Kiss My Knits!

just called. She told me she just got off of a plane where she met a guy on the Jayne hat waiting list. Sure enough, his name and location match someone marked with a big red PENDING. This all came up in conversation because they were both reading Serenity stuff. What are the odds?

I made this for my mom. She reads my blog, but I can post it here now since my six-year-old couldn’t hold out any more, so we had “Grandma Christmas” today.

This is a “pocket creature,” based on the pattern from Knitty. The idea is that it holds a little bag of rice and lavender, which can be removed and heated in the microwave, then put back inside the body of the creature. You keep it in a pocket to keep your hands warm.

Here it is with its innards out.

After reading various craft boards, I decided that flaxseed and lavender would work better than rice and lavender. It does seem to hold the heat better and not have a ricey smell. However, while the inner pouch does warm up nicely, not too much of that heat gets transferred to the outside of the creature, so it’s a bit of a wash as a handwarmer. But, MAN does it smell like lavender, which makes it great as a potpourri/sachet item. And you can always pop the inner pouch in the microwave again if you really want to disperse the scent.

I also sprang for the recommended yarn, Karabella Aurora 8, even though it’s a little luxe. I’m glad I did – this is easily the softest machine-washable wool I’ve ever laid hands on. And I’ve got plenty left for other projects. I picked up stitches for one of the arms a little differently than its mate, so it looks like it’s perpetually waving, but I think that just adds to its charm.

I’ll definitely be making this again. I’m not keen on strong lavender smells, as mentioned earlier, but I was thinking that peppermint or chamomile or cinnamon/gingerbready smells might be good. All in all, a success.