A Fowl Valentine

13 Monday Feb 2012

Posted by in Get Knitting, Upcycled Craft

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This Valentine’s day, P is getting a pizza box from me. No pizza inside. Just the box. Modified a little. Just a little. Just enough to resemble a birdhouse. Oh well! Go ahead. Have a look at my upcycled pizza box birdhouse!

I’ve never been much of a Valentine’s Day person but when P asked me if I was doing any V-Day related craft, I definitely had to give it a thought. After all, when a man brings up the V word, a woman’s gotta listen ;) Since P has been thinking of making a birdhouse for a while now, I thought it’d be a good idea to come up with something that would give him an impetus to go ahead and do it. So when I came upon an empty pizza box and an old issue of Elle magazine, I knew what to do :D After throwing in a bit of cellophane tape and cargo tape (to make it water resistant) and some white glue into the mix, the result was this upcycled pizza box birdhouse gift box.

Now, a birdhouse needs some birds, don’t you think? So here’s what I did. I knitted two cute chicks and an egg shell (an Alan Dart pattern) and put them in the birdhouse.

And since I figured a Valentine’s Day craft would not be complete without some hearts (pattern here), I made those too :D

Since the birdhouse’s actual function is to serve as a gift box, I put a bar of his favorite chocolate inside along with the birds and the hearts :)

I think this will make someone’s Valentine’s Day very happy :D

WTF?

05 Sunday Feb 2012

Posted by in Get Knitting

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When mom knits a doll, it looks like this >> 17” tall soccer star, complete with a black and white jersey, striped shorts and Converse boots. Adorable, isn’t he?

And when I knit a doll, somehow it turns out like this>> 5” of sheer ugliness!

What does it say about your knitting skills when the backside of your doll looks way cuter than its face? :(

Hooked!

02 Thursday Feb 2012

Posted by in Crochet

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Lately, I have turned into Captain Hook. If you bump into me, you’ll see the hook that’s now become an extension of my right hand. Say hello to my crochet hook :D

So yeah, I’m learning to crochet.  Thanks to the tutorials available on youtube, so far I’ve advanced from being a crochet virgin to being familiar with over half a dozen crochet stitches. Yay! And those few stitches were all I needed to design for myself this hands-free wallet holder with ribbon and flower details :)

Now whenever I need to make a quick to run to the supermarket for groceries, I can pop my wallet in this hands-free wallet holder, leave the handbag behind and not worry about having to adjust its straps on my shoulder every 5 minutes, and instead concentrate 100% on not losing my grocery bags :D And if I want to turn this wallet holder into a clutch, all I need to do is tuck the strap inside. Clever, aren’t I? <<I don’t know why but right now I feel like an evil genius :P >>

There’s no way I’d learn how to crochet and not try and make some crochet flowers, no matter how fugly they turn out! And as much as I love Frank Miller, I could not resist adorning the Spartan king Leonidas’ rusty old battle ravaged helmet with them ;)

That’s all for now, folks. See you soon :)

Handknit Superheroes

04 Wednesday Jan 2012

Posted by in Blah-blahs

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I was pretty sure positive I wanted my first post of the spanking new 2012 to be a craft related one—one that I had painstakingly made myself and one which I was proud of—and not a post that would automatically qualify for the blah-blah category. But when I stumbled upon an old magazine article on Handknit Heroes it was not that hard to change my mind :D

Handknit Heroes is (from what I’ve read) a comic book series for knitters(!) and centers around the adventures of a bunch of teenage superheroes with some serious knitting skills. Corny? Yup. Would I buy it if I came across it in stores? Hell yeah! :D After all, it combines two of the things I really like, comic books and knitting. I wouldn’t mind checking out at least the first issue and then decide if I’d want to continue buying it. The only problem is Kathmandu doesn’t have any comic book stores. Besides, I’m too much of a cheapskate to pay $30 (NRs 2555.70) for four paperback issues (apparently, you need to order all four issues together!) and probably another 30 plus bucks in shipping charges/VAT/customs/and-what-not taxes. That, sir/madam, would hike your grand total to over NRs 5100! And as you must have already figured out by now, I won’t be visiting the Harilo office anytime soon on a comic book related business ;)

In other ‘superheroes in handknit gear’ news, Mark Newport, a US-based artist, has come up with an idea that will solve a persistent problem all spandex-clad superheroes face during winter—hypothermia! Newport’s life-size superhero jumpers—all hand-knit—has the potential to save our high flying superheroes from frostbite because sometimes wearing a brief over your pants is just not enough.

So if you are a superhero shivering in your spandex underoos, you know who to contact now ;)

And the Award Goes To…

27 Tuesday Dec 2011

Posted by in Blah-blahs

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Today, I noticed quite a bit of online traffic coming this blog’s way from here. So, curiosity piqued, I headed over to the source to find out exactly what was happening. What I found out left me pleasantly surprised—I have been presented the Liebster Blog Award by fellow blogger Kanchan a.k.a. Kancha Bhandari ;)

Thank you, Kanchen. I’m honored :)

Here are the rules that come with this award:

  1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
  2. Reveal your top five picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
  3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
  4. Hope that the people you’ve sent the award to forward it to their five favorite bloggers and keep it going!

Before I reveal my top five picks, let me admit here that I googled what the Liebster Blog Award is all about. Not much information available except that Liebster is German for dearest, beloved or favorite and the award is given to blogs with less than 200 followers but deserve more attention—for the record, I have a grand total of six followers :D The idea behind this award is to create new connections and bring more attention to these blogs.

And now the moment we all had been waiting for… drum rolls please! Here are my Top 5 Picks for the Liebster Blog Award.

With Love, From KTM: My Top 5 reasons for picking her blog (in no particular order):

  1. For picking my blog ;)
  2. For her sketches…
  3. … and her hand drawn comic strips (wish she’d post more of these)
  4. For her vintage clothing photography series
  5. And for maintaining an overall awesome blog :D

Images and Words: This blogger does not blog much but when he does, he leaves you wishing he’d blog more often.

As I Stood and Watched: Because I like what he finds through his viewfinder.

Guffadi: Not that this blogger needs more attention than what he already enjoys, but because I find his politically incorrect posts on the state of affairs in Nepal more sensible than the dribble printed by most of our local media.

Woman and a Quarter: She already has 290 readers following her blog. But a few more followers wouldn’t hurt, would it? Go read her blog. She’s good!

We wish you a Merry Christmas

22 Thursday Dec 2011

Posted by in Blah-blahs, Get Knitting

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We decorated our tree the other day. Apart from the ornaments we’d bought last year, the other ornaments on the tree are the ones I knitted myself. We wanted not to give in to the Christmas time consumerism—well, at least not 100%—and keep our carbon footprint low. They may not be as cute and shiny as the ones you find at the supermarket but they sure are very light on the conscience (and on the wallet as well) :)

Crappy photos, I know. Sorry! :|

And under the tree we placed the gift boxes :)

Remember Barry, the knitted mouse, from my last post? Well, he’s made two new friends who are currently hanging out with him on our DIY wreaths. 

I’ve never managed to knit a bird. Every time I try and knit one, something or the other goes wrong. I tried again this time and guess what—it turned out crappy again. But hey, what the what! Here goes nothing.

And here’s another wreath made of cardboard boxes, ribbons and knitted roses. Definitely not my brightest moment craft-wise but it is light enough to be hung from our dining room arch doorway and won’t hospitalize anyone in case it slips off its hanger and lands on someone’s head :D

I’d promised earlier I’d continue with my Barry state of mind and knit more mice (with wings, no less). Well, here they are—hanging from the kitchen arch doorway!

No Christmas is complete without stockings. So I decided I’d not only make the stockings (even though I suck at sewing!) but also knit up some stocking stuffers. And TADA! Here they are!

I hope you had as much fun going through the photos as P and I had while decorating our home. Have a Merry Christmas!

Hello. My name is Barry.

08 Thursday Dec 2011

Posted by in Get Knitting

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Don’t ask me why but lately I have developed some sort of a mouse fixation. No, not the one that comes with a desktop computer but the kind that sneaks into your house and eats your cheese. It all started a few weeks ago when I dug out Dinner for Schmucks from our DVD stash and popped it in the DVD player. Remember Barry (Steve Carell’s character in the movie) who is obsessed with constructing mouse dioramas? You don’t? Well, this Dinner for Schmucks Featurette might just help you refresh your memory.

Well, my point is, I fear I’m turning into Barry! Since watching that movie, all I can think about is making cute little mice ornaments for Christmas—mouse angel, mouse reindeer (go figure!), mouse Santa Claus. I even considered making a Nativity diorama consisting of Baby Jesus mouse, Mary mouse, Joseph mouse, shepherd mice— you get the drift—but gave up on the idea because that would just take way too much time. So I compromised and made this instead. Meet Mister Barry.

Mister Barry holding a cupcake and sitting quite Zen-like on a stack of mini Christmas wreaths

Mister Barry meditating next to a mini Christmas tree

Mister Barry surrounded by Christmas Trees. By the way, these Christmas trees are super easy to make… (see link to pattern below)

… and so is this tiny wreath (see link to pattern below)

Mister Barry has long dangling arms and legs which freaks out P quite a bit. That’s why I’m planning on knitting a few more ‘Barry’s to wish him a Micey Christmas {insert evil grin here}. I’m currently working on another project that involves mice and wings (told you, I’m fixated). If they turn out well, you’ll see them here soon :)

Pattern for the wreath here. Pattern for little Christmas tree here.

It’s all about the feet

24 Thursday Nov 2011

Posted by in Get Knitting

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I remember a story my aunt told me when I was a kid. The story was about why peacocks screech the way they do. Once there was a peacock that knew the effect its blue-green iridescent color had on its beholders. And the bird was extremely proud of its plumage feathers that had multiple ‘eyes’ in it. In fact, so proud was the peacock of its beauty, it simply couldn’t resist fanning out its tail feathers at the slightest of opportunities.

Tired of the peacock’s ‘look at me’ attitude, other birds and animals in the forest decided it was time the haughty bird was put in its place. So can you guess how they did that? They asked the peacock to take a look at its own feet. When the proud bird lowered its gaze and caught a sight of its unsightly feet, it screeched in horror and ran away from the spot to hide his face in shame. That is why a peacock screeches every time it catches a glimpse of its feet. Or at least that’s what my aunt told me :D

Every time I look at an artificial Christmas tree, I remember the peacock’s story—overdone top, ugly bottom.

We have a five feet tall, nice, bushy (for an artificial tree) Christmas tree at home that looks exactly like the one in the pic above. Sadly, it also suffers from the ‘peacock feet syndrome’ just like any other artificial Christmas tree. That’s why I’ve knitted this tree skirt for our Christmas tree.

Which also happens to be adorned with painstakingly made Holly berries and leaves.

A pretty solution to a hideous problem. No more ugly feet! :D

Cloche de Pride

21 Monday Nov 2011

Posted by in Get Knitting

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Important announcement! In Round 2 of the battle between Monster Needles (a.k.a. double pointed needles) and Twisted Fibers, yours truly has won the match 1—0 :D

Ladies and gentlemen who knit, I give you my Cloche de Pride!

My version of “Brimming”, a cloche hat pattern by Lori Puthoff

Though I had to wrestle with a set of double pointed needles for more than a week to knit this cloche, I’m extremely happy with the result. Some of you may remember, my first attempt at knitting in the round with DPNs had flopped miserably earlier this month. But that was then (insert smug look here). To be honest, I can’t actually believe I’ve knit this super cute hat! :D


The pattern for this hat can be found here. Since the original pattern included just the hat and not the flower, I knitted a gerbera daisy and a band in contrasting color and added it to the hat just to spice things up a bit.

A word to the wise: If you plan on knitting the gerbera daisy, make sure to stock up on plenty of patience. The pattern requires you to knit 32 petals per flower.

That’s all for today, folks! I got to go now and try on my new hat ;)