FREE Patterns

EDIT: Pattern for the Doorstop Cat can be found HERE.

Well...over break I was able to design the pattern for the cat doorstop, and finished him this morning. He's purrfect! He weighs in around a pound, which wouldn't be enough to hold open a door in a torrential wind, but he'll do just fine for your average, garden variety, wafting breeze! His base is filled with navy beans, but you could substitute sand or gravel if you need him to be heavier. Also, he is 4" x 9 1/2", but if you'd like him to be large enough to hold open the castle door, just enlarge the pattern.

I am now working on writing up the pattern to be added to our Crafting Club. I'll then turn my attention to the Puppy Dog Doorstop. I will be using these 2 pals to share several different embroidery stitches, which will be added to our glossary. When we post the pattern, we will also post a link for a discount coupon to Prairie Point Junction. As I mentioned before the holidays, they have graciously offered a one-time discount for Wee Folk Art readers. I plan to restock my felt cupboard! We should have the pattern and coupon posted before Monday.

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. January is always exciting to me. As snow and frigid weather loom outside, this is a wonderful time of year to stay warm inside and get tons of crafting done. If only I could be disciplined enough NOW to start on Christmas gifts for next year! Hmmm ... perhaps we should start a Christmas Corner. I'll have to talk to Michelle about that! 

Once you let a gnome in your life, you'll never be without one again! Our house is crawling with gnomes. We have unassuming gnomes and rather ostentatious gnomes. We have gnomes that love to tell stories and shy ones that prefer to listen. We even harbor a couple rather naughty gnomes, but down deep, they have a heart of gold! Their personalities are as different as you'd expect in any group of friends. For that reason, we'd like to give you the opportunity to invite a few gnomes into your house.

I decided I just wasn't going to have the time to get a tutorial together for making the holiday gnomes. But an email from a new Crafting Club Member, requesting a gnome pattern so she could make some for her children's advent calendars, made me walk away from my Christmas projects yet again, (LOL like I need an excuse!) and I threw together a couple of the traditional Waldorf style gnomes and wrote up the directions.

If your house isn't already crawling with gnomes, I hope you find the time to make a few before the holidays! Certainly you can take this basic pattern and alter it to individualize your gnomes. The possibilities are endless! Check out the patterns for the Adult and Child Gnomes in the FREE Pattern Section. Enjoy! 

When Michelle posted her blog on the Mitered Bowls, she called me up and asked if I was up for getting the directions together. Okay, I put the afghan aside, and dug through my files to find the directions I'd written up this past summer. A quick read through convinced me that a diagram was in order, so I knitted the teeny tiniest little bowl so I could properly label the diagram. Next time I machine felt, the gnomes are going to get their own mitered bowl!

Anyway...the directions are good to go and are being offered as a Crafting Club Pattern. BUT, as Michelle said, this pattern is what we would consider a Beta pattern. It is complicated enough that we would like a couple more people to knit it before we would consider the pattern "public ready". We've both knitted bowls off this pattern, but just like it's never wise to edit your own writing...it isn't a good idea to knit your own patterns. We subconsciously make corrections!

So, if you do tackle this project, (and they are certainly worth it, because they are relatively quick to make, a couple of evenings for the seasoned knitter, a wee bit longer for the adventurous beginning knitter, and it would make a wonderful gift) let us know if you encounter any problems. Fingers crossed...it will be smooth sailing! Enjoy!  

The pattern and directions for this wise old owl is now available in the FREE Pattern section. This one took me a bit longer to make than the pussycat...about 2 hours...but still a quick little project to make at the last minute to give to an avid reader. Use my design, the climbing vine, or try something uniquely yours like tumbling acorns or leaves. Enjoy!