I just started working on a new project.  I'm knitting (and crocheting) teddy bears for kids in the cancer ward here in Egypt.  One of my neighbors attends the local catholic church and she shared a newsletter with me calling on knitters to make some bears.  I met with the woman who is organizing the project and she gave me a knitting pattern.  The pattern comes from a organization based in the UK called Teddies for Tragedies .  On their web site I found a lot of information about making the bears as well as other charity projects that you can get involved in.  While I'm not officially making bears for the Teddies for Tragedies charity it seems like a good organization.  In addition to the knitting pattern they also have a crochet pattern .  So far I've made one of each.  Which one do you like best? Cheers, Jenn

I made this purse for my mom for Christmas. I used the Mason-Dixon Linoleum dishcloth pattern . I used Lily sugar and cream cotton yarn in three shades of blue... navy and the darker and lighter shade from their denim collection. I repeated the pattern 7 times instead of 3 (three for each sides of the purse and then an extra to make the flap. I then lined the purse with fabric and made a crotchet strap. It was really easy and made a nice smallish purse that is perfect for everyday use. Jenn

Today is my youngest daughter's 3rd birthday... and for the occasion I made her this Kitty purse and I designed the following change purse to match. I'm including my instructions for making it. It was very simple to make and she enjoyed it a lot. Enjoy! EDIT December 2012 there is now a crochet version of the kitty change purse HERE . Using worsted weight yarn and size 7 needles CO 15 Knit all rows until it is about 8 inches long K2tog, K 11, K2tog (13) K2tog, K 9, K2tog (11) K2tog, k7, K2tog (9) BO Ears Make 2 Co 5 on a size 5 needle Row 1 - K1, P1, K1, P1, K1 Row 2 - K1, P1, K1, P1, K1 Row 3 - P2tog, K1, P2tog Row 4 - P1, K1, P1 Row 5 - K3tog Cut yarn and pull end through remaining loop. Loop for button crochet on a f or g hook a chain of 8 Bow for ears crochet a chain of 22 and tie in bow. To assemble: Weave all ends in that are not necessary for attaching the pieces together. Fold over like an envelope and sew the face of the kitty on the flap. Use your imagination...

I have been creative in many other areas of my life lately... I've been writing music, keeping up with my foodlore blog , and coming up with a lot of new creative ideas that I plan to work on "someday"... but my knitting and crochetting have turned stale. I'm feeling a rut coming on... and I don't mean "an annually recurrent state of sexual excitement"... because that would make for some interesting crafting...I mean the stale boring kind of rut like the path worn by a wheel. I'm getting bored with making dishcloths... but I don't seem to have the time or attention to make much else. Anyone else feel this way sometimes? Is it time to take a break from it and concentrate on other creative ventures until I find inspiration... or do I just keep plugging through until I break through the barrier and find something new to do?

I have been knitting up a storm lately for my nephew who will be born at the end of September. Here are a few of the gifts that I made for him. The links go to my Ravelry project pages... and you can find the free patterns there. These Chucks were so fun to make. They were my first booties... and my first project with a color change in the middle of the row. They were not particularly difficult... in fact I'm sure I will be making more of these for expecting friends in the future. Some of the ladies at the shower put in requests for friends. I made this ribbed baby hat to go with the Chucks... No hip baby should be without a black beanie and matching shoes! I know the doll modeling this hat is a bit creepy... but hey creepy is good! Here is babies first tattoo . Since it is illegal to ink your little brat... I thought this classic tattoo design would be more appropriate done in yarn. And here is a little sock monkey . I used the anything animal pattern... added a sock-monkey-...

I made these little toys for my kids months ago (before I started this blog)... but since I haven't posted in a while I thought I'd share them with you. The basic pattern is called the Anything Animal. You can find the pattern HERE . To make the rabbit I just followed the basic pattern. For Olivia the pig I added a nose adapted from a from THIS finger puppet pattern. I also used the bunny ears... but simply made them wider and shorter. This pattern is cool because you can make such a wide variety of toys out of one simple pattern. The adaptations are only limited to your imagination. If you are a member of Ravelry you can look HERE for a cool giraffe based on the same pattern. In the future I'd like to knit these in the round and make I-chords for the limbs. I have been knitting lately... but most of the stuff I'm making is for a baby shower that I won't be attending until the end of July. I don't want to spoil the surprise so I haven't had a lot of new...

I just finished knitting this retro ribbed hand towel and the tweedish cloth in these really bright colors... Now I just have to find someone to give them to... Anyone have a bright orange kitchen??? I'm trying to finish a bunch of projects I have on the needles right now. Many of these I won't be able to post here until August because they are a surprise for my brother and sister-in-law who will be having a baby soon. I'm not sure if they read my knitting blog... but better safe than sorry. Cheers, Jenn

It seems like these days when I'm not doing dishes I'm knitting dishcloths. Why you ask? Why would anyone want to spend time to make something to wash the dishes with? There are many reasons really...Dishcloth yarn is cheap,the projects are small and easy to take with you, AND the finished project is useful. The one pictured to the left is just a color work sampler...I wanted to see what certain slip stitch patterns looked like so instead of knitting up a swatch that would be useless later I can knit up a dishcloth to learn a new skill. Another reason is my kids love them and use them as blankets for toys both in the bath and out... in fact my daughters are always asking "Is that one for me???" Dish/washcloths also make great last minute gifts with a nice bar of soap or other bath product. I was looking at patterns on Ravelry and found a spring washcloth that I designed as a weekly KAL on one of the groups... somebody had taken the time to link my pattern in Ravelry....

For Mother's day I knit up a few book marks for my mother, my mother-in-law, and two of my sister-in-laws and gave them as gifts with a book. What a great way to practice a lace pattern. Bookmarks are small so if you make a mistake frogging it is simple... and you can see what a lace pattern will look like in miniature. I got two of the patterns off Ravelry... and the other two bookmarks I used the stitch pattern from the wrap I'm working on. This cute little project is called a bunny nugget. The pattern is located here. I found knitting the ears in the round almost impossible. I don’t know why… but a small number of stitches on DPNs are almost impossible for me… I found myself cursing so much I just knit them flat. I also knit the whole body on DPNs instead of transfering to circular for the bind off… I just did the 3 needle bindoff on 2 DPN and used the third to bind off.

This is Pachy the Pachyderm... I made him for my nephew who is celebrating his first birthday today. He was rather easy to knit up. You just knit two "gingerbread man" bodies from the feet up and stitch then together. All you need to know for this project is how to knit...there are no purl stitches in this project. You also need to know how to increase by knitting into the front and back of a stitch. Knowing how to do a single cast on is important so that you can add stitches onto the needle for the arms....other than that you just knit each row. This is a true beginner project and the kids love it. As far as materials go you just need some grey worsted weight yarn and whatever eyes you wish to use. I also made a little red scarf for him in garter stitch by casting on 5 and knitting until it tied nicely around his neck. Here are the basic instructions... but you can easily make him bigger or smaller by changing the original width of his legs: I started by casting on 1...

A friend of mine is having a baby in June and is planning on using cloth diapers. A few months ago she asked me if I'd ever heard of woolies or soakers ... and if I knew how to make them. I didn't know at the time... but after a little research and some good information from one of my knitting lists I learned what I needed to know. Soakers are wool diaper covers that go on the outside of the diaper to help draw moisture away while staying dry on the outside. Wool has some pretty amazing properties and I'm really interested to hear how well they work. I just finished my first attempt... I plan on trying out several different styles and making them in a few different sizes so that she can figure out which ones work the best. I thought this one came out a little crudely... but cute all the same. I had forgotten how small a new born butt was... I got my pattern here . I will post other attempts in the future.

After all the spring color I decided I wanted to knit something a bit more natural. This washcloth knit using the seed stitch for a border and a wheat cable and bamboo stitch for the body is what I came up with. This washcloth along with my spring washcloth knit in honey colors (it does after all look like a honeycomb) would make an excellent gift with some oatmeal and honey bath products. Wheat Washcloth Instructions ***Edit*** It was pointed out to me that Rows 1 & 3 should end PKPK, Rows 2 & 4 should start KPKP... if you do it as the pattern instructs there will be a slight glitch in how the top and side boarders match up and it won't be a true seed pattern. I will rewrite the pattern after I've done another test knit to see if there are any other things I missed. K-knit P-purl yo- yarn over Sl-slip stitch from one needle to the other You need size 7 or similar size knitting needle, a cable needle or DPN and any natural looking cotton worsted weight yarn. Cast on...

I love making little toys especially finger puppets. It is so easy to come up with cute variations on a simple pattern. I knit this one up in less than an hour...so if you hurry you can make a few just in time for Easter. It would also be cute to knit the whole body in a chocolate brown...kind of like a guilt free chocolate bunny! The cool thing about this is that you don't need any specific yarn...any worsted yarn will work. It is a perfect way to use up all those little scraps of yarn in your stash. Peter Rabbit Finger Puppet K- Knit P- Purl K2tog - Knit 2 together as one stitch For this project I just used scrap yarn in blue for the shirt (like peter rabbits jacket in the Potter stories) and brown for the head and ears. I used the same blue as the shirt to make the eyes and a scrap of pink yarn to stitch the nose. I made this puppet using size 3 double pointed needles… but if you don’t have that size any similar size would probably produce similar results. You can also kn...

It's Springtime and as a result I've been experimenting with color. I've decided that I'm going to focus on learning new techniques by writing patterns for wash cloths. Not only do they make practical gifts... but they are easy, inexpensive and portable projects that make a great way to learn new things. Here is the first of many patterns that I plan to write and share here on my new craft blog. Abbreviations and Stitches Used K - knit P - purl Sl wyif - Slip the number of stitches instructed with yarn in front. Sl wyib - Slip the number of stitches instructed with yarn in back. C1 - Color 1 C2 - Color 2 RS - right side Cast on 38 stitches in C1 onto US size 7 needles 1-4 Knit C1 5 Knit C2 (RS) 6 Knit C2 7 C1- K6 *Sl2 wyib, K6; repeat from * 2 times, Sl2, K6 8 C1- K4, P2 * Sl2 wyif, P6; repeat from * 2 times, Sl2, P2, K4 9-12 Repeat rows 7 & 8 2 times 13-16 C2 Knit 17 C1- K10, * Sl 2 wyib, K6; repeat from * 2 times, K4 18 C1 K4, P6, *Sl2 wyif, P6; repeat from * 2 ti...