Bluebird Potholder - FREE PATTERN

Here's my latest new free pattern.  Stitch a pretty bluebird potholder for your kitchen.  This potholder is stitched in single crochet and includes both a color chart and row count instructions. If you need any help on changing colors, please see my changing colors tutorial listed on the left sidebar.  Hope you enjoy!
Click on the download link below picture to get pattern.

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Being a Stinker is So Exhausting....

Although my cats are notorious yarn thieves, I'm always nearby and don't let them play with it unattended.   The other day I'm working in my craft room and Gus comes in and starts snooping around as usual.  He found my knitting bag and as I watched, he proceeded to pull everything out of it.  Apparently, this is a very taxing process, because he just plopped down right in the middle of it all and fell fast asleep. I had no idea being a brat was such hard, tiring work. But it does explain why he sleeps so much.  :)

Even yarn thieves have to sleep sometime.

He also struck again in my closet.  I walked in to find all my purses on the floor and the shelf they occupied, now occupied by Gus.  He stayed up there so long, he fell asleep and took another nap. I'm really starting to see a trend with bratty behavior and sleepiness.  :)

"What???, The purses JUMPED off the shelf, honest!"

A Little Bit of Papercrafting

I really love to try all sorts of different crafts.  One I really enjoy is making cards.  I'm still very much a beginner, and have a lot to learn, but I do put a lot of love into each and every one.  My mom and I own a Cricut machine together (although I hog it most of the time and keep it at my house), and I love playing around on it and cutting out designs to use on cards.

This week I made birthday cards for a friend's two kids that both celebrate their birthdays this week. Jillian is turning 4, and I made her a cupcake card.
Please excuse my poor photography, I didn't have very good lighting when I took these pictures, plus, I'm just not a very good photographer.  :)

Trevor is celebrating his first birthday, and his daddy is a big Chicago Bears fan, so I incorporated that into the card design.

 Trevor's room is also decorated in the Chicago Bears theme, so last year when he was born, this is the baby afghan I made him.

Life with Gus......

Life with Gus is never boring!  :)  A few days ago, I walked into my closet.  I THOUGHT I was alone when out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move.  It startled me and it took me a few seconds to figure out what was there.  Then finally my eyes settled on this little face peeking out from behind some clothes.  Yeah, I don't even want to think about which clothing he climbed to get up there.

He's also a great "help" when it comes to making the bed.

Rockin' Guitar Scarf Pattern and Knit Picks

I am thrilled to announce that I had a pattern accepted into the Knit Picks "Independent Designers Program". It was listed on their site today and can be purchased as a download at Knit Picks. The scarf was made using Knit Picks Worsted Swish in Truffle and Big Sky. Big Sky is a new color just released yesterday, and it's a beautiful shade of blue. The swish yarn is just wonderful to work with (even my cat likes it, see my earlier post about that). The whole process was a great experience, and I want to give a big thank you to Stacey at Knit Picks who was very kind and helpful.  And huge thanks too, to my beautiful sister Becky for modeling the scarf, and to my very talented photographer father for taking the great pictures.

Pattern is also available in my Etsy Shop

My Cat Is A Yarn Snob...

As I've mentioned before, I have a couple of cats who love to steal yarn. Gus doesn't have a preference, he just likes to swipe any kind of yarn, any time he can get his paws on it.  But Grace has developed an affinity for the Knit Picks Swish Worsted Merino Wool.  I've been working with Swish lately and whenever I have it out, she somehow senses it and immediately comes over and starts trying to sneak in and grab it.  She's very persistant.  I've tried to distract her with a ball of acrylic, but she won't bite (literally).  She will meow at me trying to make her case. When that doesn't work, she simply sits patiently, staring at me, just waiting for her next opportunity to swoop in.  

'I WANT to play with the NICE yarn!"
(actually I snapped a picture of her when she took a big yawn, but I know that's what she was thinking)

"That yarn is mine, it's just a matter of time"

***LATE BREAKING UPDATE***

Well, I hate to admit it, but Grace won that round.  Later on, as I was stitching away, I noticed she wasn't around.  Thinking it was safe ,  I got up to do something, and left my yarn unattended.  I was gone maybe 2 minutes.  Came back, and she had already swiped the yarn and was having a hey day with it.  Here's the sad results:

Poor Yarn!

 

Summer Stripes Coaster - FREE Pattern

Click on Download link below to get pattern.

download now