Lovin' Free Dishcloth Patterns

I love Free Dishcloth Patterns!

 

I have been in dishcloth mode. I don't personally need ANYmore dishcloths, but they are so stinkin' fun to knit.

I've finished the Elvish Leaves cloth (click HERE for the pattern)

and moved onto Holy Night Christmas dishcloth (click for that pattern!) . . .  which is O Holy Huge!

 It will be a pot holder. Sorry, "dishloth", I hope you aren't offended. 

And I think I've found another addiction . . . homemade stitch markers! I raided my daughter's glass beads and made myself a few for when I knit longies! I made a "beginning of the round" marker (larger bead), a side marker (a bit smaller bead) and 4 gusset markers!  These little beauties make me so very happy! 

Well, I'm thinking of running a contest soon! I feel like giving away something! Stay tuned...

Random Ravelry Review ~ Addicted To Cupcakes.

I found this great pattern the other day called, "Cupcake", and now I'm completey hooked! My goal is a dozen, or maybe a baker's dozen, or maybe a baker's dozen plus 1. I really don't know if I can stop!

Grab a muffin tin, knit your little fingers off, fill the pan, and open your pretend bakery! I promise, your house may not get cleaned and you may have to order out for pizza, but your kids will be in toy food heaven!

Free Christmas Stocking Knitting Pattern

CLICK HERE to go directly to the PATTERN and skip my ramblings ;-)

I've had many people ask me what pattern I used for my children's Christmas stockings, but since it was my own pattern, I couldn't direct them to anything online! My pattern was actually just a bunch of scratchings on a REALLY abused piece of paper... plus some coffee stains.  

Now that my kids are happy, after I made them some of my homemade hot chocolate recipe, I'm going to sit and type up my pattern for you all to enjoy!

I know it isn't too long before Christmas, but they really don't take THAT long to whip up!  They are mostly straight knit, so except for the little socky type things along the way, they are a good relaxing knit! I timed myself once and the whole process was approx. 6 hours.  So really... whether you are slower or faster, you can take a couple hours here and there and finish one pretty fast!

Keep in mind... this stocking is pretty BIG!  I modeled it after the Christmas Stocking that my Grandmother, Dorothy, made me when I was young. PLENTY of room for lots of goodies!  Ooooo ya! ;-)

I'm writing this as a "scrappy" pattern (like the 2nd photo shown below), although you can have a lot of fun choosing just what colors you'd like! I will give directions for TWO COLORS also. AND, if you feel extra creative, you can duplicate stitch a fun design on the legs!!

Here's a photo of all of our stockings (even my daughter's "Snoopy-looking" stocking for her annoying little firefly puppet, "Sparky").  This photo was taken prior to my little Squeaker being born, back in 2010, so I've added hers below this photo!



This shows what a great stash buster these stockings can be!!  I just think hers is SO cute!!!  This scrappy stocking is actually a little different than the rest I've knit, and more like what THIS pattern ends up to look like!  I didn't like the way I did the top before, so I switched to seed stitch!

*I hadn't added her name yet...but it's there now!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD & PRINT!  

Free Mini Sleeping Bag Knitting Pattern

Free Mini Sleeping Bag Knitting Pattern

Go Directly to PDF Pattern

Great for Littlest Pet Shop! (which is why I designed this in the first place!)

This is the LARGE size: (with a little bit of salsa for the LPS to snack on! OOPS!!!)

And this is the SMALL size:

And this shows how the can look if you knit the lengths of the bag or the pillows different...

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE PDF!  

You can view the PDF below before downloading!

Free Advent Calendar Knitting Pattern ~ Done Except Numbers

Phew! I finally finished all 25 sacks! Aren't they CUTE???

I have it hanging in our LR :) I put them in order so that I can easily take some off from the right side when I want to number the next in line! SO... no particular order THIS year, but next year they will be all numbered! Every morning, the kids find the sack that has candy in it (I fill it each night) or count because I always put it in the sack that is in the right number place :)

If you want to make this fun Free Advent Knitting Pattern, it is here on my blog and will soon be a Free Ravelry Download!

Longies, Knit Advent Calendar, & Childhood Stocking

My little fingers have been knitting like crazy! I am almost done my youngest daughter's textured scrappie longies! I need them to be done by the 16th when I take her 21 month photo! I just have to knit the hip skirty and the i-cord and they will be finished!

I am still working on my knit Advent Calendar! #20 is on my needles, but here are numbers 1-19! Over on the right hand side, you can see how I've started knitting 2 colored stripes since I ran out of unique solid colors!

And as I was hunting for my kids Christmas stockings, I came across the sock my Grandmother knit for me when I was small! (and for my 3 siblings and my 2 cousins!) She loved to knit as much as me! If you had known her, you'd see where I get my passion for knitting from! Every Christmas we all got handknit socks and mittens and they were one of my favorite gifts from her!

My Christmas stocking has the name, "Kewpie", on it because my name was one letter too long for the front! haha I collected Kewpie dolls and that was my CB handle and it fit perfectly! Who remembers the days when CB radios were popular? "Breaka 1-9, how 'bout cha Kewpie" ... those were fun days!

So, my big "hold a ton of stuff" stocking was inspiration for creating my own pattern! (which I am going to add to "Ravelry" one of these days! I started to write up the PDF file, but it's not completely finished because I decided to modify it so you can make other sizes instead of just the super huge size!!!

My Mom helped me knit these up before Christmas 2009! I knit the tops, she knit the legs, then I knit the heels and feet! The names were duplicate stitched on when I was finished! I also made a little tiny sock for my daughter's favorite little firefly, "Sparky". This year I have a few more little ones to make for my other children's favorite toy animals! Am I crazy, or what?

And my sweet Suri was not born when we made all of the other stockings, so I took a scrappie sock I was going to sell, and gave it to her!! I still haven't added her name on, but will before I hang it this year!

Do you still have your childhood stocking? Do your children have stockings?

Happy Knitting! Bridget

Bitty Britches Mini Knits & My Knitting Accessories

A couple years back, after seeing the "Bitty Britches Ornamental Longies" pattern on Ravelry, I decided to modify it and make exact replicas of a few of my knits! I got a little addicted at one point and made a handful of minis... these being my 2 favorites...

Mini Budgie Bloomers! Doesn't get any cuter than this!!!

I feel like showing some photos of random knitting things that I've photographed here and there, so this is something I have in my room.

At Walmart, in the hardware section, I got this little gadget organizer. I don't have a labeler (but really WANT one) so I had to improvise. I printed off sticker labels and stuck them on the little drawers. This is one of my all time favorite organizer thingys because I have LOTS of little things!!

The doll on the little cubbie shelves beside my drawer organizer was from my childhood. Isn't she the sweetest? She has sand in her bum which at some point had a purpose, but since that was years ago, I can't quite remember what it was. haha I think she would slowly lay down and shut her eyes.

And there is my little "KNITTING STUFF" drawer...

And a close up.

I have lots of knitting doo-dads, including my bestest ever stitch holders... DIAPER PINS!!

I don't know why all that little stuff makes me happy, but it does! One can never have too many stitch markers, stitch holders, stitch counters, stitch ANYTHING!!!

All for the love of knitting. Aaaah. It's a beautiful thing!!!

Bridget, AKA "The Knitting Maniac"

Random Ravelry Review ~ No-Sew Beanie Baby Sleeping Bag

The "No-Sew Beanie Baby Sleeping Bag" is such a cool pattern and I've used the unique knitting technique in a few different ways!

First off, I knit up a few cute sleeping bags for my kids Webkinz animals, several years ago. Here is a photo of 2 of them...

Goodnight, little Webkinz Froggy (his name is Fred, btw)

Then I used the technique and made up a little purse pattern for my friend's daughter...

When I got to the "pillow" section, I knit it like a flap but added some furry yarn to the natural yarn to make it all fuzzy and pretty! Threw in a button hole and added an i-cord handle!

My latest use for this technique is for my Free Advent Calendar Knitting Pattern! I just changed it up and knit the top part in K1P1 ribbing and added an i-cord loop for hanging!

The possibilities are endless. I wonder what I'll think of next? Thanks for a GREAT pattern, Dawn Adcock!

Knit Advent Calendar & Other Random Stuff...

I have wanted to knit an advent calendar for my kids for a few years now, but always thought of it when it was too late to do anything about it!

The other day I hunted on Ravelry to see what they had for free patterns. I found "Smitten, a Holiday Garland" but honestly, having 6 kids that I knit mittens for and despising knitting thumbs, I shied away from it! But I still tried to download the pattern to look at it and my computer was acting wonky so I got impatient and gave up.

Then I remembered a pattern that I loved and printed it off so I could remember how it was knit up. It's a really cute knit sleeping bag for stuffed animals called the "No-Sew Beanie Baby Sleeping Bag".I made a couple one year for my kids Webkinz.

No, I'm not hanging up a bunch of sleeping bags as an knit advent calendar, haha, but it's the technique I love. You knit it on straight needles, but it's knit as though it was "in the round" (sorta) so there are no seams. I don't mind knitting on DPN's (double pointed needles) but this is just a fun, unique way to knit that I enjoy.

Here's what I have done so far...

My Little Ragdoll

I forgot to post a photo last week of my youngest daughter, Suri, modeling my first "trial" pair of Budgie Bloomers that I made a few years back! (after I designed my knitting pattern!) I'm glad I now have a little girl to wear them!!!

She turned 20 months old on the 16th!

I took her photo like this every single week of her first year (video following photo!!) and now I do it monthly! I love you, Squeaker!!!

















Here is a video my son put together of my little girl's first year! She is definitely wool spoiled!

Random Ravelry Review ~ Owls Two Ways

Is this cute, or what? My 17 month old daughter saw it and said, "Tee Tat!!" ~ She calls anything a Kitty Cat that looks even similar to a Kitty Cat.

So... I've named my owlie, "Kitty"... (I say mine, but it won't be mine for long!)

He was created from the Owls Two Ways pattern on Ravelry! He's really little and was so fast to knit up! I can't wait to knit more! I might even try to do the crochet version, although I'm not very good at it (or I'd probably be called The CROCHET Maniac!!!) Thank the good Lord for online tutorials, because the only thing I can remember is a single and double crochet!!

I decided against the felt eyes and looked online for instructions for a crochet circle. Then I just sewed on buttons and duplicate stitched the beak! I did put poly pellets inside, but not in a bag. I just stuffed it a little, threw in some pellets, and stuffed it some more! I figure it will be best as a little decoration, not a toy! If I was to make one of these for my kids, I'd probably leave out the pellets and just have him a stuffed animal!

This will be part of a giveaway, but since I'm not quite sure what else I'm giving away with it, I'll post about that later!

Stay tuned!

Random Ravelry Review ~ Iced Java Jacket

I posted yesterday about "Random Ravelry Review"s I'm going to be doing. Well, today I knit up my first project.

Here's a cute little Iced Java Jacket for my favorite mason jar!

A jar this special needs lots of colors and what an easy way to use up some wool scraps! Now I need to make more iced coffee because I ran out this morning!!!!

For the Love of Scrappies!

Just listed these on my shop, "Squeakin' Cheeks"!

Newborn Scrappie Longies, knit with Cestari 100% Fine Merino Wool!

Makes me wanna have another baby.... NOW!!!!!

Wishy Washy Fishy Tawashi Knitting Pattern

I love this cute little pattern!!

It's called Wishy Washy Fishy Tawashi and it's so fast and easy!

I am knitting lots more of these little guys in the future! The first few I am giving away as gifts to winners of my shop's "slogan" contest!

If you wanna check out my Squeakin' Cheeks shop's blog post about it, just click that link!





If you are part of Ravelry (which you SHOULD be because it's FREE and AWESOME!) you can check out all of the

that other's have made! There are some SUPER cute ones!

Here's my little Fishy: