Gender Neutral Baby Gift


So I have to admit, I love knitting for babies...but I love it even more when I know the gender. This weekend I am attending a baby shower that I need to get going on(making the gifts...that is). As you can see from above, I have a decent start, but I am far from complete. With all my friends having babies, I seem to have the shower gift down to a science: booties, hat, sweater, stuffed animal, and a few small items from the registry. I like this because I have 3 different square boxes that I stack on top of each other...presentation is everything, right?!? I will have more pictures of the finished products in a few days...along with the lovely 'baby shower packaging'!

So what is your favorite thing to make for a gender neutral shower? Any sweater suggestions?

My First Fair Isle


When I saw the pattern I fell in love. I had never officially done a fair isle project before (ok...so there were a couple hats with block letters, but I made that technique up myself!) and I knew this would be a great project to give it a try. All props go to Jennifer Little of Looking Glass Knits for creating this lovely pattern (Stop by her blog- she has many more wonderful creations for you to try out!). The pattern is straight-forward and well-written, I had no trouble following it.

A sweater this special needed a very special recipient. I had just the little guy in mind. Although I still have not met him, I know he's special. Two of the most wonderful people I have ever met are his parents. Can you believe it- two of them! They are just incredible! Besides great parents, he also has an awesome big brother and grandparents that love him so much(all of which I have the pleasure of knowing!). A boy with family this great is destined for greatness himself, and of course he needed a special sweater to kick things off.

Kelly has been one of my best friends for many years. We met back in middle school and although distance keeps us apart, our friendship continues to grow. In fact, Kelly and I started the Etsy adventure together back in the spring (this is one of her gorgeous flower burst paper collages- LOVE IT!). We have motivated each other and been able to share our successes and challenges. She just reopened her Etsy shop- so make sure you stop by!



So here it is, right before it left Michigan to make the long journey to Kentucky (I wish I could have come with it, Kel!).


The detail of the back makes me love this pattern even more- there's something about that center sheep looking at me!

I'll even give you the 'innards':

So here's to you, JW! I know you have a great life ahead of you!

Parade of Shoes!



Parade of slippers, actually! Today this post is to serve as a link in my Etsy shop. Since the cold weather has started moving in, my fingers have been hard at work making custom slippers. I anticipate that the holiday season will not lessen this trend, and I wanted a place for customers to see slippers I have made in the past. So here they are!












~~~~~ Olive Green~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Aqua Teal~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pumpkin Orange~~~













~~~~~~Dark Purple~~~~~~~~~~~~Tennis Ball Yellow~~~~~~~~~~Mossy Green~~~













~~~~~Golden Harvest~~~~~~~~~~ Granite Gray~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Winter White~~~~













~~~~~~~~Tan~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lilac~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Black~~~~~













~~~~~~~~Yellow~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Coral~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Sage Green~~~













~~~~~Heathered Gray~~~~~~~~~~~ Electric Blue~~~~~~~~~~~~ Burgundy Wine~~~

And we can't forget the ever-popular Heathered Oatmeal!

I originally made myself a pair of Heathered Oatmeal Slippers. Right now am thinking my next pair will be either Granite Gray or Golden Harvest. What color is your favorite?

Happy Slipper Day!

The day has finally arrived. Test knitters have given their input, final edits have been made. This weekend I gained designer status on Ravelry, just in time to officially launch my 'French Press Felted Slippers' pattern.

When I first designed this pattern, my only intention was to sell slippers in my Etsy shop. After a couple weeks I started getting emails from other knitters on Etsy asking if I would sell the pattern. At this point, the pattern was basically scribbles and graph paper charts.

Unlike other felted slipper patterns, these are constructed more like a shoe than a sock. Actually, the development of the pattern relied greatly on one of my favorite pairs of ballet flats. It all started by taking some fabric scraps and tracing each part of the shoe. Once I had the fabric pieces identical to the shoe pieces, I enlarged them to allow for felting and started knitting duplicates!

I would love to say that I assembled the shoe, threw it in the wash, and came out with the perfect slipper...but this would be far from the truth. It took much trial and error(and massive note-taking). In fact, if you were to look back at my twitter feed in April, I'm sure you could find one very frustrated knitter rambling about another messed up slipper.

Needless to say, they came together and the pattern is finally available for purchase on Ravelry and in my Etsy shop. Here's what you'll need:

Yarn: about 330 yards of worsted weight feltable yarn(wool)
My favorite kind to use is Paton's Classic Wool. You need just over a 1 (100 g) skein
Needles: size US 15 (10 metric)
Notions: Darning needle
Tapestry Needle
2 Matching Buttons

And of course, the pattern itself- so go buy it! If you have any questions, you can always post something in "Comments" below.