What There's Time For

Snowflake Thank You Notes DOWNLOAD!

If you've ever been bashing your head against the wall trying to print a design evenly spaced in the four quadrants of a standard sized paper, I can tell you that your problem has something to do with built-in printer margins.

At first I thought I'd have to go find out what the standard margins are, do some math, go through some painful trial and error to see if my layout was properly compensating...

But it turns out you can just go to the amazing Avery website and download one of their (free) postcard templates.  The one that matches your needs.  I used the Postcard - wide, 4 per sheet template and it worked like a charm.

Except make sure you save the template on its own once and then as a different file name when you've added your designs, because you might need to go back to the empty template later.

For instance, my first two cards printed perfectly (on my printer, at least - someone please test and tell me it works for you, too!) and then I figured I'd just replace the big front snowflakes and re-save.  It all looked fine, but when it printed, the info on the back of the card was printing off the page.  I have no idea why, but from my limited computer programming experience, I can tell you there is a reason, but it is not likely a reasonable reason.

Anyway, my advice is: start with a fresh template every time.

But you don't need to know any of that to print my snowflake word art thank you's; all you have to do is:

1. Download the .doc files for  Snowflake Thank You Notes 1 and 2 and  Snowflake Thank You Notes 3 and 4 (by clicking on those links, there, Mom).  These are sized for 8.5"X11" paper.  (And I'd recommend a heavy-weight paper so it feels substantial.)
2. Open one file at a time in Microsoft Word and use the menu Print option (not the print icon) so that you can make sure your print quality is set to "High" (a lot of the design lines are very very fine, so the cards won't look great at standard quality).
3. When you actually press Print, you might get some sort of warning saying something is outside the printable area...  tell it to go ahead anyway and everything should be fine.
4. Cut the pages down the middle (at 5.5") and fold over.
5. Pour out your gratitude and put it in the mail!

As I think probably goes without saying, these cards are free to print for personal use (please retain the web address, etc. on the back of the card).  You can't print and sell them, nor extract the snowflake designs for other purposes!

Thanks for all your enthusiasm about these yesterday.  I really appreciate it.  :)

Last-Minute Adorable - a hat tutorial with free pattern

I've been wracking my brain trying to come up with a gift Shmoogie and Mr. LearningTheJoyOfGivingPants could "make" for each other.  I happened across a description of Elizabeth Zimmerman's "Ganomy Hat", which has mitered decreases running up at the ears so that triangular semi-flaps push down to keep the ears warm, and that idea inspired this construction for a hat sewn out of felted sweaters.  (Now that I've actually seen a picture of the knitted hat, this one doesn't bear much resemblance, but I thought you might be curious to know where the idea came from.)  

This is a very quick project, especially if you already have a felted sweater on hand (wash a 100% wool sweater on hot and, if that wasn't enough, tumble dry with heat).  I've made two of them now (one for each of the kids) so this pattern has had exactly one round of editing.  Therefore, please keep a light heart in using it!  Constructive comments are most welcome.  Perhaps I will be able to refine it in the future and offer it with a full size range for a small fee.

You will need:

• A felted wool sweater (or several in contrasting/coordinating colors); you can also use commercial boiled wool, but the fit will be tighter; wool felt will not have enough stretch to be comfortable, I think; polar fleece might work, since it also does not require finishing the edges
• An iron, a towel, and a press cloth (just a piece of thin cotton) to help with finishing
• Soft ribbon or twill tape for ties
• Basic sewing supplies

A note about fit:  The materials you use will affect the fit quite a bit.  The "small" size here made up in one layer of commercial boiled wool and one layer of felted sweater fits Shmoogie (14 months) well, but snug.  In some ways, I would prefer it come down a bit further beyond her ears.  You can add a half-inch at the "bottom" edges of the pattern pieces if you want to make it a little bigger.  The same size "small" made up in two layers of felted sweater, which has a lot more stretch than the boiled wool, is the fit Mr. LearningTheJoyOfGivingPants prefers for himself.  I made a size "medium" that I thought would be good for him, but he didn't (and I'm only offering the size "small" for now).   I will say that the change in head size from an infant to an adult is much less than the change in size of the rest of the body.  And that most of that change (I think this is accurate) happens in the first year of life.  That is, Shmoogie's head is not so much smaller than her brother's (he's almost 4).

Instructions:

• Download the pattern pieces you need:   Download Size Small Top, Download Size Small Side.  I've never tried this downloadable pattern thing, so let me know (nicely) if there are problems.  There is a measurement given on the Top piece to help you convince yourself it printed properly.  Each piece should fit on a standard US letter paper.
• Cut out your pattern pieces, making sure to cut the top piece on the fold and to cut the two side pieces as mirror images of each other.  Using two layers of wool in contrasting colors is fun and adds warmth, but makes the hat fit more snugly, so bear that in mind depending on the recipient.  (It also makes the sewing a little more tricky.)  If you use two layers, treat them as one when sewing.
• With right sides together, start from the point at the top of the head and machine sew the two back pieces to the front piece along the "side of head seam", using a very scant seam allowance (approx 1/8") and a small stitch length.  If you are using one layer of wool, you can probably pin the seam if that helps you.  If you are using two layers of wool, pinning will cause big problems, so either just hold the pieces carefully together, checking the alignment as you sew, or baste them together by hand before using the machine.  If you baste, I'd recommend basting about a half-inch away from the edge so there is no chance your machine stitches will catch the basting thread.
• As you start the second seam, you may find the extra thickness building up at the point gives you some trouble with the machine.  Be patient and use the hand wheel to get started.  Also, you don't have to stitch to the bitter end of the point!  I promise - the material is so thick and the point so narrow that a small opening will disappear when you turn it right side out.
• With right sides together, stitch the "back of head seam" from the point to the neck.  The note above about the extra thickness at the point goes doubly here!  And it's possible that even if you got away without basting the side seams, you may want to baste this last one.
• Press the seams: using a high wool setting and your press cloth, steam your seams open.  NEVER PRESS THE IRON DIRECTLY TO THE WOOL - if the metal of the iron directly touches the wool without the press cloth in between, it will create a shiny patch that is not fixable.  This will make you sad.  :(  With a press cloth, though, you can apply as much pressure as you want with no problems.  I found a tailor's ham helpful, but you can also roll up a towel to put inside the hat under the seam you are pressing.  And you don't have to have a steam iron or use the steam setting, you can spray water on the seam or on the press cloth and it will work great.
• Sew on the ties and any decoration (Shmoogie's pictured here has small circles of contrasting wool stitched on with a big center cross stitch, like buttons; I overlapped them by about 1/3 and then they did that cute curly frilly thing on their own.  I'm planning multi-colored fringe for Mr. LearningTheJoyOfGivingPants.)

And what part of this did the kids help with, you're probably wondering?  Mr. LearningTheJoyOfGivingPants helped with the decoration of Shmoogie's - we talked about the alternating color pattern, figuring out which color was next, and I placed the needle in the fabric and he pushed it through and then pulled the thread through (for some of them - realistically, I did most of them).  He also LOVES cutting the thread at the end.  I think I'll manage to get Shmoogie to pull the thread through once or twice (at 14 months, she doesn't know the difference, but I want to be able to honestly tell her brother that she helped).  Use a tapestry needle and embroidery floss and knot the thread onto the needle so it doesn't get pulled out every stitch if you're working with a young child.

Visiting (and a Knitted Flower Pattern!)

Now that I have some crafting years under my belt, it turns out that visiting people we care about also means visiting beloved projects of the past, which is awfully fun!

This quilt is possibly my favorite yet.  I had no access to new fabric at the time, so I hauled out all the pink, purple, and yellow fabric from my stash... and discovered that I hated most of it.  Remembering that one excellent quilter (and good friend) believes that every quilt needs a little "poison" to make it really good, I forged ahead and made pinwheel after pinwheel with random match-ups of the prints... and hated most of them.  With no other materials to work with, I kept going, laying the blocks out in several variations and finally...

I loved it!  And I still do.

I also love Harry Potter.  And I had a lot of fun two Christmases ago making a Gryffindor scarf for my awesome potterophile brother-in-law.

I knitted it as a tube (stitched closed) so that both sides would match and I did the lions in duplicate stitch when it was all done (because it was kind of last minute and I needed time to fiddle with the design - a simplification of the Heraldic Lion from the New Carolingian Modelbook - but it also isn't a pattern well-suited to stranded knitting in the round).

If I ever did it again (not bloody likely!), I'd leave more space for the lion to be rampant on (he needs some breathing space, especially at the bottom) and I'd try to make him less squat.  (I think a big tassel fringe would look good, but many opinions concurred it would be insufficiently manly.)  All in all, for a first result knit in less than one month (the second lion had to get finished after presents were opened on Christmas Day), I was pretty happy with it.  And I'm really happy to have some photos of it finally!

One more gift I gave before getting photos - last Christmas's Esme hat for DiDi (she asked for "smokey grey").  I experimented a little and came up with this flower to use instead of a button and I really love the three-dimensional effect it has.  Pattern below for you!  Can't you think of a million things you'd like to put a nice curly-petaled flower on?

 Pretty Pointy-Petal Knitted Flower Pattern

 

(My usual caveats apply - these are basically my notes to myself from the ONE time I knitted this.  I think it's accurate, but let me know if you discover mistakes, please!)

Start with the center bobble - cast on 3 st to a dpn and knit as I-cord*, increasing 2 st per row until you have 7 st, and then decreasing 2 st per row back down to 3.  Break yarn and tie the starting tail to the ending tail.  (Keep that knot to the back as you knit the petals.)

For each of 5 petals:
Pick up 3 sts from side of bobble.
Row 1: Sl1, k1, sl1
Row 2: Purl
Row 3: Sl1, m1, k1, m1, sl1
Row 4: Purl
Row 5: Sl1, m1, k1, m1, sl1, m1, k1, m1, sl1
Row 6: Purl
Row 7: Sl1, k3, m1, sl1, m1, k3, sl1
Row 8: Purl
Row 9: Ssk, k1, k2tog, sl1, ssk, k1, k2tog
Row 10: Purl
Row 11: Ssk, k1, sl1, k1, k2tog
Row 12: Purl
Row 13: Ssk, sl1, k2tog
Row 14: P2tog, p
Row 15: Ssk

Weave in ends and attach to your project.  :)

 * I-cord just means knit across the row, then slide to the other side of your dpn, pull the working yarn tight across the back of the stitches, and knit the row again in the same direction.  Repeat.  Very simple.

A Free Knitting Pattern for the Brave

 The rufflicious pinafore (submitted to Angry Chicken's Alice in Wonderland Apron Challenge - I'll let you know when the gallery gets posted - looks like that won't be until early June) finally got it's day in the sun for a photo shoot!  And here, to the best of my ability, is the pattern.  For the brave not because it's difficult but because I have never written down a pattern for public consumption before and have no time to devote to test knitting it all over again!  Please let me know if you do knit it and how it turned out or what needs to be fixed!

The yarn shopping adventure can be found here, and the work in progress here with discussion of ruffle madness and here with some detail shots.  And my mixed feelings about the Alice theme here.  :)

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Alice in Wonderland Pinafore

I knitted this for my baby (almost 7 months old in the picture above), but the apron shape is so simple that you can easily adapt it to measurements for any child (small is good because the ruffles get to be a lot of knitting).  I think it would look most adorable on, say, a one-year-old that can stand up and show it off.

 

I was working with 100% cotton "Puntino" from Lana Grossa.  It took nearly two 50g/160m balls (almost half of it was in the ruffles).  My gauge was 30 st to 4" and 40 rows to 4".

 

For the Waistband:

Cast on 14 st

row 1 and r 2:  knit

r 3: sl1 knitwise, k1, *p1, k1*[repeat  between * 5 times], k2

r 4: sl1 knitwise, k1, *k1, p1*[repeat 5 times], k2

r 5: sl1 knitwise, k1, *k1, p1*[repeat 5 times], k2

r 6: sl1 knitwise, k1, *p1, k1*[repeat 5 times], k2

 

Repeat rows 3-6 until (stretched!) band is desired circumference of waist plus a little bit for the buttons (mine was 20" stretched, 22" really stretched, and 18.5" relaxed after stretching).

 

 Work two button holes.  For my buttons, I did it this way:

r1:  work three st in pattern, knit next stitch, turn work

r2(ws):  sl1 purlwise, work three st in pattern, turn work

repeat rows 1&2 one more time.

leave main yarn connected, get new short length of yarn.

with new yarn,

r1:  sl1 knitwise, work four st in pattern, k1

r2(ws):  sl1 purlwise, work four st in pattern, p1

repeat rows 1&2 one more time.  cut yarn, leaving tail long enough to weave in.

with another short length of yarn, work the mirror image of the first section.

Now, go back to the beginning of the row and the main length of yarn.

With main yarn, work two ridges of garter stitch across all stitches.  Bind off and weave in ends.

 

Pick up for apron bib:

Determine the center of the waistband and how wide you want the apron bib to be, then count to where you should start picking up stitches.  (I wanted a 5" total width, which meant picking up 26 st, 13 on each side of the center point.)  Pick up (but do not knit yet) one stitch between each bump, work with the wrong side of the work facing you and working right to left (so that when you are done, you will turn the work around and knit the first row from the right side of the work; the edge of the waistband will be exposed on the outside of the pinafore and the picking up of stitches looks rather like a row of machine stitching just inside the edge of the waistband).

Foundation row (a right side row):  sl1, k1, k1, p1, k1, k2, *k1, yo*[repeat between * 11 times], k1, k2, k1, p1, k1, k2

r 1(ws): sl1 knitwise, k1, p1, k1, p1, k2, p23, k2, p1, k1, p1, k2

r 2:  sl1 knitwise, k1, p1, k1, p1, k2, k23, k2, p1, k1, p1, k2

r 3:  sl1 knitwise, k1, k1, p1, k1, k2, p23, k2, k1, p1, k1, k2

r 4:  sl1 knitwise, k1, k1, p1, k1, k2, k23, k2, k1, p1, k1, k2

Repeat rows 1-4 until bib is a half inch short of desired height, then work first and last 7 st in pattern while working two ribs of garter stitch on middle 21 st.

 

Work first 7 st, bind off 21 st, put first 7 st on holder.

 

Work straps:  Work on last 7 st only, continuing pattern, until strap is desired length.  Bind off.  Work second strap to match.

 

Pick up for apron skirt:

Do this in the same manner as for the bib, but wider.  I picked up 40 st, so it looked like this:

25 yo

Foundation row (a right side row):  sl1, k1, k1, p1, k1, k2, *k1, yo*[repeat between * 25 times], k1, k2, k1, p1, k1, k2

r 1(ws): sl1 knitwise, k1, p1, k1, p1, k2, p51, k2, p1, k1, p1, k2

r 2:  sl1 knitwise, k1, p1, k1, p1, k2, k51, k2, p1, k1, p1, k2

r 3:  sl1 knitwise, k1, k1, p1, k1, k2, p51, k2, k1, p1, k1, k2

r 4:  sl1 knitwise, k1, k1, p1, k1, k2, k51, k2, k1, p1, k1, k2

Repeat rows 1-4 until skirt is about an inch short of desired length (minus ruffle) ending with a wrong side row, then work 8 rows (or what looks good to you) of the double moss stitch border (r1: *k1, p1*; r2: *p1, k1*; r3: *p1, k1*; r4: *k1, p1*) but keeping the two stitches of garter stitch at the edges.  Do NOT bind off.  You should have ended with a wrong side row.

 

Ruffle edging on skirt:

Now, place a marker at the end of your needle and with the front of the work facing you, pick up (but do not knit!) st along the right edge of the skirt in a multiple of 5 (working from bottom to top of the work; I had 25 picked up st on each side o the skirt).  Now, knit across all the stitches you picked up, slip the marker onto your working needle, knit across all the stitches remaining (the bottom of the skirt), place another marker, and then pick up AND KNIT stitches along the left side of the skirt.  Let's consider what you just did to be row 1.  Now you are ready to work the first wrong side row of the ruffle (i.e. row 2).  (Be cautious, I just noticed that one side of my apron ended up with twisted stitches in the first row of the ruffle.  I don't know how!)

 

r 2(and all even rows):  purl

r 3:  *k2, yo, k1, yo, k2*  except that when you come to a corner marker (which should be at the end of a repeat), do one yarn over before starting the next repeat.  This creates a stitch on which to build a stem of yo's at the corner.  From here on out, you'll need to watch for the corner and make sure your yo's land in the right place because I didn't take good enough notes while I was working, sorry!  It just means sometimes working an extra knit stitch or two or three before doing the yo, k1, yo at the corners.

r 5:  *k3, yo, k1, yo, k3* 

r 7:  *k4, yo, k1, yo, k4, yo* (that last yo is creating a stitch on which to build a second tier of yo increases between the ones we're already doing)

r 9:  *k5, yo, k1, yo*

r 11: *k7, yo, k1, yo*

r 13:  k1, *yo, k2tog* (don't worry about the corners on this row, you can take off the markers if you haven't already)

r 15:  bind off (LOOSELY!)

 

Ruffle edging on straps:

Same as on skirt, but without corners, of course. (And without that complicated picking up and knitting business.)

 

Finishing:  Attach straps to back of waistband, attach buttons to waistband, attach edges of ruffles to waistband, and weave in ends.  :)