Better than a new pair of shoes....almost

For ten years now I have admired these mixers. While I did not get one as a wedding gift (because my parents had given us some beautiful china my dad had aquired while he was still in the war) I have always wanted one. But the cost. Well while at wally mart to replace the badly depilitated computer we have that is ready to keel over and die, hubby went down this aisle. And I am so glad he did! We got her (yes, her) yesterday, he unpacked her for me last night, and this morning she had her first maiden voyage. Yes, I am a dork. I'm okay with this. Hubby's only request is that I make him some brownies. Done. Now I am going to get down and make some bread. Oh yum, smelling the brownies and homemade bread in the same day. I'll blame it on pregnancy cravings.

I'm being featured

as well as some other great artist on the Helping Others Street Team Blog. Otherwise known as HOST. A group of etians who come together to help others that are in need in various different ways. Go and check it out here and learn more about what HOST is all about.

Cowl Pattern for sale

Just a heads up that I have listed my cowl pattern for sale in my shop.

You are welcome to sell the finished items as long as a link and credit it given to me. However I did work hard on this pattern and scrapped a lot before I was able to achieve the elegant drape and warmth I was looking for so out of respect, do not sell the pattern or give it out for free.

You can find it here.

Early Christmas Shopping

Here I am ready to have a baby pretty soon and it strickes me that Christmas (!!!) is almost here. I have started to crochet, knit and sew presents now because I know I will not get it done after Matthew has come.

So today I have added that knitted chunky thick cowl/neckwarmer to my shop for anyone else who wants to start shopping early. I have been working on this for a couple weeks now in between other projects. I looked forward to it. Why? Because the feel of this cowl is amazing. I loved having my hands on it. (yes, i'm slightly obsessed) I love these things! Not only are they awesomely stretchy so I can wear them over my shoulders if I want to, but they are so warm. However you can confortably move it away from your face ( I hate turtle necks because they are so restricting) when inside some place warm. It's like being hugged and feeling all cozy, enough to fall asleep. YUM. I love it, and winter and reasons to wear this. :)

My First PDF Pattern for sale

So this is what I did today. I got a convo from someone interested in a pattern for this Lovie. Now I asked her to give me a week to make sure I could transfer it to a PDF format. But then I said why not start tonight. I am feeling pretty good, little Matthew is not kicking me into sickness till it is his time to come out. So going into my huge binder of written crochet patterns, I started in. Yeah, I finished! Whoo Hoo. If you want to check it out you can find it here: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=29419511

And that cute little model.....my littlest one (who by the way is excited that she is going to be a big sister before Halloween).

The Breast Doll ever?

I watch my kids play house and of course they have those little baby bottles where the liquid disapears as the baby "eats". It is natural and causes no concern for me to watch them do this. Now here is an interesting twist to playing house. A spanish toy company has come up with a doll and apron with daisy nipples for this kids to wear to mimic breast feeding. Is it wrong? Is it right? I am not sure. I breast fed all my three kids and plan once again to breast feed this one. I have watched my kids take their dolls and place them at their breast to feed. Now ,while I am pregnant my 2 yo will take one of her babies and shove them in her shirt. Then tell me she has a baby coming out. I think it is cute. If you want to read more about the article and breast doll you can find it here.

Tools to make Etsy selling easier

Some days it is harder to get the photos and the listings done. Not to mention the tags. And how to you know that your tags are staying up to date with what is currently on Etsy? In walks the tag finder tool from craftweasel.com. Enter one or more tags and craftweasel will actually search Etsy for items with those same tags. Not only that, it will then nake graphs and suggest related tags that might be suitable for your items. Is that not total awesomeness! Go and check it out and see how you like it.c



http://craftweasel.com/

Where can I find free knitting patterns?

So now you got all these great expectations to knit. If you are any thing like me it starts to become an obsession. I have found that the best places to look are the library (if you want a book) or the internet. Here is a list of some places to get Free Knitting patterns. Some like Lion Brand, you will need to become a member so view them. I have never had a problem with spam emails from any of them.



Happy Knitting!



http://www.lionbrand.com/content-knittingPatternIndex.html
http://elann.com/freepatterns.asp
http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/
http://www.bernat.com/search.php?pst=k&advps=y
http://www.knittingdaily.com/blogs/patterns/default.aspx- must join
http://www.straw.com/cpy/free_pattern_yarnssort.html
http://www.knittingonthenet.com/
http://www.anniesattic.com/free_pattern_day/index.html
http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog.jsp;jsessionid=B3CTPF5FNO0YEP4SY5EFAFJ50LD3OUPU?CATID=cat3593
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter08/patterns.php
http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/en/kategori_oversikt.php- clickon the american flag
http://www.berroco.com/pattern_library.html
http://www.ornaghi.it/modelli_en/logged.htm
https://www.ravelry.com/account/login- MUST JOIN
http://www.dailyknitter.com/patterns.html
http://www.craftbits.com/viewCategory.do?categoryID=NED-
http://www.bevscountrycottage.com/patterns.html- you have to search around, but they're there
.http://www.allcrafts.net/





Do you know of others out there that are great? Share them with us.

An old craft revisited and shared

For years I have owned a couple pairs of knitting needles. Determined that one day I would be able to knit as well as crochet. This was not to be. I would try and try and try and I would mess my tension up so badly that I would end up with some kind of mess that looked as though I had tossed my yarn to a cat to bat around. It was okay, I always had my crochet to go back to and I LOVE to crochet. Truly I do. I dream about different yarn color combinations and yarn textures as well as what I could make and for who.

Now here I am pregnant with my 4th child and having to spend more time resting then I want to, hubby's orders. After reading the Twilight Saga twice, my thoughts once again drifted to those knitting needles nestled safely with one of my many piles of stash yarn. ( I'm an addict for yarn, but it's ok I tell my hubby. I like my addiction just fine. ) During one afternoon at nap time I settled myself in with YouTube, yarn, and needles. Whoo Hoo! Victory. Tension was perfect, no dropped stitches and I made myself an over sized washcloth. Used it right away as well so no pictures were taken to share. I liked everything about it. Maybe even more than my crochet ones. The texture, the flexibility. I could not keep my hands off if it. So battling the skin condition of a teenager with this pregnancy, I decided to make a face cloth as well. A rectangular one to use with my bar of soap. Love it! Soaps up beautifully and feels so so good on my skin. Now I am making some granny smith apple green ones for my shop. Really liking green this summer.

My kids naturally wanted to know what I was doing so I got brave and decided I would try to teach my 9 yo. Previously she had wanted to learn crochet but just picking up the hook seems to send her into panic so that will be revisited when she is older. Bracing myself I showed her how to cast on. Amazing! She did it. No tears, no frustration, just wonderful enjoyment of the fiber art. What a gift I felt I was giving her. Then we moved to learning the garter stitch. She is now working on her first washcloth, pink of course, after having made a scarf for one of her barbies. Now she has had to frog this project 3 times so far but has kept with it. Then one day on youtube someone said a nursery rhyme that use to be used to teach kids to knit. Brilliant. Now she says this when she knits and she is doing marvelous. In walks in my 5 yo and 2 yo. They have learned the nursery rhyme as well. The 4 yo is still learning to hold her needles and the 2 yo holds on to them with mommy. My little chanters. This is such a fun adventure to be sharing with them. My 9 yo came up to me the other week. "Mom, I really like having this time with you to make stuff. Just you and me." Smiling I chocked back tears. Still my baby after all. I am pretty sure I would have been crying anyway, pregnant or not. I am so blessed.

So here is the nursery rhyme that now echos in my house instead of cartoons. :)

In the front door,
Around the back,
Take a peek,
Out comes Jack

This is used for the English version of knitting. I do not know if it would be the same for Continental. I think it may be easier for kids to learn English first.

As a side note. My 9 yo who frets at the hook wanted to learn how to do a provisional (invisible) cast on. Daddy (yup, the man is amazing and constantly blows me away. I love it.) stepped in to help her watching youtube with her to learn as I was also learning it. I wish I would have had the camcorder on.

Crochet provisional cast on for knitting

I recently came upon a pattern that called for a provisional cast on. A what?! Yeah that is what I said and I found some really great tutorials online that showed how to do it. However they did not show me what came next. Okay great, I got the done and so now how do I add my main yarn onto the provisional? Here is the most helpful link that I found to do it and I hope that you find it helpful as well. It takes you from doing the crochet provisional cast on right into knitting your first row. Easy peasy!

Crochet Provision Cast on