march feature pattern

I did say the Gretel dress was a hint for this pattern, right? Well, I didn't end up calling it Hansel's shorts or something similar (because that was a bit too silly), but that is where the inspiration came from. The lederhosen are really very simple, and meant to be decorated with embroidery. If you're not so good at embroidery, you can add a belt made from felt with a button belt-buckle. The hat took me a while to figure out, but I really like the results. You need to block it to get the shape right, so you'll need to knit it from wool or something that will block really well. Altogether, I think it's a fun pattern, and I bet kids would get a kick out of playing dress-up with this outfit. Too bad there are none around here to try my patterns out on!

It seems that the kits I put together are popular! I sold 2 already, and hopefully the rest will go while there's still time for them to arrive before Easter. The Fuzzy Knits kits will be available at the end of March, but I'll let you know when I'm ready to list those. I forgot to mention yesterday that the pin cushions are on sale. I've decided to limit my inventory to patterns, toys and kits, since I've had trouble selling my other items. From now on any items I sew will be just for kits. It's too bad really, because the other things are fun to make. But I suppose I can still sew things for myself and my friends.

I think that's all the exciting news I have for today. I think I'll take the rest of the afternoon off and knit something for myself. I started a scarf yesterday from some pretty sock yarn I had lying around. It makes me think of Spring and flowers, and I can't wait for it to be warm enough for me to wear it with my pretty pink jacket.

lucky winner!

There were 11 people who left comments in the last 2 weeks, so you all had a pretty good chance of winning. The lucky person whose name was drawn from the hat by my lovely assistant (Mr. Mitten) is sara!

Could you please send me an email (barbara at fuzzymitten dot com) with your mailing address and the pattern you would like? I will send the pattern as a pdf file, so you can have that right away. If you don't knit, I will include a surprise with the pincushion.

Thanks so much to everyone who left me a nice comment! I hope you all continue to enjoy reading my little blog.

pig-cushion happiness!

pig-cushion
Originally uploaded by baprime

Thanks to my awesome Mr. Mitten, I have solved the problem of the weak magnet inside my pin-cushions. It involves the recycling of a rare-earth magnet that would otherwise be thrown out. I'm not sure what will become of my huge roll of sheet magnet, but I'll figure that out another day.

I would like to thank all the lovely people who visit my blog, whether you regularly leave comments or not. I think I'm over that bit of insecurity :) You can win the pin-cushion in the picture, plus one of my knitting patterns*, just by leaving a comment on any blog post between Oct. 21 and Nov. 3. On Nov. 4 I will put everyone's name in a hat (one entry per person), and draw the winner. I will announce the winner on my blog, and the lucky person will need to send me an email (barbara { at } fuzzymitten {dot} com) with their mailing address and pattern choice.

I will hopefully be making more of these in the next few weeks, so you will have a chance to buy one from my Etsy shop if you don't win. I have other cute fabrics too, in case you don't like pigs.

* if you don't knit, I will think of some other surprise to send with the pin-cushion.

Pin cushions continued...

Pin cushions
Originally uploaded by baprime

Here are my experiments for the day. Things did not go nearly as smoothly as I had imagined, but isn't life like that?

The one on the left has 2 pieces of sheet magnet inside, which turned out to be not nearly enough to hold a needle, let alone a bunch of pins like I imagined. I do like the shape of it, although this was finally accomplished on the third try and by hand-sewing most of it. Small things on sewing machines are difficult to get as perfect as I want them.

The one on the right was also hand-sewn, but on the outside in a decorative stitch. I don't like this one as much - the edges look untidy, and the shape is not very pleasing. Hopefully I can make something prettier from the rest of that fabric.

I sunk into a bit of despair, after discovering the magnet doesn't work the way I wanted. It didn't help I started out feeling a bit insecure this morning, for whatever reason. I spent a lot of money on the magnet (after Canada Post lost my first order). I thought I might actually sell a few if I had something different and useful, since there are already plenty of lovely pin cushions for sale on Etsy.

My husband tries to remind me that you can never tell if the things that happen to you are good or bad, you must be patient and see what comes of them. Something that seems bad one day, turns out to be great the next. It's true - I've seen it happen in my own life. But I'm not good at remembering this advice, and wallow in my grumpiness for a while, until something else takes my attention away from the problem.

If I can figure out the problems with my pin cushions, I think I will make up a few more, and have a give-away on my blog. Something to say thanks for all the lovely comments you leave me.

secret pattern

The new secret pattern is coming along well. I decided it would be my entry for the Holiday Softies contest, and I guess that was the motivation I needed to start working on it again. I'll just say that it's very different from my other toy patterns, but it seems to be pretty cute anyway :)

Hopefully I will soon have more time to knit toys for my shop, because the holidays are approaching quickly and I feel so unprepared!

I now have all the materials I need for a new item for my shop - pincushions! And these will be special too, because they'll have a magnetic dish to hold the pins. Keeping in line with my Fuzzy Mitten theme, they will be partially made of cute fabrics and soft wool felt. Now I just need to sew them :)