A Quick Knit for St. Patrick's Day

I knit up this super cute clover for my hiking backpack for St. Patrick's day.  I used some green mystery yarn from my stash.  I followed the pattern here at the website cute free knit.

The original pattern is for a key chain, however it has so many potential uses.  You could make a pin out of it, or you could attach it to a larger project such as a hat.

It was a really fun knit that takes very little time, so why don't you knit one up super quick to celebrate St. Patrick's day!

Have a very happy St. Patrick's day!

~Colleen

Finished the Frog Baby Set

I knit up these really baby mitts once again using the simple mitten pattern that you can find on the Ravelry website.  I have blogged about this pattern before, but this time I knit it up in green to match the frog hat and matching green booties.  I have also been working on a bulky yarn blanket as a gift for my husband.  I'll post pictures and the pattern when I finish!

Happy stitching!

~Colleen

Booties for the Frog Set

I have really been enjoying making these cute baby sets lately (see the bear and monkey sets that I posted about previously).  Yesterday I blogged about the frog hat that I finished and I decided to make a cute pair of green booties to match. I used the Beth's booties pattern at Bev's Country Cottage website.

Happy stitching!
~Colleen

Frog Hat is Finished!

I used the eyes that I posted about yesterday to make yet another cute animal hat for my baby knits stash.  I attached them to a hat I made in Caron simply soft yarn following the sweet baby hat pattern at red heart's website.  I seem to have attached the eyes a little lopsided (oops!) but other than that I'm happy with the result.

Mr. Bear is super cute with his frog hat!  I seem to be on this animal hat kick lately.  I wonder what animal will be my next muse...

~Colleen

Knit Frog's Eyes *Free Pattern*

 I had so much fun knitting these eyes up.  They work as either amphibian eyes or maybe alien eyes.  Making them is really simple.  I didn't write things down as I went, so this is the best reconstruction of what I did as best I remember.

You will need:

• worsted weight yarn scraps in green, white, and black
• size 8 straight needles
• tapestry needle
• yarn scraps or stuffing to fill the eyes

Back of the eyes (make two)
Cast on 11 stitches (green).
First 10 rows: stockinette stitch
Row 11: ssk, k to last 2 sts, k2tog
Row 12:  p2tog, p to last 2 sts, p2tog tbl
Row 13: ssk, k to last 2 sts, k2tog
Row 14: p2tog, p to last 2 sts, p2tog tbl
BO all stitches

Front of the eyes (make two)

Cast on 11 stitches (green).
First 2 rows: stockinette stitch
Row 3: (green) k2, (switch to white) k7, (switch to green) k2
Row 4: (green) p2, (switch to white) p7, (switch to green) p2
Row 5: (green) k2, (switch to white) k2, (switch to black) k3, (switch to white) k2, (switch to green) k2
Row 6: (green) p2, (switch to white) p2, (switch to black) p3, (switch to white) p2, (switch to green) p2
Row 7: repeat row 3
Row 8: repeat row 4
Row 9-10: repeat rows 1-2
Row 11: ssk, k to last 2 sts, k2tog
Row 12:  p2tog, p to last 2 sts, p2tog tbl
Row 13: ssk, k to last 2 sts, k2tog
Row 14: p2tog, p to last 2 sts, p2tog tbl
BO all stitches

Finishing:
Sew the backs of the eyes to the fronts leaving the cast on row (the bottom of the eye) open.  Stuff the eyes with yarn scraps or fiber fill and attach to a knit hat or other knit object. 

If you have any questions about this (my first pattern!) just let me know in the comments below and I will try to get back to you as soon as I possibly can.

Also in other internet awesomeness, I know this is old... but it's new to me: Felicia Day+ Crochet= Awesome!

~Colleen 

UFO's Are Invading

As I'm sure most of you know UFO stands for un-finished object.  My house is filled with them.  So, I have several medium to large sized projects that are currently lying around the house.  These are probably the things that I SHOULD be working on, but aren't.  I started this checkered scarf months and months ago, and I just haven't managed to just pick it up and finish it.  I literally haven't touched it in months... yeah.

 I have been making this blanket knit in the diagonal for a friend's wedding a little bit at a time.  I knit a couple of stripes every week.  At this rate it's going to take me forever to finish.  Hopefully, it will be finished before their wedding this summer...

 This project is less important because it is just a scarf for myself to match a pair of mittens and a hat that I had knit previously.  It will most likely sit neglected in my UFO basket for a while.

 I'm making this Christmas stocking for my husband as part of his Christmas gift.  I was knitting it really enthusiastically because it was the first project that I have done where I needed to switch yarns mid-row.  Once I got past knitting his name though, it got a little dull.  I have practically the whole year to finish knitting this though, so I'm not worried.

These are only technically UFOs because I need to sew a button on each of these bibs and then they'll be done. 


So, I'm curious how many UFOs you have cluttering up your knitting space.  Do you put me to shame?  Do you have an even more cluttered UFO basket?  A UFO room?  Let me know in the comments and we'll compare notes.

Having to Unlearn What You Thought You Knew

I wonder if I am completely alone in this experience.  A couple years ago I "learned" how to do the purl stitch.  I made a few items, but they never looked like it did in the picture (see photo for what I mean).  It was extremely discouraging.  I went back to the video on YouTube that I had "learned" the skill from to see if I was doing it correctly.  I was doing exactly what it showed in the video. 

I don't know what made me think to look down in the comments, but I did.  Reading through the comments I saw many people politely correcting the poster that they were showing purl through back loop and not purl.  I WAS doing it wrong.  Many of the posters linked to videos that correctly demonstrated the skill and I set out to correctly learn how to purl.  It was very difficult to undo the habits I had formed, but eventually I managed and now purling is natural and easy.

Maybe at some point I will reattempt the pattern that I did incorrectly to make this Christmas ornament and post it to the blog.  Mental note: add to do to list.

Have you ever learned to do something completely wrong and had to reteach yourself the right way?  Let me know in the comments if you have.

~Colleen