alpaca pattern winner

Thanks so much to everyone who left a comment for the giveaway! It was rather fun reading how much everyone loves alpacas. I haven't had much real-life exposure to them, but my friend's enthusiasm was enough to inspire me to design one.

The winner, chosen by a random number generator, is Melerie:

I love these photos. Love Angela Alpaca's hair - her most endearing feature. I just started to work with Alpaca wool and I love it. I'm a big softie so of course all wool I choose has to be soft, and this was surprisingly easy to work with. I think I would make it for my friend Angela. I know you named her after your friend so it seems fitting I would make one for mine...

Congratulations! I think I even still have your email, so I'll be sending a copy of the pattern to you as soon as I'm done here.

For those of you who might still like the pattern, it is available on Etsy and Ravelry. I can't wait to see other knitter's alpacas turning up on Ravelry!

test-knit alpaca

Thank you so much for all your kind comments about the new pattern! I hope all of you who bought a pattern already enjoy knitting your own alpacas.

I thought I would share with you the alpaca made by my test-knitter, ilovewool. You can see here she's wearing a lovely lacy dress while enjoying the summer flowers. While the dress can be knit in one colour, Maria chose to knit it in two (the pattern has instructions for both).

Here she is hanging out by a pool in her tankini. While Maria did knit a bikini top following the pattern, she also tried out her own version by adding some length to the bikini top. Perhaps if you ask her nicely on Ravelry, she will share how she modified the pattern.

And as a treat for all of you who continue to read my blog, even when I'm so busy, I'm giving away a free copy of the Alpaca pattern. Please leave a comment here (not on Facebook) telling me why you think alpacas are cute, or who you would knit one for. I'll choose a winner on Monday morning (Aug 9). As usual, please leave an email address, or check back here to see if you've won.

Happy weekend, everyone!

alpaca pattern is ready!

Finally! Finally the Alpaca pattern is done and ready for you. We're very sorry for the delay, but there is still a little bit of summer left for your alpaca toys to enjoy (if you get knitting right fast)! Although, if you live in the Southern Hemisphere, I guess you have plenty of time.

So here are a few details about the pattern. Like most of my toy patterns, this one is knit flat and seamed (although you could try to knit it in the round). The knitting techniques include knit, purl, several increases and decreases, and simple lace. You also need to make the hair, but that's pretty easy (there are diagrams in the pattern). The toy is made from worsted weight yarn, and the clothes from fingering weight. Because of the long neck, this toy is 9" tall, a bit bigger than my usual toys (but the other small clothes will still fit her).

You can find the pattern on Ravelry, Etsy, and Lulu*. If it's sold out on Etsy, I'll try to add more copies as soon as I can. Thanks so much for all your patience, and I hope you enjoy this new toy!

* The pattern costs more on Lulu because their fees are much higher than the other two sites. I will soon change all the pattern prices there, although the books will remain the same price at all my shops.  My hope is that Ravelry will make my shop public, so I can stop using Lulu for PDF sales.

normal lives

I'm sorry for the lack of information regarding the new Alpaca pattern. We had some water in our basement while we were away, which meant pulling apart a chunk of wall and flooring - right in the middle of my work space. We still haven't been able to get everything back together, so I'm unable to take the photos for the pattern. Plus, Mr. Mitten's regular day job has been requiring an awful lot of his energy. In summary, we have pretty normal lives, where annoying things get in the way of us being productive!

However, we hope to fix the basement this weekend (fingers crossed)! We're also trying to figure out a way for me to have more time for Fuzzy Mitten work. The last few months I only get 10-15 minutes at a time, while Lev is not demanding my attention. Adding up to about 4 hours a week, that's not really enough to keep Fuzzy Mitten going long-term. It's awful, feeling torn between my desire to be the good Mama that Lev deserves, but also wanting to continue doing work I love. Hopefully we can come up with a plan that lets me do the work I need and want to do, and also lets Lev and his Dada have some guy-time together.

alpaca in the sun

Hello, everyone! We're finally back from a fun family visit, and I'm done with 4 days of solo-parenting (while Mr. Mitten was off at a conference). I'd hoped to post before now, but it's a lot of work keeping up with a toddler and all the chores after returning home from vacation. I haven't gone through any of our vacation photos or videos, so those will have to wait for another day.

However, I thought you might like to finally see the new pattern I've been working on! I still don't have a set release date, but I'm hoping it will be before the end of the month. Until then, you can enjoy these photos, and maybe dig through your stash for just the right yarns.*

I still don't have a name for this sweetie, but isn't she rather photogenic?

She has a lacy summer dress that's super easy and quick to knit up.

Plus, a cute bikini for enjoying the summer sun.

*The toy takes 50 g of alpaca or alpaca blend yarn (although wool would work too) plus a small amount of contrasting colour. The clothes take about 25 g of fingering weight yarn.

pug nose tutorial

When I wrote the Pug pattern, I couldn't think of a better way to describe how to shape the nose, other than "fold it up between the eyes and stitch in place." I'm really a hands-on type of teacher, so I find it much easier to show how to do something, rather than write down how I did it. I think most people who make this toy don't even bother with this step, and their pugs look just fine. But in case any of you are wondering what the heck I meant, here's a video tutorial that will hopefully clear things up.



If you don't have this pattern, you can purchase it on Etsy or Ravelry. It's also included in the new edition of Fuzzy Knits (Rav link).

sneak peek

As promised, a sneak peek at my newest design! I bet you can guess what it is, but I'll keep the complete toy as a surprise for the release date. I'm so excited about this toy, I wish I could have the pattern ready now. But as I wrote in my last post, the test knitting isn't nearly done, and I'm going to be away for a few weeks. I hope you enjoy whatever summer (or winter) knitting you have on your needles, and can wait a little longer for the newest addition to the Fuzzy Mitten clan.