play-dough

My weekly images post was interrupted by 10 hours without power last night. We made do with some candles and a cozy fire, and didn't mind the storm too much. Besides, last week ended up being a bit short on photos. I just have one, plus a recipe for you. Have fun!

I expect this is an old recipe, but I've altered it slightly to make small batches, so I could make lots of colours. This makes a 1 cup batch. If you want to make scented dough, try essential oils like vanilla, lavender, or mint. The glitter is just for fun!

2/3 cup warm water
food colouring
1/4 cup salt
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp veg. oil
2-3 drops essential oil (optional)
1/2 tsp glitter (optional)

1. Put the water in a small pot, then add your food colouring. If you have liquid colouring, you will need at least 8 drops, depending on how vibrant you want the colour. With the gel food colouring you need less. I used about 1/8 to 1/4 tsp of gel colouring for mine.
2. Then add the rest of the ingredients in order, except glitter. Whisk until the mixture is smooth. Place on medium heat, and stir constantly with a spoon. The dough will start to congeal almost immediately. Continue stirring until the dough forms a ball and comes away from the sides of the pot.
3. Dump the dough out onto the counter, and let it cool for 5-10 minutes. Then knead until smooth - at this point you can add the glitter. Just pat the dough into a flat circle, sprinkle the glitter on top, then knead it into the dough.
4. Store the dough in an air-tight container. In the fridge it will keep for months.
5. Next, make more colours! I made 4 batches in under an hour, so it's easy to make lots in one nap-time.

images from my week

Goldenrod and rosehips

Sunset at the lakeshore

Lev is learning to put words together

(which make about as much sense as what he says sometimes)

Kyr's new quilt, made by my lovely girl friends

images from my week

(I'm hoping to make this a weekly feature, with at least one photo each week)

 

Kyr napping during a walk in the woods

 

Playing in the fountain at Jean-Drapeau

Little squeak

elephant in the works

I've been working on an idea for a new pattern for a few months now. Back in the Spring, I knit a custom toy for an acquaintance, and I loved the finished toy so much that I knew I had to publish the pattern. You can see this toy in the photo below: a Scraps Chaps style elephant! People had been asking me for a long time to design an elephant, but there are so many elephant patterns out there, it took me a while to come up with an idea for one that would be all Fuzzy Mitten style.

However, while I love the scrappy look of that elephant, I thought I would try something a little different for the actual pattern. My original inspiration for the Scraps Chaps was Noro yarn, with it's interesting texture and beautiful long colour changes. However, that yarn always seemed too pricey to use for a toy, so I came up with the alternative of using yarn scraps. But now there are several other companies with similar yarns at a more affordable price, specifically Knit Picks Chroma yarn.

So, I ordered myself a ball, in the Midwinter colourway, which seemed perfect for an elephant. Sneaking in bits of knitting time here and there (this is a real challenge with a toddler and baby in the house), I've finally managed to knit up all the pieces. They're just waiting for a larger chunk of time for me to put the toy together.

So now I need to decide if that is all the pattern will include, i.e. an elephant knit in your choice of worsted weight yarn. Or, if I want to include something else with the toy. Usually my patterns come with a clothing outfit, and since the Scraps Chaps don't fit my other clothing patterns, this would be a good choice. But I have too many ideas, and I'm just not sure what you'd like! I've drawn sketches for a raglan cardigan, a shawl-collar coat, a shrug, and a shawl. But I'm open to other suggestions.

On the other hand, I have a couple other ideas floating around. Maybe I should write it up with more sizes, with the original Scraps Chaps style being medium (about 12" tall), plus larger and smaller sizes knit with thicker and thinner yarns. Or perhaps I should include other animals in the pattern, like how the Scraps Chaps comes with instructions for a rabbit, dog, and lion.

Since this is all rather a bit complicated to put in a poll, I'll just let you leave a comment with the option you'd like best. Now, of course I won't be able to please everyone, since I'm just looking for one good idea to include with the elephant pattern. Perhaps the weight of opinion will point me to the most popular choice, or perhaps I'll come up with something all on my own (that's happened before - but I do value your input anyway). Anyway, I will let you know when I've decided, and if all goes well, the pattern should be ready by the end of the summer!

home again

We are slowly getting settled in at home after a long vacation to visit my family. There are so many things to take care of after a month away (hello giant weeds in my garden!) If you are waiting for a reply to an email, I will be getting to those this afternoon and tomorrow, baby-permitting.

Pookies on Knit Picks

I'm a little late posting about this here, but if you haven't heard, the Pookies pattern is now available through Knit Picks. Overall, it's the same as the version I released on Ravelry, with just some added instructions for knitters who may not be familiar with my patterns. Most of the extra tips etc. can be found here through my hints and tutorials.

Working with the Knit Picks Independent Designer Program was a great experience, and I would love to work on more patterns with them! However, at the moment my life is full of feeding a chubby baby, keeping up with a busy toddler, tending a growing garden, planning a long vacation to my family in BC, and many other things. Sadly, knitting has fallen far down on my list of priorities. However, we should be back here more regularly at the end of the summer, when I hope to share all these fun experiences with you. And, who know, maybe even a cute toy or two!

no time for email

I totally overestimated the time I might have to answer my email these days! New babies do sleep a lot, so I thought I would have the chance to send those pattern updates, but I also have a 2-year old! Anyway, I've replied to all your emails this morning, so check your inbox for the new patterns if you requested an update (if you don't know what I'm talking about, check my previous post). Mr. Mitten was also kind enough to answer most of my Ravelry messages for me, since I never get time to look at those (hint, if you need to ask me something, email is much faster than Ravelry - it's such a time-suck to go on there, I try to avoid it).

I am getting a little knitting done these days. I got 75% of a vest knit for Lev, from this pattern. Only to decide in the end that my gauge was doing weird things, and it would be way too warm for him to wear much. So it will be frogged, and knit again in plain stockinette (the vest does have a nice shape, and the instructions will work even without the slip-stitch pattern and stripes). I also started a Big Teddy, since that pattern desperately needs to be updated. I decided to add a pinafore dress to the pattern, so you can make a girly bear too (it's simply a skirt attached to the overall bib and straps, so a super-simple change to the original).

And here's a video of our little family enjoying some time together!

2011-04-21: Flying and vocalizing from Kay Ryabitsev on Vimeo.