Beginnings of Knitted Farmyard

You can just begin to see the pond to the left and the start of the cornfields above. Under that is one of the meadows and one shrub so far!
Here is the start of the cut cornfields.
Hopefully, this is what my finished project will look like!

If you haven't gotten your copy of The Knitted Farmyard by Hannelore Wernhard yet, go! Right now! Go get one! This is one of the best books ever!!! The actual playmat of mine is going to measure about 3 feet by 4 feet, so that is why it is taking SO long! Kent has volunteered to do some yarn cutting for me (more service hours earned for him) ... this will be a big help because it really slows me down to have to stop and cut more yarn. Once I've got my rhythm going of picking up yarn, latching it in and picking up another piece, it's like that ad on TV about the person who pays by check or cash instead of the Visa card! Everything comes to a screeching halt! Anyhow, I'm making myself work on the rug canvas first ... once that's completed I'll start on the houses and the people.

Another fantastic project I'm about to begin has the same ideas ... it's Knitted Gardens by Jan Messent. I LOVE this book, too. Her gardens are a bit smaller and the knitted areas are glued to cardboard. Both are good ideas and I will probably end up combining the two.

Meanwhile, I'm still working on my monk wine bag. I'm just going to have to experiment with increasing for the hood when I get to the top. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Also, I'm still finishing Father Christmas and will post a photo soon. However, if anyone is interested in working the pattern, I found a fabulous blog that has incredible directions for making legs which really work out for Father Christmas, too. Take a look at MochiMochiland. I wish I had found this earlier!

Another Pair of Booties Finished

I kept meaning to knit these booties for one of the program coordinators at the museum where Kent volunteers ... days turned into weeks and finally! This weekend I made myself focus and I started/finished them. This is the easiest pattern I have ever used!!! I bought it on eBay from Over the Rainbow Designs. These little booties only take about an afternoon to knit ... I used washable dk for the ribbed part. These have already been washed in the washer/gentle and tumbled dry (low) two times! The color difference in the booties comes from using Sirdar's Funky Fur Magic eyelash yarn. I love it! So easy to work with. The best eyelash ever made! And yes! There is a difference in eyelash yarns!!! (Well, in my opinion.)

Thanksgiving Vacation

Amelia's contribution to the baking day ... eating the dough!

Kent using the ancient, but wonderful, Mirro Cookie Press (note gloves for germ-free cookies)!
Spritz Christmas trees. Kent did all the decorating, too. I was really impressed.

Here's Colette, ready for more dough making! She was such a great help.


We had a terrific time over the Thanksgiving holidays! Since we had sort of celebrated Thanksgiving last weekend with one of my brothers and his family, we decided to go for a Honey-Baked Ham for the "real" Thanksgiving meal. What a time saver that was! (I'll have to write about the actual purchasing of the Honey-baked Ham later, as that is quite a story in itself.)
It was a lot of fun to have Colette home for a few days ... and we were able to get a good deal for Amelia on a laptop computer (which she's been wanting for a really, really, really long time). No, it wasn't door-buster deal, but it was still pretty good. Colette and Kent did some power baking and baked about 5 dozen Spritz butter cookies for our church's annual Cookie Walk. Phew! What a relief to have them do it all!!! Kent certainly earned his Confirmation service hours!!
Meanwhile, I'm still working on Father Christmas, but had to put him aside for awhile as I started a few other projects ... like the booties I've been promising to knit for one of the program coordinators who works at the museum where Kent volunteers ... and I started a Jean Greenhowe project from her "Christmas Special" that's a little knitted envelope for seeds or, in this case, bath salts.
I've also come up with ideas for some felted bottle bags ... I think I'll call them Bring Your Own Bottle Bags ... I'm working on a monk with a hood. It's taking A LOT more yarn than I thought, so I better stop at the yarn shop this afternoon for more brown cascade 220. I have ideas for a snowman and a Santa, as well. I'm hoping the hood on the monk will be all right. It seems like it's going to be really big right now, but I wanted sort of a cowl ... and cascade 220 always felts really well.
Meanwhile ... I ordered 8 pounds of roving! YIKES! What was I thinking??? Anyhow, 6 pounds are BFL, the other two are a gorgeous merino. It's all just right for dyeing and spinning. Now, when will I have the time to do that, I wonder?

Ann Budd's Father Christmas ... "Lite" version

I am now re-working most of the Father Christmas pattern to suit me! I like easy, simple projects that end up looking pretty good ... I'm not really a knitter who likes to be completely challenged, baffled and confused when it comes to directions.

So, with that in mind, I'm knitting Father Christmas differently! Right now, I have the body (I did the lower body and upper body, along with the head, as all one piece) and the two legs. I am just about to start the arms. I am going to experiment with the infamous "loop stitch," but if it, too, becomes more of a nuisance than a pleasure, I'm going to try latching the yarn in on the ends in a sort of fringe, instead.

I'll keep you posted!

Father Christmas

I've started Father Christmas from Interweave for my mother-in-law. The beginning of the boot is terribly difficult! I had to rip it out about four times before it finally worked for me. Even then, I had to fudge it a bit in the back, as the last round was supposed to end in the middle of the back of the boot. This knowledge would have been helpful when casting on. Oh well! The next boot should go a bit more smoothly, I hope. I had to shift stitches from one needle to the next and then end a bit early in order to have it end in the back center. AAACKKK. I'm NOT doing it over, though. Although I'm sure this mistake will haunt me forever. *sigh

Knitted Angel Pattern

Here is the knitted version of the angel. I just finished her last night. I think she looks a little bit like Carol Channing in Thoroughly Modern Millie, but oh well! I am not good with embroidering faces! This is so frustrating. I need lots more practice. I made an extra head of the Rebecca doll, as it's nice and large, and am starting to use this to practice embroidering eyes and mouths, as well as testing out colored pencils for cheeks, etc.

Knitted Angel

Copyright 2007 Anita M. Wheeless

Materials needed:

Size US 3 (3.25 mm) Double-Pointed Needles

Plymouth Encore DK-weight yarn in White

Paton's DK-weight in Peach or Sirdar Bonus DK in Flesh or whatever DK-weight skin-tone color you would like to use

Lion Brand Glitterspun in gold

Oddments of Reynolds Lopi Lite in Mustard for halo (or any golden color DK-weight yarn)

Oddments of Angora blend in white for hair

Sparkle thread for hair

Embroidery floss or acrylic paints for face

Angel Body

Using size US 3 (3.25 mm) double-pointed needles and one strand of white held together with one strand of glitterspun, cast on 36 stitches.

Divide by purling onto three double-pointed needles so that you have 12 stitches on each needle. Place your stitch marker and prepare to join.

Knit two rounds. Cut glitterspun and continue with white.

Knit 12 rounds.

Start decreases for shaping:

k2tog, k8, k2 tog all around

knit two rounds more

k2 tog, k2, k2 tog, k2, k2 tog

Knit 5 rounds more

k2 tog, k3, k2 tog

knit one round more

k2tog, k1, k2 tog

knit three rounds more

Join your skin-tone color yarn and cut white.

Knit one round

Increase in each stitch by knitting in the front and back of each

Knit 9 rounds more

knit 2 tog all the way around

Gather remaining stitches onto an embroidery or yarn needle and thread a length of yarn through the stitches. Gather tightly. Insert needle down into top of head and knot off underneath.

Arms/Hands (make two)

Using size US 3 (3.25) straight needles, cast on 8 stitches using white yarn.

Starting with a knit row, st-st for 3 rows.

Join skin-tone yarn and cut white.

St-st for three more rows.

Gather stitches onto a yarn needle. Thread a length of yarn through, pull tightly and knot off.

Wings (make two)

Using one strand of white yarn held together with one strand of gold Glitterspun, cast on 5 stitches onto size 3 (3.25 mm) straight needles.

Knit one row

On the purl row, increase in first and last stitch by purling into the front, then move your yarn to the back and knit into the back of the stitch.

Knit one row

Again, increase in first and last again (purl into the front of the stitch you are increasing, move yarn to back, knit into the back)

knit one row

Increase in the first, purl 3, increase in the fourth, purl 3, increase in last

Knit

Now, knit into the front and back of each stitch

Knit

Decrease by knitting 2 tog all the way

Bind off

Base

Using size US 3 (3.25 mm) DPN, cast on 36 stitches using white yarn.

Divide by purling 12 onto each needle. Place your stitch marker.

Knit two rounds

Decrease by knitting 2tog, k3, k2tog, k3, k2 tog

knit

Decrease again by knitting k2tog, k3, k2tog, k2

Knit

Continue decrease by knitting k2tog, k2, k2tog, k1

knit

k2 tog, k3

knit

k2 tog all the way around

Gather remaining stitches onto a yarn needle and pull a length of yarn through. Pull tightly and knot off.

Halo

Holding gold or mustard colored yarn along with glitterspun, cast on 40 stitches onto a size 3 needle leaving a nice, long tail of glitterspun. Bind off, leaving the glitterspun tail for now.

To make up:

Stuff body with polyester fiberfill. Take arms and fold them, overstitching the edges together to shape into an arm. You can stuff it lightly or leave it without stuffing, as it's so small. Decide which section looks the best to be the front of the angel and center the arms, sewing them in place.

Put the base on underneath the angel and stitch it in place.

Take the wings and unbend them a bit (as the stocking stitch makes them want to roll inward). Find the right spot on her back and sew them in place.

To make the hair, take the sparkly thread held together with the angora and wind the two strands held together around your index finger about 4-5 times. Ease the loops off your finger and snip the yarn/thread leaving a tail to insert into the loops to hold them in place. Knot off. Repeat this about 7 or more times to get enough little curls to cover the angel's head. Using the bit of tail left, stitch in place on her head.

Take the halo and center it around the head, crossing the extra in the back of the head. (See photo). Stitch this cross-over to hold it in place, then stitch the halo securely onto the head. Let the bit of glitterspun tails hang down, if you like that.

Embroider the face using three strands of embroidery floss ... or use acrylic paints.

Again, if you have any trouble, please email me and I'll figure it out! I hope you enjoy it.

There are many things we could do with these angels. We could make different hands (holding a book, for instance) and different expressions, too. I have thought about a whole set of them doing chores! (Holding a mixing bowl and spoon; holding a broom, etc.)

Christmas Angel with First Communion Angel

Here is a photo of my Christmas angel standing alongside my First Communion Angel Candle (circa 1968-69). I wish I had her handy when I was stitching my angel's face. I'll have to use this for inspiration for my knitted one. She looks so ... well, so angelic!