• August 15, 2010

    Free Knitting Pattern- Little Zebra Mittens!

    New blog! Ryan has been working on this for me, and it’s so exciting to see it up and running. To add to the excitement, I bring you a free pattern for Little Zebra Mittens! I dare you to find something more fun and crazy than zebra print. Or young children. These mittens bring the two together!

    The mittens are knit in two different sizes using the same chart, varying needle size to get a larger or smaller mitten. There is a lot you can do with such a simple pattern; a glittery yarn would make some crazy sparkly mittens, or you could bring in an optional third color to knit the cuff, tip and thumb with. Like pink and purple glitter mittens! Or a cyan cuff, tip and thumb with a traditional black and white zebra print for a little retro feel. You could go crazy colors like cyan and red or green and orange, or more analogous like auburn and camel or cerulean and sapphire.

    Little Zebra Mittens

    Sizes
    2-4 years
    5in long by 3in wide
    15 rows and 17 columns in a 2in square

    4-6 years
    6 ½in by 3¼in wide
    14 rows and 13 columns in a 2in square

    Supplies

    • a set of double pointed needles, size 3 for 2-4 year mittens or size 4 for 4-6 year mittens
    • 70y of worsted weight yarn in main color (Red in the mittens pictured in the post)
    • 50y of worsted weight yarn in contrasting color (White in the mittens pictured in the post)
    • optional – 25y of worsted weight yarn in a third colour for cuff, tip, and thumb of mitten
    • tapestry needle
    • scrap yarn for marking thumb

    Abbreviations
    k- Knit
    ssk- slip, slip, knit
    k2tog – Knit two stitches together

    Pattern
    Cast on 40 stitches with your main color. If you are doing the cuff, tip and thumb in a different color use that color.
    Divide the stitches among three double pointed needles and join in round.
    Work 8 rows in k1, p1 ribbing in the round. If you want a longer cuff, knit 8 additional rows.

    Begin chart. Knit with your main color for the black squares and your contrasting color for the white squares.
    Note increases in the first row, with 6 increases over the row,bringing the stitch count up to 46.
    In row 16, there are two rectangles each outlining 7 stitches. These represent the right and left thumbs, one for each mitten. Knit the 7 marked stitches for the thumb onto a piece of scrap yarn. Then move these stitches back onto your working needle and knit them according to the chart.
    Begin the decreases in row 36. Remember to switch back to your third color if you are doing the cuff, tip, and thumb a different color.

    If you want a longer more rounded mitten tip, knit one round between each decrease round.

    At the end of the chart you should have 26 stitches left. Divide them among 2 needles and use Kitchener Stitch to close the top of the mitten.
    For the thumb, pick up the stitches on either side of the scrap yarn in row 14.
    Pick up two additional stitches, one on each side of the waste yarn for a total of 16 stitches.
    Remove scrap yarn and divide them among 3 needles.
    Knit 12 rows in your main color, or the third color you used for the cuff and tip if you did them a different color.
    Knit the next row as follows: ssk, k4, k2tog, ssk, k4, k2tog.
    Knit the final thumb row as follows: ssk, k2, k2tog, ssk, k2, k2tog.
    Divide the 8 remaining stitches among 2 needles and use Kitchener Stitch to close the thumb. Weave in all ends.

    Follow these instructions for the second mitten, making sure to knit the scrap yarn for the thumb on the opposite side. Otherwise you are going to have to knit two more mittens so that you have wearable pairs!

    Edited on November 2nd, 2010 to change thumb placement from row 14 to row 16 and clarify decreases.

  • May 3, 2010

    Baking and making…


    So I decided to take the make-it-yourself plunge today. I really want to reduce the amount of processed junk B eats, and keep O from eating too much. At least when they are at home. I’ve been talking about it for a bit and reading and planning as I am one to do. Last night, I decided to just jump into it. Since we have a lot planned over the next week, I did not need to do too much grocery shopping so I decided we’d go to Organza and the Bulk Barn this morning. Checking their website I found that Organza opened at 10 this morning, which is awesome, because B usually naps around noon,which is when I would have gone. We got some good stuff like blood oranges and butter lettuce grown in Landmark and funny organic cookies shaped like Priuses (is that the plural of Prius?)and windmills. We had some time to kill between Organza and the Bulk Barn so we decided to go to the Forks and get some coffee and delicious cinnamon buns (I always want to try the roasted vegetable bread pudding, but always seem to be there between meals). Then to the Bulk Barn for some baking supplies. I needed stuff to start making stuff. I picked up some organic gummy bears for B, and they are really really good. Organic gummy bears might seem a little overkill, I know, but it’s the junk they replace sugar with that bugs me the most. I mean, if my kid is going to go crazy on anything, it better be the gold standard in sweetness, not corn. Corn is barely nutritious in its unadulterated form other than the fiber, so I don’t like to think about what they do to it to make it sweeten food. It just does not seem right. Anyways. Next weekend I think we’ll go shopping at the Forks, it opens at 9:30 and has cinnamon buns.



    So after we got home, I got to some baking. I took the “goldfish” cracker dough that I had made last night out of the fridge and all cut up. I could not find any fish cookie cutters, so I got a hippo, a triceratops, a squirrel, and a bear (which really looks more like a burly dog). And I cut and cut, till I had filled my two cookie sheets three times each. Which is a lot of little crackers. And I baked and baked while they puffed up. B helped by stealing all my kitchen implements and insisting I find more for him to pretend to cook with, while O giggled at me. And when they were done, I gave one to B, nervous over wasting so much time baking something he would not like. And then he left the room and brought me the crackers he had been eating earlier and said “No more this, more THIS!” and pointed at the crackers I had just made. Victory! Flour, butter, cheese, salt, and pepper, so simple but really really good. If you have a cheesy cracker lover in your house, you should make these. Then I got super hippy and made Ryan some granola for breakfast, because he likes it. With oats, brown sugar, raisins, cherries, almonds, coconut and honey. So good. Tomorrow I am going to try to make something Bear Paw like with the old bananas we have around. I can’t find a recipe so I am going to wing it. It feels good to make things. Something about baking elevating your mood.


    I also quickly sewed up some snack pouches. They are more prototypes, and I did not have much time to do them, but they turned out pretty good. I dig it. Easier, cuter, and less garbage making than ziplock bags. Especially the cuter part. And when you flip the top they form a nice bowl. After I do a few tweaks (and maybe a trip to Fabricland) I am going to make some more. Making wise, I am still working on the sweater. I just moved the sleeve stitches (I made them extra poofy) to some waste yarn, and don’t have too much more to do. Mostly because I am making it short-sleeved. The flowers are a touch wonky, but they just need some fixing with a crochet hook when it’s all done. Yup. And now I am going to relax and work on it.

  • March 25, 2010

    I am vacuuming while writing this.


    I can’t say enough how much I love the Roomba. It’s vacuuming for me right now while I eat lunch and type this. Pretty sweet. I have only pulled out the real vacuum once since we got the Roomba.The boys are both asleep, B just went down for a nap and O is due to wake up at any moment, and I am enjoying soup and Jello. Like an old lady.


    I finally went to Chatters the other day and got some new nail polishes. I finally found OPI My Private Jet. I have been looking for this one for a while. Not only did I find it, but I found the original holographic version. They have come out with a new version since, and it is not as pretty, as I loooove the holographic glitter. This is probably not very exciting to anyone else. Ha. I also picked up OPI DS Divine. Best part was that all the DS polishes were on sale. It was a good shopping trip. We also went to the Chapters next door, and B looked at books. Well, rather he played with “Thompsy” and then looked at books once he realized they had Cars: The Movie books. I of course fawned over all of the beautifully illustrated children’s books, and B picks a Cars book. That’s how it goes. It’s a start. I’ll get him hooked on mid-century modern inspired illustration yet!What I really don’t understand is why does B get so excited about the Thomas table when he has one at home.

    B’s cars book came with stickers inside, so yesterday we set out to make our own book. I folded up some construction paper and got out some crayons. What resulted was “Lightning McQueen Drives.” B put stickers down and made me draw roads for them and then filled in some more colour. I would then ask him what was going on, and write it down. It was fun, and B seemed really proud of it.

    I finished the first sleeve on the sweater, now for the second. Ugh, sleeves. It just feels like I should be on to something more exciting already! I am going to try to finish the second sleeve as quick as possible. I am getting ansty about moving on to other projects already! And I found out Ram Wools is having a 25% off sale, and I really really want to go. I should probably add another really in there. I think this year I am going to make more Christmas presents. I know it is early to think about Christmas, but when you are making things, it is best to start as soon as possible. I always want to make Christmas presents, but I always feel that whatever I make won’t be good enough. But then I realized I make good stuff. Seriously I have way to high expectations of myself to let myself make something I can’t do really well. Or let myself do something sub-par. So yeah, we’ll see how that goes. I mean, we live in Manitoba. Everyone needs mittens. Ask me in November how much I have done. Ha.