Travelling Felting Show

I packed up my small car and hit the road with my friend Susan.  We were invited to do a felting workshop in Mississauga, about an hour away.  The wonderful group worked together and stayed after hours to learn to felt.  Look at the lovely room we had.  Big tables for everyone.  I brought all the tools and supplies they would need to make a wet felt scarf.  But first we all sat down to a hot dinner together! 

 They had a lot of fun choosing the colour of the scarf, then the colours and textures of the accent designs.   Look at them hard at work.

 In less than three hours, we had a table FULL of one of a kind scarves.

 I am always amazed at the variety and the creativity of students.  Only ONE had EVER done felting before!

 Although they are cold and wet, my students proudly showed off their new scarves.
Awesome ladies!  And thankyou Susan for being a superb assistant!

Monster

I spent the day with this guy.  He is made from hand made felt.  I made the body with all the details (except for the button eyes) in one piece, and the arms and legs are seamless, attached after drying and stuffing.

 He sits nicely on his own.  Curly locks and bobble spots decorate the fabric.

 So cute.

Felting Workshop

I hosted a felting workshop today.  The goal was to work with resists.  Six ladies attended, and three wanted to make hats, two to make bags, and one (a beginner) asked for a simple scarf.  Here is the photo of the projects.

Notice how different each piece is.  All but the scarf worked around a resist, and worked two or three layers (the bags have a flap), and although no one had done anything like this before, you can see the success.  They all left with a finished (if a bit wet) article.
The wine was a small reward for all the hard work.

Chunky Coat - Lots of sizes!

The next updated pattern:  The Noro Chunky Silk Garden Coat.  You could knit this with any chunky yarn that knits to gauge, especially a self striping one.  It is loose and oversized, and now is written from 32" to 46".  This one is probably the most visited pattern on my blog, so now I hope there will be more knitters who actually knit this coat!

Palm Springs

I was away for ten days, and you can see by the photos that we had the most amazing trip. We flew into San Diego and played three rounds of golf there, then drove over the snow capped mountains on a crazy bendy road (74) into Palm Desert.  There we played another 7 rounds at the lovely Desert Springs resort.  Such amazing views of lush green fairways and snow capped mountains.

 There were a pair of ducks that enjoyed the warm pool.  They made a big splash as they landed into the water.

 On Valentines Day, we took a mini boat tour around the property (the boat glides right into the lobby to pick you up), and these two swans made the heart shaped thing just for us!  Cool.

 Flaminos and ducks and geese were everywhere.

 The gardens and palm trees were so beautiful, I soon forgot my poor winter golf game!  (I blame it on the really tough course)

I also did lots of knitting on the trip and will have a new lace wrap pattern to show in a few days.  Also due to popular demand, the Noro Chunky Silk Garden Coat will be the next re-write pattern in multi-sizes!

There are new felted scarves and hats on my etsy site, along with the steampunk necklaces I featured on the blog many months ago.  Please have a look.  Unfortunately the photos do not do them justice, they are WAY nicer in person.

Another newly sized pattern

Here is the next pattern that has multi sizes.  It is a nice stretchy easy broken rib pattern, and will become your favourite sweater. Now sized from small to extra large, and with a bit of patience and the working of a swatch, you can ensure success with this pattern...
Give it a try HERE or hit the photo below to jump to the Million Hit Sweater.

http://chrisknitsinniagara.blogspot.ca/2012/09/million-hits-sweater.html

Here it is. The first reworked pattern!

This pattern has been the most requested.  I knit it in 2010, and at the time my blog was just a personal journey through knitting.  A place to store my projects and the yarns and patterns I used at the time. (I had not discovered Ravelry when I started my blog in 2008).  So of course, all the patterns were MY size or the size of the wonderful friend who would be a recipient of my knitted gift.
Over the last year, my blog has grown by leaps and bounds, and daily I email attached patterns.  I know that it is difficult to print from the blog now that it has become so bulky!  And I am happy to send any text patterns, so please, ask away!

I have spent the last two days, doing the math that will allow the Alpaca Silk Easy Cardi' to be knit for sizes from small to extra large!  I have reposted at the original site HERE.

or you can click right on the photos!  Again, I will email you a text only copy if you want to hold paper in your hand instead of using a marker to check off the rows on your iPad (LOL).
As a last word, and I hope you understand where I am coming from... I do not make money from the patterns, you get them for free, and I take the time to answer emails and attach any pattern... no charge to any of my wonderful knitting friends. But, I do make a penny or two from the tiny ads at the side and bottom of my blog.  The ads change all the time, and if you like the blog and appreciate the efforts, I would throw some love right back at you if you could click and check out the sponsors.  No need to purchase, just take a moment to look.  It helps to keep my yarn addiction alive, and keep me knitting, which keeps you looking.... win, win
Thankyou.

p.s. more resizing to come... please leave a comment if you have a favourite that you want resized!