Major Knitter

Little Bunny Cosy Class

The second class I'll be teaching this month is for the slightly more involved Little Bunny Cosy by Julie Williams

Saturday, March 21 - 11:00 a.m. 

 

3/21 - You'll make the bunny in a striped sweater.  Beginner-Intermediate skills. Knit flat.  Sewn together. Skills: + k2tog, K3tog, P3tog, inc, M1R and M1L.  Supplies:  fingering weight yarn x3 colors, US size 1 and 2 straight knitting needles, tapestry needle, black worsted weight yarn for eyes and mouth, small amount of fiber fill.

 

Hoppy Easter!

Contact Westport Yarns today to sign up for the class.  

Westport Yarns
582 Post Road East
Westport, CT 06880, US
+1 203-454-4300

Learn How to Knit Your Own Easter Egg Heirlooms

I'll be teaching my first class at Westport Yarns this Saturday, March 14th from 11 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

You'll make either the chicken or the solid bunny.  Pattern for both cozies provided.  Knit flat.  Sewn together.  Beginner knitting skills +K2tog, turn, K3tog, basic embroidery.  Supplies:  worsted weight yarn, US Size 6 straight knitting needles, yarn needle, googly eyes,  small amount of yellow felt for the beak, sewing needle and yellow thread, accent yarn (black, pink, white for bunny eyes, nose, whiskers).  

*Note - for the chicken you'll also need a US Size 1 or 2 straight knitting needle and fingering weight yarn for the crown.  If you know how to crochet, you can also crochet the crown with a B or C crochet hook.

 

These are cute and simple decorations that make such a hit.  I am often asked to make and sell these decorations.  Come take the class and you can learn how to knit your own!

Hoppy Easter!

Contact Westport Yarns today to sign up for the class.  

Westport Yarns
582 Post Road East
Westport, CT 06880, US
+1 203-454-4300

 

 

 

 

 

Easter Bunnies Galore

For the last two days I've spent my knitting time stitching noses on 82 bunnies.  Then I stitched eyes on 82 bunnies.  Finally I added whiskers on 82 bunnies.  After the photo shoot, I very happily marked each color set of bunnies (pink, white, yellow, blue, lilac and sea foam green) as FINISHED on my Ravelry queue.  There's no greater feeling than checking that box.

Which picture do you like better - the mixed colors or the sorted colors?

Now I'm ready for the holiday.  Hoppy Easter.

Being Silly is a Good Thing

I like things that are silly.  They make me smile.  They make me laugh.  Silly is good.

So when I saw this picture on Facebook yesterday, I got a very good laugh.

And I immediately thought of Ritchie Valens.  No, not that one!  

This one.  He is the one and only Ritchie Valens - the dog. He's my nephew's mixed breed Chihuahua-something dog.  He's so cute!  When I saw that picture on FB, I knew I needed to knit a hat for Ritchie Valens.

My nephew has a yellow watch cap for his FB profile picture, so I decided to knit a yellow cap for Ritchie too.  Here's my American Girl Doll modeling Ritchie's new hat.  See the ear holes?

Enjoy Ritchie.  I can't wait to see the picture.

The Whole Woodland Animal Crew

Hail!  Hail! The gang's all here.  And so we welcome you.

Here are all five woodland animals who made the trek to Iowa.  

Cute Hedgehog Alert!

Hedgehogs are all the rage lately.  Therefore it was an easy decision to add one to my Woodland Animals toy collection.

I used:

• Julie Williams' Little Oddment Hedgehog pattern
• US Size 1 needles
• Knit Picks Palette - Lynx Heather, Wheat Heather and Black

He's teeny tiny.

And filled with adorable personality.  Sort of like this baby hedgehog taking a bath.  

 

Too cute.

Who? Who. Who!

My fourth critter of the Woodland Animal set is the little owl.

He's less than three inches tall - cute and cuddly - and makes a great addition to the group.

• Cordell the Owl by Knit-a-Zoo
• US Size 1 needles
• Knit Picks - Brown heather, gold, cream

 

 

This Rabbit Doesn't Want To Be

I'm having so much fun knitting a slew of animal toys, but for some reason the rabbit doesn't want to be.  

The first one just didn't knit up to the cute shapes from the pattern.  I was knitting too tightly - something that rarely happens to me. Instead of a cute body and head, I ended up with a skinny sausage looking thing for a body and a rat's head to boot.  This one quickly went the way of the circular file.

It really does look like a dead mouse.  Eew.

Then I decided to go back to a tried and true favorite - Bunny Egg Cosy by Julie Williams - aka Little Cotton Rabbits.  I finished the arms, ears, and head and was in the home stretch.  But NO, I either got a little cocky, distracted or just plain had an out of body experience, because I sewed the ears onto the nose of the head.  

So into the trash pile it went.

Third time's a charm, right?  I knit two ears and a head.  This time I carefully noted the ear placement and tacked them on in the correct position.

Finally, the head has the correct shape.  Now to modify the body and add eggs so I will have a finished bunny rabbit.

Time to hop to it.  

Snow Day - Again!

It's the second week of the semester and our schools closed for another snow day.  The kiddos are loving this schedule!  We got 10-12 inches of snow and after shoveling it all day, I came inside and enjoyed a hot cup of tea and sat in my Knit Nook to enjoy the snow day with some knitting.

I snapped this picture of the snowy day from a window in the Knit Nook.  Then I realized only half my Barbie Dolls were wearing hand knit items. And since I had nothing better to do (well, except that To Do list a mile long), I decided to design a swimsuit cover-up for Barbie.

Here's what I came up with using some unlabeled sport weight cotton yarn in my stash and a US Size 5 needle.  After a bit of sitting, watching TV, and knitting - my newest creation was complete.  I think I picked this project because it gave me the illusion of being in a warm, sunny clime.  

Maybe I should knit a swimsuit cover-up for myself.

Outlander - Donalda Gilchrist's Wool Waulking Mitts

My favorite scene, well, one of my favorite scenes from Starz Outlander based on the novels by Diana Gabaldon, is the wool waulking scene where Claire helps Donalda Gilchrist and the women of the village set the dye in the wool with ammonia, er, hot pi$$.  

It's really hard to get a good look at these mitts but this is what I came up with for my version.

You can find this pattern in my Ravelry store - aka Major Knitter's PX.

Once again, you'll notice that I used my favorite Outlander wool, which is readily available across America:  Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool in Brown Heather.  

For the mitts, I used a US size 7 (4.5 mm) needles. 

And of course, there's always a freebie.  I worked out a miniature version of the Wool Waulking Mitts to fit my American Girl Doll or any 18" doll.  I included those directions in the pattern, too.  These used a bit of fingering weight yarn (Knit Picks Palette Hale Heather) and US Size 2 (2.75 mm) needles.

I hope you enjoy knitting the Outlander Series patterns as much as I enjoy creating them.