a buffalo-plaid Christmas to you!

 

shelley's holiday ornaments

Thinking of you all this holiday season, with your busy hands knitting into the late hours, watching Hallmark movies to cheer you on! Not sure about the movie-part, but the busy-knitting, for sure. Me too. Just finishing my sets of Buffalo-Plaid Holiday Ornaments for my family in their special colors. I wanted to share them with you.

In the photo above, are ornaments for my sister and her living room decor. The plaid ornaments are from my newest pattern: Buffalo-Plaid Holiday Ornaments in two sizes: small and large. The two solid-color ornaments are from a new pattern written for next year. My desire is at least 3 more knit-only ornament patterns to mix-and-match colors and textures.You can see some of the examples of that in my photos. 

hannah's ornaments

The ornaments can be displayed on your coffee table in a bowl or tray or hung on your tree or fireplace mantel. The display ornaments are partially filled with plastic poly-pellets to give them weight so they don't roll away. But if they are knit to be hung, then no poly-pellets. The knit ornaments are light and airy for hanging. Your choice!

The color schemes are obviously endless, but I recommend starting out with three colors and build from there. In my examples (above and below), my color scheme was yellow/gold, grey, and cream. The holiday colors (left) used red, greens and black.

The solid balls create an accent to the plaids, as well as a blank palate for embellishing (pattern to come). The solid ornaments are not knit from the same pattern as the plaids. The knitting is simpler but less stitches overall because of the tighter knitting.

tayler's ornaments

I'd like to have a peppermint-candy series, a striped series, a buffalo-plaid series (complete), a solid set (almost done) and maybe even a cable-knit series. My goal is to complete this series of patterns sooner than later so you can plan for next year. I published my Buffalo-Plaid Holiday Ornaments pattern too late this year. Good intentions, at least it is done! I am also pleased it gave me gift ideas this year as well as designs for some future patterns (partially written already). Can't beat that!

But as 2022 comes to a close, I grateful for your support of my patterns over the years. I appreciate your comments and sharing with me your photos, it always delights me. May your Christmas be a blessed one filled with laughter and time spent with loved ones.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

a buffalo-plaid Christmas!

 

Buffalo-Plaid Holiday Ornaments

Just practically finished knitting up my Buffalo-Plaid Pumpkins and its Christmas season already! So to keep the spirit going, how about a Buffalo-Plaid Holiday Ornaments pattern too. Slightly different color schemes but still the same ol' plaid we know and love.

The pattern gives instructions for a three-color checked ornament in both a small and large size. The small knit ornament measures about 3-inch wide by 2.75-inch high (including the metal cap). And the large one, measures about 4-inch wide by 3.5-inch high. 

The ornament is knit as one continuous piece. No sewing of seams is necessary. Knitting begins at the bottom and moves up into the checked pattern, and ends with a tie off at the top. Near completion, a clear, plastic, craft-store ornament is inserted into the knitted piece and the final stitches are synched tight around the ornament's plastic neck. Once complete, the metal wire cap is inserted into the opening at the ornament's top -- the crowning touch!

Have fun knitting endless combinations of colors! Coordinate the colors with your living room decor. They make great ornaments for your holiday tree, hostess gifts or Christmas decor.

Happy Buffalo-Plaid Holidays!

pumpkin SALE!

Come check out my second Etsy Shoppe: Mywoollysomethings! I have several of my woolly samples for sale at very reasonable prices. It's time to share the love! This week I reduced the prices of my pumpkins (hand-made by me), and believe it or not, I am adding more daily.

I have sold quite a few thus far and keep finding more to sell. Some are original, early designs and others are things I had been playing with and they never made it to the final stages. Hope you find something you like!

Happy knitting!

pumpkin time!

 

two NEW pumpkin patterns!

buffalo-plaid pumpkin

Happy Autumn! I am happy to announce that I just published two new pumpkin patterns. They are both knit-only patterns, so no felting required! I now have 6 knit-only patterns available (including the new ones, see the list below).

The first pumpkin pattern is the Buffalo-Plaid Pumpkin, a 3-color checked design with a tree branch for a stem. I love this pumpkin especially in the orange-color combination above, but have done it in black and white, and look forward to knitting it in several color combinations like orange, tan and cream. Or how about the traditional red and black, but it isn't very Autumn-like.

The pumpkin measures about 4-inch high including the stem. Knitting begins at the base, moving upwards creating several stripes as you increase stitches, and then into the buffalo-plaid pattern, ending at the top, a knit bind off edge creating an opening for stuffing the pumpkin with fiberfill.  

seed-stitch pumpkin

The second pumpkin pattern is the Seed-Stitch Pumpkin, as textured and cozy as a hand-knit sweater! It measures about the same size as the plaid pumpkin. It begins at the bottom and works up to the stem, one continuous piece. The pumpkin's knit surface is the seed stitch pattern, an alternating 'k1, p1' combination throughout. The stem uses two strands of yarn carried together to knit a thicker rib pattern.

They both make wonderful additions to any hand-knit pumpkin collection. Have you tried any of my other knit-only pumpkin patterns? 

Pumpkin Patch

Cable-Stitch Pumpkin

Tartan-Plaid Pumpkin

Pillow-Toss Pumpkin

Mix and match the patterns to create a whimsical harvest bounty of hand-knit pumpkins.

Happy knitting!

Just checkin' in...

woolly eggs pattern

Some of you may have noticed that I haven't published a pattern in awhile. And you may be wondering, what happened to me. Hope you're thinking of me, cause I've been thinking of you!

Covid has been hard, for everyone. My family and I have been pretty healthy but think I may of caught the latest Covid-version around the first of the year. I got hit with cold-like symptoms and recovered quickly, but my tiredness lingered for a bit too long. I am back to normal now, thank goodness, and hope you are all well too.

I wanted you to know I'm still creating, but something is changing with my art and I'm trying to figure it out. I need to play more obviously and listen to my playing. And I'm not liking what I'm creating and can't figure out why, thus new patterns haven't been coming to light. That's okay. I can feel that something new is coming and that is exciting, and I have given myself the space to create without producing, so to speak. Hope that makes sense. 

I have been experimenting with knitted eggs (not felted like the above photo) and color-knitting. Knit-only patterns pushes me to a new level of knitting, thus I have been viewing a great deal of YouTube videos, learning new stitches and techniques. Felting is so beautiful in that it hides everything! And if you embellish over it, no one notices those knitting imperfections. I am loving the challenge. I'm also thinking of taking an embroidery class and 'officially' learn to embroider. I am a self taught embroiderer so far. Embroidery on knitting is different again, and needs to be used differently as a result. 

Oh, don't get me wrong about felting, I love it and will never give it up. It isn't outdated or spent (to me at least), just different these days. I am a firm believer it is also coming back in the future. 

I'll keep you posted as I go along. I have LOTS of ideas, that is a given. And I'm confident I will be sharing something with you soon. I just really wanted you to know that I am thinking of you all. You have been such an important part of my creativity and I am personally delighted in always being able to share it with you!

Happy knitting!

happy valentine's day!

 

bunny hugs to you!

Wishing you this day some sweetness: a day of sunshine, chocolate kisses, and some quality knitting time! Above is my photo valentine to you. 

side view

I made this bunny for a customer and she wanted the heart to go with it. So I inserted a long needle threaded with two strands of fingering weight yarn through the heart and coming out in each paw. Then I pulled the two strands taught against the paw and tied the ends into a bow. That way, the heart can be removed one day if desired. I just had to share with you. Everyday is Valentine's Day when you can give a bunny!

The pattern is my Lil' Bunny Kisses PDF pattern and the heart, Woolly Sweet-Hearts PDF.

Happy knitting!