The Shadows on My Wall Don't Sleep

The fit is surprisingly good on my Bobobie March. There are some things I would change for a better fit/cleaner lines if I knit another, but I’m happy enough with it.


 

Sometime last year someone on one of the knitting discords posted a link to the Shusui Shrug pattern. The designer was thoughtful enough to post a video on how to get the thing started and I just had to try it….

Now, before I show the back, let it be known that my Knit Picks needles decided to betray me and the cord came out of the needle right in the middle of the two color brioche portion and dropped a couple dozen stitches.

Let it also be known that acrylic crochet thread doesn’t actually like to be knit with all that much and wants to be straight. Yeah. But! I did get everything back on the needles, and after several attempts even sort of got everything fixed!

Just please ignore the horridly uneven tension that remains even after attempts to fix it and blocking. And that one strand that ran on the RS instead of the WS that I didn’t notice until I was pinning it out to block, okay?

Bernat handicrafter #5 crochet thread

US size 3 (3.25mm) needles for body/upper sleeves

US size 1 (2.25mm) for sleeves after the body division

Anyway, back when the Hunger Games was The Thing and Catching Fire was about to open, knitters kinda lost their minds over Katniss’ sweater (and that one arm cowl/vest thing). I poured over every high res promo shot I could find and knit my version of the sweater for one of my dolls. Then, probably in 2016 or 17, I started another from my notes on the first.

So when I was stash diving I found what I had finished, the side panels, tail, and bottom hem. About half the sweater was already done so I knit the sleeves and then in the fiddly bit to fill in the torso and finish the yoke.

This doll (Dollzone Mo on body b45-012) is a bit taller and slimmer through the shoulder and bust than the one I made the original for (Featherfall Elf Iruhi on Resinsoul Rong body) but I think the fit is okay, as long as you don’t mind flashing a bit of belly (the low rise pants don’t help; yes I knit those too).

My version was knit before we had a shot of the back of the movie sweater, and from what we could see of it I had assumed the side panels were square and met in the back. The real sweater is more boring so I didn’t even consider restarting when I saw the back was different.

Knit with Aunt Lydia’s Bamboo Crochet Thread (discontinued, dammit) on US size 0 (2mm) needles.

So I had a wild hair last month and started swatching an idea…

And after a few variations, I stated knitting… and ripping and re-knitting. Until I ended up with this (unblocked):

The wine/maroon neckline is sort of fail, but by the time I knew how it would look I had finally managed to get the grey neckline/yoke area sorted out and I was not ripping it again.

I had knit the sweater to go with the skirt I had knit previously, so then of course I had to knit a hat to match.

Now I just need to knit her some socks. Unfortunately I am thinking I might not have enough grey yarn, which is a horrible thing to think when you are nearly finished the first sock.

I finally took photos of the two shawls I blocked. They aren't great photos, outside modeled shots are for when it's not all snow and ice outside, but at least I can document them now.

Pattern: Taiga shawl by Johanna Lindahl (Mijo Crochet)

I was given two skeins of Simply Soft Paints in the Charisma colorway last Christmas. There wasn't quite enough for this shawl so I used Simply Soft in "Bone" for the very start, all the dc-ch1 rows, and the edging.

Pattern: Wendy Summer Shawl by Girlie D. de los Reyes

I wasn't able to make this one full size because I was using one ball of yarn I picked up on clearance for $1.32. The pattern suggests you can stop after any row 8 and do the border but this is not true. You must have a multiple of 6 + 2 dc clusters in your last row 8 before you start the border. 

Blocking did a lot in terms of making this more a shawlette rather than a small kerchief thing, but I'm not sure how likely I am to use it.  I'm a large woman and this is a very deep triangle, so my usual point down in front wearing for small triangles and crescents doesn't really work. This might end up gifted or donated.

While I have been knitting and crocheting right along all year, I haven't really been doing much, or finishing much, for my dolls. I fixed that this past weekend.

First, the craft project that kicked things off.

( More photos and other projects under the cut. )

And that's it until I either update with the finished human scale things from this year or I finish more doll things.

However, if you are like me you don't keep self-rising flour on hand, so it's really four ingredients. Also, I made disks rather than tori with them, to better fit a bison burger.

2 cups plain Greek yogurt

2 cups all-purpose flour (or use self rising and skip the baking powder and salt)

1 Tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Additional flour for kneading / adjusting texture.

Optional: Egg-wash and topping sprinkles. I used a salad sprinkle similar to Johnny's Salad Elegance.

Preheat oven to 350°F (325°F if using a convection oven).

If you aren't using self-rising flour, mix the baking powder and salt into your all-purpose flour. 

Mix the yogurt into the flour. After a point it will not mix well, so turn it out onto a floured surface and knead it for a few minutes until everything is well mixed; dust in additional flour if it gets too sticky.

Divide the dough into 6-8 pieces and shape as desired.

Place on non-stick baking sheet and brush with egg-wash and sprinkle with topping mix if you are using it.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. 

Cool completely before cutting.

• Use an extra egg
• Use butter instead of oil
• Add one packet of sugar free cook and serve chocolate pudding mix

Into a 1 quart jar put:
1 pound baby carrots (or whatever amount will fill the jar)
1 Tbsp dried dill weed

Into a sauce pan put:
1.5 cups water¹
1.5 cups white vinegar²
1 Tbsp lemon pepper salt³
2 bay leaves
a bunch of dried sliced garlic, about 3-4 cloves worth maybe?

Bring to a boil, cover and simmer 10 minutes. Pour over carrots and dill to fill jar.

I'll test them in a week to see how they turn out.

1. I actually used one cup each of vinegar and water and then had to heat half a cup of each to top off the jar. In the end I think it took more like 1 and 1/3 cup each to fill the jar but this will vary with how many carrots you pack in the jar to start with.

2. Apple cider vinegar would work as well, but white is what I had. Since this a refrigerated recipe and not canned a less acidic vinegar like wine vinegar or rice vinegar would work too.

3. I didn't have any pickling salt on hand and no whole peppercorns so this was my compromise substitution. Ingredients listed on the bottle are: salt, citric acid, spices (including black pepper), onion, sugar, garlic, modified corn starch, lemon extractives, and FD&C yellow 5 lake.