cozycoleman

4 Matriarchs Tallit: Day one

cozycoleman@hotmail.com (Sharon Coleman) — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 04:56:00 +0000

Day 1: Sketching it out.

It starts with a little brainstorming: I wrote down in a few words the main character traits we associate with each of the ladies and their names.

I like how the names look in Hebrew. I think I will have that incorporated somehow, maybe on each of the 4 corners.

Then I start sketching. I google ideas and use images I find as reference, often piecing together 2 or three photos to get the basic shapes and sensibilities I like.
I started with Sarah:

I found this picture of an old lady, it is really beautiful. I don’t know who the artist is. The lady looks so pleased about something, which is just the right feel for the character. Who wouldn’t be pleased to bear a child after waiting 90 years.

There is much more detail than I am looking for. But I use the sketch as reference anyway… I like this sketch, but there is too much detail in the face… I want the ladies on the tallis to be a little more abstract.

I will use this one on the tallis:

Next I sketch Rebekkah.

I google ladies carrying water jugs and come up with some fantastic images, but this one is most useful. I want a beautiful young woman carrying a water jug on her head. It is how I picture Rebekkah coming and going to the well. I don’t want her facing this way, though…

Photoshop to the rescue: I flip the image… and sketch.

It took a while to get her right, but I like it. A bit Disney cartoonish but I think when it is painted on the silk, that look will go away.

Rachel and Leah took the longest to sketch.

I wanted an image of two sisters who love each other … holding hands…and who are clearly upset with each other… back to back.

I pieced these photos together for reference. Again, I had to flip one of the images in photoshop.

...and here is the sketch of Leah and Rachel.

It might still need a little work. I think Leah looks wounded, rather than pregnant. I tried the image with veils on them, but I just like having the curly hair. Such a Jewish thing, curly hair.

Now comes the fun part.
I scan all my sketches into the computer and manipulate them on a scale drawing of a talit. This way I get an idea of layout… do I want them horizontal across the length of the tallis, or on the corners… where do I want the names or do I get rid of them altogether? I can move the images around and try all kinds of different ways of doing it. I like this layout and especially with the names in Hebrew… I’ll have to check with my more literate friends to be sure I’ve spelled them right!

Here you can see the ladies better:

I’m not thrilled with how they look with the traditional tallit stripes. I think I’ll change that a bit on the silk…something with more movement, like a path or a river… I like the idea of flowing… there is nothing linear about these women.

Stay tuned for the next phase… Sewing the silk for the painting.

How to throw a spectacular prom:

cozycoleman@hotmail.com (Sharon Coleman) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 19:34:00 +0000

Quiet Corner Homeschoolers' Spring Fling 2008 was a huge success.

Our group of homeschooling teens worked tirelessly for for months folding and re-folding hundreds of paper cranes to turn this:

into this . . .
Our hall of 1000 paper cranes was just beautiful. The cranes were painstakingly folded and refolded by several of our teens. They strung them and added beaded weights. Walking through them was simply magical.

The unexpected heat wave created challenges we had not anticipated, but homeschoolers are a tough lot and we weren't going to let the inside temperatures of over 100 degrees stop us from transforming the Finnish Hall. . .

The hanging carp windsocks droopily adorn our canopy in the heat. Our teens made them from paper and paint at one of our preparatory meetings.

The planning for this event starts months before. Here we are in winter coats scoping our new site. But on Monday June 9th, the transformation began. . .

The pagodas were hand drawn by moi then cut out of corrugated cardboard purchased from stumps prom. We then glued parchment paper to the back and lit them with twinkle lights.The discs were made from giant hula hoops which I sketched the symbols on. One of our moms hand painted the symbols. Being the daughter of a sign-maker really shines through!
The amazing table decorations were orchestrated by our homeschool coordinator. The teens spent hours pinning red ribbons to the chair covers and tying bows to vases and napkins! We couldn't pull this off without the combined efforts of all the hardworking and generous people involved. A minor catastrophe was rescued when a mom drove to get 3 more vases when two of ours broke after a table collapsed. The vases held (mostly) live gold-fish which we then gave away to (mostly) willing homes. To those of you who were upset by the loss of some of the fish, I promise a short, but respectful funeral transpired. We will take your concerns to heart and not have live animals at another event. Our surviving fishy is doing well, her name is "Sprinkling".

Here is a silhouette cut from corrugated paper, and one more disc with lights behind to be our moon.
Our amazingly talented photographer decided to use it as her backdrop. My own pictures aren't as good as hers, but you can see the set-up here:

The photo above is of Aikiko and her husband who were kind enough to join us in traditional Japanese dress and give a blessing in Japanese before the meal.We made a 20 foot dragon from balloons, twinkle lights and recycled materials. One of our previous homeschool moms kindly donated hours of her time in constructing the head.
Here you see our dragon swaying in the oppressive breeze of the industrial fans blowing in a vain attempt at creating some form of respite. Good thing dragons like it hot, because she had the hottest seat in the house!

You can also see our wonderful matre-d' setting adding the minute touches to our tables.

No stone was left un-turned. . .

Our Japanese zen garden had much use outside. Surrounded by hand-painted luminaries, this was a popular refreshing spot throughout the evening.

We even decorated the bathroom!

All this was put together on Monday. Our teens worked tirelessly on rickety ladders hanging yards and yards of "black trash bags" on the walls. The end result looked far from trashy! And Mattie, the wonderful caretaker of the Finnish hall slaved for us all day Tuesday trying to cool the building. He even went as far as hosing down the roof. It worked too! The building was a full 10 degrees cooler than the previous day!

So in spite of the over 90 degree conditions inside, the teens had a blast, dancing long past pick-up time.

And now... for my acceptance speech....

A great big T H A N K Y O U

I cannot get over the generous hearts and spirits of our homeschool group.

To our waitstaff and kitchen staff (all parent volunteers) who ran up and down stairs in 90 degree heat all night. Who were professional and enthusiastic and performed under inhumane conditions for free! (I officially double your salaries for next year) . . .

To our wonderful chaperons tolerated heat and mosquitoes and heat-induced grumpiness with grace and patience. Who volunteer hours of their busy schedules to come and make sure that close to 70 teenagers are safe and respected and respectful. A truly daunting task!

To our amazing chef works literally for days shopping and chopping, all without complaint (OK, maybe one or two, this year) and the gourmet food that ensues. . . the best prime rib in the world. . .

To the mom who took on the unpleasant task of taking home all that trash in her truck. . .

To our dishwasher, (they used to call 'em scullery maids) who can wash dishes faster than anyone I've ever seen. Wanna come to my place? LOL! You have one of the most thankless jobs of the lot of us, so THANK YOU, THANK YOU , THANK YOU.

To everyone who came to take it all down the next day and leave the building better than we found it (always our motto). . .

To my partner in crime, you worked as hard as I did, we make an awesome team! But if you ever suggest changing the theme the day before again, I'll have to kill you ;) . . .

To our loving homeschool coordinator who holds us all together and somehow is perky even after 3 days of no sleep and heat exhaustion and dreams of being trampled by cows. . .

. . . and most of all to each and every one of the teens who gave me a great big hug and thanked me for all the hard work I do and making it the best Spring Fling ever . . .

I LOVE YOU.

. . . now, please stop making me cry!

Guitar

cozycoleman@hotmail.com (Sharon Coleman) — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:17:00 +0000

Guitar, originally uploaded by caffaknitted.

This one is amazing. A perfect marriage for me and my DH. He collects guitars... and yep I collect yarn! The little heart at the top is a perfect touch. I must have the pattern. I must! I must!

and look she's an etsy seller too!
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5255685

Vårligt underlägg!

cozycoleman@hotmail.com (Sharon Coleman) — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:07:00 +0000

Vårligt underlägg!
Originally uploaded by TM - I ♡ crochet!

I was browsing flickr today. I decided I'm going to do a series on some of the amazing knit and crochet sculpture I have found... starting with this one! How fabulous is this spring garden coaster!

A little portfolio of my portraits.

cozycoleman@hotmail.com (Sharon Coleman) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:52:00 +0000

This is for friendly k8. She makes gorgeous fabric paintings like these:
She wants a portrait of her charming niece and I want to make it for her...
so just as a quick portfolio review...

This picture (used here without permission) put the nail in the coffin of a dying friendship. The photographer said that it was copyright infringement and I couldn't sell the painting. Which I haven't done. I immediately removed the piece from Etsy just in case, but I personally felt that my paintings were so far removed from the original that there isn't enough of a degree of similarity for it to be considered substantially similar under copyright law. Verbal license had been given at the time that the painting was created.

So, I must be sure that the photos I'll be using for your piece will be copyright free or with permission. I would not want to be accused of lying and stealing again. (Can you tell I'm still bitter?)

I don't see any harm in posting it here as a portfolio piece, however...

Here is one of the commissions I have done in the past (copyright freely given):

Before....

and

After...

This photo was taken by a good friend (no issues there, she still likes me!)
I blurred out the 2nd girl in this photo, as I don't have her mother's permission, (but I'm sure she'd give it if asked). It is of my daughter and her friend at a Halloween party.

I use a combination of Photoshop and a program called painter to do all of these pictures. You cannot get this effect with Photoshop alone.

This one is of my niece. Isn't she gorgeous!

Well, K8, that should give you enough to go on.... pick me! pick me!

My gnome was on TV!

cozycoleman@hotmail.com (Sharon Coleman) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 18:31:00 +0000

As seen on Better Connnecticut...

Thanks Audrey!

Today's adventures in homeschooling.

cozycoleman@hotmail.com (Sharon Coleman) — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:12:00 +0000

When I read my eloquent friends' blogs and wonder why I am just not anymore... I'm going to get a marble. Make sure my tower don't fall, OK? . . . I can't seem to follow a thought. . . OK mommy? . . . to completion . . .OK mommy? . . . Having children reduces you to 3 word sentences . . . OKAY MOMMY? . . . OK Hetta! . . . Homeschooling them means they are always with you . . . Mom get this off me now! (a note of panick) Mom! Mom! I can't get my shoes off and him (referring to sister) won't help me! . . . A L W A Y S. . . What about these scissors?. . . which has reduced me to complete . . . What about these scissors can we bring these? . . . and utter Why can't they just share these scissors? gibberish! What about these scissors can we bring these? believe it or not Iactually used to write poetry! Pretend you're a bunny hop, hop, hop... laa, dee, laa, dee, hop, hop, hop" . . . oh! cr#% NOT WITH THE SCISSORS! . . . but now my children actually understand me when I tell them to Gigglydiggly doo from the blubububub!" You see, homeschoolers are really good at foreign languages! Mom Hetta left the tops off the markers they're all dried up! Our homeschool craft day meets today. Finding supplies is always a challenge. . .

. . .OH SH%& I just knocked over the tower!

Been down and out!

cozycoleman@hotmail.com (Sharon Coleman) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:59:00 +0000

I apologize if you have tried to access this site through cozycoleman.com in the past 3 days. I was trying to link cozycoleman.com to a web store site. It was frustrating and futile and in the end I canceled the account. I hope the company will refund my money as I spent an entire day arguing with their software and emailing back and forth. All to no avail. I was only trying to set it up. It just shouldn't have been such a major learning curve. I mean I know how to do web design! Arrgh! *pant**pant**pant*

Ok Rant over.

If you want to see what else I've been up to lately: It was a long labor. She took almost 2 weeks to make as I was busy with Shabbat across america, talent show recovery, homeschool, making kippot, arguing with this website thingy, chauffeuring my kids to their various activities and friends homes, and, once in a great while, laundry!But, at long last... here she is...

This doll is named after Marina Alzugaray, MS CNM a staunch advocate of water birth.

She is the third doll I have made for a sweet midwife in California. What lucky friends she has!

Mermina is my favorite to date, and I can't let you know the surprise until she has safely arrived at her new home...

If you would like the pattern to make your own doll, or would like to purchase one made by me, please visit my etsy site.

How to make them masculine?

cozycoleman@hotmail.com (Sharon Coleman) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 01:46:00 +0000

And what, you ask, are “them”?

Well these, of course...
I have made many lovely feminine kippot, ones with flowers and vines, but I just got an order for three gentleman’s yarumlkes. Oh no! I had had this sneaking suspicion that eventually I’d have to come up with a more masculine design, after all it is men who usually wear these things, but I get so carried away and needle felting lends itself so easily to florals...

Several failed attempts later… I made these two after much research and deliberation. (I looked at my husbands ties.)

Just about as masculine as I was able, then I couldn’t stomach it anymore and I did this one. …

All the while I was making it I was picturing it photographed in a blanket of fluffy white snow. Then the storm began. …

Why is it that just when you are getting comfortably agnostic again these strange things seem to happen?

Back to the drawing board… Yuk and more yuk. Then … I was inspired by the fluffy box of bunny that arrived in the mail. I made this one with pettable softness, yummy angora!

The grey tipped leaves are actually the natural fur color. Is that cool or what? I am so glad that blackberrydowns sent me the free sample of grey. It was perfect! Thank you, blackberrydowns .

Oh speaking of blackberrydowns, you must see what she can do with a little roving.

Spectaculous. Her little bunnies are so real that my old terrier is yapping at the computer screen.

Don’t worry blackberrydowns I’ll hold him off… We’ll keep your bunnies safe, at least until my garden is growing, then I show no mercy!

Clancy Stainer Gowen

cozycoleman@hotmail.com (Sharon Coleman) — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 16:42:00 +0000

Ida Faye Baskin

cozycoleman@hotmail.com (Sharon Coleman) — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 20:27:00 +0000

This is Ida Faye Baskin

...and her baby boy.

As you can see, he was born in a beautiful and easy homebirth.

Her midwives have requested no photography, because, until very recently, midwife attended homebirth has not been legal in her home state of Rhode Island.

But Ida Faye knows that it the
safest,

healthiest,

gentlest

way for her and her to welcome her baby into the world.

The only way to give birth in a truly natural way.

Thankyou to all the wonderful midwives who continue to take the risks to support our ability to birth naturally!

If you are a hospital midwife, obstetrician or other childbirth professional, please visit my etsy site to purchase a mama doll.

If you own a homebirth midwifery practice and would like your very own Mama Doll, please contact me through my etsy site I offer a considerable discount for homebirth midwives.

2 more Nunicorns

cozycoleman@hotmail.com (Sharon Coleman) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 16:19:00 +0000

Lots and lots of nunicorns... the herd is growing! more pics on flickr and etsy.

Knitty Rejection

cozycoleman@hotmail.com (Sharon Coleman) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 16:45:00 +0000

Boo Hoo. I didn't get into the Knitty issue. Maybe next time. But that means I can post my pattern on Etsy. Yeah!

My Mom's Middling was cotton.

cozycoleman@hotmail.com (Sharon Coleman) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:19:00 +0000

The middling I had as a child was a tiny flowered cotton print. But the wool felted ones seem so much cuter to me!
Tried a few anyway...

Another Nunicorn

cozycoleman@hotmail.com (Sharon Coleman) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:13:00 +0000

Somebunny's gonna have a good birthday!

She's just tooo cute! I'm smitten. Can't wait to find out her name!

But for now, I'm dubbing her Vernicorn the Nunicorn!

Middling and Kiddling

cozycoleman@hotmail.com (Sharon Coleman) — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 18:11:00 +0000

Well, we'll miss them, but they are flying off to their new home tomorrow.

They are looking forward to meeting their new friends Charlotte and Julia and are definitely happy to be moving from this nasty cold and snow to the California sunshine!

Middling the Unicorn

cozycoleman@hotmail.com (Sharon Coleman) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 00:30:00 +0000

This is my first attempt at Middling offspring.

Let me explain...

My mother had a great love of unicorns, long before the symbol was popular. She also had a love of toys long after most adults abandon theirs. Middling was my mother's stuffed unicorn. It was the only thing I was allowed to take from among my mother's belongings when she died. I was, naturally, very attached to her, but in the many moves of my childhood she disappeared.

Today this little Middling was born... She is shaped a bit differently from the Middling I remember, and her colors and materials are considerably different. I am sure she is merely step 1 in the evolution of a long lost toy.

This Middling is made from a recycled wool sweater that was fulled, sewn, stuffed and then embellished with needle felting and love.

The Second Kippah!

cozycoleman@hotmail.com (Sharon Coleman) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 16:17:00 +0000

I finished it yesterday just as it was getting, unfortunately, too dark for pictures.

This kippah is made with a different yarn than I normally use for felting. I had to wash it 4 times to get it to shrink almost as much as the others. I used Lamb's Pride which is a wool/mohair blend. I like the subdued colors of this brand, but it doesn't full as easily and is a tiny bit scratchier, which isn't relevant for a kippah so much, but I wouldn't want to wear a sweater made from it!

I took about 40 pictures today and not one of them showed the background color accurately.
It is a very pretty and subtle teal color, more green than most of these photos show.

So I manipulated the color on this swatch in Photoshop to get it as close as possible, still not quite there, but it will have to do. Best to see this one in person.

This closeup shows the vines nicely. The oranges really pop in sunlight.

I really enjoyed making these! Now the question is... will my charming customer be able to chose?
I'm not sure I could!

My next project (on the needles) is a knitted and fulled kitty cat... a joint effort birthday gift for a sweet almost-7-year-old friend of my DDs'. I will be knitting it and Rowan will be felting the face and embellishments on it herself! Fun. Fun. Fun.

Commissioned Kippot

cozycoleman@hotmail.com (Sharon Coleman) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 14:53:00 +0000

I was thrilled to be asked to make a custom Kippah for a lady at our Sisterhood Shabbat on Friday.

As with all commissions, I will be making two choices. The other one is currently in the washer being fulled and will be embellished today, g-d willing.

Here my sweet daughter was willing to model it for me. She's getting very good at modeling! Ah the things we learn in homeschool!

It came out gorgeous, if I do say so myself!

The second choice has a more teal colored background. I'm not sure that the orange flowers will work with it. I'll have to let it happen.

I find that commissioned pieces pose a challenge for me. I have to keep reminding myself to create for me and if I like it so will the customer. I find I begin to focus on what she might want. Now how on earth am I supposed to know that, I'm not a mind reader! So I keep telling myself (out loud, no wonder my kids think I'm nuts) That if I love it so will she. My DD asked me how I know that. Well I don't, but if I'm not enjoying the process, then what's the point.

More pictures can be seen on my flikr site:

If you would like to commission a kippah please email me for more info.

Yesterdays Adventures in knitting

cozycoleman@hotmail.com (Sharon Coleman) — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:36:00 +0000

My good friend commissioned a doggy sweater for her little Chihuahua last year! I made one, but forgot the hole for the leash. Then I got fancy and made a cabled version, but I never finished that one because I messed up at the beginning and didn't notice until the end and just couldn't bring myself to frog such a fancy cable! It went on the back burner...

Flash forward to the day before yesterday. This same friend calls and wants to stop by for lunch. I hardly ever get to see her and really enjoy her company. (So refreshing to be around people with a sense of humour!) I think about the doggy sweater with a pang of guilt. It's getting colder by the day and I can just see the poor little rat (I mean dog) shivering in the impending snow. I opened a drawer and saw the almost-done doggy sweater, a gorgeous celtic knot cabled thing in fisherman's wool. . . but I think she wanted it in red. I glance at my stash. Some red red Patons meriono dangles over the edge of the shelf as if to say "pick me, pick me!" I hate guilt. I hunt down the pattern. Can't find it. Ok, np, just copy this one. I cast on. Get the collar done, start a few cables, don't forget the button hole this time. But it's taking forever. . . maybe a simpler cable, after all I only have one day. . .

I frog it. Cast on again, get a few rounds done. Now I'm being interrupted again by the girls. They have friends over and it seems to be this constant game of big kids vs little kids. (Sigh.) I get back to my knitting after lunch and mopping up the spilled gallon of milk. The phone. Now I can knit and talk on the phone. But complex cables... The person on the other end doesn't usually like my silence. I finally get back to my knitting at around 4pm. I click away frantically until about 1 am. The back is done, and half of the front. I can finish that much in the morning. I go to bed.

Next day (yesterday.) I get up, rush through my morning routine, (ok I skipped some of it altogether) and knit. The kids can get their own damned breakfast. I knit. Done. I hate sewing seams. Add the little doggy arms, on 4 needles, why does that take so much longer? Ooh it's so cute!
We had a loverly visit. And then...

SHE LEFT IT!!!

As I laughed maniacally, my children came running to see if I had, indeed finally gone mad... little do they know...

It's in the mail.

Ravelry

cozycoleman@hotmail.com (Sharon Coleman) — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 02:56:00 +0000

I just got invited to join Ravelry.com. I signed up for the waiting list so long ago that I had forgotten all about it. I have spend the last few hours trying to figure out the ropes. I uploaded my fingerless mitt pattern, I think. I couldn't find it again and couldn't edit it, I forgot a picture and needed to make changes. Ugh. I hate these learning curves. So far I think the site has great potential.

It could be a useful place for me to keep track of needles. But my stash, it's way too big. It would take me a month just to upload and since I'm missing the little paper wrappers on half of it... My Rowan went through a faze of ripping all the wrappers off of my yarn, the little...

Hmmm, this is some kind of acrylic... this is wool... aaah Malabrigo... PASA cotton... this is a weird blend...this is *gasp* red heart, (I keep meaning to give that away)!

The library feature is nice too, and will be better I'm sure. Most of my books are pretty obscure, and so aren't in their database.

Free Pattern: Fingerless Mitts, Crochet

cozycoleman@hotmail.com (Sharon Coleman) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 01:37:00 +0000

My kiddos didn't want to share the computer today, and I was too busy re-working "Liv" for the umpteenth time to care. So, sorry for those of you who might have been waiting for this with baited breath! I think there might actually be two of you out there who read this blog!

When I posted about the fingerless mitts on an Etsy chat, there was a disappointed person (who's name escapes me, or I'd mention him/her here) who wanted a crocheted pattern. Well, I got right on it. So... drum roll please, introducing, by popular demand...

The Super Simple Customizable Crocheted Fingerless Mitts with a really long name...

This pattern can be adapted to fit any hand. It is basically a rectangular swatch of single crochet that you fold in half and add a tube of double crochet for the cuff and a tube of single crochet for the thumb. It only requires simple single crochet and double crochet. I have created a cheat sheet for you to write your measurements on so that you (hopefully) have two matching mitts. Print out this customizable pattern here!

Thank you, thank you, your response is overwhelming. (CozyColeman bows.)

Free Patterm: Alternate Head Hat

cozycoleman@hotmail.com (Sharon Coleman) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 18:17:00 +0000

The other night I went to a lovely pot-luck dinner with several sweet, charming and demure homeschooling mothers. We were knitting and chatting and eating wonderful food and having a lovely time when one of them chimes up with...

"Have you seen Prime, with Meryl Streep?" (Well, she couldn't remember the names, but Google remedied that for this blog.)

...So, she starts going on about this one scene where the girl is describing her boyfriend's little doo da and saying how amazing it is and that it's "...so beautiful (she) could just knit it a little hat!" and as this mother was watching the movie, knitting and laughing hysterically, her husband wanted to know what was so funny.

... Apparently, he now wants a hat! But she needs a pattern. Hey! I make patterns... an itty bitty hat pattern....

How many stitches should you cast on for your husband? you ask. Well, I cast on 160 in lace weight. I'm sure your husband will have a suggestion or two on how you should measure, but beware, men notoriously over-estimate size (and under-estimate time)!

Or perhaps something with a bit of a stretch, so one size fits most! Self-Striping Sock yarn with a tassel, of course! Something nice and soft so you want to stroke it!

One mom is selling her hats locally and has sold several at her husband's work, so I'm sure the orders will be rolling in for "smaller" hats. At $20 and an hour to knit up, she'll make a killing! Of course some of those men will be thinking that a normal size hat will fit their other head!

Perhaps one with a smiley face... stripes are a must.... ooh, a little aran cable hat...

Mohair with ear flaps, for the masochist who likes a good scratchy wool... a whole calendar of hats. I've had several volunteers to model them, but none that I'm willing to take pictures of! (Shown here with a volunteer vegetable.)
Visit my shop for the pattern or request one custom made.

Free Pattern: Fingerless Mitts, Knit

cozycoleman@hotmail.com (Sharon Coleman) — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 01:55:00 +0000

K.I.S.S (Keep it simple, silly!)
Fingerless Mitts
... a free pattern for you.

The goal was a super easy pattern for fingerless mitts. Just 2 needles, no ribbing, no fancy footwork! These mitts are so easy. They are a big hit. I have already made 7 pairs! They knit up that quickly!

All you need to know is basic knit and purl. If you want stripes you need to know how to do that as well. I looked and found a disturbing shortage of tutorials for a basic stripe. I will have to remedy that soon.

The pattern looks complicated with all the different sizes, so if you want it simplified, you can download the .pdf files in individual sizes.

K.I.S.S (Keep it simple, silly!)
Fingerless Mitts

DIFFICULTY Super Easy
SIZES (shown in size Child’s Small)

MATERIALS
Any chunky weight yarn, I used Encore Chunky in and 2 strands of Caron Simply Soft.
1 set of US #10.5/6.5 mm knitting needles
1 tapestry/darning needle

GAUGE
13 sts = 4 inches/10 cms
20 rows = 4 inches/10 cms

PATTERN NOTES
Optional Stripes: Work as many (even) rows as you like of color A, then at the beginning of a knit row, switch to color B, wrap the ends over the working yarn for each of the next few stitches, this weaves the ends in as you go. If you don't know how to do this, come back soon for a tutorial.

PATTERN
Cast on 12[16, 19, 21, 24, 26] sts.
Row 1: Knit 2[2, 3, 3, 3, 4] sts, Purl to last 4[5, 5, 6, 6, 7] sts, knit to end
Row 2: Knit.
Repeat these last two rows for 24[28, 32, 36, 38, 40] rows.
Fasten off.

FINISHING
Fold in half matching cast on edge with cast off edge. Sew top 2[4, 4, 5, 5.5, 6] cms.
Sew bottom 4[5, 5.5, 6, 6.5, 7]cms. Leave center of seam open for thumb hole.
Weave in ends. You can embroider a lazy daisy if you like.

Princess Mehetabel

cozycoleman@hotmail.com (Sharon Coleman) — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 01:43:00 +0000

I just couldn't wait on this one! I think only those that love her could possibly want this image. I may incorporate it into a larger painting. I just can't decide what.