free booklet shipping

Right now through my Etsy Shoppe, I am offering FREE shipping on my 'booklet' patterns. That's right, on my booklet patterns only. I sell PDF downloads too, but they are already free shipping (wink-wink). A great time to get caught up on those patterns you have been thinking about.

I also have a snowman pattern deal: Buy three patterns (Woolly Snowman, Woolly Snowman Hats, and Woolly Snowman Accessories) for $30.00 and get either the Woolly Snowbaby pattern or the Woolly Snowman Materials Kit (both an $8.00 value) for FREE. Your choice!

When out and about, customers will ask me, "Why don't you publish your newest patterns in booklet form anymore? I love those booklets!" Personally, I do too. Originally when I started designing I sold mainly to yarn stores across the country. Now every store is reducing their pattern inventory and going with the PDF patterns, which obviously take up less space in their store. In addition with today's society wanting everything NOW, the PDF format is that perfect solution. Thus, I still have inventory on my booklet patterns. Maybe someday we will slow down and revert back, who knows!

In defense of the PDF patterns though, per pattern you get more photos, in fact color photos especially. This format allows for that. Where as the booklet format you only had the cover photo, and there was a lot of pressure to make it a good one! 

For those of you who don't have access to a home printer, and are unable to download and print out your patterns, I have two suggestions for you: Contact either a knitting store in your area and they would gladly do it for you OR contact me. I would gladly mail out a printed copy of the PDF pattern for a small mailing charge.

Hope you take advantage of the special. Get 'em while they last!

Happy knitting!

the three little bears!

A Trio of Bears!

After I publish a pattern like my newest pattern, Lil' Bear Hugs, ideas on pushing it further flood my head. I try very hard to keep the actual pattern sweet and simple, but that doesn't mean the creativity stops there. So, in the spirit of play, here is a fun detailing about this pattern. You too can create a trio of bears, the three little bears: Papa, Mama and Baby bear.

Each bear shown uses the exact same pattern instructions, knit and felted the same. The only differences are the yarn weights and the double point needle sizes used. In addition, once felted and stuffed, the bear is embellished using smaller size noses and eyes to accommodate each bear size. A little more freehand on the embellishing. 

The Papa Bear measures about 7.5-inch/19-cm tall, not including the ears. The Mama Bear measures about 6-inch/15.24-cm tall, and the Baby Bear, about 4.5-inch/11.43-cm tall. The Lil' Bear Hugs pattern instructions are for a worsted weight yarn bear using size 10.5 double points (this is the largest bear shown). The next size bear uses sport weight yarn and size 8 double points and the littlest bear uses fingering weight yarn and size 5 double points as shown in the chart below.

I will be purchasing Nature Spun yarns in all these weights soon here, so if you too want to create your own trio of bears in matching colors, you can with a little help from me. Stay tuned! 

Happy knitting!