Kittens for Halloween

Kittens for Halloween was based on a buddy bears program my sister participated in Apex, North Carolina where her quilt group made bears for the local police to carry along in the squad cars. They would hand them out to children traumatized or scared in some way by a car accident or domestic violence. Her original pattern, which I scanned and printed out at 130%, is below the kitten face that I used as a guide to transform a teddy bear to a kitten.

I overlaid a transparent face of a kitten to help me judge the shape and placement of the cat ears and where to locate the eyes and nose.

Using a very stiff interfacing I cut out a template that I could use over and over again to trace out the front and back of the kittens in various Halloween fabrics. After sewing, turning, and stuffing I planned to draw on the faces with fabric paint. The instructions explicitly stated that the fabric needed to be washed first. My guess is so that the sizing would be removed so the paint could stick.

I tossed the six kittens in the washer. When I pulled them out I was surprised to see there was stuffing scattered in the drum. Apparently I had missed whip stitching closed the opening on one of the kittens. The stuffing was easily gathered and pushed back in his leg but then I wondered, "What now? Can I sew closed a wet kitten?" Putting it in the dryer still open would just suck that fluff up the dryer vent. I learned that the answer is, "Yes. You can sew though wet cloth." There is a bit more friction but it still is possible.

I then proceeded to paint on the faces. The three dark prints needed white faces to show up.

 

I tried black paint on the three light prints but the faces did not show up very well.

I switched, unsuccessfully, to white paint and eventually found the best option was white paint on the beige kitten and neon orange on the other two kittens. By now, I suspect the only reason the faces are more visible is that, with three layers of paint they are practically three-dimensional.

I took the six kittens with me this past weekend to give to my son's family of six as Halloween decorations. His two oldest girls, ages 7 and 5, played with them for a bit at a home we rented near the beach. Then the litter was carried south home with them and left there for adoption, one per family member.

Operation Tea Towel

These bright yellow and bold graphics of this tea towel caught my eye. I made two pillows with four tea towels for both households of my grandchildren to give with the name sake game to match. For each pillow, all it took was two towels back to back, sewn on two long sides and the top, with a zipper between at the bottom. 

I did not take out the folded edges – just sewed through them. Instead of pinning the heavy fabric I used Clover Wonder Clips to hold the two towels in position while I stitched using a heavier 90/14 needle that was recommended for sturdy denims or other jean type fabrics. A standard size pillow fits inside. I have made a robot pillow previously from science museum tea towels and collected the tips in this 6/9/19 post. It is a fast, fun, and easy project.

I introduced my five year old granddaughter to the operation game during a visit last weekend. I was very impressed with her intense concentration and with the steadiness of her hand in removing the various body parts. She giggled a lot at the buzzing sound when she missed, so we had fun.

Irene's Christmas Stocking

I knit this Christmas stocking for my 6th grandchild. It carries on a tradition started by my husband's aunt when she made one for my husband when he was a child and then made one for me when I married him and one for each of our three children when they were born. My husband located the vintage pattern on the internet and requested I continue the tradition. The most fun part is charting in the name and birth year since that is unique for each stocking. Irene was born in January so there is absolutely no excuse for me to not have her stocking knitted before Christmas.

Here is the back side of the straight section from the upper band with the name down to the foot. I sewed in all the loose yarn ends and blocked it flat.

The patterned bands remain flat until starting the heel. Then I switch to double pointed needles and start the heel strip in white.

Once the white heel length is knit, it is shaped into an angle to bend around the heel by inserting two lines of gradual decreases. The green gusset 1) picks up stitches up the one white vertical edge, 2) crosses the red at the base of the leg, 3) picks up stitches down the second white vertical edge of the heel, and 4) continues along the white edge at the base of the heel. The green gusset then gradually gets smaller to accommodate the lowering of the instep as it extends toward the toes, again with a series of decreases. Switching to red for the foot, the size around the foot remains straight. Once reaching the toes the yarn switches to white and the decrease frequency becomes steep enough to taper the toes. When only a few stitched are left, they are bound off and sewn closed.

When laid out flat, from top ribbing to the tip of the toe measures 27".

I sewed up the back seam and added a loop for hanging. Irene's stocking is complete!

And... I finished it before Halloween! Irene is happy. But then, Irene usually is.

Here are the stockings for my husband Frank, me, and our son Alex. These were all made by Frank's Aunt Ruth. The stockings I knitted have all been disseminated to my daughter's and my other son's respective homes.

Irene's is the eighth vintage stocking I have knitted when you also count those for my daughter's husband and my son's wife. I have repeated links for my posts of the earlier seven stockings in the following list. Some links tell of history and tradition, some are tips, and some contain both.

December 31, 2011   Jeremy and Carrie
December 10, 2014   Autumn (October birthday, 2012) - I was late completing hers
December 17, 2014   Vivian (April birthday) has hints
December 28, 2015   Isaiah (July birthday)
November 29, 2016   Lillian (May birthday) 
November 07, 2018   William (April birthday) has detailed heel and foot photos 

October 06, 2021       Irene (January birthday) this post

This classic stocking pattern was originally published in "A Woman's Home Companion" in 1945. I changed the tree background from white to red; I also made changes in the stripe order in the foot so that both the toe and heel were white. Previously I had posted a link for the free pattern. At the time of this post, I found that the link had issues, which may or may not have resolved. http://www.knitting-and.com/knitting/patterns/christmas/1945-stocking.htm. Options for the pattern, at a minimal charge in several Etsy shops, can be located by googling "1945 vintage Christmas stocking".