A mini mystery Knit-A-Long

Only 2 more weeks are left of my intermediate knitters class at the Firefly Makery so I thought it would be fun to finish with a mini mystery KAL (knit a long). 

It's a small knitted in the round project that uses a few cables & some other mystery stitches or techniques :) 

You can join in the fun for the 2 part mini mystery knit-a-long right away by downloading part one of the free pattern on Ravelry... Just click here to go to the pattern page on ravelry 

Part 2 of my FREE mini mystery knit-a-long pdf will be uploaded to ravelry next week wednesday 7th May 2014!

Pattern testing for Handmaiden's Cottage :)

I love the gorgeous patterns by Lynn of Handmaiden's Cottage & a few weeks ago I was delighted to find in my inbox an email asking me if I would be interested in testing the new PDF pattern she's working on as she needed another size 5yrs tester. After checking with her when the deadline for finishing it would be I instantly said yes please! 

I had no idea what the pattern was going to be like but as I already have a fair number of her patterns & others on my wish list I knew whatever it turned out to be that I & our G were going to love it.

The pattern turned out to be for a delightful patchwork dress called "Little Gypsy Queen". It has a very twirly skirt, an attached sash and lovely elasticated ruffly collar. It is a super easy pull on style with no fastenings & instantly our G was excited. When I told her that she would get to keep this dress as it was a pattern test & not an order - her excitement had her squealing with delight.

I knew the dress was going to need at least 5 different fabrics to bring out the patchwork style so we went through my current stash of fabrics together to choose what I'd be using to make it. We decided on 3 of my Dena Designs Kumari Garden fabrics and 2 Riley Blake fabrics that all mixed and matched beautifully. For the collar and sash I used some gorgeous cream coloured cotton sateen to give the dress an extra special luxurious touch.

Then came the difficult part... I needed to send Lynn photos of our G modelling the dress to give her an idea of how it fit along with my feedback. Lighting is always best for photos outside and if it was summer heading outside to do summery dress photos would be no problem.. but it's April and spring has been very tardy arriving here in Nova Scotia this year. So I had a dilemma.. going outside for good photos and braving some cold or staying inside where it's warm. Thankfully last Friday afternoon the weather was briefly kind and the sun came out for a brief moment.. it was still on the cool side but warm enough to dash outside for a quick photo shoot. A week later and today we're back to winter temps of 1c and snow so I'm grateful the test deadline was not this week!

When my big fabric order comes in next month I shall be adding this style of dress to my etsy shop.. so check back here or keep an eye on my FB page for future announcements :)

P.S. you can find Handmaiden's Cottage on facebook here - https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Handmaidens-Cottage/119677008105185

Emily Ocker's Circular cast on

This week my intermediate knitters class was a challenging one for my students! They were learning how to do Emily Ocker's circular cast on. If you haven't tried it yet - It's a fantastic cast on for starting any of those in the round patterns that start from the center out or top down like hats or circular shawls but it can be quite tricky until you get the hang of it!

I knew the cast on and learning how to do increases in the round would be difficult for everyone to get to grips with so I designed a small stash busting pattern for a center out circular coaster. It's only 12 rounds long - so just long enough to learn the techniques and get some instant gratification from finishing a quick project! 

Click here to download the FREE pattern from Ravelry and give it a go! 

P.S. If you fancy trying a top down simple adult hat that uses this cast on instead - I have FREE hat pattern here on Ravelry too :)