October

 

It has been a while since my last blog post. I had all the intentions of keeping up with knitting, adding new patters and all that stuff, but somehow life happened. The pile next to my computer is still high and filled with patterns that should be released but haven't been yet. Perhaps this year, perhaps next year I will spend more time on the computer work and updating the various social media where you can see my creations.

Every time I am walking in the nature and see the different kind of mushrooms I always think of knitting them as well. Especially at this time of year, when the variety we can see is just extraordinary. I wish I could knit them all, but I have a new pattern for pillow on my knitting needles at this time and I would like to finish that first. It will be released at some point next year. 

In the past year I created two toy mystery knit-a-longs. The first one was Lola, a cat. The second was Lucky, a duck. I knitted 20 ducks and gave them to the class at the end of last school year. It was actually my third year doing it and the kids all seems to love the handmade toys. I am starting to come up with the ideas for the toys for this year class, and I will most likely begin to work on these sometime in December. 

You can see the previous class toys on my Instagram stanascrittersetc. 

The last photo on this blog post is my dog, who is the happy recipient of most of my knitted pillows. Apparently nap time is sweeter with a handmade pillow. 

Thank you for visiting. And as always have fun knitting. 

Happy Crafting to all!!!!!!

 

Happy Crafting to you all!!!

I cannot believe it; we are almost halfway through January. I am not sure what are your New Year resolutions, but one of mine is actually to be more involved and present in the knitting world. Trying to release more of the knitting patterns that have been sitting on my finished pile for weeks and months and also host another toy mystery KAL. The toy mystery KAL started with the first clue released on January 1st and the second clue on Saturday, January 10th. There is the third clue coming up this Saturday, January 17th and the final pattern for Lola will be released on January 25th. Check it out, you still have time to join the mystery KAL or wait and make your Lola at the end of January. Link to the pattern is below:

My designer page

I have also updated my favorite wrap pattern: Aiofe Wrap with a version for Bulky weight yarn. Now the pattern offers two yarn weights: DK and Bulky. 

I hope to add more patterns during this year. Or you can check out my previously published patterns, there are plenty to choose from. Stay tuned and keep on crafting!

Thank you for visiting. 

Summer 2025

 

Happy summer days to you all! 

Working in the public schools has its challenges, but it also has a wonderfully long summer break. I do really like that part. It allows me to get some knitting done and even start to think about new designs and create new knitting patterns. I am not sure how successful I will be, but my intentions are set high.  

As an independent knitwear designer I am participating in two events held on Ravelry.

First, it's the fabulous Ami-a-long, an event for knitters and crocheters who loves to create toys. Join the Ami-a-long group on Ravelry and see all the critters and win some prizes.

Second, is the Around the world, stitch along. Another great event hosted on Ravelry, by participating designers. Join the fun event, learn something new and win some prizes. The group on Ravelry is Around the World Stitch Along.

For some snippets from my life and pictures of the latest knitting or other adventures follow me on Instagram or sign up for the newsletter on my website. 

Stana's Critters Etc

Happy Crafting to All!

 

As another year comes to end, we tend to reflect on the past year and make plans for the upcoming year. I hope that yours was a good one. Mine was filled with work and reading, and some crafting as well. I didn't publish too many new patterns over the past year, but I hope that there will be more to come in the upcoming year. I did manage to knit frog in a sweater for each child in the last year class. It was a fun project, and I have used up a whole lot of scrap yarn. I am hoping to knit another group of toys for each child in this year class. I do not want to knit frogs, and I have spent quite some time thinking about what I should make for the kids. Over the winter break I started on my parliament of owls. We shall see how successful I will be in this project as I am still working on a sample for a pattern that will be published later next year by a third party.   

Thank you for all the visits to my blog and sticking out with me on my crafting adventures. 

May the next year be a good one!

Fall 2024

 

This is my favorite time of the year. The months are filled with wonderfully warm sunny days, yet the mornings can get a bit chilly. I slowly take out my knitted pieces and wear them each and every day. The colors of leaves are just spectacular, and I enjoy the precious moments of being present. I think about different knitted items that I would like to add to my wardrobe, and what I already have. I also start to think about knitted gifts and what should I create next. 

I have totally missed the toy mystery KAL that I wanted to create for the last days of summer entering into the first days of fall. Life outside of my knitting bubble happened and I just didn't have enough time. At the moment I am working on a design for a third party to be published next year. Once this project is off my knitting needles, I hope to revisit my toy mystery KAL. In the meantime, there are plenty of knitting patterns that you can choose from. For example, this cute broomstick, a perfect half hour project for some leftover yarn. The pattern is available here on my blog, or anywhere my patterns are available.

Thank you for visiting.

Summer 2024

 

My summer project is to knit another rattlesnake. I was asked to make one, and I looked through my yarn stash and picked up the yarn in the colors I wanted to use. I have not started to knit the snake, yet and now I have a bit of deadline to finish this project, simply because I was procrastinating. 

After a year of missing, I am again participating in the Ami-a-long, an event for knitters and crocheters to create toys using the patterns from participating designers. Post about it on Ravelry, and be eligible to win a pattern from the participating designers. Ami-a-long group on Ravelry has more information in regard to who is participating designer and all the details.

As soon as I finish the rattlesnake, I should be able to concentrate on the next toy mystery KAL. I will post more details when I have everything ready. 

In the meantime, I hope that you have a fun filled summer. 

Thank you for visiting.

Stana

Knitted Frogs in a Sweater Project

 

I have been busy with a really fun project over the last few months. Here is a full class photo of 21 frogs in sweaters with a larger frog as a teacher. Last year when I started to work full time in the education field, I was thinking about knitting a little toy for every child in the classroom. Somehow things didn't work out as by the end of the school year I had five frogs finished. So, last year the children each got a new book and a bookmark with their picture holding their favorite book. I thought of trying to knit the toys for each child this year, and I made a frog here and there, using up scrap yarn from previous projects. Somewhere around the beginning of January I realized that I only needed to knit 3 frogs each month for the next five months in order to have a whole classroom. I challenged myself and in early January I started to really work on this fun knitting project. I have finished ahead of schedule and the frogs are ready to be given away at the end of this school year.  I am not sure if I will do another knitting project like this next year, perhaps completely different toys or maybe something else. 

At the moment I have returned to my sketches for the next toy mystery Knit-a -long. Stay tuned for the next fun toy mystery KAL. These knitted frogs were actually our last year toy mystery KAL. 

The pattern is Fran and you can find it in all places that my knitting patterns are available.

Thank you for visiting.

The Journey Ahead....

 

It snowed here. It is something that usually happens during the winter months with regularity. Last winter was a rather strange as we didn't have any significant snowstorms until March. The kids at school were super excited for the snowstorm, as our winter break has been rather wet and gloomy, without any sunny days. The snow blanketed nature looks gorgeous, and everything seems to slow down. I really love those days, when we can enjoy the snow, and then have a cup of hot cocoa and freshly baked cookies. The days like these also call for a new knitting project to start. I started on a snuggly pillow for a friend. What are you going to make? Something warm for yourself or something fun, like a flat squirrel bookmark or a bunch of snowballs? 

Pictured in this blog post are, Snowballs, my first ever published pattern by a third party in 2012, the Bramble Cowl, a one skein of yarn cowl with simple yet gorgeous pattern, and Squirt, the squirrel bookmark. All patterns are available on Ravelry, Lovecraft, and some on Payhip. Links on the side bar or in the List of my published patterns.

I am making plans for this year new knitting patterns and I already have started to make sketches for my new fun mystery knit-a-long. Stay connected on the various social media, or sign up for my newsletter:

Stanascrittersetc

Thank you for visiting and reading. 

Fran, the toy mystery KAL and some new patterns

 

Sensory Caterpillar is one of the two new patterns that I have added to Ravelry and to Lovecraft. I have created the pattern for Knitpicks IDP program, and the pictured sample uses their Dishie yarn.

My second pattern Calypso Hat and Cowl that I have just added to Ravelry was also created for Knitpicks IDP and it just got published on Knitpicks website as well. The pattern uses Knitpicks Wool of the Andes Bulky weight.  

Link to Ravelry:  My designer page

Link to Lovecraft: My patterns on Lovecraft

Link to Knitpicks: Calypso Hat and Cowl and Sensory Caterpillar

Fran, the next toy mystery KAL will start next Monday, August 21st, 2023. 

You can sign up for my newsletter and receive a coupon code for the pattern and a free toy pattern on my website: Stana's Critters etc.

Also, you can get the pattern for 50% off by using the coupon code: Fran 

The coupon code is valid from today until August 24th, 2023. 

As always, I appreciate your visits, comments and please don't forget to follow me, here or on Instagram: stanascrittersetc

One stitch at time....

     At the end of April, I had everything ready for the next toy mystery KAL. I only needed few more pictures of work in progress to show what the toy looks after each clue during the mystery KAL. Then something unexpected happened in our lives and I am still trying to figure out the next step. Life goes on and I will be back with the toy mystery KAL in second half of the summer, but I need few more weeks of time to allow me to process my grief. 

Be kind to each other. Life is full of unexpected twists and turns, yet full of moments of joy. 

Thank you for visiting.

The Headaches of Medical Bills....

 

Another one just arrived yesterday. 

This year has been rather stressful, and my knitting has been mostly on hold. I cannot find the energy or time to knit. The stress of having my husband out of work and without any income since January is not helping. Earlier this month, when I went to an Urgent Care with a chest pain and was refused to be seen, I had to go to ER instead. I was worried about the chest pain, not the medical bills at that time. 

Now the medical bills started arriving. Even though we are lucky to have a health insurance through my full-time job, it's a rather high deductible insurance and we have to pay most of the bills anyway. The unbelievable high medical bills here in the USA force people to create GoFundMe pages as they struggle to pay their regular bills and the medical bills as well, while sometimes they cannot even work. A good friend of mine is dealing with the uncertainty of his child's long recovery from a serious car accident as well as the devastating medical bills the prolonged hospital stay at an ICU will cost. I am truly at loss on how he must feel. Below is the link to my friend's child GoFundMe page. 

My friend's child GoFundMe Page

I still hope to host the toy mystery KAL sometimes soon. It might take a bit longer than I anticipated, but there are more than 300 other knitting pattern that I have created over the years, which you can either purchase or are available as free patterns. See all the places where you can buy my patterns on my website. Stana's Critters Etc

As always, I am grateful for any purchase you make as it helps me to continue to create one stitch at time. 

Thank you.

A brief note

 

Hello everyone,

Every day I keep thinking about sitting down and writing a blog post. Yet somehow it has not happened yet. My knitting adventure has taken a brief break over the past few months. I tried to keep up, but life got busy with other things and there were days when my knitting needles were left untouched, and I couldn't manage to make a single stitch. It wasn't that I lost a joy from knitting and creating, but the time just wasn't there. Life happens sometimes. 

We all try to do our best, and as I am adjusting to everything, I try to find few moments here and there and continue with my knitting adventure one stitch at time. 

My new toy mystery knit-a-long is slowly getting ready, and I hope to have it all done soon. So, we can have some fun mystery knit-a-long towards the end of this month. 

Sensory Caterpillar is my latest knitting pattern created for Knitpicks IDP program. When I have more time I will add the pattern to Lovecraft, Knitpicks, and Payhip. In the meantime, you can get the pattern on Knitpicks website, along with the yarn. 

Thank you for visiting.

For some little snippets of my life, you can follow me on Instagram: @stanascrittersetc

All the best....

 

to you all, who continue to read my blog throughout all those years, or who stopped by to check out my free knitting patterns. I hope that your year of 2022 has been a good one and you are going to have pleasant and safe last days of this year. 

As another year is coming to an end, I look back to what I have accomplished as a knitwear designer. When I started this blog in March 2011, I didn't know what to expect and where my knitting journey will take me. It has been eleven years since I published my first knitting pattern. Although it didn't turn to be my full-time profession, I still continue to create and publish knitting patterns. As I mentioned in my newsletter, I am creating at a slower pace than before. Life is full of surprises. 

 

I hope to create another toy mystery Knit-a-long for the beginning of the next year, and also some new wearable items as well. In the meantime, you can still browse my previously published 320 knitting patterns and I hope that it will inspire you to keep on knitting, one stitch at time. 

All the best for the New Year!

Thank you for visiting and reading.

Life as a work in progress.....

 

These two images are my favorites, they remind me that life is filled mostly with little things that make our day-to-day lives worth living. We may not see them or appreciate them at the moment, but when we look back at them, they give us a warm feeling of accomplishment, happiness and joy. 

Sometimes our lives get tangled up and we have to go through periods of difficulties. At times like these it's good to look back and appreciate those little moments that brought us joy. I just went on a trip through the memory line by looking through the older blog posts, especially those that have the tag #life 

Looking through them made me appreciate everything that I have accomplished so far and especially for being still able to experience those small moments and live. When I wrote this blog post named Reflections it was about a year after I had my second episode of DVT and first PE. Since then, things go up and down, there are periods of calm and my leg is fine, and then something triggers it, and my leg acts up and I am left in a whirlwind of pain and inability to function as a healthy person. It is rather strange feeling of being totally without control and waiting things out, by following the doctors' orders and hope for the best. This is where knitting comes in hand, as it allows me to concentrate on something different, something that I enjoy and brings me and those who appreciate my knitting creations joy. 

 And so in the world of knitting joy I am happy to announce that I had several knitting patterns published in the past few weeks or months. Below are links to these knitting patterns on Ravelry, they are also available on Knitpicks website, and some will be a part of the new upcoming book: 60 Quick Knit Gifts for Babies, published by Sixth&Spring Books.

Rabbit toy

Striped Baby Blanket

Pencil Jar Cozy

Luvbot 

Making the Gradient Blanket

photo by I Like Knitting

Also, after six months exclusivity period my Helena Cable Cardigan, originally published in February issue of I Like Knitting Magazine and on their website is now available as Ravelry download and will be at some point available on Lovecraft and Payhip.

Last time I was home sick and recovering I created a free pattern code for the readers of my blog. It was overwhelming. This time I offer a free knitting pattern to all new subscribers to my newsletter: Stana's Critters Etc and they do receive exclusive coupons in every newsletter I sent out. 

If you don't want to comit to subscribe to the newsletter but would like to have some discount, I offer you a 20% off from any of my self-published knitting patterns, just use the coupon code blog from now until August 31st, 2022 EST midnight. 

Thank you for reading.

Fun activities

 

This summer I am one of many participating independent designers in two fantastic events, happening on Ravelry and also elsewhere on social medias.

I would like to mention both here.

After a few years of not being held, the Ami-a-long started at the beginning of July. It runs through the end of August. You can knit or crochet a toy from the participating designers, and you can win prizes. There are games to play and just fun critters to create. More details are in the group on Ravelry:

Ami-a-long

The second event I am participating is called Around the World Stitch Along. I have participated in the same event last year and am one of many wonderful designers again this year. This event started on Monday July 25th and ends August 25th. Once again you can knit or crochet any project from the participating designers and be eligible for prizes to win. There are also fun games on Instagram and in the Ravelry group you can chat and learn about different traditions from around the world. 

Around the World Stitch Along 

I hope that you will join these two events and learn something new, create something with your hands and maybe even win one or more of the fabulous prizes. 

I have teamed up with Cascade Yarns and one of the prizes to win at the Around the World Stitch Along is my pattern for Brie's Cowl and Cascade Yarns will provide the yarn to knit this two colors brioche cowl. You can see the original sample in the picture bellow:

Thank you for visiting.

Knitting Patterns for Pillows

 

Here is a group photo of eight knitted pillows. I have created five different knitting patterns and they were part of KnitPicks' April IDP showcase. The patterns are available on KnitPicks website, see link bellow: 

My patterns on Knitpicks Website

Finally, I have added the patterns to my Ravelry designer page: 

My designer page on Ravelry

You can purchase any of these patterns on Knitpicks or on Ravelry. On Knitpicks website you can also purchase the yarn I have used for the pictured samples.

At some point I will add the patterns to Lovecraft, but it might take few more days, or weeks. 

In the meantime, I wanted to mention that I am participating again in the Ami-a-long 2022. It's a fun event where people knit or crochet amigurumis and toys and post about them in Ravelry group and other social medias. By posting in the Ravelry group you can win patterns.  

Link to Ravelry Group

Thank you for visiting and have fun knitting!

Behind the scenes...

 

Here is a sneak preview of two patterns that will be published in June. Today was the day to take photos of the finished samples and our dog was very involved as always. 

There have been many different blog posts about how much time it takes to create a knitting pattern. How much money a knitting pattern should cost, in order to be profitable. There is never a good way to predict if a pattern will be successful and the designer will earn enough money to cover the cost of creating the pattern and if there will be a profit for the designer in the end. 

These two patterns are going to be a part of Knitpicks IDP showcase in June or July. Therefore, I have received a yarn support to create these two patterns. In order to be a part of the IDP showcase, I had to create a submission and submit it for consideration. To create a submission, you have to knit a swatch, draw a good sketch and take photo of the swatch and create the submission on a computer and send it out. That takes several hours, and sometimes the submission is not accepted. With these two submissions I was lucky, and they were accepted, and I received the yarn support. It took me about three weeks to create these samples. Technically, the actual knitting was less than three weeks, but I have other commitments, like work, house choirs etc. that occupy my time as well. I have to type up the patterns using my notes, and I had to send the pattern to my technical editor. After the initial editing, I spent more time on the patterns, and sent it to the editor again for another read through. After that there is the last editing and the photography. For these two patterns it was about seven hours of computer work and photography so far. Now I will be looking over the photos and pick the best, and if they are not good enough, they will have to be retaken and once all is ready it has to be uploaded and send to Knitpicks and then added to the other variety of websites that I have my patterns available on. It will take another two to three hours at least of computer work to have the patterns ready. 

I am not sure how much money I will make in the end of these two patterns, if it will cover the cost for the technical editor, and even if it will cover the time, I have spent working on them. In the end it all comes down to the fact that I just really enjoy knitting and creating with yarn. I even knitted the cover for my writing portfolio that I presented in order to graduate. 

  Thank you for visiting.

 

Spring....

 

Since my last blog post I have been busy. I am still in the midst of deadline knitting for various third parties and although some patterns were already published, some are still waiting for publishing, and several are still work in progress. I know everything will eventually get done and finished, but there are moments when I feel rather overwhelmed. It is not just the knitting projects, but also our garden and the work that goes into it each spring. This is also the time of year to make the Dandelion Honey. 

See my blog post about it here: Spring WIP

Over the period of February and March I worked on several knitting patterns for Knitpicks IDP Showcase. See the group photo of the finished pillows bellow.

The patterns are all available on Knitpicks website: My patterns on Knitpicks website. and hopefully soon will be available on Ravelry, Payhip and Lovecraft websites. 

My One fish, two fish, three fish pattern was featured in an email by Knitpicks about toy patterns. If you have received the email and look at other toy patterns available, they have included nine other toy knitting patterns of mine. 

I hope that your spring is peaceful and filled with joy and moments of peace and calmness. We all need that in these turbulent times. Stay safe and healthy and thank you for visiting and reading. 

Grande Gatto and Cleo.

 

Grande Gatto II

Grande Gatto was originally created for jumbo weight yarn. The yarn company discontinued the yarn and sent me a replacement yarn to create an update to the pattern. I love to create toys in cotton yarn as it has proved over the years to be durable and last well through the years of play time, washing, and travelling. Therefore, I have picked two cotton yarns to held together to knit the new samples. I have used the Billow and Snuggle Puff yarn by Knitpicks for the samples. The first sample was knit as the original. Due to the yarn and needle size change the toy turned out to be about 10" (25.5 cm) tall. I created a second sample, and then a third sample, which came close to the original Gatto size of 15" (38 cm) tall. 

The pattern is updated on Ravelry, and you can purchase it here: Grande Gatto on Ravelry. 

You can also purchase the pattern on Payhip: Grande Gatto 

Sometime this week I will add the pattern to Lovecraft website, and the pattern will be also at some point on Knitpicks website.

Cleo

Cleo, is our next toy mystery KAL. During the next week I will add the pattern to Ravelry and create the timeline for the clues to be released over the period of 3 weeks. 

I will add the link to the pattern here: 

The pattern will be discounted during the period of toy mystery KAL, and there will be a coupon code for the subscribers of my newsletter to get the pattern for free. Visit my website to sign up for the newsletter to get the special discounts and savings.

Stana's Critters Etc

Once the mystery toy KAL is over the pattern will be priced as my other toy patterns and will be added to Payhip and Lovecraft website. 

Stana's Critters Etc on Payhip

Stana's Critters Etc on Lovecraft

Toys, toys, toys....

 

Toys and more

I have to admit, my favorite knitting projects are usually toys. I love to make them and even more I enjoy giving them away. Sometimes I get to do special requests toys that require me to be creative and use more than just knitting needles in order to capture the image or an idea. In the collage picture above, you can see some of the toys I have made over the past few months. 

The large picture has our dog posing with a large teddy bear and a small cat. They were both Christmas presents for two small children. The two dolls in the bottom corner were created to replicate drawings of a young artist, and they were received with a huge smile on the artist's face. The cat in the top corner was made for a colleague of mine at work. One day we were talking, and he showed me a picture of this peaceful looking yoga posing cat and I tried to recreate that image, while adding the coloration of his own cat.  

At the moment I am working on a new toy mystery KAL. I have to get the PDF files ready with all the clues and set the dates and hopefully it will bring some smiles to anyone who will participate. I will post more information as soon as I have everything ready. Here is a sneak preview of the yarn I am using for Cleo.

Cleo, toy mystery KAL

I spent yesterday evening knitting a new sample for my older pattern named Grande Gatto. Here is a link to the original blog post about the pattern. The jumbo weight yarn that the original Grande Gatto was made in has been discontinued and I have received new yarn from Knitpicks to give the pattern an update. The original Grande Gatto made in jumbo weight yarn measured about 15" / 38 cm, the new resized Grande Gatto is about 10" / 25.5 cm, which is still a decent size for a huggable toy or a cool decoration. It might be on a smaller size as a pillow, but I may make another sample with different stitch counts and rounds to make the Grande Gatto closer to the original size. 

Grande Gatto

Grande Gatto

Thank you for visiting.