furballs 祿.  My first try was not good enough.  It was after the last two in this collection that I went back to redo it again.  It is in a more quick and loose style of calligraphy most notable the top quarter of the character.  It makes a good gift for graduation (as suggested by one of the knit testers) and promtion too

The third one is Long Live the Furballs 壽.  This one uses the simplified format of the character in order to fit into the size of the design.  It is good for occasion like birthday

Furballs have it ALL 全 rounds up the whole collection.  A simple character that embrace the completeness, totality and perfection

In 2024, year of the dragon, Furballs Land Safetly on all Fours 出入平安, is the main piece that came out of my "factory".  This is an aggressive piece with 4 characters in one k and p design.  Also ideal as house warming gift

Continue with more Chinese New Year design, here come Fuballs are so Fortunate 1 - 5 五福臨門. 

For more Chinese New Year designs, please visit Chinese Furballs in Ravelry

Fuballs and I wish you all a Happy Chinese Year :)  Meow Meow until next time

Hat Up for Santa Claws

 Hat up for Santa Claws is a collection of dishcloths that featured different kinds of hat

The name, of course, was dictated by the furball CEOs in the company, and nothing is more popular than Santa CLAWS who knows exactly what they like and want for holiday seasons.   The original idea is from Holiday Hat FurBELL (on Ravelry) published in August 2020

This collection officially started in December 2020 with the publication of Hat Up for Santa Claws.  It is a simple two (2) colour mosaic dishcloth.  It has the image of a brimmed Christmas hat with a pompom at the end.  This design has long floats (5+) on WS and nothing could not be amended with this technique (on Ravelry) I discovered and developed

I am always near to the festivity when I have ideas, and so testing and publishing for all will not meet the deadline for that year *sigh*

The second one is Hat Up for Santa Claws 2.  It is a two (2) colour mosaic coaster to go with dishcloth.  The hat is different featuring a shorter crown and with a more decorative pompom pompom

The third to the fifth one was designed last year (2021).  You can say that it was out of necessity (again) as I was trying to make some dishcloth as seasonal gifts for friends.  Thinking of something cute, decorative and usable, the hat shape came to my mind.  The image of Hat Up for Santa Claws 3 is inspired by the original Hat Up. The pompom is made with scrubby yarn, so washing and scrubbing can be both done in one go.  The pompom is sewn on normally.  If you can sew a button, you will have no problem with this

Hat Up for Santa Claws 4 came naturally after number 3 to subtlely hightlight their difference with a shorter  and rounder crown.  It has a beanie look and top with scrubby pompom.  It is constructed from pompom down to slip stitch rib brim in one pieces with no sewing required

Hat Up for Santa Claws 5 is a conical hat with a pompom on top.  It is decorative with cables (dont worry, no cable needle needed) and garter stitch brim makes a nice constrast with the knit stitch body.  Just like #4, it is made from pompom down in one piece.  No sewing necessary

These five (5) designs are not the end of this collection.  More to come and hopefully to add them in next year.  If you are interested in more hat and hat related pattern, check out our Egghead Furballs on Ravelry

This is now the year of 2023, and here is the first design in this collection thise year:  Hat Up for Santa Claws 6 向聖誕老人致敬 六/陸. This is a k&p dishcloth with adding decorative tendril stitches.  A total influence from Hat Up for Santa Claws 4

Second one in 2023 is Hat Up for Santa Claws 7 向聖誕老人致敬七/柒.  The hat is constructed in linen stitch in two colours and this make a transition in the hat band.  Decorative motif is added in for interest and also for use in real life as a scrubby pad

Happy knitting and moew meow till we meet again

Furballs' Once Upon a Nite collection

Furballs' Once Upon a Nite collection used the classic fir tree stitch pattern and its variations to draw up a snowing winter night using different types of crown

The first one is Once Upon a X'mas Nite for Furballs.  It is a top down hat using short row to shape the crown. The body is knitted in rounds and ended with a ribbed brim. It is totally seamless on both RS and WS.  Ideal as a chemo hat

The second one is Once Upon a Wintery Nite for Furballs.  It has changed to a bottom up constuction.  Started with knitting in rounds all the way up from ribbed brim to stitch pattern body and ended with a simple star crown

Third one is Once Upon an Icy Nite for Furballs.  It is again constructed from bottom up and knitted in rounds all the way up.  A minimal ribbed brim and started with the body in stitch pattern.  The use of tendril make it stand out from the collection.  The crown is a CDD four (4) section mitering to the center

The fourth one is Once Upon a Snowy Nite for Furballs.  It is back to basic in the stitch pattern design and make it unique using CDD 2 (two) section mitering and three (3) needle bind off to make the decorated seam on the RS of the crown.  Suitable as chemo hat

The last one is Once Upon a Windy Nite for Furballs 2.  It uses the basic stitch pattern and seamlessly continuing into the crown shaping.  The line of decrease merges with the stitch pattern.  

Hope you enjoy the variety we offer here.  Click here for more hat design patterns and here for more tree patterns

Top down short row hat in the round

Inpiration of this collection of hat comes from Furballs' Shorties and further expanded from the conecpt from the Holiday Egg collection I was designing at the time

At this time, we have Furballs' Apollo Hat, Furballs Pillar of the Pack and Once Upon a X'mas Nite for Furballs using this particular crown construction.  This unusal way of constructing the crown will have the column of  stitches straight up without converging to a point.  This affect the look of the pattern design that have it continues from body to crown

Furballs' Apollo Hat used simple stitch pattern to focus on the crown construction and to enjoy the knitting journey.  It is knitted in looser gauge from crown to brim to give it a mild flare out brim to block off the low sunset light in winter

Furballs' Pillar of the Pack is made with thicker rib and adding in lace to make the knitting more interesting.  The rib lace pattern make up a shape that look like the classical cornithian column (and yes I was watching too many archaeological documentary lol)

Once Upon a X'mas Nite for Furballs make use of basic fir tree stitch pattern and adding in picot stitch as snow effect for winter.  The crown is in stockinette stitch and make the crown more towards oval shape.  This make the fitting is slightly different.  Click here for more tree patterns and here for the Once Upon a Nite Collection

Furballs Strike by Luck 鴻運當頭 is the latest hat using top down short row in round crown construction to make the best use of hat fabric from top to bottom to have the k&p motif without the interruption of the increase line.  For more Chinese New Year stuff, please click here

Hope you will try out this unique type of crown construction.  This might just give you a surprise in fitting.  Click here to bring you to more of my knitting hat designs

MEOW MEOW until next time

Furballs and the twelve Holiday Trees

The Holiday Tree series is a collection of tree shaped dishcloth designed between 2019 and 2022

This three tiered fir tree shaped dishcloth is made from trunk up and made with the tier extension from the same row.  In this way, there will not be row staggering and stitch pattern starts right off from the first RS row.  When you get more into this, one will discover the importance of RS and WS of a cast on and that some cast ons' are more obvious then other.  It will give the knitters opportunity to experimenting on inventive way to do so beyond what is suggested in the pattern

It was first started with Holiday Tree in October.  Started in March 2019, it took three (3) months to get the first draft on needles.  The main focus was to feature a single stitch pattern in each tier.  Using broken rib for its vertical line , granite stitch for its horizontal line and diagonal stitches that is somewhere in between , the three (3) stitch patterns balance each other to form some interesting visual.  In this one, we put in a skinny star topper for decoration

 

The next creation is Holiday Tree in April.  This time we used a more delicate broken rib to make up the background fabric and main feature was the decorative surface crocheted ribbons.  Replacing surface crochet with chain stitch using yarn needle is possible.  A five (5) petal flower  topper  as final decoration

The third one in the series is Holiday Tree in July.   The tiers are now more interconnected with the stitch pattern pushing into the tier above.  It was a chance inspiration when I was commuting  spotting another passenger with a gift bag with a fir tree design.  Another five (5) petal flower topper is used in here

 

Remembrance Tree in November is the fourth one in 2019 / 2020.  This continued with interconnection between the tiers and the central part is left with a simple diamond shaped to allow adding in unique motif for personal remembrance.  A round wreath is used as a topper to go with the theme

 

Inspiration ran dry from then on and the tree theme was not picked up until 2021

 

Holiday Tree in February is the start of the creative juice.  Cables were highlighted running left and right to form diagonal lines, crossed in the center and making up the diamond in the top tier.  Bringing in the idea in 2019, a square wreath topper is used

 

Then came the Holiday Tree in March.  It was still under the influence from the 2019 creation.  The center hidden motif of a cat and a ring with pearls topper brought the design together

 

Holiday Tree in January reflects the season weather using a white / blue  self stripe yarn and added in a blue hexagon icicle topper to reinforce the coolness of the month

 

Moving backwards in time, there came Holiday Tree in December.  This is a total inspiration from Christmas tree for cats and so only the top tier has fir branches and the rest is bare branches.  A ribbon bow topper brings in the festivity of the month

 

Next one is Holiday Tree in May.  It is the time of spring with people start moving and building new homes.  So in this design, bird houses are the theme of the design.  The use of the whole three tiers as a canvas is now fully established.  A heart shaped topper is just the right touch

 

With the start of summer with heat and sun, the theme of  cool sea and the open sky is in Holiday Tree in June.  Sea Waves in the bottom tier, flying birds in the middle tier and open sky in the top tier.  The white cloud topper is just the right one on top of this tree

Nearly running out of idea for the trees, and finally drawn into the season of the month again, we have the Holiday Tree in September.  Leaves start to fall and change colour in the tree.  Acorn is used as the topper as we are competing with the busy squirrels to get ready for the coming winter.  Click here for more leaf pattern

The final tree of the year, Holiday Tree in August gets the inspiration of being the month of Cat.  Yes, I agree the design here is in another dimension, but who says changes are bad ?!  Cats, as ruler of the universe, are featured centrally here.  Two cats on the bottom tier and C.A.T written out.  In no uncertainty that Furballs are the superstar in here.  Adding a golden crown topper is not too much either lol  Click here for more cat pattern

 

Besides being usable dishcloths, I had tester suggesting to make a hanging garland / banner as decoration.  Totally workable with some light starching of the trees to make them maintaining their flatness when hanging down

I thoroughly enjoy designing the trees and toppers, and hope you like them too.  If still need more trees, click here to bring you to all my knitting tree creation

 

MEOW MEOW for now

 

 

Furballs' Flying Cranes

Furballs' Flying Cranes series is a collection of one dishcloth and two beanies.  The flying crane knit patterns come in one size in dishcloth and two sizes in beanies.  The cranes are arranged to fly in an upward right and upward left direction to create a sense of movement.  In time of COVID pandemic when a lot of us are homebounded for various reasons and a feeling of helplessness, I find that the the flying crames bring us the feeling of freedom with control.

This design is originated from Holiday Tree in June (as of today, it is still pending for test knit).  The idea is sea, sky and sunny weather.  From there, I drew my inspiration form an earlier dishcloth piece, My Sprouting Catnips, and modified the stitch pattern adding the head and the tail.  The more I looked at it, the more it reminded me of Asian drawing with cranes soaring in the sky with a pine tree background.  Of course, just to sidetrack a bit, from this pattern, I also made up the Phoenix sttich pattern.  This is really the "original" I thought to use on a beanie, but considering a lot of knitters (or perhaps maybe test knitters only, I don't know) are not keened at relief stitch, I tried out with a more conservative route and here came the cranes.

You can say Furballs' Flying Cranes dishcloth is like a large swatch for the beanie but it looks so good that I decided to test knit and published the pattern.  If you are organizing a Southeast Asian theme dinner party, the dishcloth could be a nice piece of decoration and gift for the attending guests.  I can also see it as a nice gift for the expected mother in the baby shower party.

The Furball's Flying Crane Beanie comes in size M (Medium) and size S (Small).  The beanies are knitted from bottom up and made up of three (3) repeated design panels for the body and they are different in crown construction  ,The design in the panels for the two sizes are slightly different for fitting and with the crown construction different, I decided to publish them as two separate patterns.

This knit pattern is a good alternative to colourwork knitting to draw up this large bird.  It is primarily a k and p pattern so when knitting a hat and choosing a size for fitting, it is better to knit up the hat on the loose side because the wings of the bird will not pop out as much when the piece is stretch out excessively.

Happy knitting and meow meow until we meet again :D