holiday dress charts

I have two new designs for you today, as I was too busy last week to post about one of them. These are both stranded colour-work patterns and are shown worked into the Summer Dress from the Tiger pattern. You simply need to start the chart on row 6 of the skirt, then work the rest of the skirt in your main colour.

Although, if you don't mind doing colour-work back and forth (rather than in the round) you could probably manage to fit them into one of the other dresses knit from fingering weight yarn. The holly border would be especially easy to incorporate in other patterns, since it's only 5 stitches wide and 10 rows tall (I've drawn it 10 stitches wide, or 2 repeats, to make it easier to see).

 Green and Red Border

 

This could easily be used for a non-holiday dress by substituting other colours, but I think it will look best if you use highly contrasting colours.

Holly or Mistletoe Border

I turned the holly pattern into mistletoe by simply altering the colours (I also added stripes, to make it look a little more defined). I'd meant this dress for a tiger toy, and red berries would have clashed with orange stripes. I think the mistletoe version is lovely and subtle, though.

This time the charts are simply JPG images, so you should be able to right-click on each, and save it to your computer. Then just print them as you would any other image file.

looking forward

Mr. Mitten and I had a long talk last night about what direction would be best for Fuzzy Mitten in the next year or two. While I still have time for things to continue as usual for a few months, we're expecting another baby in the Spring. As you can imagine, a newborn plus two-year old will make knitting and designing difficult for a while. Added to this is the knowledge that while I can continue to come up with cute new animals for you to knit, in truth most people seem to want just bunnies, teddies, and sometimes kitties.

As well, I feel like to need to stretch myself more as a knitter and designer. I took some time this past Autumn to try a couple different knitting techniques. But I feel like I've barely scratched the surface of what is possible with a couple of sticks and string (to paraphrase from the Yarn Harlot). So while I have been trying to refine the toy patterns to make them turn out better with less effort, I think I can do more interesting things with the clothes.

So for the next year or so, we will most likely be revising and republishing a bunch of the toy and clothing patterns, especially those that are still in the old format from 3+ years ago. The toys themselves won't change much, as I will only knit new ones for better photos, and rewrite the pattern in the new format.

The clothing bundles are also in serious need of an overhaul. While I do sometimes have people asking for single clothing patterns, republishing them all separately would be a lot of work, and the number of toy plus clothing patterns would be unwieldy to keep track of (I already have about 50 published patterns). I would also like to design new and more interesting clothing patterns for more advanced knitters.

My thought at the moment is to reorganize them into bundles of 3, at a price comparable to my other patterns. However, there are two options for reorganizing them. One, I could make them into bundles of 3 similar patterns; for example, three variations on one pullover/cardigan. Or two, I could make them into bundles of 3 coordinating patterns; for example, a t-shirt, cardigan, and dress.

If you have a moment, please vote in the poll over on the side, so I can get a better idea of what you would like. Or leave a comment if you have more to say.

Of course, all this reorganization is still a lot of work, so it might happen slower than I would like. It's also going to play havoc with my Ravelry pages, but I'll find a way to deal with that. I hope you look forward to this direction we're headed in, as I think everyone will really benefit from all this house-cleaning. But I'm certain to come up with a new toy once in a while, as I can never stop my brain from coming up with great ideas (usually when I have no time to work on them)!

Well, that was a long post, and barely a sketch of the ideas floating around my head right now. I'll leave you will a cute photo for reading this far.

from Fuzzy Mitten's first Christmas

stuff in the shop

Okay folks, everything is in the shop! (except the stuff that sold already. Maybe you better get over there ;-)

holiday shop update

Tomorrow will be my big holiday shop update. I've been working like crazy over the last month, in order to have a few things for you. There are kits, zip pouches, and even some toys! I'm going to try to get everything listed by early afternoon (Montreal time), but I'll make a quick post in the usual places once everything is up.

Here's a little peak at what will be available.

 

cozy elf tuque

We finally found a few hours to get this new hat pattern ready for you! You can buy it on Ravelry, Etsy, and Lulu. I don't know if the photos do the hat justice, as it is adorable in person, and so cozy and comfortable to wear. It's a simple design, but doesn't take much yarn, so go ahead and use some yummy fiber in a beautiful colour!

The hat is knit in the round, and you can easily use either double pointed needles or circular, depending on which you prefer. I've written it for 6 sizes, from infant to adult, so you have plenty to choose from. I also decided to include many sizes because the yarn you use can affect your gauge (I had that issue with the adult size). If it's a yarn new to you, it might be worth knitting a little swatch to make sure of the finished hat size.

I hope I've given you enough time to knit one or two before the cold weather arrives wherever you are!

snowflake design

I'm doing something a little different this year for my free holiday pattern. Instead of posting one pattern for an ornament or toy, I'll be giving you holiday-themed colour-work and intarsia designs which you can incorporate into various clothing patterns. I will try to post one each week, for as long as I can think of cute ideas.

This week is a traditional snowflake pattern. I've sized this design to fit easily onto a variety of my pullover patterns (such as this or this, and it's already found in Festive Knits), so you can use whichever you already have. The sample in the photo below has been knit into the pullover from the Pupster pattern (the only change being garter stitch hem and cuffs instead of seed stitch).

The snowflake design is 17 stitches wide by 17 rows long (see chart below), so you will first need to figure out the width and length of the pullover front, then you can center the design. I found the snowflake turned out much nicer if worked in fair-isle, rather than intarsia, but use whichever technique you are most comfortable with. (for a video of both techniques, look here - just scroll down half-way to find the right video).

Snowflake Chart at Tricksy Knitter

I hope you enjoy this design, and look forward to next week's free pattern!

EDIT (Nov. 21): I know some of you have been trying to copy and save, or print the chart. Unfortunately, the site I used does not allow these options right now. You can only view the chart here on my blog.  I thought I would try out the site, as it's much faster and simpler than drawing my own from scratch. I will look into other options for future blog posts.

holiday sale updates

A few things today:

You know what, we'd really like you to have our books -- they make very nice presents! This is why between now and Christmas the printed versions of both "Fuzzy Knits" and "Festive Knits" are 25% off on Lulu.

I'm hoping to have a new hat pattern to release soon, maybe by the end of the week? I should be able to get the rest of the photos today, and then it just needs formatting (really wish that publishing software was easier to use). Like the books, I will probably offer it for a special sale price for the holidays, so save a little time in your knitting schedule!

I plan to have a big Etsy shop update of gift items next week. I have several toys to list, and plan to sew a few zip pouches. I'm also thinking of making kits for gift-giving. These would be for my Holiday Mice pattern, and would include yarn, stuffing, and notions for 2 mice, plus the printed pattern. A rough price estimate is about $10-12 US, plus shipping. Is this something many of you would be interested in?