Knitting my way into the new year!

It's possible that I did more knitting in December than any other month last year!  I was definitely motivated to knit several Christmas ornament gifts as the deadline for wrapping up gifts approached.  (Happens every year doesn't it?!)  Then, in the last week of the year I got started on gifts for Christmas 2016.  It's possible (maybe!) that I won't be in such a rush next Christmas.  :)

Here's a few photos of my December knitting projects...

I made this mini sweater Christmas ornament for a sweet girl who is like a niece to me.  I stitched on a felt heart with DMC embroidery floss and added an old button to the center of the heart. (By the way...my pattern includes directions for how to make a mini wire hanger!)

Mini Sweater Christmas Ornament with Felt Heart Applique

I liked the aqua sweater with a heart so much that I made one in red!  I used Lamb's Pride Brown Sheep worsted weight yarn to knit these ornaments.

Mini Sweater Ornament in Red with a White Felt Heart

Buy the Mini Sweater Ornament Knitting Pattern on Ravelry, Etsy or FiftyFourTenStudio.com.

For a boy who played football last fall, I modified my mini sweater ornament pattern to make a "jersey" style ornament with his team colors and his #11 jersey number.  I hear that he loved seeing his jersey number on his custom ornament.  (I'm working on writing up the pattern for this short sleeve sweater ornament with options for felt applique numbers and letters....more info soon!)

These are just a few of the small knitted gifts I made for Christmas gifts! To see all the photos check out my Instagram page.

After all the Christmas festivities were done I had time to do more knitting.  I pulled out that red yarn again and knit a few little red houses.

I used my knitting pattern - The Little House - which can be found on Ravelry, Craftsy and Etsy.

Little Red House..."under construction".

After sewing up the seams on the base structure of the house, I knit the roof in white...to represent a snowy roof.  Did you notice the cute holiday sweater napkin in the photo below?  My sweet sister-in-law gave a package of those to me last year.  Pretty much a perfect little gift for a knitter!

Roof construction in progress.

Then I stitched a felt door to the front with DMC embroidery floss. A french knot makes the perfect door knob.  I added tiny windows to each side of the house.  After the felt applique pieces were complete, I stuffed the house with a little bit of polyfil and stitched on the roof piece.  I will thread a piece of yarn to the top of my tiny red house to use it as a Christmas ornament on our tree next year.  And, I have a few more of these little red houses in progress to give as gifts next Christmas!

Finishing up a few little red houses!

The Little House knitting pattern is available on Ravelry.

I also ended 2015 having discovered Instagram...finally!  I love it!  I'm so inspired by the many talented knitters, makers, photographers and artists I have discovered on Instagram.  If you would like to see more behind the scenes photos of my knitting, follow me on Instagram @FiftyFourTenStudio.

I'm really looking forward to designing more knitting patterns in 2016!  Happy knitting and best wishes for the new year.  :)

I love how these little red houses turned out!

Little Gingerbread Houses Knit & Finished for Christmas Gifts

If you have read my "about me" page you already know that I love to make Christmas ornaments for my friends and family every year.  Shh....don't tell them...but this year most of them will receive a little gingerbread house ornament.  I knit these using The Little House knitting pattern which I published earlier this year.

These little houses are so fun to knit.  Over the course of a few weeks I knit all the pieces to make eleven little gingerbread houses.  I worked on the pieces in between other knitting projects.  The house is knit flat and then seamed at the corners to make a three dimensional house shape.

For the gingerbread house, I used Berroco Vintage Worsted ‘Cork’ #5156 – which I bought in December 2013. Just before publishing the final pattern, I discovered that this color may have been discontinued! You may still find ‘Cork’ online or at your local yarn store. These Berroco Vintage colors might be a good substitute: ‘Caramel’ #5196 or ‘Toast’ #51102. This pattern will work well with many other worsted weight yarns.

For the roof pieces, I used Berroco Vintage in the color 'Mochi'.  Here's all the roof pieces lined up and ready for assembly.

Once I finished all the knitting, I cut out the felt pieces for the doors, windows and little hearts to sew on the back of the gingerbread house.  I like to use wool blend felt.

Then, I used embroidery floss to decorate the front doors and add little door knobs.

Then it was time to sew the front door in place using blanket stitch and white embroidery floss.  I love using blanket stitch. Now the little gingerbread house is starting to come to life!

I stitched felt windows to each side of the little gingerbread houses.  

Then the fun part....sewing the roof to the house and stuffing the inside.  The pattern includes detailed step-by-step instructions and tutorial photos for all of the finishing steps.  There are also detailed instructions for all of the embroidery stitches used in this design.

The little gingerbread house is one of my favorite patterns I've designed because it reminds me of all the good times my kids and I have had baking and decorating gingerbread houses from scratch.  

I stitched a little heart on the back of each house. 

It's so fun to see all the little gingerbread houses lined up like a little village.  

Before I give these as gifts, I'll thread a thin red ribbon through the top of the roof to make a hanging ornament.  

If you would like to make some little gingerbread houses for your family, see more details about this pattern on my "designing the little house" blog post.  You can purchase the pattern on Ravelry or in my Etsy shop.

New Knitting Pattern - The Big Red Barn!

I finished The Big Red Barn knitting pattern last week!  It’s now available in my Etsy shop and on Ravelry.

I’ve been working on this pattern since January.  When I was knitting with my Little House pattern, I decided I wanted to try a larger building and a barn seemed the perfect place to start.  I love how it turned out!

Knitting this barn is fun!  The pattern includes detailed row by row knitting instructions and more than 30 tutorial photos to walk you through every step of constructing the barn.  The barn is knit in one piece and then the corners are sewn together.  The windows and doors are cut from felt and sewn on with embroidery floss. The roof is knit separately and sewn on top. 

This is one of more than 30 tutorial photos included
in The Big Red Barn knitting pattern.

I have assumed that you know how to cast-on stitches, knit & purl confidently, cast off stitches, knit two stitches together, sew up simple seams and have some basic hand sewing experience.  Detailed instructions provided for all other steps which may be new to you.  If you have any questions when using the pattern I am happy to help!  My e-mail is in the pattern.

When I was designing this pattern, these opening lines from Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown played over and over in my head…..

“By the big red barn

In the great green field,

There was a pink pig

Who was learning to squeal.”

The words are ingrained in my memory from the many times I read this little board book to our children when they were little.  The Big Red Barn pattern is a tribute to the many fun farm themed children’s books.  

For a special gift, knit up this cute red barn and give it to a new baby or young child…along with a farm themed book.  (The knitted barn is almost exactly the same height as the Big Red Barn board book.)

This pattern will work with almost any worsted weight wool or wool blend yarn.  I used Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted ‘Red Hot Passion’ for barn (about 75 yards) and Berroco Vintage ‘Cracked Pepper’ for roof (about 60 yards).  You will also need:  size 5 knitting needles, felt (black & tan), white DMC embroidery floss, poly-fil for stuffing and basic knitting and sewing supplies.

One more thing….you may have noticed that I am from Kansas in the U.S.  Based on a certain famous movie about Dorothy and the Scarecrow, it might be easy to jump to conclusions and picture me living on the farm with a big red barn.  Well…not quite!  I live in a very suburban area.  For example, there are at least four grocery stores within two miles of my house!  No barns around here anymore!  

Designing "The Little House" Knitting Pattern

A few months ago I started sketching out an idea for a little three dimensional knitted house.  I wanted it to be tiny….small enough to be a hanging ornament for Christmas.  From the sketch, I estimated how many stitches, how many rows of knitting, etc.  I cast on stitches using some very, very old worsted weight yarn.  It took a few tries to find the right stitch choice to make the bottom stay flat and the right number of stitches and rows to have visually appealing proportions. 

When the knitting came together and the roof was sewn on straight, I had a cute little house in my hands.  But, it didn’t have a door or windows.  It wasn’t very interesting.  The house needed something to bring it to life.  Felt!  I dug out some felt and embroidery floss and sewed on doors and windows.  I love layering and mixing different materials!

Adding the felt appliqué to the design process sparked all kinds of ideas about customizing the house for many occasions.  I found myself waking up at 4:00 a.m. thinking of other themes for “The Little House”….a gingerbread house, a new home, welcoming home a new baby….the list became pretty long! 

One of the first ideas was a little pink house to celebrate Valentine’s Day…with little hearts on the door.  I made this version with Berroco Vintage Worsted.  It’s a lovely yarn at a reasonable price.  I fell in love with this delicious pale pink called ‘Fondant’.  The dark gray, called ‘Cracked Pepper’, tops off the house perfectly.

"The Little House" knitting pattern includes photos and directions for six variations.  The pattern includes row by row knitting instructions, specific instructions for finishing the house, patterns for the felt appliqué pieces, embroidery stitch instructions and lots of tutorial photos.  

I have assumed that you know how to cast-on stitches, knit & purl confidently, cast off stitches, knit two stitches together, sew up simple seams and have some basic hand sewing experience.  Detailed instructions are provided for any other techniques which may be new to you.

For example, I could have written simply: “sew up seams of the house” and “sew on roof”.  But, it took me a few tries to sew up the seams consistently and sew the roof on straight.  I want you to have the same results.  The pattern contains lots of photos (such as the one below) and tips to guide you through this process step by step.

You can purchase my pattern through my FiftyFourTenStudio Etsy Shop or in my  5410Studio Ravelry Pattern Store.  Or, see the Pattern Store tab above.

For me, “The Little House” pattern is all about home and love and family.