Only recently did I discover that there is such a thing as faux fur pompoms, you can buy to put on your handknits. I don’t know what kind of rock I’ve been hiding under, but as soon as I learned of their existence I had to buy all the faux fur pompoms. And I didn’t just buy any fake fur pompom, I bought the BIGGEST fake fur pompom I could find. This is me opening the mail the day of its arrival.
Who am I kidding, this is still me just thinking about it. I didn’t have anything in the works I could attach this huge pompom to. Socks? Seems a bit random.. A sweater in progress? Probably not. Mittens? Maybe a bit inconvenient. So a hat I should make.
I haven’t knit a hat in ages and I forget that these things practically knit themselves. I cast on and then POOF, a hat was born. It’s soft, it’s warm, it’s comfy and it has the biggest pompom ever. Bike helmets are from now on redundant, because that huge pompom will break my fall (just kidding of course). I’m a very happy knitter right now.
In other news, remember how I said I didn’t plan to do any Christmas knitting this year? Well I guess I say a lot of things, because I’m doing last minute Christmas knitting. Not my fault though!! I ordered some books for my sister as a present, none of the local book stores seem to have them. And last week I started panicking that they might not arrive on time, eek! I at least wanted to have something for her to unpack, so I wanted to make something small. I picked the Chibi and Chu Totoro toy patterns and thought I’d just make these in a couple of hours with some leftover sock yarn. But I always forget how much I hate to make these kind of small fiddly things, with tiny needles and tiny yarn. And then there’s also embroidery, not my strongest skill, and the Chu Totoro involves intarsia. I hate intarsia, and I hate it even more in tiny projects. Making this on a deadline it looked like a complete mess yesterday. My last resort was wet blocking, otherwise I’d forget about the entire thing. I guess they say that the water settles the stitches or whatever, but we all know that in reality the knitting elves come at night to fix it. And they did, because the Chu Totoro body looks halfway decent. Now I just quickly need to knit a tail, close it up and embroider the face on it.
And lastly, some knitting unhappiness. I started a pair of Broken Seed Stitch socks, which have been in my queue for ages. The yarn (mini mochi) was bought specifically with this pattern in mind, but it’s not working out as I wanted. It seems way too messy, the yarn is super soft, which makes me doubt whether it should be made into socks. I’ve done several ravelry searches to see if I could find another pattern that I’d like for the yarn, but I cannot really find anything. Not sure whether I should soldier on, or just frog it already and let the right pattern find me.
Phew, that’s it! What are you knitting? Did you finish all your Christmas knitting?
This post is like an overload of knitting adorableness. I love your giant Pom Pom. It. Is. So. Fluffy! And looks great on your hat. And I think your Totoros are fabulous! I want about a million to surround me to work and make me happy every day. And I hope your mini Mochi works out. I used a skein of mine to make some stranded fingerless mitts. The gradient color changes work great for stranded knitting and one skein is more than enough for mittens or a hat.
I think the mochi yarn would indeed be perfect for some mitts and the gradient is lovely for colourwork. Still looking for a perfect project though. And the Totoros are adorable right? I should have some at work..
I love this long post 🙂 that pompom sure looks fluffy and with the hat it looks gorgeous! Oh the Broken Seed Stitch Socks, I started them in the beginning of December, I’m having trouble with the beginning and end of the rounds, the purls and knits don’t match, I already started four times and don’t see my faalt. Oh well. My Christmas knitting is done, what a relief! Happy holidays!
I have the exact same problem with the broken seed stitch socks!! Why won’t the stupid knits and purls line up? It annoys me so much that there’s an ugly seam running down the sock. Even more reason to frog them!
I think you found the perfect (biggest) Pom Pom for the hat! love it! as well as the mittens ans socks in progress. I have to admit that I’m scared to death abt color work projects. I’m such a chicken that I can’t even queue them in Rav. Happy Holidays!
I used to be so scared about colourwork as well, but at one point I just dived right in by making a sock with a simple repetitive pattern. And after that I don’t fear it anymore 🙂 Happy holidays to you too!
Oh my goodness, so much going on in one post! I love the giant pompom, and I those Chibi and Chu Totoros are adorable. I hope you figure out what to do with your Mochi-I loved the Mochi Plus when I was working with it, and in the right project it can be absolutely stunning.
The mochi yarn is stunning indeed, it deserves to be shown off in a perfect project. To be continued I guess 😉
It’s so fluffy! My favourite line from the film.
The pompoms are great. I have some on my knitted boots and love them to bits. I will look out for them in future because they would look great on so many things.
Yes, they are fantastic. And we can never have enough fluffy things in our lives 🙂 I loved that scene so much!
my knitting friend showed me about the pompoms so I’m “in the know”…..barely. Lovely hat!! and all of your projects are beautiful.
Aah thank you 🙂
i’ve seen these pompoms on rav, but haven’t come across any to buy in any shops…..thank goodness or i’d also have hats on the needles. Oh, wait. I do have a hat on the needles anyway…..!!!!!
All the projects you have going look GREAT!!!! how can you decide which to work on first???
It’s impossible to decide, and this isn’t even all of my current projects!
I absolutely adore the hat and the colour is gorgeous! The pom pom finishes it off perfectly!
Also I’m very envious of those mittens 🙂 beautiful colour work!
Thanks so much! I agree that the pompom is just the finishing touch that the hat needed.
I adore your giant pom pom, and the hat is perfect for it! For someone who hates intarsia I am impressed with your gorgeous mitten pattern. I am no expert on sock knitting, but the colours look great and I am really curious to see how they looked finished, so I vote soldier on! Great long post, Merry Christmas 🙂
Love the mitts..and I think the socks are cool looking, sorry they are not working out…..glad the minis worked out…..and excellent pom…I decided last week I needed a pompom maker, so went and bought four different sizes….I’ve seen the faux poems, but haven’t gotten one yet….
I think you should just surround yourself with the pompoms!!! I love it! And the mini toys do seem to get the best of me too! I just finished a bunny…that I thought about torching a few times 🙂 I’m going to knit my minimochi into a daybreak shawl with a gray as the main color…
Love the mitts!
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/daybreak
Gosh, the faux fur pompom looks sooo soft. It’s a perfect topper for your lovely hat. The toys are really cute. I have to be in the right mood to make toys because of all the fussy finishing involved.