Almost Back

I haven’t posted in two and a half months because I’ve been crazy busy! I’ve been trying to keep up with posting my new projects on Flickr, so if you haven’t checked that out you can click this link to go see everything I’ve been up to. It’s a lot. You can also follow me on Instagram, where I’m always putting up pictures of what I’m working on.

Coming up I have a couple more Harry Potter “Weasley” sweaters (I’m REALLY excited about them!) and some various cold weather gear. After I get the bulk of my paid projects finished I’ll be able to get back to posting more, and maybe even come up with a few new patterns. I have big plans for projects this spring … I just have to finish up all the paid projects first!

The Holiday Rush

I’m sorry I’ve been missing in action here in blogland lately. I have plenty of projects and pictures to share with you … but I’ve been too busy knitting and crocheting my fingers to the bone trying to knock out all of my orders on my ever-growing list.

I start each day with two ibuprofen in hopes my finger/hand/wrist/arm joints/muscles will loosen up and not get too sore during the day, and I now have a permanent bandaid on my right index finger to cover the blister the yarn keeps giving me and then tearing open. I haven’t even made it to bed before 3:30am the last three nights because I’m trying so hard to get everything done by the time customers need them. I hardly even have time to eat anymore, but I have to get these orders knocked out. Hopefully I’ll be back to posting regularly sometime after the holidays. See you then! (Hopefully.)

A Simple Headband/Ear-Warmer (Flat Knitting Version)

I’ve had several people ask for it … so here’s the flat knitting version of my Simple Headband/Ear-Warmer pattern. I haven’t personally tested this version, so please please please let me know if I made any mistakes while writing the pattern!

Find the circular version here.

Download the PDF Version here!

(Shown here with the garter rows left out.)

Materials:

• Worsted Weight Yarn (Hobby Lobby’s “I Love This Yarn” in Red)
• Size 8US Knitting Needles
• Stitch Marker

Abbreviations:

• K: knit
• P: purl
• Sts: stitches

Gauge:

4 sts = 1 inch in Stockinette Stitch

Sizes:

Child or Adult

Notes:

The flower shown is crocheted. Any knit/crocheted flower, or practically any other embellishment, would look good too. And if you’re not into embellishments it looks great just on its own as well!

For a Child:

Cast on 84 sts.

Row 1-5: *K2, P2* repeat to end

Row 6: Knit across
Row 7: Purl across
Row 8: Knit across
Row 9: Purl across

Row 10-14: Knit across

Row 15: Purl across
Row 16: Knit across
Row 17: Purl across
Row 18: Knit across

Row 19-23: *K2, P2* repeat to end

Bind off loosely. (If you bind off tightly there will not be enough stretch.)
Using a tapestry needle, join the ends of the headband to form a circle.
Weave in ends.

For an Adult:

Cast on 92 sts.

Row 1-6: *K2, P2* repeat to end

Row 7: Purl across
Row 8: Knit across
Row 9: Purl across
Row 10: Knit across
Row 11: Purl across

Row 12-17: Knit across

Row 17: Purl across
Row 18: Knit across
Row 19: Purl across
Row 20: Knit across
Row 21: Purl across

Row 22-27: *K2, P2* repeat to end

Bind off loosely. (If you bind off tightly there will not be enough stretch.)
Using a tapestry needle, join the ends of the headband to form a circle.
Weave in ends.

Happy Halloween!

My four-year-old likes to read. Not as much as my one-year-old, who is a bookaholic, but she does love reading. I guess really she just loves stories. It doesn’t matter if they’re in a book, on the tv, or someone is just telling her one. She just loves stories.

About two months ago I got her “Little Red Riding Hood” on my Nook –it’s one of the “read to me” stories on there– and she loved it. That was around the time we got our first Halloween costume magazine in the mail … and Little Red Riding Hood happened to be one of the costumes in there. And so she made up her mind. She was going to be Little Red Riding Hood for Halloween. And she let me know that her little brother was going to be the Big Bad Wolf … and her daddy was going to be the Woodsman … and her Grammy was going to be the Granny. (She ran out of parts for me I guess.)

I thought about just buying costumes from a party store or one of the costume stores on-line … but money’s been a little tight lately and the only wolf costume I could find was $40. And I wasn’t even confident my toddler would keep the heavy hood part up, and he wouldn’t ever wear it again, so I couldn’t really justify that $40 to myself for an outfit for one night … so I came up with my own costumes.

I didn’t get a great picture of them together … but this is what I could manage.

For my daughter’s costume I thought about sewing a Little Red Riding Hood dress myself … I mean, I’m not a terrible sewer and I’ve made little dresses before, I could have managed a Halloween costume … but then I came across this great shop on etsy called “Lover Dovers“, and they had the perfect little dress, so there was no reason for me to try to make something on my own. It was a little pricey for my budget, but my daughter is big on playing dress-up –she still uses the ladybug dress from Halloween when she was 1 year old  as the rag dress for Cinderella before she gets her ballgown– so I know she will get A LOT of use out of it playing dress up. I did make her cape though. I was a little worried because I cheaped out on yarn and used Red Heart … but I think it turned out ok. I used the Petite Purls “Capuchon” pattern (free) and it took me about three days of off-and-on knitting to finish. Very easy to follow the pattern and could be made in any color for any reason — not just Little Red Riding Hood.

For the Big Bad Wolf I knew I wanted to make a hat, but it took me up until last week to decide on a pattern. I ended up combining three different wolf hat styles I found while Googling, because I just couldn’t find one pattern I really liked. I knew I wanted fuzzy yarn and I ended up using Yarn Bee “Boucle Traditions Brushed Yarn” in Salt & Pepper … mostly just because it was the only fuzzy yarn I could find in a grey colorway … but it did the job. Everything else I just kind of made up as I went along until it looked right.

After that I improvised a couple of shoe covers with triangle felt “claws”, hand-stitched a big white circle on a grey fleece jacket for the underbelly (hand-stitched so I could easily take the stitches back out to use the jacket as a clothing staple afterwards), stuck him in a grey long-sleeved shirt and grey fleece pants (also post-Halloween clothing staples) … and called him a wolf.

They tied with each other for second place in their age division (1-4 year olds) and they won first place as a group with their Grammy (as “Granny”) and Daddy (as the “Woodsman”). Not too shabby.

The Cat in the Hat

Recently a friend of a friend contacted me in search of a photo prop for her new baby boy. His nursery is Dr Seuss “Cat in the Hat” themed, so that’s what we went with!

For this I used a combination of patterns. For the hat and bow tie (not pictured) I used “Top Hat and Bow Tie” by Beezy Mom’s Creations. For the furry I cape I adapted a pattern from Calleigh’s Clips. Calleigh’s Clips does have a pattern for a “Kitty in a Striped Hat”, I just preferred the hat pattern from Beezy Mom’s Creations so I went with that instead. I do have several other patterns from Calleigh’s Clips though and have always loved them, so I just used a pattern I already had from her to make up the cape. I’m happy with how it turned out, and, more importantly, so was the customer.

For the cape I started out using Yarn Bee “Haute Fur” … but after the third of fourth attempt to unravel a part I wasn’t happy with and having the yarn break off with no way to retrieve it, thanks to the texture of the yarn, I had had enough. I will admit it is probably the softest fur yarn out there … but it just wasn’t very easy to work with. I usually crochet as a means of de-stressing and relaxing … so when I spend all of that time swearing at the yarn I know it’s time to try another brand. Lion Brand “Fun Fur” was WAY easier to work with (and cheaper, and available at Walmart). Like night and day. I could unravel stitches if I made a mistake or wasn’t completely happy with my work without it getting tangled up and breaking. The other noticeable improvement was the amount of shedding between yarns. “Haute Fur” ended up all over my clothing and couch, while “Fun Fur” barely shed at all (maybe one or two stray “hairs”). I’ll definitely use “Fun Fur” again the next time I make something requiring furry yarn. I was not impressed with “Haute Fur” at all.

How cute is that sweet boy sleeping under his “Cat in the Hat” prop? I just love getting pictures from customers of their purchases in use. It always gives me the warm fuzzies.