Pattern: Stackable Cats from Mochimochi Land
Yarn: Plymouth Encore Worsted, #1203, #599, #194, #515, #217, #180; Pittsburgh, #9143
Needles: Addi Turbos, US 6

Three stackable cat brothers went frolicking through my in-laws’ house. They ran into cousin Maneki Neko…

…and a proselytizing flying pig.

They spent some time practicing for their Cirque du Soleil audition…

…before retiring to their permanent homes. Calico went to my mother-in-law, Siamese to my aunt-in-law, and Striped Tabby went to my sister-in-law.

This is the third time I’ve knit one of Anna’s patterns and it is once again very clear and produces adorable results. I did make a few modifications when knitting the striped tabby. If you do a straight 2-row alternating stripe as suggested in the pattern, you’ll wind up with one very fat 4-row stripe after picking up stitches to make the rest of the body.So I made the first stripe only one row thick and then resumed alternating 2-row stripes. You still wind up with a 3-row stripe (which you can see at the top of the cat’s head), but I thought that was less noticeable.

In addition, the join will wind up at the front of the cat, so I knit an extra half-round to push it to the back, where the jog would be less prominent. I also finished up the last part of the body—the flap that becomes the bottom of the cat—all in white instead of in stripes.

The cats were declared to be very kawaii by my in-laws. I think so too. And well…

Pattern: Cobijita Floresita by Mia Zamora Johnson
Yarn: Plymouth Encore Worsted, #180, 5 skeins, and #215, 1 skein
Hook: H 5.0mm

All the blanket needs now is a baby to sit in the middle and coo.

I have to say, I officially love crocheting blankets. It is SO FAST. This blanket is about 44″ across and I finished it in about two and a half weeks (including ripping and re-crocheting 1/3 of the petals).

This is a very nice beginning crochet pattern and a very portable project. The instructions are clear and there are lots of photographs to help you figure out how to assemble the blanket.

Although Encore is my favorite yarn for baby gifts because it is machine washable and dryable and comes in so many wonderful colors, I think this pattern would work best with a yarn that has more natural fiber.

The petals are a little cupped when they first come off the hook and need to be blocked flat. The edging around the center also wants to point towards the middle and it needs to be blocked to point towards the outside of the flower. I think I could have managed to block them entirely flat with a natural fiber yarn, but Encore doesn’t block that well and my edging is standing up like a tart crust.

Mmmm tarts.

The “wrong side” of the blanket is neat and tidy, which I appreciate a lot.

Now to wrap it up and give it away!

Other entries about Cobijita Floresita:

• Two Steps Forward, Three Steps Back
• A Ray of Light

So I finished the Cobijita Floresita blanket. After knitting 13 petals for a 10-petal flower. I discovered after the seventh petal that I’d mis-counted the rows on three of them. Riiiip, and re-crochet. But now it’s done. This is how it looks blocking.

And then I frogged a bunch of stuff to re-claim the yarn.

On the left, seven hanks of Cascade 220 reclaimed from that intarsia bag that I never felted. Then some tan Cascade 220 reclaimed from a large swatch. And finally, some Mission Falls 1824 wool superwash rescued from a sweater my brother was knitting (and mostly completed) but never finished due to fit and construction issues.

I also started a hat project. About five times because I kept changing my mind about the design of the hat. Ribbing or no? Two-by-two ribbing or one-by-one? Long tail or tubular cast-on? I thought the sixth time would take, but it turns out that the hat is sized to fit a basketball, not a human head. Riiiiiiiiiiiip.