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So easy to knit, so much fun for the felines!!

Knit from leftover wool, cotton and alpaca, these mice are filled with some fiberfill and catnip. The tail is securely braided, the eyes and whiskers are knotted firmly so that nothing can come off and get swallowed. Give this to your cat and in about 5 minutes the whole thing looks like something the dog barfed up, with a tail…. but the play factor stays the same for the cats, even if it looks yucky to us

Want to make your own? Follow the fabulous pattern of Wendy D. Johnson.

for warmer weather, I finally finished my own Northman Mittens!

The inside lining is knit from grey baby llama, soooo soft and warm!

The hand dyed yarn was so much fun to knit and did a playful striping now and then.

Pattern: Northman Mittens by David Schulz
Yarn outside: CrazyMonkeyCreations Bad Monkey in color Sunshine Day
Yarn outside: Classic Elite Inca Alpaca in dark grey
Yarn inside: Elsebeth Lavold Baby Llama in slate
Needles: 3mm

You need balls

I am trying to figure out a way to make a nice light ball that I can use for TaiChi practice. Some 8 inches or so in diameter, a bit bouncy perhaps and organic sortof. Getting closer.
My first was the thread ball on the right. What a fun mess to do this (over a balloon) but it is overall too heavy and stiff. Great to look at though! Next I felted a ball from pure wool roving (center). This one will still be decorated with needle felting if I can do that. For a ball in the size that I like this would get way too heavy, so its a no go. Nice idea though. Next up is the left most one, a knit ball which was felted and stuffed with fiberfill. Getting closer, it has a nice feel and weight to it and the perfect size.
I have some more patterns and other ideas, so there may be more balls here in the future.

The pattern for the swirl ball can be found here.

Balls are totally addicting, I want to make many

I think I’ve got the right gauge now for mittens for myself. You see, the yellow/green ones were not originally thought for my huge-paddled son….
Size 3 needles and SLIGHTLY thinner yarn works!

The pattern again is the Northman Mittens . by David Schulz. This time I used the opposite colorway with a light background and dark pattern, there are charts for both! The pink/yellow/orange yarn is a BadMonkey by Crazy Monkey Creations and the dark grey is Classic Elite Yarns Inca Alpaca. Very warm already!!
Remember these will get another layer inside from Llama yarn, you can appreciate how warm they already are if you check the inside:

That’s already practically triple yarn layers

They are so pretty and I love the funky striping that the yarn did:

and the colorful thumb:

and the wonderful pattern continuation on the thumb from the inside hand, ahhhhhh LOL

This one isn’t washed or blocked yet, so it will loose a lot of its uneven appearance and bumpiness after that

The temperatures are going down again. After a few cosy afternoon knits OUTSIDE, by tuesday the high temperature is going to be 4F with snow or something like that. What a mom to do?
Make sure your chicks are warm

Joining the mittens is Charlene Schurch’s Danish Earflap Cap:

I shortened the pattern a bit and left out the second star row, made the little blocks instead. Seems to me this came out large enough for the baby:

The Northman Mittens that is:

Dang these are WARM! The inside is Llama yarn, very cozy and fluffy and soft.

I did not measure for the inside as suggested in the pattern (to wrap inside out over the outside) because that would definitely make the insides too large as one can see in numerous complaints on ravelry. I just measured the outside and kept the insides a tiny bit smaller. Fits very well. They have been washed and are drying now, did keep their size and shape

Not what you thought? hehe….
This is his shell anyway, a lightweight of 56 grams, still will get an inner lining. That means I’ll have to knit three more mittens altogether, ugh…
I have not decided yet what yarn I will take for the inside, something alpacaish perhaps for some amazing double layer warmth?

The outside uses STASHyarn that I found. Some medium green Cascade 220 that I have no recollection how it got into my stash and why. The other one is a hand dyed from the fabulous Christina of Crazy Monkey Creations in the colorway Summer Day:

I know why this was in my stash: cause I liked it

The pattern for these fabulous man-mittens is from David Schulz, called Northman Mittens (ravelry download).