My dog is a better influencer...

 

Seriously, my dog seems to be getting more Instagram collaboration requests than I have ever received as a knitwear designer. All he has to do is being himself and I just help with posting a picture of him to his Instagram T-Bone dog diary. 

I have to do more, than that. 

photo by I Like Knitting

Spotted Around Set is an e-book collection of two knitting patterns that were originally published in October issue of I Like Knitting Magazine and on their website, see the blog post from last September here: Knitwear Designer. After the exclusivity period finished I have the rights to the patterns and I can publish the patterns independently. You can buy the patterns individually or as an e-book for a discounted price.

At the moment I am working on another project for a third party publisher and my independent work is  as usually put on hold as the deadline is nonexistent unlike the contracted work for a third party.  

But once the work is finished I will return to my independent projects and continue to work on those. There are so many knitting patterns in various stages of work in progress that I hope to finish and publish during this year.  Like the pattern for this Bernie's doll. It took me about two months to knit the doll and now the pattern is taking even longer to write up into a word document from my handwritten  notes. 

Thank you for visiting and reading. 

Spring WIP and Memento Hat II

 An update on the Memento Hat: See at the end of this blog post. Including the links to where to purchase the pattern. 

The test knitting for this Memento Hat is almost finished and I enjoy seeing the pictures of the test knitters finished hats. I also have the pattern back from the TE and I will be looking over the suggestions and making the corrections based on the feedback. Bellow is a picture of my dog with an older version of the same hat, knit in worsted weight cotton yarn. 

I plan on finishing the edits and have the pattern published by the end of this month. But sometimes things do not work according to plans. For example, last weekend I really thought that I will look the edits over during this week.

But, our garden still needs to be tended and cared for, the plants need to be planted and seeds seeded and the time left after the work was done I have used to lounge in the hammock wearing the Memento Hat. I guess, as I age I have realized that there is always another day to sit in front of computer screen but perhaps there might not be another day when the weather is warm, the sun is shining and I have an hour to just exist and be present and enjoy the peace and quiet of simply being alive.

The pattern is now available on Payhip: Link here: Memento Hat

You can purchase the pattern in my Ravelry store: My designer page

Soon the pattern will be added to Lovecraft: link will be added here when available 

Or you can purchase the pattern by clicking on this button:

Thank you for reading and stay well.

Spring WIP and Memento Hat

 

This is a picture of my last year Dandelion Honey. Each jar was filled with a sweet syrup and a whole lot of memories. I wrote about it in this blog post: Work in progress. Every time I have used the Dandelion Honey I recalled the memories from my childhood and the time when I was making it. I have included the recipe in my e-book Baba Yaga's House. 

This spring as I watch the flowers bloom I though about making the Dandelion Honey again. And so instead of sitting in front of the computer and finally typing up the knitting patterns for Bernie's doll and few other projects I went to collect the Dandelions and spent my weekend making the sweet syrup that will flavor our teas, or lemonades for the next few months. This year I added another project to try: A syrup made from Violet flowers. I have collected the flowers on my friend's lawn and I made sure that there were plenty of flowers left behind for the pollinators to feed on.

I started this yesterday, and as I am typing up this blog post I just finished pouring the Dandelion Honey into jars that will be stored in the fridge until it's all used. In the picture bellow you can see this year Dandelion Honey and the syrup made from Violet flowers. 

After a few weeks of knitting samples and writing pattern that will be published by a third party later this year I started to work on a new project. Few weeks ago I have been accepted into an Influencer program at Knitpicks - We Crochet. I have received a box filled with yarn and few other things. You can see the box in the picture bellow.

I had a project on my mind that I was going to do with the Memento yarn. But I decided to create a different hat, one that can be worn during the summer days. I named it Memento Hat. Pictured is the large size and I have used less then a skein of Memento yarn in Moonshadow colorway. Over the next week or so (life permitting) I will type up the knitting pattern and post the test call in my group on Ravelry. After the pattern goes through the hands of technical editor and is fully test knitted I will publish the pattern. If everything works out it will be just in time for the summer. 

A rough cost for this project:

A skein of yarn: Memento $9.99

Knitting pattern: Memento Hat $4.99 (I have to pay the TE)

Your time to knit this hat: ???? ( I knitted the hat in few hours over this past week)

The perfect hat for all your memorable summer adventures: Priceless 

Thank you for visiting.

Work in Progress

    Remember the pictures of Bernie Sanders wearing handmade mittens to inauguration in January 2021? Bernie Sander's handmade mittens inspired so many crafters as they recreated the pattern in mittens, hats, scarfs, cowls, sweaters and even dolls created to resemble Bernie Sanders with these mittens. I waited few days but then I couldn't resist and decided to knit a doll. 

   

     I looked through my yarn stash and picked the colors based on the picture. I had a sketch and ideas as what I would like to do. Under normal circumstances this kind of project would take about two weeks. Well life happens. For about a moth I couldn't really knit and then I had my submission accepted for publication by a third party. I am still working on this project for the third party, but I have also managed to finally finish the Bernie Sanders's doll, with mittens and all. It took me two months from cast on to finish. As for the knitting pattern, it will be typed up and available, I just need a bit more time.

These past few weeks whenever I could I worked on finishing my project for the third party and once this is done and patterns and samples are mailed to the  editor I will return to the Bernie Sanders' doll and type up the pattern. You can see a sneak peek photo of me sitting on a porch, while working on the finishing touches to the sample, while my dog T-Bone is practicing porch napping. 

Thank you for visiting.

Sewing Tutorial for Harvest Poncho

 

Photo by I Like Knitting

Sometimes I receive emails with questions about my knitting patterns and request for further explanation on how to make certain aspect of different knitting patterns. I try to response within a reasonable amount of time and provide the information to help those who ask better understand how things were done and created. 

Recently I received a question about the Harvest Poncho how the two rectangles are sewn together. The pattern itself provides schematic with drawing. However the schematic is a two dimensional and as another visual help I have decided to create this photo tutorial to make it more clear.

  

I have knitted two mini rectangles of what the two actual rectangles will look like when finished. For a better  understanding I made the two rectangles in two different colors.

Position the two rectangles as in this picture, making sure that the right sides are facing the same direction.

Sew the two rectangles together. along the edge using a mattress stitch. After this you have a "L" shape. In the picture bellow you can see the first seam in the left corner where the red arrows points.

The second seam will take place between the points A and B along the edge. In the picture above you can see the orange rectangle with WS facing up and the grey rectangle RS facing up. The orange rectangle RS is on the bottom at the moment. In the picture bellow you can see that the edge is sewn and the right sides are on the outside and the wrong sides are inside of the poncho.

After this seam you are almost finished.  

One side will look like this :

The other side will look like this:

Weave in  the ends and enjoy your Harvest  Poncho. 

Bellow is the link to the pattern itself:

 

Harvest Poncho

Thank you for visiting.

Paw-some Set and Harvest Poncho

 Harvest Poncho, seen in the picture bellow is now available as a pattern download on Ravelry, or you can purchase the pattern by clicking on the button bellow:

The pattern will be soon available on Lovecraft as well. 

photo by I Like Knitting

Harvest Poncho sewing tutorial

Paw-some dog's cowl, human infinity scarf and a hat are all available to purchase on Ravelry, and Payhip and soon will be also on Lovecraft website. You can buy the pattern for the dog's cowl and scarf and separately the hat, or you can purchase the entire set. The button bellow the pictures is for the complete set.

Photo by I Like Knitting

10 years of work in progress

Ten years ago I have started this blog with a help from my friend. 

Here is a link to that first blog post: Welcome to Stana's Critters Etc Blog. 

The image from the first blog post is a whole bunch of knitted teddy bears and a pink polka dot dog and a yellow striped cat. All of these toys were given away either to my kid, my friend's children, my kid's friends, or variety of charitable organizations. 

When I started this blog I really didn't know what to expect and what would happen. Somehow my love for knitting has evolved into a small side business and in the process I have managed to write and publish almost three hundred knitting patterns. As of today, officially, there are 295 published knitting patterns in my Ravelry store, and my patterns were published in seventeen different knitting books, as well as variety of websites and magazines.  To have my work accepted and published by a variety of third parties I have learned the different ways to submit my ideas and inevitably also understand that the rejections happen more than the acceptance, and usually it has nothing to do with the idea itself but rather with how the different ideas from so many other talented creators fit together. 

I do not know what the future holds, but I know for sure that I will continue to knit one stitch at time.  That way I am sure that I will manage to finish this Bernie Sanders doll, my current work in progress since January 2021. 

Thank you for visiting and reading.