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Tree-rrific Christmas Stocking
Scroll down for the FREE pattern, or get the inexpensive ad-free PDF in my shop! I’d had a vague idea for a stocking for a few months, but wasn’t sure I would get to it this year. Then last month when I was visiting my best friend we were talking about stockings with her husband, and how their about-to-be-born baby didn’t have one yet. Both of them have stockings that were made for them and I offered to make one for the new baby! The dad-to-be requested that it be green, which immediately put a variation on this design in my head. That one didn’t quite work out, but it…
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Pattern Testing the SilverBell Sweater
Many of you know I have been on a yarn fast for a number of months. As a result that kind of limits the amount of testing I can sign up for. But I was very, very lucky to be given this Winter Nights yarn so I could sign up to test Chantal’s SilverBell Sweater. Because if I was going to make this sweater, I wanted mine to be sparkly too! It was so nice to have the yarn ready to go when the pattern arrived, it feels like that hasn’t happened for quite awhile! Working on this sweater became really addicting. In less than a week I was pretty…
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Free Pattern: Bitty Knit Headband
I needed to do something different for the blog, something other than washcloths. I’m not saying I’m done with those, I just needed some variety. The other thing I needed was something to do with the many little balls of yarn I have left over from miscellaneous projects. I think we all have a lot of scrap yarn lying around. So the Bitty Knit Headband needed to be made. Bitty means “made up of or containing bits” (Merriam-Webster) so it seemed a good name for this headband! After finishing my Fairy Dust socks I was still on the fence about lace. There are so many different lace stitches and motifs…
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Easy Eyelet Yoke Sweater – Round 2
The Easy Eyelet Yoke Sweater designed by Knitatude is one of my most worn items. Because of that, it gets seen a lot. And whenever my mom sees me in it, she comments how much she likes the sweater. So I thought it would be a great thing to make for her birthday! I was a little concerned about making another Lion Brand Chainette Easy Eyelet Yoke (affiliate link) for her sweater since she has more sensitive skin than I do and I have sometimes felt a little itchy around the neck when I wear mine. But as I was contemplating this, Lion Brand released their Mako Cotton (affiliate link)…
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Free Pattern: Cactus Baby Blanket
When one of my friends was pregnant with her second baby, I knew that I wanted to design the baby blanket for this one, rather than finding a pattern to follow! She has loved cacti for a very long time and since there were no knit cactus baby blankets on Ravelry it was time for me to make one. And it turned out he was named Austin, a good hot climate name, appropriate for a cactus. I used Excel to help me design the pattern. I tried doing a different design and testing it before doing a full blanket, but it just frustrated me so I decided to dive right…
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Pattern Testing the Tulip Tank
I was keeping a very close eye out for the pattern test call for this top from Morthunder. I fell in love as soon as I laid eyes on it the first time Morgan posted it. When the call came it was going to be a 5 DAY test! As there are no sleeves of course, it seemed doable so I committed. Shortly after starting the test was extended, though I did still manage to knit it within the original deadline! This pattern doesn’t have sizes, but rather uses your own gauge with whatever yarn you’re using for your tank, plus your body’s measurements to determine your stitch counts. This…
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Pattern Testing the Fairy Dust Socks
It had been feeling like forever since I’d tested for Nicole of Woolfield Studio. I was actually thinking that when I was watching my Instagram stories and saw that she had a testing call for a new sock design! I applied immediately to test the Fairy Dust Socks and started thinking about which yarn I would use. I was pretty sure I was going to use my skein of Angel Aura from Songbyrdy, but then that pile of yarn sitting on a table in my living room kept staring at me. Particularly the skeins of Plume from The Wool Baron. Just to be sure, I put a poll in my…
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Aine Socks Review
I wanted to make these socks because my friend Nicole of Woolfield Studio has made 2 pairs of them and every time I see them I want a pair! I chose this yarn for my Aine socks (by Orange Knits) because Nicole’s are speckled, and I thought it might produce something speckle-like as well. But it turns out this isn’t my favourite yarn. The colours are a little over-saturated and there was more colour than white in it than I was expecting. It’s also high twist, which over time I’ve discovered I don’t love the way it looks just in a cake or skein, and it also feels weird under…
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Pattern Testing the Shag Carpet Shorties
These are my favourite socks! This may be a little premature as I see a number of socks in my near future, but still, I love them! When Nicole of Woolfield.Studio asked if anyone wanted to test these beauties I replied within a minute! Especially since I had just bought a skein of DK that would be perfect – not too varigated or multi-coloured to take away from the gorgeous cables. And using the skein right away meant it didn’t stay in my stash too long and get celebrity status so I became to scared to use it. Now regarding the socks: first of all, DK weight socks knit up FAST.…
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Pattern Testing the Lancet Beanie
It’s been awhile since I’ve made a toque. FYI: A toque is a winter hat in Canada, and I have a hard time using the word beanie. It conjures images of a very different kind of hat, one with a propeller on top. Anyway, while it may seem weird to make winter items like a hat in the summer, it’s actually a great idea since, like socks, they’re fairly small so don’t turn into a blanket as you knit. You’ve seen the pictures, so you can see why I wanted to test this pattern. The cable design is beautifully laid out and I always find it impressive when there are decreases with…
