Felted Flower from Itty-Bitty Hats

Hi Knitters,
Today I have a clip about the felted flower from Itty-Bitty Hats. It is a flower made out of Manos Del Uruguay wool that is made in layers, sewn together and then felted. Each layer is made in three rows and rows 1 and 3 are both knit all stitches. The second row is the challenging row.

I have had a few questions about row 2 for this flower and that's why I decided to do a quick demonstration. There's nothing better than seeing someone do a technique "in person" to add clarity to the task.

Hopefully this will help.

best, susie

Simple Pleasures

Hi Knitters,
The end of summer is always a bittersweet time of year for me. I have always lived on the school calendar instead of the monthly calendar. September is the start of the year in my mind. My dad was a professor and then I became a teacher and then I had children who are in school. There was never a break in that cycle. So as the summer ends and the new year begins I am taking delight in life's simple pleasures. Here are a few:
1. Two completed book projects. These are the best toys I have ever designed. I am thrilled with the way they turned out and I can't wait to share their entire story with you.

2. A stack of fabric delivered from purl.

This is the Chocolate Lollipop collection sampler from Anna Maria Horner. She is a wonderful talent and I love her blog.

3. My own version of fruit style. I made mine with a finger loop for easy carrying.

When I show this to anyone all they ask is, why? Every single time it happens and I love it. I made mine out of Rowan Handknit Cotton and it is so easy. I am thinking about cranking out a few more for my kids to give to teachers on the first day of school. You should give it a try.

4. My daughter's summer sketch book decorated with left-over ribbon.

She is filling it with fairies on each page. She has a lot of fairy ideas this summer. It is so cute and fun. It is good to be eight.

5. Rediscovered artwork from childhood. I have found a lot of surprises from my childhood that were packed away and this piece made me smile. I don't know how old I was when I made this but doesn't it resemble the shape of Elefante? I couldn't believe it.

6. Bubbles that smell like chocolate. I blow the bubbles while my daughter tries to eat them.

7. A big stack of books waiting to be read.

8. A chill in the air.

9. Pumpkin spice lattes are back at Starbucks. J'adore.

10. My invitation to Ravelry arrived yesterday! To my delight there are a lot of knitters working on and posting photos of itty-bitty things. Yay! I am under susanbanderson if you want to look me up but I haven't even started working on that yet. It looks a bit daunting to me. I need to spend some time figuring the whole thing out. I looked up my friends peaknit and knitterella right away. As always they have great knitterly stuff to share.

I hope you are all enjoying some end of summer pleasures on this holiday weekend.

best, susie

p.s. Do you have any topics for quick tutorials you want me to put on video? I have list but I will happily add more. Let me know.