Books: March 2008 Archives
I have to admit, I'm really not the kind of person who knits for her pets. I love sharing my house with my cats and can't imagine a world without fur people in it, but they can be a little destructive when it comes to their possessions. My Beezle, for instance, likes to dunk all his toys in his water dish for no reason that I've ever been able to figure out, other than the possibility that he is part raccoon.
However, with the arrival of Ms. Z, I've been feeling a little guilty about my furry boys because they really get a lot less attention when she is around. Not to mention the fact that they don't get the respect they used to. They get shooed off of her play mats and they get yelled at when they run off with one of her toys. There's no room for them on the couch in the home theatre when she is nursing and we get particularly annoyed with them when they decide they want to take a nap on her changing table. And, to make matters even worse, now she is mobile and she's very interested in introducing herself to the kitties by grabbing large hunks of fur or a tail. It's tough to be a cat in our house right now.
So when Donna Druchunas gave me the chance to be a part of her blog book tour for Kitty Knits
, I thought this would be the perfect way to share a little lovin' with my feline companions.
First of all, let me say that whether you are a cat or a person, this book is a lot of fun. There are 20 projects in this book. Roughly a third of them are meant to be made for your cat, but the remaining projects are divided roughly equally for people and for your home. The projects for people include a two color chullo (totally on my list for someone for Christmas next year), a Scandinavian style two color sweater and a lovely lace scarf. One thing that really stood out to me about these projects was that with the possible exception of the furry slippers, all of them managed to avoid the excessively cutesy look that is common with knit gear that is inspired by pets. The same is true of the "house wares" part of the book. The felted applique pillow and felted cat doorstop would be fun items in many homes. And if you wanted to try out a new technique, this book has a little bit of everything. From felting, to intarsia, to two-color stranded knitting, to embroidery to lace to shadow knitting, this book has it covered. There's a lot of punch packed into this 80 page book.
After seeing the book, I desperately wanted to cast on for the chullo (the hat on the right side in the cover picture above), but I figured that neither of my cats would appreciate that as a gift, even if I could find the time, so I opted for something a bit more simple -- felted mice. It was a hard decision, because while Donna had some traditional cat gifts like cat beds and murine cat toys, she also had some other clever options -- a felted intarsia "placemat" for cat bowls and the like (which I think could easily be adapted for a cute set of human use placemats as well)
I managed to get both these little guys knit up in less than the two hours it took us to travel from Champaign to Chicago. Simple knitting but very fun results and probably the best use of a bobble I've encountered. In fact, if you didn't want to felt these little guys, you could easily knit them on smaller needles and stuff them to get a nice result. These mice are knit out of some remnants of Cascade220 from some previous felting projects. Given the amount that I used for one mouse, I thing you could make yourself several families of these little guys from one skein. If I had had more time, I might have made striped mice or mice with different colored ears for a little extra entertainment value.
Because they are toys it doesn't matter at all what size they felt to. I just put them in for one full cycle in the wash and let them go through a full normal wash cycle with hot wash and cold rinse. When I took them out after the spin they were almost completely dry. All I had to do was stuff them. Aren't the ears fabulous? I decided against the embroidery, but the pattern does call for embroidered eyes and any other details. I think the shaping is good enough that even without the embroidery, it is clear what they are.
My Beezle wasn't quite sure what to make of them. But maybe that was because I liked them so much I woke him up from his nap to take his picture with them. No doubt I will find one in his water dish sometime soon...
Mercutio had a far more possessive reaction to them. He snuggled right up to the blue one. Ms. Z hasn't been able to find them yet, but I suspect these little guys would also make fabulous toys for little people as well as furry friends -- they are soft, squishy and noses, ears and tails can certainly stand up to a little chewing and they are small enough to hold in little hands.
The cats and I give Donna's book two thumbs and four paws up. It's definitely a fun book with a lot of interesting ideas -- many of which you'll easily be able to take in your own directions. Which is one of the things I really love about Donna's books in general. Her patterns are great starting off points for experimenting with your own ideas in texture, color, shaping and new techniques.
In the interest of full disclosure, I was given a copy of the book for free to evaluate so I could participate in the blog tour.
However, with the arrival of Ms. Z, I've been feeling a little guilty about my furry boys because they really get a lot less attention when she is around. Not to mention the fact that they don't get the respect they used to. They get shooed off of her play mats and they get yelled at when they run off with one of her toys. There's no room for them on the couch in the home theatre when she is nursing and we get particularly annoyed with them when they decide they want to take a nap on her changing table. And, to make matters even worse, now she is mobile and she's very interested in introducing herself to the kitties by grabbing large hunks of fur or a tail. It's tough to be a cat in our house right now.
So when Donna Druchunas gave me the chance to be a part of her blog book tour for Kitty Knits
, I thought this would be the perfect way to share a little lovin' with my feline companions. First of all, let me say that whether you are a cat or a person, this book is a lot of fun. There are 20 projects in this book. Roughly a third of them are meant to be made for your cat, but the remaining projects are divided roughly equally for people and for your home. The projects for people include a two color chullo (totally on my list for someone for Christmas next year), a Scandinavian style two color sweater and a lovely lace scarf. One thing that really stood out to me about these projects was that with the possible exception of the furry slippers, all of them managed to avoid the excessively cutesy look that is common with knit gear that is inspired by pets. The same is true of the "house wares" part of the book. The felted applique pillow and felted cat doorstop would be fun items in many homes. And if you wanted to try out a new technique, this book has a little bit of everything. From felting, to intarsia, to two-color stranded knitting, to embroidery to lace to shadow knitting, this book has it covered. There's a lot of punch packed into this 80 page book.
After seeing the book, I desperately wanted to cast on for the chullo (the hat on the right side in the cover picture above), but I figured that neither of my cats would appreciate that as a gift, even if I could find the time, so I opted for something a bit more simple -- felted mice. It was a hard decision, because while Donna had some traditional cat gifts like cat beds and murine cat toys, she also had some other clever options -- a felted intarsia "placemat" for cat bowls and the like (which I think could easily be adapted for a cute set of human use placemats as well)
I managed to get both these little guys knit up in less than the two hours it took us to travel from Champaign to Chicago. Simple knitting but very fun results and probably the best use of a bobble I've encountered. In fact, if you didn't want to felt these little guys, you could easily knit them on smaller needles and stuff them to get a nice result. These mice are knit out of some remnants of Cascade220 from some previous felting projects. Given the amount that I used for one mouse, I thing you could make yourself several families of these little guys from one skein. If I had had more time, I might have made striped mice or mice with different colored ears for a little extra entertainment value.Because they are toys it doesn't matter at all what size they felt to. I just put them in for one full cycle in the wash and let them go through a full normal wash cycle with hot wash and cold rinse. When I took them out after the spin they were almost completely dry. All I had to do was stuff them. Aren't the ears fabulous? I decided against the embroidery, but the pattern does call for embroidered eyes and any other details. I think the shaping is good enough that even without the embroidery, it is clear what they are.My Beezle wasn't quite sure what to make of them. But maybe that was because I liked them so much I woke him up from his nap to take his picture with them. No doubt I will find one in his water dish sometime soon...Mercutio had a far more possessive reaction to them. He snuggled right up to the blue one. Ms. Z hasn't been able to find them yet, but I suspect these little guys would also make fabulous toys for little people as well as furry friends -- they are soft, squishy and noses, ears and tails can certainly stand up to a little chewing and they are small enough to hold in little hands.The cats and I give Donna's book two thumbs and four paws up. It's definitely a fun book with a lot of interesting ideas -- many of which you'll easily be able to take in your own directions. Which is one of the things I really love about Donna's books in general. Her patterns are great starting off points for experimenting with your own ideas in texture, color, shaping and new techniques.
In the interest of full disclosure, I was given a copy of the book for free to evaluate so I could participate in the blog tour.
