Hello Kitty

On Monday, I went to the supermarket after knitting group, which is my usual routine.  I don't often buy crafting magazines, but thought I'd have a browse and see what Tesco had on their shelves.

Simply Crochet's September edition (issue twenty-three) had a red and white bower bird kit from Lucy at Attic24 as a giveaway and so I thought I'd buy the magazine as it looked quite sweet.

I had a quick flick through the magazine in the afternoon and put it on the coffee table when DD2 got home from school.  What I hadn't taking into consideration was that this edition includes a pattern to make an amigurumi Hello Kitty toy and there was a picture of it on the front cover.

DD2 did spot it, however.

I'm sure you know what's coming next, don't you!

"Mummy to make Hello Kitty doll" I was instructed.  There followed some badgering of the "Mummy to get wool for Hello Kitty doll" kind.

I caved in on Tuesday and by bedtime I'd got the head, body, legs and one arm done.  Yesterday morning I made the second arm, ears, bow and tail.  Then it came to sewing on the facial features, which meant trying to find embroidery silk in brown, yellow and pink (fortunately, one of the charity shops in our little town sells a small selection and had the colours I needed).

The pattern says to use 4ply yarn and a 2.5mm hook, but I used DK yarn from stash and a 3mm hook.  By request (or should that be demand?), the skirt and top were made in dark and light pink rather than the blue and yellow in the pattern and the bow was made in the same pink yarn as the 'skirt'.

I think it'll be a one-off as I found it extremely fiddly to make (she's about 11 or 12 cm tall to the tips of her ears).

She's a cutie and I'm pleased with how she turned out.

I realised after I'd taken the photo that I'd forgotten that the 'skirt' is supposed to look like a pinafore and have shoulder straps embroidered on afterwards, but, hey-ho, ours is wearing a skirt!

Kitty went up to bed with DD2 yesterday and has been taken to school today as well, so I've obviously scored some Good Mummy points!

Oh, there's also a nice blanket in the magazine:

It's made with an organic, hand-dyed cotton yarn that's only available in Zimbabwe though.  Drops Paris is suggested as an alternative, but if I was to make it, I think I'd use trusty Stylecraft Special DK for a. washability and b. weight.  I think a full-size blanket in cotton would be very heavy.

I'm still plodding away on other craft projects, but slowly.  Truth be told, I'm still trying to get back into a routine now that the new school year has started.  I think hubby having a week off work last week threw me a bit.