General swing instructions here.
‘I Love You Raspberry Cheesecake-Mousse’ (raw, dairy free)- hers are ever so much prettier then mine!
Galen’s sweater pattern (shown in several pictures here both inside out and backwards).
Yarn for both Galen’s sweater and Teddy’s sweater (color: honey).
Teddy’s sweater and both sets of pants were improvised.
Fabric: random striped canvas found at a yard sale by my Mother-in-Law.
Pattern: Thrummed Mittens, Stuffed Mittens…or Fluffies by Joan Janes
Yarn: Naturale Cochineal- I’ve had this skein of yarn for several years now. It was supposed to be part of a baby sweater, but I ended up using something else and could never quite figure out what to do with this one little skein. It’s a very, very soft, organic merino, dyed with natural dye (cochineal). I can’t seem to track down a link for it anywhere, so I assume it’s no longer made. Pity. I used a natural merino roving for the thrums. I may have gone overboard. They are seriously thick and fuzzy inside.
I am way behind on posting my knitting and sewing projects from the last several months.
Just a bit of random holiday and birthday crafting. These were Màiri Rose’s Christmas gifts to Steve and I…
I think mine may be my favorite gift ever. I gave her burlap in a small embroidery hoop and a yarn needle threaded with yarn and just let her go to town. When she deemed them done, I used an inch wide strip of fabric wrapped around the outer hoop to make the frame, with a bit more fabric through the top to hang it by. She’s currently working on a larger version for her bedroom. I think I better find a good source for wooden embroidery hoops and quick!
And here is the yarn from her dyeing adventures. The blue/purple/green/white combo is sock yarn for Elijah who will be knitting his first pair of socks this year. The color combination reminds me so much of a tie-dye shirt that Steve used to own. The shades of red and purple is another sock yarn, for Iain, who having made very basic socks in the past, wants to try his hand at something fancier. And the brightly colored bulky is for our newest little knitter, for a project yet to be determined. All of them are from Knit Picks Dye Your Own Yarns. The sock yarn is especially soft. Everything was dyed using a combination of Kool-Aid and food coloring.
And these are the containers that Màiri and Galen both decorated for Iain for his birthday.
We thought he could use a spiffy new way to store his art supplies.
Just a quick little Christmas beret for my mother. It was actually one of the kids who suggested that Me-Mom would look really good in a beret and perhaps I should make her one. Everyone else quickly chimed in in agreement and so it was decided. The yarn is Cascade Eco+ in Lake Chelan Heather, same as the stripes on Alex’s gnome hat. I forgot to take pictures of her during Christmas and actually snapped this one as she was literally walking out the door.
Luckily I have some more detailed photos from earlier in December when I was gathering pictures together for the pattern.
The pattern has instructions for two versions one that’s less slouchy and one with a bit more slouch. This is the slouchier version. My green one, as seen below is of the less slouchy verity.
While we’re on the subject of knitting, I recently created a facebook page for my designs. I’m really just in the beginning stages of setting it up, but in the future I’m imagining sneak peeks at new patterns, special offers, possibly some exclusive free patterns…so go on over and check it out. Feel free to “like” the page so that you get updates on all the good stuff as it gets added.
I’m so happy to be back to knitting these days, working on a very, very simple sweater for Galen’s birthday. I’m using Wool of the Andes in ‘Honey’ for my yellow loving boy. It makes me think of Rumpelstiltskin spinning gold.
1 & 2 There are paper snowflakes everywhere
3 why yes, that is a horseflake
4 & 5 gift making
6 & 7 and wrapping
8 late night knitting with coconut sugar cookies
9 sending off their first order
10 the kids had stamps out while I was addressing Christmas cards so I added some sweet little blue birds to the back of the envelopes
11 & 12 Golden Goose and Fairy trees seen while out and about.
13 nut butter caramel and red raspberry leaf and nettle chai
14 dreidel
15 late night knitting with orange
16 nativity by Iain
17 the enchanting Winter in White by Robert Sabuda
18 making music (why yes, those are more snowflakes on the floor behind him)
20 & 21 we made Swedish straw stars
22 & 23 while she made an empty yarn cone into a Christmas tree
24 We made a whole mobile of ballerina snowflakes. They twirl and drift about gracefully and it’s like just before intermission at the Nutcracker. template here
The older kids in our house have a bedtime, but they are allowed to stay up for a while after that, reading or knitting or doing some other quiet, relaxing thing. A couple of weeks ago, during this time, Iain came back downstairs, giggling, with something hidden behind his back. Turns out he had taken my Mini-Gnomey pattern and converted it to make a hat for the Wee Girl’s dolly (that hat is not pictured, but her doll is the first one). What can I say? He is my child. All the same, I had absolutely no idea he could do that type of thing. A friend likened it to a child growing up in a bilingual home, saying that he’s learned the knitting “language” so early that it’s just a part of him in likely a much different way then when one learns as an adult. Many of the homeschooling families we know are, in fact, bilingual and I’ve always been a bit sad about not being able to share that gift with my children, so naturally and easily. And all of this time, without even realizing it I’ve been teaching them a language that we can share together.
Three of these Mini-Mini-Gnomies have been add to their shop.
The Blackberry Beret pattern is now available for purchase both in my Ravelry Store and my Craftsy Store. The Blackberry Beret is a quick and easy knit with a darling moss stitch brim and pretty swirl on top. It comes in sizes newborn through adult with options to vary the degree of slouch.
This one was made with less slouch from Cascade Eco+ yarn in ‘Shire’.
Goosey Boy was envious of the hats that Rosebud and I wear and coveting one of his own. Well now, we can’t have that, can we? Not when it can so easily be remedied.
And so he got a boy-ish beret all his own. And mightily cute he looks in it, I must say.
I only had so much yarn in one color, and so he got a dot of a different color on the top, which he quite likes and I don’t mind at all, so it all worked out.
Pattern: My very own Blackberry Beret, being test knit right now. I am hoping to release it before the end of the year.
Yarn: Cascade Yarns Ecological Wool in ‘Coffee’ with a splotch of ‘Natural Grey’.
Her birthday sweater this year was knit with the very same yarn that Galen dyed three years ago now. With three knitting brothers in the house, I thought it was time for her turn with the baster.
Yet another Mini-Gnomey from me. And with this only the Papa in this family remains without a hand knitted gift from me. Mama has a scarf, big brother a Mini-Gnomey of his own and lil’ sis has a headband. I guess I know who needs to be on my list for the next knittable occasion.
The big boys made him this sword. They’ve been making a lot of these lately. There is talk of opening up their own Etsy shop, but we’re still working out the details.
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