the blue blog archives: thingamajiggers

Halloween knitting has reached fever pitch here. Every spare moment has been devoted to knitting "Things". After neglecting my email and the laundry for over 24 hours, I have four finished sleeves.

Speaking of things, the real "Things" had a little Christmas-in-October this morning. We were at the toy store yesterday and I spotted something on sale that Santa really wanted to get for them. They were so busy throwing tantrums and crashing from a night with too little sleep to notice, so I decided to try to buy everything real quick. Well, there was a big mess-up at the checkout counter, I had to go to the service desk, and while there was checking and rechecking, eventually one of the boys says, "heeeeeyyyyyy, can I have that?" Once they had them in their hands, they wouldn't release them. They held the boxes clutched to their chests the whole ride home. Daddy and I "talked to Santa" and all agreed that the boys could have the toys this morning. And they've been putting together Lego pieces since 7:30!

posted by alison at 9:43 am | in halloween things , legoland

Comments

Those things look amazing! So that's 2 backs and 4 sleeves down is it? Not much more to go, no prizes for guessing how you'll be spending your weekend is there?

Posted by: kerrie at October 21, 2005 9:49 AM

Maybe they'll build you a knitting machine.

Posted by: Colleen at October 21, 2005 10:16 AM

see I told you that you could do it!

Posted by: Janine at October 21, 2005 10:47 AM

Hi Alison
Looking good on the sweater for the boys, you can do it!
Wanted to update you too that I finally ordered my yarn for the HiP woo-hoo now heres hoping it gets here soon =-)
-Mary

Posted by: Mary at October 21, 2005 11:25 AM

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=38749.0

check that out!! It's duplicate stitched, maybe you could save yourself some time. she did a fantastic job, it totally doesnt look like duplicate, it looks like intarsia.

Posted by: pixie at October 21, 2005 12:39 PM

Glad to see you're getting Things done.

Yes, Things are looking good.

When you were working out the sizing, did you title your notes "The Shape of Things to Come"?

Posted by: B. at October 21, 2005 12:53 PM

LEGOS ARE THE BEST! I love Legos...so much time spent building cars and space crafts...good times!

Posted by: Christie at October 21, 2005 1:15 PM

Here's a motorized ball winder made from Lego parts. http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=21252.0

Posted by: Ina at October 21, 2005 1:15 PM

Those Things are going to look great! I can't wait to see the pictures!

Posted by: jenn at October 21, 2005 2:10 PM

Legos are the greatest things ever invented for kids...my teenager still gets his out sometimes (but don't tell, he'd be embarassed!!).

Posted by: Judy at October 21, 2005 2:54 PM

Thing 1 and Thing 2? Love them. That's what I call my twins sometimes. I even have a tatoo of Thing 1 & 2 with their names under it. They are just too cute. (Yeah my boys are too when they want to be)
~
I started my Azkaban scarf. Maybe I will finish by the premiere.

Posted by: Micky at October 21, 2005 3:43 PM

Legos are wonderful. Don't all little boys love them?? How nice of Santa to let your two have them early!!

Posted by: Deb at October 21, 2005 4:37 PM

sometimes you just do what you gotta do, hey! I'm sure that the thing 1 & 2 costumes will look just amazing! I don't know how you do it!

Posted by: Nat at October 21, 2005 7:02 PM

HAHAHAAH...somehow I missed that you were making Thing 1 and Thing 2 sweaters for them...that's just awesome *giggles*...

Although, I wonder...will their assigned number be based on who was born first? ;-)

Posted by: Eklectika at October 21, 2005 11:55 PM

I love how the one Thing has his blankie showing off the legos!

Great job so far on the wigs of the Things! I'm a costume maker and wigs will be the end of me. I'm sending you good thoughts, the costumes are looking fantastic!

-saff

Posted by: Saff at October 22, 2005 9:34 AM

Aww, your days of shopping for the boys with the boys are coming to an end. I remember those days well.

Posted by: Teresa C at October 22, 2005 12:38 PM

now i don't feel so bad about not having all 4 costumes done yet, lol. my youngest was finished this afternoon, and i'm cutting out and planning on my oldest son's right now. i'm taking a break, lol. the tough one is going to be my fiance. he's going to be gandalf (from Lord of the Rings if you don't know) and he's 6'8". i have to expand the pattern, lol. mine is already cut out (i was going to do it last year, but never got it done, so i'm going to try to sew it this year.) so all i have to do is sew it. the cutting is the hardest part for me. ok, back to it!

Posted by: minnie at October 23, 2005 12:00 AM

Although I am delighted the boys have cool Legos, self centered me is wondering how you got the lettering done on the knitting graph paper. Transfer? Trace? Please do not tell me free hand?

Posted by: Rebecca at October 23, 2005 10:17 PM

Lego is cool! I used to have it myself when I was little. There's also a Legoland in southern Germany (in Günzburg, nearish Ulm), you might want to consider that for your next Germany-trip. It's really cool there, at least my dad says so (he has been there with my cousin's sons).
How did you get the lettering done? Where did you get that knitting graph paper from? I'm going to make golf clup covers soon, and I thought of putting the name of the club on them.

Posted by: Dorothee at October 24, 2005 6:33 AM

The boys picked out who was going to be Thing 1 and who Thing 2 without any fighting. It is actually according to their birth order. They don't really know that, but B, who was born first, usually insists on being first in all things.

Oooh, Dorothee, I'll have to get some info about Legoland - thanks!

As for the chart, I've done what I usually do, which is to print out an image onto knitter's graph paper from sweaterscapes.com. I've described how I do these charts in more detail in my weasley pattern. Check "Charts" at the bottom of the page.

There's also a free online application that will take an image and convert it to a chart for you. You can't control the size much, and the chart isn't rescaled for knitting, but it does an excellent job converting the image. Here's the link: http://www.microrevolt.org/knitPro.htm.

And there is also a Knitty article (in theSpring 05 issue) explaining another technique using Photoshop here.

Posted by: alison at October 24, 2005 9:06 AM

You can find the Legoland website at www.legoland.de/
I bet you your boys would love it - and your hubby probably too ;-)

Posted by: Dorothee at October 25, 2005 8:32 AM