March Means...Marchy McMushroom!

March 1st equals...NEW ADDITION TO THE WOODLAND SAMPLERRRRR!!!

Soooo many people were like OMG SO MUCH STITCHING IN FEBRUARY! I'm super glad when we designed the pattern that we put this little mushroom in for March! I think it'll help people not become too discouraged. April is going to be super fun, it has a lot of details but not so many that it'll be overwhelming.

Can you guess who named this guy? I did. ;) Haha! Each time we come up with a pattern, I send Ashleigh these goofy little emails with a story about the character. Because I think I'm actually a daydreaming 8 year old, doodling in a notebook and laying in the grass.

Here is this guys story in email form.

"hi mushroom, what's your name?"

"my name is marchy mcmushroom! I live in a little glass terrarium in the study of a girl who loves kit kats!"::

Can you guess who recently discovered the joy of kit kats? ;) I told Porkchop yesterday my dream milkshake would involve kit kats and potato chips. Clearly I'm craving salty & sweet. But don't worry, I didn't actually make that milkshake.

Actually, speaking of strange food, one last thing before I go...have you guys seen the Lay's new flavor chips? I got a bag of chicken & waffles and a bag of sriracha. I've had a few of the chicken & waffles, I've never actually had the pleasure of eating chicken & waffles together but I'm sort of obsessed with the idea. I love...salty & sweet (I know, I'm repetitive and predictable!). One of my favorite things is breakfast sausage with maple, when I make sausage from scratch I tend to go a teeny bit overboard on the maple extract. And I lust after making this recipe ALL THE TIME but you know...clearly not a health food. ANYWAYS, the chicken & waffle chips aren't too shabby. I can't eat more than a 4-5 at once because they are a little much but a good rare treat!

And, you can sign up for Woodland Sampler year round! There's no deadline, you can join whenever you want! The workroom has floss in stock for it too! We do have another club coming up, SPRINGTIME SAMPLER! I've been sneaking in photos on instagram but I'll take some photos today for the blog so you guys can see it too!

It's supposed to be 72 degrees here today and I have spring fever xten.

February is always short.

I always forget that February is a short month, it's here one second and then gone the next.

I'm enjoying a bit of sunshine and binding today. I'm a real sucker for a quiet afternoon. Especially when there is sunshine involved.

<3

PS: 1. I can't stop making quilts, I learned you can fit 15 quilts in two jumbo space bags. 2. I can't stop reading books. Thank you for your suggestions! 3. I'm obsessed with a new pattern we are working on called Springtime Sampler. 4. I'm also learning garment sewing and I sewed sleeves. For real. I'm not quite sure where all this new found sewing confidence is coming from but I'm rolling with it. 5. If I wasn't taking a knitting break, I'd cast on for this right away. I still might, even if it takes me a million years to make it. Size 6 needles are giant compared to 0's & 1's right?!  6. If you are a small business, I can't stress enough how amazing it is to sit down with a small business counselor. Ashleigh & I did and it was eye opening. Check your area. We went here. 7.  I have enough here for like, a million blog posts. Maybe since March is long I'll talk about all this stuff. ;)

Books I Read In January:

I loooove to read. It's my favorite thing to do before bed! I'll admit right off the bat that I am *not* a discriminating reader. I just want entertainment and a little escape. I don't read serious books, mostly because life is too serious already!

Here are some books I read in January:

• Faceless Killers: A Mystery. I super loved this one, I absolutely love the Wallander series on PBS and reading the books is nice because they are subtly different than the show. I think I read the other two after this one but I don't think I noted it on goodreads. I'll figure this out and report back. Either way, it's a great dark series.
• The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer & The Evolution of Mara Dyer. This is a pretty decent YA series. Entertaining and I know I'll read the next in the series but I sort of felt like it got a little repetitive towards the end.
• Crescendo. Meh. I sort of think I'm over this series but I'm weird and feel like I HAVE to finish a series unless it's absolutely dreadful.
• Firelight. This is one kindle had on sale for $2.99 and I got it on a whim. I really liked it, I spent the majority of the book wondering what on earth was the genre of the book! Mystery? Romance? Historical? Paranormal? I don't know but I enjoyed the heck out of it! I looked forward to reading before bed.
• Moonglow. The second in the Darkest London series...I couldn't get into it. I liked Firelight much more!
• Ever After. OH YES. My favorite book of the month. Love love love! I feel like Rachel totally grows as a character in this book and it has a LOT of Trent! woo woo!!! By the last chapter I was both SO EXCITED, SLIGHTLY SAD but also OMG RACHEL YOU ARE SO MATURE! I sort of want to re-read the series from the beginning now!

What did you read in January?!

February Socks: Pigeonroof Studios

February socks!!!

I highly doubt I'll be able to finish these this month but that's ok! I'm totally smitten with them. I had a few false starts, I've knit the toes up to the increases on two other pairs before I frogged them. I'm the *worst* at being indecisive! Also, I've had to cut back my knitting time so I want to only work on a pair that I *love xten*!

Do you like my pig timer? I'm using him to keep track of knitting time. He cracks me up!!!! I got him at our local hardware store, I was using my phone but I sort of like the sound of the kitchen timer more. Plus it stops me from checking my phone every few minutes!

Pattern: Hermoine's Everyday Socks + Gussett Heel Toe Up Socks + two at a time

Yarn: Pigeonroof Studios in Blossom

Needles: Signature Needle Arts- Size 1

Stitch Marker: Bacon & Eggs from Sweet & Savory Trinkets

Yarn Bowl: Heartstrings Yarn Studio

Also, today I put my Farmer's Wife quilt on our bed, that's it in the background of these photos. I'm pretty keen on how it looks, at first I'd planned on just putting it in my hope chest and not using it at all but it matches my duvet nicely. I'm so in love with how traditional it looks, because it obviously is a traditional quilt! I'm hoping to finish up a Civil War quilt I'm working on soon-ish to add to my traditional quilt collection.

:):)

Woodland Sampler: February Midnight Raccoon Bandit

Oh hi!

February's Woodland Sampler was released on the 1st and I'm in *love* with this little raccoon. I swear, Ashleigh's designs just get better and better!

You can sign up year round and there is no such thing as being "behind". We get so many emails asking if it's ok to start now...heck yes! You can start whenever you want!

The pattern is here & you can get floss bundles here!

Ashleigh & I got together today and finished up the color palette for Kawaii Spring Sampler. After doing the Kawaii Winter Sampler we had lots of requests for more seasons so we decided to do all of them! I'll let you know when the pre-sale goes live! We also are finishing up the stitching on the new Around the World patterns...eek!

Don't forget, #woodlandsampler on instagram shows you all the works in progress, plus you can post to our facebook page AND you can email us your photos directly :):)

Finished in 2013: Donut Quilt

Can I share with you my very favorite new project?

Donut Quilt!!!!

I don't really sew very many quilts so when I do, I want to love them like CRAZY and have the process make me incredibly happy.

This project? It fit the bill.

The pattern is by Johanna Masko. I've long admired the quilts that she designs and people at the workroom sew up. I think the main reason why I was able to sew this up so smoothly was because the pattern is written so.incredibly.well. For real. Very, very, very little waste which I *love*. Nothing drives me crazier than half way through cutting a pattern realizing I could have cut wayyy less because the cutting instructions are wonky. This was spot on without a bunch of extra scraps floating around. A total quilting newbie could make this and have a blast.

For me, this is the perfect sized quilt. I made the throw which measures 51" x 63". I can have it on my lap when I'm sewing, I like it as an additional layer on my side of the bed and it fits nice when I'm in the car. I'm pretty sure everyone is so sick of seeing this quilt in photos but I'm really using it a lot! And loving every second of it!

I try really hard to only use precious fabrics from my stash in my quilts and there are some real gems in this quilt. I want my personal quilts to be truly special and important to me, nothing is off limits. I guess I feel like it's pointless to buy special fabrics, only to never use them. Dorky but true!

I used Lizzy House's Constellations for the background because seriously, how great are these little stars? And then her pearl bracelets in cotton candy for the borders. I used some special batiks, some liberty of london, a few Japanese prints, etc. Lots of gifts from friends, I think I have a little bit of Karyn's stash in all my sewing. I backed it with Japanese donut fabric because...how could I not?! ;)

I free motion quilted all the circles on this. I started by tracing a canner lid absolutely perfectly on top of a donut. But after doing the first bit of quilting, it looked too stiff & contrived. So I traced 8 more circles at random intervals and free motion quilted around each of them, branching off to create more rings around those. It was so hard to get photos of the quilting and I hope you don't judge the close up photos too harshly, free motioning circles is HARD! My walking foot & I don't get along so free motioning is where it was at. I used the oval closed toe free motion foot for Bernina, #15 if you are curious! I had the stitch length set to 3 and it seemed to work fine. I used a mix of King Tut & Aurifil in the needle & Bottom Line in the bobbin. Sadly it's become *really* hard for me to find nice thread locally so I had to use the cream threads I had on hand and now I'm completely out! >:(

After machine quilting the circles, I went in with Cosmo Sparkle Floss in White and hand quilted little squares inside some of the donuts. I was a teeny bit nervous using a metallic thread for hand quilting but it went through the washing machine & dryer absolutely beautifully. I used a red work needle for this rather than a traditional hand quilting needle because the floss is too thick for the eye.

I used Pellon's Nature's Touch batting. I almost exclusively use Quilter's Dream but my local quilt shop was out & I saw JoAnn's had batting for 50% off. I have mixed feelings about it. I loved the weight & loft, how it washed up, how little lint it left in my machine. I didn't love that you can almost peel the scrim away from it. At one point when I was pinning it Chop was like "is this stuff fusible? What is this?" It's not ideal for hand quilting at all. BUT the price is decent and if you are in a pinch, it's fine. I'd use it again if I couldn't get Quilter's Dream or if I had a limited budget. Which I almost always do. ;)

I raided my scrap bin for the binding. You all are so kind on saying how nice my binding looks in my previous post! I've been trying really hard to bind the proper way, it turns out this whole time I hadn't been folding my corners correctly! eek! But now I think I'm on the right track :)

You can read my previous posts about the donut quilt here! & here! Phew!

My next quilt? THIS ONE! That border slays me!

<3

 ps: thanks chorp for holding my quilt so patiently. ;)

Binding Love

Ok, don't laugh but I'm pretty sure 80% of the reason why I quilt is so I can spend evenings on the couch with Chop hand sewing the binding down. I seriously *love* binding quilts. I know machine binding is way faster but I totally look forward to lazy couch time. We've been watching Luther & Inspector Lewis, my two favorites.

This weekend I bound a baby quilt and my Farmer's Wife quilt. Two night of laying around being lazy? My idea of a good time!

:):)

PS: That super pretty star quilting? It's a baby quilt Lindsay did for me and it's one of my favorite things EVER. She's so good! I just sent her another quilt, I've started to refer to it as my quilts getting a spa beauty treatment. Thanks Lindsay for being the BEST! <3

Long Weekend Projects

I started a little embroidery yesterday for a friend who's having a baby. I'm super slow at embroidering so I figured I'd get a head start! I'm using this pattern, because mama-to-be is a Kurt Hasley fan. I don't know if it's going to be a boy or girl yet so I picked some constellation scraps for the background. Stars are gender neutral right?! ;) I super love iron on patterns, I'm the absolute worst at tracing and for some reason the whole "iron it and it's magically on your fabric" is really magical to me. I'm a nerd. ;)

Porkchop made me a little scrap thread holder! It's a piece of 4" x 6" wood that he wrapped fabric around and stapled down. Then he hammered a few nails in it and we sprayed it with a bit of glitter spray. I love it so much, I tend to just leave little piles of floss everywhere and now I have them all together with me!

I finished my Donut Quilt on Sunday night, it was the best weekend of sewing, relaxing and watching t.v. Those are the best kinds of weekends to me.

Also! Voting ended in our poll for the next patterns! We'll be doing Japan, Australia and Ireland! Ashleigh is already designing and I've ordered new linen/evenweave for us this morning. I can't wait to start stitching them and sharing sneak peeks! I was begging everyone I knew to vote for Japan, Ireland and Russia, but sadly Russia didn't win! But once these patterns are done, we'll have another round of voting! :):)

I hope you had a nice long weekend :)

Weekend Plans: Frosted Pumpkin Shop Update & Donut Quilt

TGIF! TGIF!!!

Today was the best mail day, all the fabrics I needed to complete my donut quilt arrived! Woo! That never happens! Usually one or two will meander in at a time but today, BAM! all at once! Although sadly the fabric I'd planned to bind the quilt with I bought in the wrong color! oops!

I spent the afternoon listening to Driving Mr. Dead & cutting this quilt out. I never listened to audiobooks until last year when Amber got me into them. Now I can't imagine an afternoon without them! Molly Harper's books are read by Amanda Ronconi and she takes the book up a notch. Truly *hilarious*.

This quilt is the most sweet and girly thing I've ever sewn. I used Lizzy's little constellation stars for the background, a bunch of favorite pinks (and two rebel black fabrics) for the donuts and then the border I went with pearl bracelets in cotton candy. And then! I found donut fabric for the backing. That totally cracks me up!

Ashleigh & I are asking for your help! We are having a poll to decide the next countries in our Around the World Series! You can vote between now and Sunday! Full confession: I voted for Japan with my other hopes being Ireland & Russia!

We've also updated our shop with all the new Valentine's Day patterns, included one we kept secret, Elements of Love! ooOOOooo!

What are you going to do this weekend? I'm cross stitching and working on this quilt. I heard a rumor someone is going to take me out for yogurt tonight. ;)

The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery Presents: Valentine's Day!

omggg!

It's almost time for new patterns!!!!

These new cuties will be available tomorrow evening on our bigcartel shop! 

I can't wait!!! I stitched up the latte love & you are smashing, Ashleigh stitched up the bacon & eggs...sooo much fun! We had a little party on New Years Eve and sat up until 4 am cross stitching & playing with her two puppies. Best! I used the scraps left over from my Woodland Sampler that I glitter sprayed. Smash used a scrap of evenweave from her stash.

I printed out a copy of the pattern with some floss and linen as a little hello for my neighbor. I think these would be super cute stitched up as gifts! Imagine a few for teachers gifts or for bffs? Adorbs!

I'll post an announcement on facebook when they are up for sale!

Who's ready for some weekend stitching?!

FO: Pheasant Socks

I finished my first knitting project of 2013!

Pheasant Socks! Woo!

These are one of my very favorite pairs of socks, soooo soft and they fit great! I've already washed them twice!

I plugged in the Skyp to my favorite toe up pattern, used a size 1 needle and knit them two at a time.

The yarn is Hedgehog Fibres Sock Yarn in Pheasant, I decided my 2013 goal is to save up and join their sock yarn club. I've never joined a club before but I am *so* obsessed with this yarn that the thought of receiving mystery skeins from them is crazy exciting to me!

I had super mixed feelings about my Signature Needle Arts size one circular needles. I absolutely adore the points and the needles themselves, seriously DREAMY. Towards the end of the socks I felt like I was knitting so smoothly and kind of fast, which isn't like me at all, I'm a very slow and thoughtful knitter (cross stitcher too). But the joins! Oi! They were driving me crazy! BUT!!! I've called them on the phone, emailed them photos and they are sending me a new pair! Hey! That is GREAT customer service!!! High 5 Signature Needle Arts!!!

I'm not sure if I can count these socks as my January socks since I technically started them on December 22nd with a finish date of January 3rd but that's ok, I've already cast and have two repeats of a pattern done on my FOR REAL January socks.

Also, this weekend I shot a pretty nice rooster pheasant. I'm going to make General Tso's Pheasant with it, I made it twice last week and it's *totally* addictive. On Sunday it was SO cold here, only 34 degrees at 10 am! brrr! Chop bought me a pair of Smart Wool Leggings a few years ago from Cabela's, I wore them, regular leggings, jeans, wool hunting socks, a thermal, a hoodie, a Carhartt coat and my favorite cowl! I was COZY! I sat on the back of the quad while Chop whipped us around and I was pretty sure my nose was going to fall off, I think I no longer have New England blood. ;)

Tomorrow I'm going to post a sneak peek of our Valentine's Day patterns. I just finished cross stitching a pinata because I saw this on pinterest and seriously died. Adorable!!!!

:)

DIY Glitter Linen

Raise your hand if you love glitter!

Meee!!! I loooove glitter. Fierce. And I also love cross stitch. Combine the two and you get pure radness!

You can buy commercial glitter linen from sources like dovestitch.com but if you are like me and want the most glitter for your buck, try this!

Here's what you'll need:

• Krylon Glitter Spray or Krylon Glitter Blast. I can only vouch for these two sprays, different brands may vary. I picked Glitter Blast in Diamond Dust & Glitter Spray in a Multicolor. The multicolor has bits of red, blue, silver, gold and green. I went with Krylon because these are acid free. I purchased these at Michael's with a coupon. The small can is $5.99 and the large is $7.99 without a coupon. You could get a LOT of glitter linen out of each can. And they had a ton of colors, gold, silver, pink, green, etc.
• Linen Scraps. Please try this project on scraps first, I'd hate for you to buy expensive linen and have it not work out!.
• Either newspaper or paper bags. Or your front steps. Just a place to spray your fabric outside.

You really want to work on this project outside, it's spray paint and it stinks.

I simply laid down my fabric and using even strokes, covered the fabric with the spray paint. Easy right?

Here are a few tips:

• Let the fabric sit 24-48 hrs before you try to stitch on it. Not because it's wet but because the fumes are crazy.
• The fabric will be SUPER stiff. I found I liked it, but if you don't want super stiff fabric, you probably don't want to try this project.
• I completed an entire project with minimal glitter shedding. Occasionally I'd look down and see a piece of glitter or two on my hands but it didn't fall everywhere.
• The fibers of the linen can be stuck together, meaning it's a little easy to miscount but a few stitches in I figured it out.
•  It WILL darken your fabric considerably. In the photo of the spray paint cans, the linen on the left has been glittered, the right hasn't.

Here in this photo shows the original linen rolled up and then the glittered linens below it! Exact same one, Charles Craft Irish Linen Tea Dyed! See how light it is compared to the glittered ones?! Neat!

Look how awesome glitter floss looks with glitter linen?! This is Cosmo's White (silver!) and it's super dreamy looking. I'm working on a project today with this sparkle floss and I can't wait!

See how nice the stitches pop?! This has been ironed on low with a dish towel between the iron and the linen. It is FLAT. Crisp even! Imagine the cutest bookmark ever and this could be it. Sometimes my regular projects I have to starch in order to get the crinkles out but this fabric is so stiff that the crinkles just fell out. Amazing!

Anyways, I hope you give it a try! Ashleigh & I will be releasing a line of brand new Valentine's Day patterns on Friday, if you haven't had a chance get, come visit us on facebook! We aren't spammy (that's just not our nature!), we share tips & tricks and post photos of things other folks have made from our patterns :)

Straight Stitch Society: Have It All Wallet

I made a wallet last night!!!!

And it was sooooo much fun!

I saw the pattern earlier this week on pinterest and knew I had to make one. I'm trying to be more organized in 2013 and my previous "wallet" was really a pony pouch that Karyn made me. Super cute & one of my most treasured things but every few months it would be jam packed with receipts, movie ticket stubs and pens. Because you know, it's a pouch! Not a wallet! And I just cram everything in it without thinking!

I've tried to make wallets before, 4 years ago I attempted to make my mom & I "A Safe Place". Let's just say that she has a wonky looking wallet and I didn't bother making one for myself. Half way through I abandoned the directions because I didn't understand them and I winged it. I've tried various tutorials online but always ended up with something kind of sloppy.

The pattern I used for my wallet is called "Have It All Wallet". And it was super well written and FAST. I generally don't sew in the evenings but I made this in a few hours after supper.

Here are some thoughts:

• Easy! Really clearly written, totally beginner friendly. I loved the tone of the pattern, encouraging & cute!
• I used two Echino home decor weight fabrics. Instead of using heavy weight sew in interfacing I used Pellon 809 Decor Bond on both the outer pink fabric, plus the inner deer fabric. This is iron on and my very favorite interfacing for bags. It is really sturdy and crisp. The rest of the wallet I interfaced using their directions using the Pellon 809.
• The only time I got confused was inserting the zippered pocket into the accordion pocket. Chop sat down and read it to me and it clicked. Sometimes I think I need to hear things aloud in order for them to make sense.
• I purchased the pdf version and you do have to tape things together but they have a background grid that helps you line up the pieces. In total the pdf is 16 pages.
• The pattern has little drawn illustrations with the steps which I loved because...
• I learned a new way to install a zipper! I *think* this is the same method Anna Maria Horner uses in her Art Student Tote but I never could figure it out! The directions in the Have It All pattern made it SUPER CLEAR. I read it twice. Then a third time to make sure I was interpreting it correctly. I followed it EXACTLY as written and BAM! Cute zip pouch!
• I love how big and sturdy this is, tons of great details that make this look posh. Accordion pockets, strip interfaced card holders and that little attached inner zippered pouch is adorable.
• You can tell I don't have a ton of things, I carry a license, two debit cards, frequent yarn & yogurt buying cards and a library card. But this thing has LOTS of room! Behind the cards you can put cash or receipts. The zippered pocket right now has my lip balm, lip gloss, a ton of change and hair ties. In front of the zip and behind the zip are more pockets that expand, I'm holding a book of stamps and a few grocery coupons. Best part? If you have a smart phone, it fits *perfectly* in front of the zippered pouch! So you can totally carry just your wallet and keys if you have to run a quick errand. I love that!
• I used Echino for the outside and inside, the card holder is a Marcus Brother's repro print, the zip pouch is Jay McCarroll's Habitat and the accordion pocket is Joel Dewberry! The tea cup & deer ribbon is Rosa Pomar! All from my stash. I used my snap press to apply a plain black snap. I decided against top stitching around the whole wallet and instead I slip stitched the bottom closed by hand.

I'm pretty sure this is going to be my go-to pattern for birthday & Christmas gifts. The hardest part of the pattern was picking the fabric. Isn't it always like that?! ;)

Have a good Sunday! :):)

Pink Projects EVERYWHERE.

A few weeks ago I woke up and decided pink was my new favorite color.

My previous favorite color was gray...it's been gray for years. Porkchop teases me because of the frightening amount of gray tank tops and teeshirts I own. I just love gray.

But now I love pink too.

So the most logical thing for me to do was start a Valentine's Day quilt!

I have a bunch of cute Japanese and older Moda fabrics that I've been hiding for a sweet project like this. I picked a gray/cream background fabric that you can see on a few of the blocks but it was leaning a little too sickeningly sweet. I wanted tough sweet. Like the grouchy country boy who hunts all day and gets muddy but then comes home and peels your oranges all cute because you can't. Or squishes and cuts your sandwiches in 1/4's because that's how you like them. Tough Sweet!.So I'm making it a little different by adding black essex yarn dyed linen as the background of all these pinks. And then I'm backing the quilt with velveteen which is luxurious. xten.

Camille, who is adorable and clever designed this pattern and it's super easy & fun. The pattern is called Double Take and it's two patterns in one, I love that! I'm making the checkerboard one. I think it's for jelly rolls but I don't own any (I just lost my key card to the cool quilter club house by admitting that) so I'm just using scraps and favorite little bits from my stash.

And then this gloriousness came in the mail! PKM sent me these fat quarters because she's AMAZING! I'm working on a bear paw quilt (pink! are you surprised?!) and she sent me the hot pink dots for that but then included the extras! What a gem she is! After she sent them I decided I need to get more of those dots, they work so well in everything! And I think I need a Valentine's Day knitting bag...

For these new socks!!!! As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm trying to knit a pair of socks each month in 2013. My January socks are HOT PINK! So hot pink that my camera has issues capturing it. And don't get my started on how my phone pretty much falls over and dies when I try to take photos of them. The color is called POP ROCKS! and it's by Madelinetosh.

AND THENNNN! I was buying tapestry needles and a cat needle minder (a needle minder is a little cute magnetic thing that you put on your hoop to keep track of your needles) from the workroom when I spotted this pattern for a DONUT QUILT. Um what? A donut quilt?? Yes please. I pulled fabrics for it last night. Big shock...pinks.

The background fabric will be Lizzy's constellation stars because they are adorable. And then it has bottom and top borders...I can't decide if I should hunt down more of these cream metallic dots that Lindsay sent me a scrap of?! Or maybe use one of Lizzy's new pearl bracelet colors? I don't know! Either way I have to save up to buy the background, border and backing fabric so I have some time to mull it over.

Also, today is the veryyyyy last day of the Woodland Sampler sale!!! Tonight at midnight it goes up to $16.95! I hope you'll join us this year stitching it up!

:):)

Monthly Woodland Sampler Sneak Peek: February

On January 2nd we introduced our Woodlander's to Deer Couple and I was downright *shocked* how fast people stitched these cuties up. It takes me a zillion years to cross stitch, I'm pretty sure I'm the slowest stitch-er ever! But it makes us crazy excited to see how you guys dive into each pattern and project. I kept texting Ashleigh with "another person finished!" "someone else is done and it's soooo cute"!

Yesterday I posted a little sneak peek on instagram of my hoop and people seemed *really* excited so I thought it was only fair to share it with the entire universe. (Well, my little spot of the universe that is!)

I think 2-3x a day we receive an email asking if the blank bits in the frames are supposed to be there. The answer is yes! These little spaces will contain cute things later on...such as CLOUDS! See that little guy above?! Adorable right? Ashleigh really went all out on this pattern, it has a lot of sweet little details.

February has also had people curious...why is it blue? Is it special?

The answer is....it takes place at NIGHT! I've always been curious of the woods at night. Curious and slightly scared. I'm a bit of a weenie. What is lurking around? Friend or Foe? In this case, totally a friend! This little woodland creature is heading out for night time adventures, maybe visiting a masquerade ball for a little dancing under the stars! wink wink hint hint!

I've blocked out all of the navy blue already, the rest of the blank spots will be grays, yellows and a few little bits of sparkle. This month has a lot of stitching, no empty squares within the 33x33 stitch block! Eek! Exciting!

Don't forget, tomorrow at midnight the price of the pattern rises to $16.95! And we'll send patterns to friends, we have lots of sisters, mothers and daughters and bffs working on this project together.

<3!

2012: Year of the...Sock?!

2012 is over! 2013 is here!

Did you make any goals?

I have a handful, one of which is to knit 12 pairs of socks in 2013!

I learned how to knit socks last December with the encouragement of Kayanna, Amy & Angela. Most people think I learned how to knit last winter but nope! I learned how to knit in 2002 when I first started blogging but I never did more than ugly scarves for my moms cat Simon and lumpy hats for myself. Plus, the internet knitting world was incredibly inspiring but also intimidating/not super friendly to newbs.

Fast forward to me spending each winter knitting a handful of hats, scarves..lots of little things to keep myself warm.

One thing I always wanted to try. SOCKS. Now I'd tried socks three times before, epic fail. The most recent time was the first summer Chop & I started dating he took me to Reno for the first time in my life. I won $75 on a penny machine at one of the casinos. I decided I was going to Truckee (where Jimmy Beans Wool used to have a shop!) and buying sock needles and yarn and I was going to knit a pair of Jaywalker Socks that summer. I got to the heel flap and gave up. I'm pretty sure those teeny tiny bamboo DPNs and tangled yarn are in a box still. I remember it was Lorna's Laces and it was sort of hot pink & gray?!

So when I decided I wanted to do socks again, I hemmed and hawed for a few weeks. I researched. I bought yarn. I visited the library. I polled twitter. I stalked ravelry. I talked myself out of it a million times. My knitting confidence wasn't super high. Then those girls were basically like, BUCK UP! YOU CAN DO THIS YOU WEENIE!. So I made a Monkey Sock. Exactly as the pattern was written. And it fit! It was neat! But it wasn't exactly fun & I felt like I was missing something other than a second sock. So I decided I wanted to really, really, FOR REAL learn how to knit socks. So I took a Saturday afternoon class at Heartstrings in Chico.  Each Saturday they have a drop in time where you can ask a teacher questions for $10.  The gal next to me was using Wendy Johnson's Socks from the Toe Up book and knitting two Valentine's Day red heart socks for her daughter. She had two circular needles with one sock on each one and kept them in two separate zip lock bags. I took one look at her and said "I WANT TO LEARN THAT!"

One skein of Tosh Sock divided into two balls and I was ON MY WAY! I learned so, so, so, much! Magic loop, Judy's Magic Cast On, etc! I was EXCITED! I made a pair of socks that FIT! I went back and finished that pair of Monkey's, this time toe up and it was GREAT!

Since then, I haven't been able to STOP knitting socks. I knit in the car. I knit while watching t.v. I knit with friends. I'm by no means a pro but this year I knit 12 pairs of socks in the photo plus I have one pair on my needles right now, I knit a pair for my mom, I have a secret pair I can't share until the pattern is released, I frogged a pair and I was commissioned to knit a pair! So a total of 15.75 pairs. The .75 is because I only have an inch of ribbing on my current socks left to do ;)

I am *not* a hip knitter, I don't knit the most complicated patterns, I don't belong to any clubs & I'm not super active on ravelry. I knit for warmth, to keep my hands busy and to support my yarn dyeing friends. I found a sock "recipe" that works for me and I love that. I might knit nothing but plain socks all year and smile the entire time. The main thing for me is I love wearing hand knit socks. I see that stack of socks I made and I'm filled with a crazy amount of pride. They have mistakes, they aren't even remotely perfect but they are MINE! High 5! Things like quilting & cooking I am obsessive about and make sure everything is as perfect as I can possibly make it but knitting? Not so much. I just want them to fit, be warm and cute. I wear these socks daily in the winter and I like showing my friends the socks I'm wearing that day. I love buying sock yarn and have a basket full of the prettiest yarns ever. It's sort of like my therapy. Bad day? Knit socks. Tons of housework? Clean for an hour, knit for an hour. ;)

Here are my favorite sock-y things in list form:

Favorite Sock Knitting Pattern. I take this pattern and pop cuff down designs into it. It just fits my foot the nicest!

Favorite Sock Knitting Books. I had both books spiral bound together at Staples for $4.95. Now all my patterns are in one place. I can't say enough about these books, they help me so much! I think Wendy is amazing. They are just written in a way that clicks for me!

Favorite Sock Needles: Budget Friendly & Indulgence. I like point-y needles in either a size 0, 1 or 1.5 with a 32 inch cord. I can't use DPNs successfully. I like the 32 inch cord for both one at a time and two at a time.

Favorite Sock Yarns: Cakewalk, Hedgehog Fibres, Plucky Knitter, Phydeaux Designs, Pigeonroof Studios,  Madelinetosh (It drives me nuts that some yarns discharge color like crazytown, but when I contacted them about it, they were nice, so I can't complain too much!), Cephalopod Yarns!, The Woolen Rabbit

Sock yarns I'm dying to try in 2013: A Verb for Keeping Warm, Sunshine Yarns, idk what else...leave me some new folks to try!

Adorable Stitch Markers! I'd love that little heart shaped sugar cookie for Valentine's Day!

I bought myself a yarn bowl on Christmas Eve. I got it at my local yarn store and I'm not quite sure who makes them but I know they are in the Chico-ish area. I'm crazy in love with it. It's clean & simple, in my favorite speckled gray color. I know the yarn store ships things, if you wanted to be my twin you could order one over the phone. I'm pretty sure I got the large size and it held a skein of sock yarn divided in half beautifully.

I think that's it about socks! I'm hoping to finish my pheasant socks this week and share them with you. I'm crushing on these socks FIERCE and I'm pretty sure I'm going to knit all my socks this year 2 at a time, it just feels rad!

Also, don't forget, the sale on Woodland Sampler ends soon!

ps: seriously, let me know some sock yarn dyers I should try! I love new stuff! <3!

2013 Woodland Sampler Sneak Peek & FAQs

Hi friends!

Did you have a nice holiday?

Today I thought I'd share some helpful tips and a little sneak peek of  our 2013 Woodland Sampler!

• What is the 2013 Woodland Sampler? The 2013 Woodland Sampler is our newest mystery cross stitch club for this upcoming year. In the past we've done Fruit of the Month Club & Dessert of the Month Club. This is our third year of running clubs and it is our very best & cutest. By December of 2013 you'll have a completed cross stitch sampler!
• How does this work? After you sign up you'll receive an email from us containing a link to a PDF. You can download this 3 times before the link expires. In the PDF you'll find a stitch guide, the list of materials and the first chart. This chart contains the frame work of the pattern. Each month you'll fill in the blanks!
• When will I receive each pattern? Starting on January 2nd, once a month you'll receive an email directly from us. It's helpful to make sure you have plenty of room in your inbox and add us to your address book! For example, January 2nd you'll receive the chart to fill in January. On February 1st you'll receive the chart to fill in February. And so on!
• How much does this cost? The cost is a flat *one time* fee of $10. That's a great deal! But this special only lasts until January 11th, then the price rises to $16.95.
• This sounds fun! But can I sign up in February or March? As with our previous clubs, you can sign up year round! This is completely go at your own pace! Some people sign up but can only cross stitch on their vacations or other down time. The best part of PDF patterns is that you can download and stitch at your leisure, no waiting for patterns in the mail!
• But I've never cross stitched before! That's totally ok! Our patterns have a helpful stitch guide and are completely beginner friendly!
• How big is this project? Using 28 ct linen or 14 ct aida cloth, this measures 100w x 236h stitches, or 7.5 x 17 inches. Now, if you use a larger or smaller count fabric, be aware that the size of your finished project will change!
• Can I order supplies online? Absolutely! We are working with theworkroom to create floss kits!  This kit contains all the floss for the entire year! You will have the option of picking either champagne (goldish!) or white (silverish!) sparkle floss for your project. The sampler looks equally awesome with either color. If you haven't tried Cosmo's Metallic Floss, it's a real treat. Very easy to use, no need to ply down the thread and it doesn't snag as much as other brands. We are hoping to have a kit that will include fabric available soon & I'll send out a newsletter/blog/tweet/facebook a link once this becomes available.
• I have my floss but I can't find the recommended linen! That's ok! We purchased our linen from Michael's Craft Stores in hopes that it would be easy for everyone to find. If you can't find it, bring your floss to your nearest craft store to see what they have available. You want to make sure all your floss will show up on whatever fabric you choose. For example, don't choose bright white because the white stitches won't show up! Don't feel limited by our fabric choice, feel free to choose whatever color YOU like, as you'll be stitching on it all year! One of my very favorite kawaii winter wonderland projects is being worked on in BLUE fabric! It's seriously stunning and unique!
• Do you have any tools or notions you suggest? I sure do! I alternate between a round 8 inch wooden hoop and a 11 inch Q-Snap frame. I recently purchased a hoop stand from Michael's that I like, I used a 60% off coupon so make it super budget friendly and that's a good option if you don't want hand/wrist fatigue. I also love thread heaven, which makes stitching snag less. Another favorite notion is an embroidery floss needle threader. Last but not least, highlighter tape is handy for keeping track of where you are stitching!
• If you have access to a serger or a sewing machine it's incredible helpful to finish the edges of your fabric. This means either overlock or zigzag the edges so they don't fray all year long!

ok! finally! phew! the part you've been waiting for...SNEAK PEEK!!!

oooooo!!!!!!! Join us in 2013 stitching up a Woodland Sampler! woo woo!

WIP: Pheasant Socks & Signature Needles: First Thoughts.

I'm a car knitter.

Most people ask me "how do you knit so fast?!", which I think is hilarious because I'm *not* fast at all...but I do have a lot of blah time in the car. My mom lives two hours away. Chop's family lives an hour away. JoAnn's, Target, etc are all 45 minutes away. This means lots & lots of car knitting time.

Fine with me. ;)

My Signature Needle Arts needles arrived yesterday! Very fast shipping which was awesome. In case you haven't been following along I got a size 1, 5 inch length on a 32 inch cord. I cast on for these socks this morning, I've knit a solid 6 hours with them today, here are a few of my initial thoughts:

• Sharp sharp SHARP! And I *love* that. Incredibly pointy. If you are the type of knitter who moves the tip of the needle with your finger, you'll end up with a little divot in your fingertip.
• The join...not in love. I definitely have to help the yarn over which is kind of a bummer. I do sort of worry about the cord snapping away from the needle. I'm not quite sure why but it seems like the join isn't super sturdy. Later on I think I'll take a photo to show you what I mean. I could just be paranoid. BUT! I can imagine it would be tricky to have a super smooth join on a size 1 needle.
• I like the cords! I'm doing two socks at a time and while the cord isn't as slick as addi turbo lace (my standard sock needle) it is very flexible, which I really like. My favorite pair of addi's have a crease in the cord, I doubt these will ever crease. That's pretty neat.

The yarn I'm using is so dreamy. Last week I was browsing pinterest & saw this pin. I followed links around until I found Fly Along, Hedgehog Fibre's blog! I spent an hour reading older posts, I very rarely have time to sit on the computer, clicking around & looking at new things to be inspired by so this was a real treat. Once I saw their studio space, I was in love. LOVE. I knew I had to try their yarn.

I found a destash on ravelry & a skein of Pheasant Sock landed in my hands. (Her shop sells out super fast, otherwise I would have purchased directly from her.) Wowzas. Can we talk about how incredibly SOFT this is?! I finished the socks I started this weekend and while they had cashmere, they aren't nearly as soft as this (remind me to tell you the story about why I shouldn't knit socks while taking theraflu ;)). As I was knitting today I'd stop and pet my knitting. Weird but true. I love the depth of the color in this yarn, I hope my photos can share with you how truly pretty it is!

I'm using the Simple Skyp pattern that I just plugged into the basic top up formula I like. It's interesting enough to be fun but not so hard that I have to pay attention. It seems like it's doing the yarn justice too!

I made myself a new knitting bag yesterday evening. I was looking on etsy a few nights ago & came across Timber and Leaf by Sarah Watts. I purchased 3 fat quarters: the bears, the foxes and the deer. I very rarely buy fabric anymore, I'm out of the "hip fabric" loop but this is really neat stuff. Totally pretty. I had a few bits of shape flex, various scraps, a little alphabet fabric that I cut & pieced to spell out YARN & voila. New knitting bag. Woo!

I managed to snap a few photos right before it started to rain again. I'm planning on spending the evening in front of the fire with my Woodland Sampler, I have 9 months of frames stitched up! High 5!

:):):)

Candy Cane Socks: Done!

I finished my Candy Cane Socks on Saturday!

I'm super pleased with how they came out, the yarn is so soft and they fit great.

I used this tutorial for a picot bind off and it was super easy but...I'm pretty sure I should have done a hemmed picot. I'm afraid in the future the tops might roll down a little bit. I might weave some elastic in later on, so far I've worn them with no problems!

I'm in love with how peppermint bark knit up, it's the prettiest yarn! I love how Cakewalk feels after blocking, it gets super smooth and drape-y, very soft! Also, I love watching the speckles form as I'd knit.

I started a new pair of socks this week, these are just plain socks with a slip stitch heel. I tried Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy bind off for the first time & I really like it! Normally for socks I do a sewn bind off but it leaves the top of the sock kind of wrinkly looking, which isn't a big deal but I like how smooth this looks! I'm not 100% sure I did it right but I like the results!

I'm using a yarn I bought last spring called Cozy Toes by LushMommy, it's very pretty! It's interesting to see how different hand painted yarn knits up, the second sock looks nothing like the first one!

I really want to knit more "plain" socks this winter, I have two pairs right now that I wear all the time, Harry Potter & Mansfield's Garden Party.

I also decided to treat myself to a pair of  size 1 Signature Needle Arts circulars for Christmas. The candy cane socks are the 14th (!!) pair of socks I knit since last December so I thought I deserved a really primo pair of needles. They haven't shipped yet but I'm crossing my fingers that they are amazing. I got them monogrammed with Mrs. McPorkchop, because seriously, monogrammed knitting needles?! Get out of town. Adorable.

If you are looking for a good book series, I've been *loving* this one, I've come down with a hardcore cold or the beginnings of the flu, yesterday I laid on the couch & devoured the first two books and I think I'm 45% through the 3rd?! Very good & creepy.

:):):)

Kawaii Winter Sampler Progress

I've been slowly but steadily working on my Kawaii Winter Sampler. I ran out of the gray floss and then I started working on the frames of Woodland Sampler. But I'm hoping to finish this up by January 1st. I'm crossing my fingers I can frame it super cutely myself! I bought some glitter spray that is supposed to be archival and fabric safe, I'd love to give it a good glittering!

It's been crazy awesome to watch people work on their winter samplers the past month on Instagram, everyone is doing an awesome job on it! Quite a few people have finished (amazing!) and they are starting on second ones to give as gifts next winter (omg!).

Just when I think Winter Sampler is the cutest thing ever, I see the charts and finished stitches of Woodland Sampler and I kind of die. Cross stitching = perfect winter craft! One thing I can't do is cross stitch in the car. I can knit, I can read but cross stitching..oi. Not good. I either count incorrectly or feel sick to my stomach. It's only an "at home on the couch" kind of craft for me! Which is a-ok with me, any excuse to sit on the couch and be cozy is perfect! ;)