Special Christmas Sale at the Pattern Box!

I am offering a special Christmas Sale at the Pattern Box now through December 31st. If you buy one pattern, you may choose another for free! All you have to do is email me with your free pattern choice after you've purchased one through the Pattern Box.

Please email me with your choice at either: amwheeless@carolina.rr.com or anita@thepatternbox.com

In your email, please tell which pattern you would like and to what email address I can send the pdf file.

Please check out Antique Clip Art for great, free, public domain images like the Merry Christmas one above!

Little "Jackie" Mumm and Toys!

We are putting together photos and videos of my Dad, whose 85th birthday was on Nov. 21, for a "video tribute" that we're having filmed (with him being interviewed) ... and I came across this darling photo of him when he was a baby. Also, I noticed the little doll leaning on his leg! Anybody have any idea what doll this might be? This photo was taken in the early 1920s ... the doll sort of looks like Dolly Dingle, Kewpie dolls and the Campbell Kids ... but it's completely soft. I searched all over Google and eBay and couldn't find anything like her ... Um ... Guess what my next pattern is going to be???

More Inspiration ... and Sugar Baby Shoes

I just have to share a couple of wonderful spots I like to go and look around for inspiration ... or to go and just think about something really whimsical and nostalgic to take me away from all the problems of the day. For one thing, I love to go to eBay and page through all the Steiff animals for sale. I don't really care for any of the new ones, but I absolutely love the early, vintage Steiff. I also like the ones from the '50s. There is a certain charm that the older animals have that the newer ones completely lack. The Steiff website is a good place to spend some time, too.
I also love to look at Natasha Fadeeva's animals. They are incredibly detailed. I could just look at a photo of one of the mice for hours! (And I'm not kidding!)
I know, I know, I must be kind of crazy, but when a toy (particularly a stuffed toy) or a picture storybook has that certain something, I can feel it. I can look at it and find something marvelous in it ... it evokes a true sense of joy. *sigh
Have you ever been to the Susan Branch website? Right away, I get a real warm and fuzzy feeling, just from her landing page and the little bird that flutters by. Her artwork is terrific.
I also get a lot of ideas from looking at cakes and sweets. Take a look at the wonderful sugar panoramic eggs from Blumchen's ... and all their other sweets and holiday decorations, too. They even have pewter tinsel from Germany! Not the static, light-weight tinsel we have now. I remember loving the lead tinsel when I was a child ... before we knew lead wasn't good for you! We used to roll the tinsel in tiny balls. Try to do that with today's tinsel!
Anyhow, just a few thoughts for you for today ... and here's a completely off-topic thought ... as I was talking on the telephone to my brother just moments ago, I happened to glance down at my shoes. At that moment, they looked to me like giant Sugar Babies!




Okay, maybe dirty, scuffed, old Sugar Babies, but come on, don't they look like Sugar Babies to you? Just a little bit?

Starting Christmas Knitting ... I hope there's enough time!

Well, I spilled the beans on what I'm giving my veterinarians this year ... I kinda, sorta hinted at it way back in the summer when I brought some of my toys in for them to see ... but today, when I went over there just to buy more prescription food and arthritis supplements for Maggie, well, I couldn't help myself. Now I'm committed. I must finish.
I'm working on my squirrel pattern for one of the vets ... I may make two ... depends on how long it takes me with all the other stuff I have to do right now. I'd like to try my reddish-brown lopi lite along with my reddish/gold fun fur for the tail and do a brown squirrel, as well as the regular grey one.
I'm working on birds for the bird mobile I want to give the other vet. There are really four or five vets there and they are all wonderful, but two of them know me and know Maggie quite well. I wanted to give them something more than my usual cookies. Can't believe it'll be 11 years on Nov. 30 since little Mags was born! Time does go by so quickly!!! My little nibbles! Now with arthritis and just as sore and crackly as I am!

AAACKKK! Take a Look at December's Simply Knitting!

I can't believe it. I always look forward to my copies of Simply Knitting magazine appearing in my mailbox every month, but this time, well ... er ... gasp ... I couldn't believe my eyes. MY Gingberbread Man (no, I should say an IMPOSTER) Gingerbread Man was on the cover! I couldn't believe it. He even has a pocket for fingers and everything!!!! OH NO! The "Icing" was even done in chain stitch EXACTLY like mine!!!
They even had a photo of a cookie sheet with him on it! Just like MINE! My kids couldn't believe it, either. My husband was astonished!
What a weird coincidence, is all I've got to say. And yes, I guess when I stop to think about it ... Christmas time does sort of make one dream of gingerbread people (after all, it happened to me) ... so it's likely somebody would think about knitting one, too ... and there are some differences. I mean, my patterns are almost all knit in the round on double-pointed needles and then most of them are felted ... which MY AUTHENTIC Gingerbread Man pattern is ... and this Simply Knitting one is not. He is knit back and forth on straight needles, then seamed together and not felted at all.
sigh You have to admit, it is a little weird, though! I'll have photos later!!!