Transferring Images to Polymer Clay

Here's a little video (I hope):

Knitting for the Younger Set

Most of the children I knit for are tweens and teens now. I still look for inspiration on Ravelry, and find some of the cutest things! (You will need to sign up to peruse the patterns on Ravelry.)

This sock monkey sweater pattern is available for free on Petite Purls.


via Petite Purls

Another great source for free patterns is the Patons website. Plenty of classic sweater patterns, plus trendy poncho patterns. And they also have crochet patterns. You need to register with the site to download free patterns.

Baa!

This is a cute sheep pillow to knit. It reminds me of the bobble dog sweater I saw that makes the dog look like a sheep. I haven't found the pattern for that.

via The Purl Bee

More Knitted Gifts

So once I started telling people about the boutique, more requests came in. So I made a red watch cap for my dad using Malabrigo Rios -- it's super soft and washable. I also modified the pattern a bit because I had problems with the side by side decreases leaving a hole between them. For this hat, I left one knit stitch between the decreases. More information on Ravelry.

I also made another glitzy cowl from the sequin yarn and Eco Duo for Frances because she's hard to buy for and she admired the one I made for the gift exchange. I picked a darker colorway of the alpaca yarn and black yarn with silver sequins. Details on Ravelry.

Sequin Cowls and the Gift Exchange

Jennifer & Debra wanted cowls made from some lovely gray sequined yarn (Universal Yarns Classic Shades Sequins Lite). I made the two cowls from one skein, with a little left over. Both pretty much look like the photo below. More about the pattern from Ravelry.

Of course, before all this boutique stuff, I had intended to make a sequined cowl for our group's gift exchange. I went ahead with it because it is quite different at least in appearance. I really like the Eco Duo; it is almost like angora. I'm not a fan of angora; it's a little prickly. Alpaca is so soft and non-allergenic. I almost didn't want to give it up. More information on Ravelry.