Rockin' robots!

After warming Lolo's toesies with his puppy bootees, the time had come for a little Julian warming so I got right to work last week concocting the 'perfect' slippers for this eccentric 3 year old of mine. 

And here they are.  The quintessential rocking robot slipper boots for the boot wearing, rock and roll obsessed, robot loving, red favouring Jubilee Bubilee of mine ;0)  And how I loved making these for him, the whole time anticipating how much he would love everything about them.  This is one project that brings together all his (current) favourite things and for all of those things they mean to him (and to me) they just might be my favourite thing I ever made for him.

You see, my little guy is totally obsessed with his bright orange winter boots (a steal from Land's End overstocks which I got in the middle of summer).  Completely and utterly obsessed.  So obsessed that despite the high temperatures of July and August, my little guy would sneak on those squall boots anytime I wasn't looking.  

When I  insisted he took them off, he would carefully placed them in his little blue cart and take them for walks around the neighbourhood, to the park, out with friends and of course to bed. So when I started thinking about the perfect indoor slippers for him, I knew they would have to be boots!   

They also had to be red, his new new favourite colour (it sure beats his previous favourite colours, brown and black!), but since all I scavenged from the stash by way of feltable wool was but 8 yards of red yarn I decided to go in a different direction and add some embroidery of his two other favouritest things: robots and guitars (a nod to his favourite thing to do with his dada: watch him play guitar hero with the tv robot character, the red guitar, on the truck stage preferably playing "I want to rock and roll all night" or "Slow Ride")!

I used Knitting at Knoon Design's Family of slippers pattern and modified it by working 1 row stripes in gray and cream Lopi (I used about 2/3 of each ball), working the cuff for 30 rows , adding an i-cord for stability, knitting an afterthought heel and adding some embriodery.  Oh and I painted on some morse code with puff paint on the soles to make them less slippery.

When he first saw his new slipper boots, the first words out of his mouth were:  "They're perfect!"

Indeed ;0)

Halloween Buddy Bags!

Trick or treat

Smell my feet

Give me something good to knit!

With halloween at our doorstep, I couldn't resist knitting up a couple of spooky Buddy Bags for my little Jujube and Lolo to trick-or-treat with.   I used my original Buddy Bag pattern to knit up

 the drawstring backpacks.  

I knit Lolo's to spec, but made Julian's a little larger by casting on an extra 20 stitches and knitting for 10 inches before working the eyelet row.  I also made his I-cord a little longer so that it would fit well (and hold more candy of course)!

I came up with three new spooky pocket/buddy variations.  First there's the witch in her cauldron with optional logs and flames!

Then there's the glow-in-the dark one-eyed goblin in a jack-o-lantern.  If you haven't seen this glow in the dark yarn yet, head off to Michael's, Mary Maxim or Zellers right away!  It's the coolest thing ever.  Nasty to knit with to be sure but it really does glow quite brightly.  Julian's been sleeping with a ball of it waiting patiently for me to turn it into something funner.  It's made by Bernat and is simply too cool for school!

And then, perhaps spookiest of all is the ghost in a tombstone.  Boo-ooo-oo!  It doesn't have a face yet but I plan on getting some of that glossy fabric puff paint to 'paint it on'!  If it works, it will completely revolutionize my approach to eyes on knitted toys.   I'll let you know how it works out ;0)

As a special holiday treat (and thank you) to all my patrons, I'll be including the pattern for all 3 halloween variations with my Buddy Bag pattern at least until the end of the month. That's all 7 variations (4 original + 3 halloween) for the price of 1!  Ravelry downloads going forward will also include all 7 variations.

Already bought the pattern?  No problem.  Check your e-mail, it's on it's way to you too ;0)  I am sending the pdf pattern file with the halloween buddies to everyone who bought the original Buddy Bag pattern.  Due to quotas from my e-mail provider though, I can't send them all at once so you might need to be a little patient.  If you haven't received the new pattern by Sunday night, send me an e-mail at anny {at} jujubeandlolo {dot} com and I'll hook you up.

Happy {early} Halloween from Jujube & Lolo!

A L'illo for Lolo...

I think I cast on for L'illo the very day it was released on knitty.  It was one of those projects that just was meant to be.  I had just the yarn in the exact right quantity and just the boy to wear it too!  And so it was, a little L'illo...

...for my little Lolo ;0)

The sweater is super cute in a modern vintage kind of way:  the woven stitch and construction makes it feel vintage, but the assymetric ribbed placket and collar is cool modern.  Love it!  

Though I have to admit that the actual knitting on this one was less than pleasant.  I knit it from RYC Cashcotton which is deliciously soft and shows great crisp stitch definition but it's utter lack of give makes it really hard on the hands and wrists.  

So much so that knitting this sweater gave me my very first taste of carpel tunnel pain - loss of grip and strength in my right hand, sharp shooting pains to the elbow, cold hands and numbness in my thumb, ring finger and pinky.  Scary!

Thankfully, now that it's done, the pain is gone.  It's one of the many things I was thankful for this Thanksgiving weekend.  Of course I was also thankful for my family, grandma's turkey, a delightful walk in the woods (above), my sister's ham and fiber...naturally!  

Happy Thansgiving to you and yours!  Oh, and if you're Canadian, don't forget to vote on Tuesday, eh?

A is for Apples...

...and for Abigail!  I had such fun knitting for Ceilli last week that I just couldn't resist knitting for the daughter of another one of Stephen's office buddies, Abigail, this week.  And that's how these cute little piggies charmed their way onto my needles ;0)

The pattern is Spilly Jane's Piggy mittens and the yarn is Knit Picks Shine Worsted.  I was worried about running out of yarn (I only had one ball of each shade) so knit the rolled cuffs in a lighter shade of pink which turned out to be a good thing because by the time I finished the second snout, there were just a few yards of the darker yarn left!  I used it to knit a striped I-cord to make sure these little piglets don't loose each other and by the time I was done, there was no yarn left, just cute little mittens.  Oh how I would have loved these when I was a wee one.  I hope Abby loves them too and that they keep her little hands nice and toasty in the cooler days ahead...

The days sure are getting shorter and cooler around these parts.  The tempertatures are a-dropping, the leaves are a-falling and the apples are ripe for the a-picking!  So we made the most of the season by taking the boys to a local orchard last weekend for an afternoon of ladder-climbing, crisp-apple eating, tractor-riding, farm-animal-petting and of course, just plain running amuck in an orchard.  And what fun it was.  

And then to top it all off, there was homemade apple and sugar pie!  A perfect end to a perfect weekend.  

Martha would have been proud ;0)

More soup!

I nestled myself on the sofa with a nice cup of green tea and the most decadent and buttery yarn I've ever felt last weekend to cast on for another Duck Soup, this one in the largest size for my {not so little anymore} Jubilee Bubilee.

The yarn is Frog Tree 100% merino wool and even though it is technically worsted weight, I got the required gauge of 4 sts per inch with it on US 9s. It's nice and drapey, but not holey. This stuff is surely the closest thing to butta I've ever knit with and I can't tell you how many times I had to put down the knitting to check the label because I was in total disbelief that 100% wool could feel this soft and cooshy. And it has great yardage too boot - I used just over 6 balls to knit the 4/5 year size (that's how much Classic Elite Countess I used for Lolo's 18 month size)!

I really like the sagey gray-green too, but couldn't think of any colours that would work well for the frog closures. I didn't want it to be too babyish but didn't want it to be too grown up or serious either. It suddenly came to me just as I was finishing the sleeves: Behr's Color Smart tool!  

It's this really nifty tool that generates colour ideas. I started by searching for a colour that most closely matched the yarn ('celery ice') and then asked the tool to find coordinating colours and it generated 8 different palettes. I ended up going for the 'cool details 1' combo (the last one in the screen shot above) because it happened to be most compatible with my stash and ended up with this...

Not bad, eh? I think I'm going to use that tool a lot more from now on. It completely took the guesswork out of the equation and gave me ideas I wouldn't have even thought of on my own. This one's definitely going into my knitting bookmark folder ;0) 

I ended up knitting the frog closures from stash worsted weight yarns and it worked out really well though I did have to knit the i-cords for the buttons a little longer to be able to knot and fold them with the thicker yarn and still end up with a 2-inch button frog. I ended up knitting 4 inch i-cords for the loops and 7.5 inch i-cord for the buttons.  

I'm thrilled with how it turned out in the end and would love to wrap myself up in it myself. Julian wouldn't have a problem with that, because even though he looks perfectly happy with it on in the photos (he was bribed with a chocolate race car ;0), he decided he can't wear it because it's "not his favourite colour"! Well thats a new one. Hopefully he'll change his mind again soon and make green his favourite colour just in time for cooler weather.  

Fingers crossed...

ps - I ended up making a few edits to the pattern after knitting this one to give the sleeves a bit more ease in the larger sizes (the baby sizes are not affected). I issued revised pattern to all buyers on September 22nd (it says 'v.3' on the cover). If you didn't get it or if you suspect it might have been deleted by your spam filter, send me a note at annypurls{at}hotmail{dot}com and I'll send it along.

Cooler weather and six balls of Katia Venus

The temperatures are beginning to drop around these parts and I am giddy with all of the woolen possibilities that fall is sure to bring along: apple-picking with the boys, hats and scarves and mittens {oh how I do love them mittens}, comfy cozy little sweaters, and lots of cuddling with my family.  You know, for warmth!  

So I was thrilled to see the mailman walk up the driveway with 6 balls of Katia Venus in a red and orange colourway and 3 balls of Elann Sierra Aran in a dark brown last week and cast on immediately for this slithering snake scarf for my Jujube (get Sarah Bradberry's free pattern here).

I only ended up using 2 and a half balls of the Venus and just over 1 ball of Sierra Aran to make it so I put all the leftovers to good use by rounding out the set with a matching hat.  Of course ;0)

I used this free pattern  from yarnsticks' blog, working the brim and earflaps in the Sierra Aran held double to get gauge and then alternating with the Katia Venus also held double for 2 row stripes all the way to the top where I finished it off with a little I-cord loop. 

And then, since there was still leftover yarn, I knit some target wave mittens from Norah Gaughan's Knitting Nature.  I knit the smallest size which is slightly big for my Julian, but he doesn't seem to mind at all.  Turns out he looooves the woolens!  

He's been wearing them lots and lots around the house with his big chunky firey orange winter boots that the mailman also happened to bring us this week.  Never mind fall, this kid just can't wait for snow!

And then it was Lolo's turn!  Would you believe that after all that, there was still enough leftover Venus to make Yarn Harlot's unoriginal hat for Lolo!  It was meant to be a hat for me, but it was not so flattering (it's not the hat...it's me!) so I tried it on Lolo just for kicks and it was the cutest thing ever!!!  

I made a few mods to toddlerify the pattern.  I unravelled the top down to the 2nd row 16, knit 2 together all the way around and then pulled the yarn through all the stitches to finish the top.  I then picked up stitches around the bottom edge and worked a garter stitch brim and earflaps just like Julian's hat making the earflaps slightly smaller by working them over 12 stitches instead of 14.  And to top it all off, I taught Julian how to make a pom pom to adorn the top.  He did the winding and I did the tying. 

When I finally ran out of the Venus, I pulled out the leftover Filatura Di Crosa Andina I had languishing in the stash and knit a simple garter scarf to match Lolo's new hat.  I held two strands of the Andina together to get a gauge of 3 sts per inch, cast on 125 stitchs, worked in garter stitch for 4 inches and cast off.  Voila, a sideways garter scarf sized just right for a baby or toddler ;0)

And then when it was all done and I was finally done with the photos, we took off our woolens and set up our picnic under the biggest tree we could find because it turns out there is still a little bit of summer left ;0)

Happy fall-is-coming to everyone!

A little postscript...

How lucky am I?  No really?  Many people pour their heart and soul into their passion and have no one to share it with, no one to shower them with ooh's and ahh's, and no one to do a happy dance with when it's all done.  

And here I am with a great supportive and helpful husband who doesn't mind that I spend his hard-earned money on yarn, who doesn't mind helping me solve tech issues when he comes home after a long day at the office, who can always be counted on to help me figure out knitting math, and who will stay up until 3 in the morning with me many nights in a row because it's the only time the house is still enough to get our website organised for the launch of a new pattern.

And then, as if that weren't enough love and support and kindness, when it's all done, when all the photos have been taken, when the pattern has been written and proofed a million times (or so it seems), when the website is done and the e-mail updates have been sent out, when it's all done, done...I have you ;0)

I really am one truly lucky knitter!  Thank you all for your kind words, your encouragement and your support.  You are making a dream come true for this knitter and for the two sweet-as-pie little guys who's education funds grow with every pattern sold {because that's where all the money goes...the best way I could think of to contribute to the family while I'm at home with the boys}.

I was relly sad to hear that the yarn I used for my Duck Soup was discontinued and have spent a lot of time this week trying to find a good sub and haven't found anything just so.  But here are some suggestions for you anyway.  If anyone has any other suggestions, please do share in the comments ;0)  

• Valley Yarns Berkshire (cooshy and lofty wool/alpaca blend, inexpensive and lots of colours including great baby pastels...I've actually used this one for this pattern and like it a lot but it does pill so you'll need to 'comb' your sweater every once in a while to keep it looking like new)
  
• The new Swish Bulky from KnitPicks (it is washable and comes in lots of colours)
  
• Cascade Greenland (machine wash and dry, soft merino, great cheery shades for babies and tots)
• Cascade Bollicine Baby Night (shrink resistant merino, classic baby pastels)
• Karabella Merino Superwash (super soft and washable and lots of great gender-neutral shades)
• Berrocco Peruvia (great heathered shades to mimic the look of the Countess but not many 'baby' colours)
• Karabella Aurora Bulky Melange (has the same multi construction as the Countess but the colour range is very limited)

Note that I haven't tried most of these and suggest them simply because they should give you the correct gauge of 16 sts to 4 inches, are suitable for a baby or child (not too scratchy), and come in colours I might use for a baby or tot myself.  All have also received at least 4 out of 5 stars from Ravelers.  A note on yardage, the Countess offered 100 yards per 50g and was used to determine the estimates for yarn requirements so keep this in mind when shopping for a substitute yarn.

Before I go, I should mention that I updated the Duck Soup pattern on September 8th and sent this revision to all those who had already purchased the pattern, either from my site or from Ravelry.  If you didn't get it or if it was caught by your spam filter, just send me an email at anny{at}jujubeandlolo{dot}com and I'll set you up.

Happy knitting!

Anyone for some tea?

There are two toy closets in my house: the one the kids know about right in the middle of our family room, and the one the boys have never seen.


That's where I keep all the wonderfully crafted wooden toys and such that I've been finding here and there for years. I snatch them when I find a deal and since they are not always age-appropriate...up in the upstairs closet they go just waiting for the rainy day when either of my little guys needs a little cheer me up or better yet a day that calls for a special reward.


When Julian was sick with his first "big boy" cold last winter (you know, the first one they are too old to just sleep through?), I climbed up on a chair in that special closet and found just the thing, a tiny little porcelain tea set. We wore our jammies and robes, stuffed tissues in our runny noses (oh so chic!), plugged in the humidifier and had a delightful tea party right there in his room and all the stuffies we could find were invited. It was the sweetest thing ever.


It's been almost a year already, but my heart can't help but swell just remembering that special moment. He was so happy to handle the tiny tea set and though he didn't say anything about it, I could tell by how careful he was that he knew it was a privilege to get to play with such a grown up toy that would otherwise have been reserved for when he was older.


It was so adorable to watch him pour tea and offer sugar and cream to all his delighted guests. He played tea party in the morning. He played tea party in the afternoon. And he just couldn't wait to take it all out again and play with daddy too when he got home from work.


It is one of my fondest memories of his toddlerhood and I hope I never forget it. When his cold was gone a few days later, we packed up the tea party and put it away again...for another time. And he was okay with that too. And I was so proud.


That's what I thought of this week as I knit all these wonderful tea sandwiches and hors d'oeuvres for my boys. So as the autumn chill draws near, we all get to look forward to special tea parties to help us chase away those colds...and this time, there'll be food for everyone!


Oh, and by the looks of this, I think Lolo might be looking forward to cold season too ;0)

Cheerio!

Ps - Should you feel the urge to knit some of the tea party treats for a little someone too, you can get the free pattern directy from Jean Greenhowe's site. It looks complicated, but every piece is but a strip of garter - no shaping whatsoever! It was a true pleasure to put this little spread together using US 8 needles and scraps of leftover Bernat Satin. I see Jean's knitted deserts in my future too someday, there's a free pattern for those too from that same site ;0)