Here Kitty, Kitty!

More stitchery... a darling little kitty this time, that I decided to feature on the project bag for a kitty lover.  I found this free embroidery pattern at Hudson's Holidays (click on the picture to go to her website and download it for yourself):

 

I traced it with a sharp pencil onto some quality muslin, and then embroidered all of the lines with backstitch, the circles with satin stitch, and the butterfly antennae with french knots.  Here is a great resource if you need a refresher on any of these stitches!

 

I added some fabric strips in a kitty themed fabric print & a cheerful bright pink polka-dot.... added a zipper with a ribbon pull, some interior padding to keep those needles and hooks safe, and an interior snapping yarn guide to keep project yarn from tangling.  I also squared off the bottom to help the bag stand on it's own.  This cute little bag seemed to cry out for a interior pocket... and I added one with a coordinating kitty print topper, and a snap to keep it shut.  Here's my finished item:

 

 

As well as a shot of the interior (with pocket and snapping yarn guide):

 

 

 

and a shot of all of the other goodies I sent to my recipient (little projects to make and try!):

 

 

 

I hope she enjoys her one-of-a-kind swap package as much as I enjoyed putting it together!  Incidentally, I have a new picture logo for my blog:

 

 

Love that little hen :).  Have a great weekend!

 



Baa Baa Black Sheep

Yet another hand-embroidered project bag.. but this time with a sheepy theme!  A sheep picture, some added font work with photoshop, and Ta-Dah!  A new embroidery pattern to follow:

I also knew that I wanted some sheepy fabrics to complement my bag... but I couldn't find anything online or at the store that was just perfect... so I went with a fabric that is reminiscent of wool locks on a black background.  This little project bag features a zipper closure, inner snapping yarn guide (so you can switch out projects at will), and a squared off bottom so that it will stand up on its own.  I didn't use a pattern, but instead let the size of the embroidered piece, and the length of the zipper dictate the finished size (living dangerously, I know!)  Here is my finished bag:

Since this bag was going to be part of a knitting swap package featuring a Teeny Tiny handmade.. I had another quandry.  What to make?  I love this pattern by Little Cotton Rabbits (and have adapted it for all sorts of creatures, including a bee, and a cat).... could I knit a sheep?  After adapting the ears, and moving them slightly down the head and adding some yarn curls up top... I had my finished items!  (However, my husband still asked me, "Ummmm... are those puppies?"  But... what are you going to do, lol?)  Meet "Purl" and "Curly":

Here is the rest of my swap package, including some mini-skeins, some sheepy little tags and a new set of darning needles.  Hope it puts a smile on my recipient's face!

Good News!

I have some news :) I just found out that the 2 projects I submitted to the Martha Stewart’s Craft Challenge waaaay back in February…. both won!

I’m listed as Carrie H from Oregon…. I’m one of the first place winners for “Katie’s Mini-Chic”

 

and one of the 2nd place winners for my “Wee Ones”….. woo-hoo :)

I win a Martha Stewart CraftsTM Knit & Weave Loom Kit,

and a 1 yr subscription to Martha Stewart Living Magazine… what a nice suprise for a hectic day :)

Itty Bitty Bee

Yet another adaptation of the Teeny tiny knitted toys by Little Cotton Rabbits pattern... This time, a wee little bee :)  I started by casting on 13 stitches with the yellow (size 1 needles) and knitting 9 rows in stockinette stitch, and then switching back and forth between the black and yellow yarns (carrying the unused yarn up the side) for 2 rows at at time, ending with the black.  I made black I-cord arms and legs, and antennae, but the wings were a little more tricky.  To get the wing shape, I did this:

Cast on 5 stitches with the yellow

(1) K the first row across

(2) Kfb of first stitch, k across, kfb of last stitch

(3) K across

Repeat rows 2-3 until there are 13 stitches on the needle

(4) K2tg,  k across, k2tg

(5) K2, k2tg, k3, k2tg, K2

(6) K2tg k5 k2tg

(7) K2 k2tg k2

(8) K2tg k k2tg

Bind off the remaining 3 stitches and attach to back of bee body.  Repeat for other wing.

Here is Mr. Bee, in his element :)

I'd love to see a picture if you knit any little Itty Bitty Bees... so please feel free to share!

Itty Bitty Kitty

Knitting up a present for a niece that is a cat lover, so I took the Teeny tiny knitted toys by Little Cotton Rabbits pattern and added some wee little whiskers, and a 3 stitch I-cord for the tail :)

And then there were three!

Little Miss Kitty also needed a little bed set for travel purposes.   I cut a 2 1/4 by 3 1/2 piece of felt for the bottom of the altoid tin, and then sewed a little pillow (2 3/4 by 4 inches, folded) and a little coverlet (2 pieces, 2 3/4 by 3 1/2, sewn together and then turned right sides out and top-stitched).
Hope she likes it :)

Everybody Needs a Buddy

My four year old looked at Itty Bitty Bunny, and said, “Oh dear. He wooks so berry, berry sad…. He needs a fwiend! ‘Cause eberybody needs a buddy!” and thus… itty bitty bear was born. (Knit out of some 100% baby llama fromy my Craftsy Mystery Box that I couldn’t fathom what to do with… he is luxuriously soft!)

He is oh so soft to the touch, and infinitely poseable... I see many more "mini knits" in my future, lol!



Itty Bitty Teeny Weeny Bunny

The 2-at-a-time socks I have going on size 1 needles are going EVER SO SLOWLY,

 and I needed a quick little knit to experience the high of finishing something.... enter "Teeny Tiny Bunny" (FREE on Ravelry and here).  I had some "UN-ravelled yarn" from a recent foray to Goodwill in the cupboard, and it looked like the perfect bunny yarn.

Carrie's Review?  Very quick, and quite satisfying project. I love how the ears turned out (there is a k3tog in there that gives them their little cupped shape).  I also used a slightly nicer method for defining the head from the body (worked great!), as detailed here (scroll halfway down the page).

Here is the finished bunny (he is all of about 3" tall):

I added a tail by making a teeny little pom-pom (yarn wrapped around 2 dpns and then tied in the middle, fluffed and given a haircut with a pair of scissors).

I think one of these would be darling adorning a shower gift or card!

Hoppity, Hoppity

Browsing Ravelry the other day, I came across this darling little pattern:  Happy Frog by Emily Stoneking.  He just cries out to be knit... doesn't he, lol?

However, now that I have knit some softies using Susan B Anderson's techniques (see previous blog post), I REALLY don't like to make patterns where you have to make each of the different pieces to be seamed together at some later time (Because, let's face it... sometimes later never comes!)

So, first I started with the frog body (which is basically just a squashed round shape), and after stuffing it and tidying up my ends, I picked up the required number of stitches the pattern indicates right on the side of the body where I wanted the arm to be placed (using 2 dpns, which I then transitioned to 1 dpn for the I-cord).  This worked out fabulously, and I think added some strength and stability to the finished frog (which is important in a child's toy!)  I repeated this process with the other arm, and both legs.  The eyballs were a little trickier, just because I wanted them to have a slightly wider base.  For each eyeball, I picked up the correct number of stitches in a triangle shape with three dpns, and this helped make sure that the eyeball didn't end up attached to body in a skinny/floppy sort of way.

I used 15 mm safety eyes, plus a judicious amount of stuffing in each eyeball... and TA-DAH!  A finished froggie!

Frog Fronts:

 Frog Back:

Since Mr. Frog is destined to be a gift (if I can keep him away from K2 and S4 - my code names for some of the little ones), I wanted to dress up his presentation with a project bag (froggie themed, of course).  Using my favorite drawstring bag tutorial, I whipped up this little baby:

For more technical information, you can look on my Ravelry project page, here. 

 

After completing Mr. Frog v.1.0, I decided to knit another one out of some variegated Cascase wool I had leftover from another project.  This time I followed the pattern exactly as written, and knitted each piece to seam after completion.  Thus... Mr. Frog v.2.0 was born!

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed these little hoppers as much as I did :).

Recycled Monster

I love getting mail on Ravelry..... it's almost as much fun as getting "real" mail in the mailbox, lol!  But this time, I received a lovely suprise from Betsy (enw001) for sharing my "Un-Raveled Ball Bands" --The "Coin Pocket Monster Fish" pattern from my Ravelry queue!

I couldn't wait to get started :)....... and I had the perfect, feltable wool yarn that I had just reclaimed from this Abercrombie and Fitch sweater (another Goodwill find!)

Besides... it has been the week of disapointing knitting (you know... the kind you are all excited about at the start... and then as it progresses, you realize how it just isn't turning out quite the way you had envisioned), so I needed some "knitting therapy reinforcement".  This cute little guy turned out to be just the thing!

Here he is, pre-felting (kind of looks like a big-mouth frog... doesn't he?)

As for the felting... well..... let's just say that I have never felted anything before (on purpose), and I wasn't quite sure how long this whole process was going to take.  Per the pattern directions, I decided to do it by hand in a bowl of soapy water.  I had to leave it alone for just a second, and this is what I found when I came back to the table;

Everyone wanted in on the action, lol!  Luckily, this was something where a lot of swishing, rubbing, and dunking was EXACTLY what I needed, so my little helpers had a blast!

Putting that zipper in wasn't exactly a picnic either... but I finally prevailed, and here is the finished product (modeled by another of mommy's little helpers!)

Triple the Fun!

I found out on Monday that I needed a shower gift for a upcoming baby shower on Memorial day.. and then they told me it was a TRIPLE baby shower.  Eeek!  I was starting to panic until I remembered the Wee Ones Craftsy Class I blogged about here.  Aha!  Problem solved!  I pulled out some of my favorite baby yarn (Martha Steward Extra Soft Wool Blend) and got to work. 

I decided to make one each of the bunny, elephant and hippo:

and while they were certainly cute... they just seemed to need a little something extra to make the gift complete, lol!  So I took a look at the nearest fabric store and came home with these three fabrics:

To turn into these, following the lined drawstring bag tutorial I blogged about here.  I also printed off some of my free "Knitting Gift Tags" to attach to each package.

I was also browsing my local Goodwill for some sweaters to unravel, and came up with the idea of including a board book that fit with each individual animal to include in the gift... so here are my completed gift packages!

I hope that this inspires you as well.. in case you have any gift giving in your future!  Here's hoping all of the intended recipients fall in love with them as well :)