Knittingfever is super excited to announce the Monster Crochet Along with 10 brand new designs made exclusively for them by FreshStitches: adorable crochet amigurumi!

Amigurumi is a style of crocheted (or knit) stuffed animals from Japan with an emphasis on cute. You’ve probably seen them before, and have maybe even made a few, but this is a whole new batch to play with.

StaceyTrock has designed 10 brand new monster patterns for us using Ella Rae Classic Wool yarn. There will be two patterns each week from now until Halloween.

Meet Alfo

 

 

Your first, fierce new friend is Alfo! A ten-inch tall googly-eye monster ready to shout his love from the mountain tops. Or maybe the back of a dark cave, you decide where Alfo lives.

Download the pattern here. You’ll need the main color, small amounts of two contrasting colors, and plastic eyes (if desired).

Alfo is made with basic shapes, which makes him a good building block for the other monsters.

Stacey’s patterns are very well written with clear instructions and pictures of the various steps to let you know you’re on the right track.

Meet Bixi

 

The second monster looking to creep into your heart is Bixi! This 5.5 inch-tall bundle of monstrous delight has its arms flung wide in welcome.

Download the Bixi pattern here. You’ll notice Bixi uses a few more colors than Alfo.

Thea
The Patchwork Frog
www.patchworkFrog.com

 

Summer Shawls - Part 1

We enjoyed a wonderful two week vacation in Mexico and I finally had time to knit and read.
I actually read 4 books and finished 3 shawls so I get to cross off some things on my “To Do” list. I will be posting pictures of each one separately.
Spring and summer are a wonderful time to wear shawls and there were several on Ravelry that I had stored in my library hoping to find the time to knit them. For those of you who are looking for alternative projects using the wonderful ruffling yarns you should consider making this shawl.
Using Marina Glitz http://patchworkfrog.com/rozettiyarns.html#glitz  I made the circular shawl on Ravelry called kelp-forest-shawlette, a free pattern, and before you knit do watch the video it helps.  I started mine a few times before I got it the way I wanted it. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/kelp-forest-shawlette the pattern called for using two balls of yarn but when i finished the first ball I realized that it was big enough so here is a great idea for another one bal project. I have tried this shawl on several people and it is wonderful. Since you fold it over doubling the lace you can control how low the back drapes. No matter if you wear it with jeans, a sun dress or a sexy black dress for dinner out it will certainly be a favorite and what a wonderful special gift for some lucky person if you don’t want to make it for yourself. You can knit this one in an afternoon and it is light and the perfect carry along project. I used #9 needles. You can use a larger needle but it doesn’t change the gauge as it is determined by the holes in the yarn and I found that working with a smaller needle was actually better. About every 12 inches a gentle tug on the yarn to pull down the lace is advisable

FEBRUARY DISCOUNTS

Valentines Day is just around the corner and as our gift to you we will have started something new. We will be featuring items that will be offered at a 10% discount. A notice will go out announcing the featured discount and it will be available for a short time only. The discounts will keep changing so get yours while they are active. This month we will be picking items that are red or pink. Some of these items will be new arrivals including yarn so check back often to get your discount before it is gone.
Please check the What’s new Page to see which item is featured if you missed our announcement on Facebook or our Yahoo group page.
The first item offered at a discount is Fix A Stitch. A wonderful tool to have in your knitting bag.
http://patchworkfrog.com/notions.html and remember orders of $65 and over qualify for free shipping.

The Patchwork Frog Knitting Blog: Preview "FEBRUARY DISCOUNTS"

The Patchwork Frog Knitting Blog: Preview "FEBRUARY DISCOUNTS"

Dreamz Interchangeable Knitting Needles - my evaluation

Dreamz Interchangeable Knitting Needles

Do you Dreamz in color? I finally had the time to try the new Dreamz wooden interchangeable needles and I found that I like them very much.

A bit of background first. The first interchangeable needles that I can remember were offered by Boye. The needles were steel, each size being a different color. The man designed the needles for his wife, he then designed a hard resin set where the needles snapped into the cords and he named this set after his wife, Denise. The Denise company was sold a while back to a family who has taken this set and made many changes. The Denise set has been one of my personal favorites, and the standard by which I measure other needles because I find them comfortable to use. The one complaint that I have is it is sometimes hard to read the needle size especially on the older sets and i have to admit that since I owned several (4 ) from before I started my business I often am working with the older sets although I did buy myself one of the Pink sets that supports breast cancer and the markings on the newer needle are much easier to read .

The Dreamz design is similar the Boye set and the same as the Knit Picks set but at a better price. The needles are colored wood with each size a different color. This means you can easily match up the pairs. Unlike the Boye set the cable is soft and flexible and the join to the needle is amazingly smooth. The needle tips are just pointed enough to make them easy to work with but not so pointed that they will split the yarn. Each cord comes with a small tool that can be inserted into a small hole to help you tighten the connection.

The set comes in a zippered plastic pouch with sleeves to hold the needle points and a removable pouch to hold the cables. End buttons and tightening tools are in small zip lock bags.

The basic set offers needle sizes 4 though 11. Also included are needle markers so if you transfer your work to a holder you just slip on a marker to let you know what size needle you were using.

All of this is priced at $82.00 http://patchworkfrog.com/dreamz.html. You can add to the basic set the chunky set which has needles US 13, 15, and 17 tips plus two cords, 24" and 32 " four end caps, two keys, and a flat envelope style carrying case that you can put into the larger case that holds the delux set.

New From The Patchwork Frog

What is new at The Patchwork Frog

The Knitter’s Blocks from Coco Knits are back in stock We were only able to get the small set with 9 blocks right now as the company is having problems getting the larger set of 12 manufactured.

We also have our sweater weight blocking wires from Fiber Dreams back in stock. Another manufacturing problem caused these to be unavailable for a few months but we are happy that we now have them again. These wires are made by hand and packaged in long tubes. They can’t be shipped with many of our other products since they ship in a mailing tube so if you order several items the wires will ship separately.

We are now carrying a new line of yarn hand dyed in Canada by Tradewind Knits. We have Cat’s Pajamas and Celestial Merino. Both fingering weight. The yarns are so soft that you will looked forward to knitting just to hold the yarn. Check out the Sea lettuce Scarf pattern for either of these yarns. This is a pattern suitable for even the advanced beginner and it is a wonderful project to take along when you are traveling.

We have added lots of new patterns to our pattern page. No comments:

Cottage Creations Patterns

I was sad to learn that Carol Anderson of Cottage creations is going to phase out some of her Creative Cottage patterns. Many of you may not know her name but have knit at one time or another “The Wonderful Wallaby” or one of her afghan patterns. Carol has decided that she would like to get to more of her own knitting as well as find time for some of her other interests.

The Creative Cottage patterns come in a small booklet format with a story line that reads through the various parts as you knit. They are not only easy to read and simple patterns but are fun to read as well.

One of the patterns that will not be re-printed once her supply is gone is the Log Cabin Afghan, which is one of my favorites. This is a great pattern for using up your stash and also a wonderful pattern to carry along since the motifs are knit one square at a time and then later knit together with a three needle bind off.

She is offering one new pattern called Celia’s Blankie that is a cousin to the Rambling Rows Afghan. This is another seamless pattern that can be knit with almost any weight yarn and can be made in a child sized version and also a dolly sized. This pattern will be in stock in about a week.

Priced at just $6.50 each, get your copy of your favorite patterns before the supply is gone.
http://patchworkfrog.com/cottage-creation-patterns-s.html