Dragon's Orchid Garden

Knitting a ball opens up so many creative possibilities.  It's easier than it looks.  I found this simple pattern, called ' Oh Balls !' on Ravelry  (must be a member) and quickly knit up two of them as cat toys.  They take a tiny bit of worsted weight yarn (I used Lion Brand Wool Ease) and 4 double pointed needles.     I used bits of batting to fill the balls halfway, then poured some catnip in them, then more batting.  In the smaller blue ball, I put a bell.  The larger ball, at about 2.5 inches diameter, was knitted on size 8 bamboo needles and the smaller one, a little less than 2 inches diameter, on size 6 aluminum needles.  I like the bamboo needles better as they're grabbier and will not drop out of the stitches.   Using double pointed needles can be confusing at first.  I suggest searching out YouTube videos and watch how it's done.  It's so worth learning this method!  You can now knit teeny tiny tubes! Now tha...

I didn't finish it in time to bring it to Kayla last Saturday night.  I blame work.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  As a relatively newby knitter (I learned when I was about 10 but stopped knitting for decades before finding a passion for it about 2 years ago), I learned a few lessons from this hat pattern.  I am happy to share them. I got this one right.  Knit a gauge swatch.  I knitted a fairly big swatch with the recommended needles in the diamond pattern.   M1 (make 1) stitches can make holes if you don't do them correctly.  I started the M1 row and realized they weren't invisible new stitches as advertised.  What was I doing wrong?  I followed directions I found on a YouTube video, but I got little holes.  I reread the directions in the pattern which state: "insert LH needle under horizontal strand between st just worked and next st, from the front to the back, knit through the back loop."  Examining my method...

It has been a dreary damp day.  Perfect for knitting, since I have the day off.  I'm working Saturday and Sunday, so won't have much time for knitting this weekend.  This is a hat I promised to make for Kayla, my best friend Jimi's granddaughter. Kayla picked this pattern out of 100's of them on Ravelry .  It's called Kumara Diamond Cap by Classic Elite Yarns .  I really, really like it.  It is the first time I've knitted a hat in the round.  It's ridiculously easy, mostly knit stitches with pearl pumps delineating a diamond pattern.  I'm using Lion Brand Wool-Ease in black.  Progress pics... From knitting From knitting I hope to be finished by Saturday night, when we're due to go to Jimi & Leon's for dinner.  I've learned a lot in the process today.  I hope it fits (gauge swatch, check)!

Last year I knitted a Mouse Mat for Cat from the book Pet Heaven: the Animal Accessory Bible by Joanna Osborne and Sally Muir.  It was a fun quick knit with chunky yarn.  I used Lion Brand Thick and Quick, which was a pleasure to work with.  I gave the mouse mat to my dear Mother-in-law, who has 20 or so cats.  The only thing I changed about the book's pattern was to make 'x's for eyes, instead of using buttons. It was so much fun, I decided to make one for my cats.  I needed it to be bigger to fit  extra large Sasha.  I also wanted to make it look more like a rat.  I started off with the tail, casting on 2 stitches and knitting until it was about 4 inches long, then increased in one or two stitch increments until it was 16 inches.  I didn't keep notes, so I can't tell you exactly how many rows, but this pattern is so easy you can just eyeball it and knit until it looks right to you.  I made the body a bit longer, maybe by 12 row...