Supporting the 3 Day Walk for the Cure!

A friend of mine, Anna, from my local knitting group is planning on walking in the Breast Cancer 3 day this year. I have created a  button on my sidebar and hope that some of you will consider supporting her, and donating to this very important cause. She’ll walk 60 miles over the course of three days with thousands of other women and men. The net proceeds will support breast cancer research, education, screening and treatment through Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund.

To that end.. all the proceeds from my  pattern sales in the month of April will go to support Anna’s efforts!

Please, spread the word, and if you would like a button to put on your blog or website email me at Denise at Knitchat dot com and I will be glad to give you the code to do that!

Anna 3 Day

Look for a new pattern some time this month!!

Bookish Thursday: Knitting for Your Teddy Bear!

I love today’s book, for a very specific reason: It teaches you something! Yep.. and darn it all, it involves MATH! Yikes.. yep who knew I would like a book that teaches math!  Hey as a former teacher, home schooling mom, and sometimes knitting instructor yes this book appeals to me for that reason!

Knits for Bears to Wear: More than 20 Fun, Knit-to-Fit Fashions for All Teddies and Toys Including 18-Inch Dolls  by Amy O’Neill Houck, is a great little book! For anyone with a teddy bear collection, or with 18 inch dolls this book is a great find. Or, if you are like me and have a little guy who has a favourite stuffed dog who could use a sweater, this book is for you!

Like I said above this book teaches you something. Each pattern is customized for the size of your stuffed friend or doll by you! Yes. You! Amy provides a little “customizing sidebar’ for each of the projects. You knit up a swatch, pop in the measurements of your toy, and the gauge of your swatch and off you go to a custom fit item for your toy! So rather than blindly following a pattern you learn a bit about customizing! Done in a small way, you can then apply these nice skills to bigger projects down the road! Nothing wrong with that!

Over all the designs are adorable, so if you do choose to simply follow the patterns as written you can’t go wrong.

I might just get ambitious and try to make a matching hoodie for my little guy and his little stuffed doggie. We shall see.. I have a few projects in the works so it’ll have to wait till at least May..

 

And coming soon (out May 5th) is also The Best-Dressed Knitted Bear: Dozens of Patterns for Teddy Bears, Bear Costumes, and Accessories by Emma King, It looks good too, I’ll let ya know!

How To’s Day: My Mitered Valentine..

I gave the members of my knitting guild a little Valentine tonight and thought I would share it with you!

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A little mitered square heart sachet. A simple one. Some of them decided they were going to use it to make a pin cushion!

Now.. it’s written for knitting on needles. However it can be done on a knitting loom easily. Go and look over my Making mitered squares on a knitting loom tutorial. Then simply use a small gauge, or extra small gauge loom, a mini wonder loom, or adjustable loom works best for this; then follow the pattern!

Enjoy!

Here is the link to download the pattern! mitered-square-heart-sachet

Bookish Thursday: Noro! Noro! Noro!

If you are a Noro-phile then today’s book review is definitely for you!

One of Potter Craft’s latest is all Noro all the time, and it’s very nice!

 Knitting Noro: The Magic of Knitting with Hand-Dyed Yarns By Jane Ellison, explores the many wonders of one of the knitter’s favorite yarns Noro. There is nothing like Noro, that mysterious self striping yarn that comes in many flavors and colors! From basic wool to cashmere and silk Noro offers it all, and this book explores the many looks you can produce when using this lovely yarn!

The book is broken up into some basic shapes, tank tops, the chunky cardigan, fitted cardigan, pullover, classic jackets, and wraps. They take these basic forms and spice them up, using different stitches, lengths and techniques to show off the yarn.

This book is a great book for the beginner, who is looking to move into the sweater realm. You can go simple to start and then ramp it up for a totally different look. And one of the great things about Noro is even if you make the same sweater as your friend.. they will have a totally different look! So I see this book as a great knit along volume as well!