Embroidery Bug Has Hit!

While I have been working feverishly finishing up my new Halloween toy patterns, I have also been dabbling in embroidery and weaving. I have ordered lots of books from Amazon.com and have been learning all kinds of new and different things! Years ago I loved crewel stitchery. Remember all those kits for sale back in the '70s ... with great sayings and "mod" flowers?! I got very good at the lazy daisy and the chain stitch ... French knots, too! Well, I've been refreshing all those stitches from my past, along with new ones just especially suited to ribbon embroidery ... which, by the way, is TONS of fun and quick with fabulous results!!! I'm working on a bit of a sampler right now. Also, I have to say I've fallen in love with redwork ... though, probably I should refer to it as colorwork as there are so many great colors of floss out there to use!
I have been thinking up my own little line drawings of Halloween parties and tea parties and birthday parties, Christmas celebrations and most especially ... my favorite ... the big-top circus! I have high hopes for them, although not sure where they will fit with everything else I'm doing!
My next experiment will be with using embroidery on top of my felted toys. For instance, I am designing a dove right now that will have embroidered features, rather than knitted/felted ones. We'll see. As soon as I'm finished, I'll post a photo.
I also have a cat to work out ... just a gray tabby this time ... and the dragon and the mermaid ... which are on the back burners, but definitely still in the running ... and THEN onto my new Thanksgiving patterns (maybe a cornucopia?) and some vegetables? Or maybe I'll just skip ahead to Christmas, where I have a lot of ideas for gingerbread people, Christmas trees, snow globes ... and then of course, spring will bring about all the Easter-y toys and also I'm hoping for gnomes, mushrooms, fairies, logs, flower gardens, etc.
*sigh
So many projects, so little time!!!

Ravelry Stoep's Sun!

Here is another Take-Along Sun! This one is by fellow Ravelry member Stoep. Thank you so much for allowing me to share him! He's so cute! I think he'd certainly cheer up my dreary day!

Please Welcome MollyMeow's Wedding Sun!

Mollymeow from Ravelry made this beautiful Wedding Sun from my Take-Along Sun pattern. She has a couple of pattern modifications to share:

It might be worthwhile to knit the rays in the round rather than as halves and then sewing them together, since I found that seaming the two halves led to smaller, slightly bunchy rays. also, I think the space between the legs might have been a little large, though maybe I just wasn’t so great at sewing it up in a nice-looking but also gathered way.

I really like her suggestion to knit the rays in the round! Now, why hadn't I thought of that??? Meanwhile, I do pull my take-along sun's legs together when I use the gathering stitch to close up the bottom hole. But if this doesn't work for you, feel free to play around with the amount of stitches you cast on with the backward-loop method when joining his legs to his body. Just remember to add the same amount to the back as you do to the front!

Thanks, Mollymeow, for sharing your wonderful sun!

Hear ye, Hear ye! Another Patternbox Pattern Knitted Up by Ravelry Member!

Didn't CozyKitty from Ravelry do a great job on my teacup and saucer pattern? She was kind enough to allow me to post her photo here. She shared a comment from her 4-year-old, too and it's so nice, I had to print it here, of course!!!

my kids pretty much ignored the teacups while i was knitting them (since they don’t look like much at that point)

but the very minute i had them up on the counter drying… they were all over them (the handles had not even been sewn on yet)

my 4 year old son said “teacups - can i play with them mommy!”

She also discovered a neat tip when knitting the bottom:

I thought the pattern was very easy to knit - here’s my tip

first you start the cup knitted back and forth and then after a few rows you start knitting in the round - this leaves a hole. I found that if i picked up my cast on tail at this point and knit along with it it closed the hole and wove in my cast on tail at the same time!!!

Anyways - very easy to knit and my kids love them. I will probably make lots more out of leftover yarns

Thank you, CozyKitty, for the kind review!

Teacher's Pet Apple Now Available for Free!

Hi! I'm Teacher's Pet!

Lunch time was never this fun! Tuck this little guy in your lunch bag when you head back to school this year. Click here for the free pattern from The Pattern Box. It's also available for free as a Ravelry download. If you decide to knit him, please let me know! As always, if you have any problems, please email me.

Scaredy Cat Pattern Available!

Just a quick post to let you know my Scaredy Cat pattern is now available at The Pattern Box and on Ravelry. If you decide to knit him, please let me know! I hope to have the other patterns up soon.

Sneak Peek: Free Back to School Pattern and New Halloween Designs

Here is a bad photo(sorry! Will go outside tomorrow for a better shot!) of my new Back to School free pattern: Teacher's Pet Apple

My Black Cat pattern will be available at The Pattern Box and on Ravelry soon!

Here is a side view of his arched back!

Here is my friendly ghost. He'll be at The Pattern Box and on Ravelry, soon, too ... along with a Pumpkin Person and a Raven. These four are my new Halloween toy/decoration patterns.

Here is the Friendly Ghost and Black Cat together (on my new paper cutter)!