The Queen of Chicken Strikes Again

Hi Knitters,

*added later* 

Suzette at The Wool Cabin will have the Knitted Chickens pattern in her shop next week. Email her at woolcabin@gmail.com and she will be happy to send you the pattern. Thanks, Suzette!

Last summer I was asked by Blue Sky Alpacas if I'd be interested in designing some Chubby Chickens for them. Ummm....yeah! I'm pretty much your go-to-girl when it comes to chubby chickens. I noticed the pattern is up (check out their picture) and available on the Blue Sky site and it is listed on ravelry now. They are calling the pattern Knit Chickens.
They are knit in the Blue Sky Dyed and Organic cotton, which is simply luscious. The Collector was pretty pleased with the chickens. She loved giving them a good squeeze.
The pattern offers three different sizes, 8, 10 and 12 inches long. They are knit on a US size 5 needle. The chickens are worked up in a slick way. You knit a bottom piece back and forth. Then you pick up stitches around the edge of the bottom piece with a circular needle. The rest of the chicken is knit in one piece. Of course you have to add the tail, crest, waddle and beak after the fact. It is a fun little project to knit. If you don't want to add the details, it is cute as a plain one-color chicken, too.
It's so nice to see the green grass. These photos were taken in last August. I miss you, warm summer grass.
This is the 10-inch long chicken with an applique flower.
This is the 12-inch long chicken with embroidered spider-web dots.

This stripey guy is 8 inches long. I love them all and you can mix and match the patterns with the size you'd like to knit. You can check with your local yarn shop to see if they are getting or already have the pattern or you can check the Blue Sky site to see where it is being sold. 

I hope they brought the chickens out to TNNA in San Diego for people to hold. Did anyone see the chickens there?
Sweetheart mania continues. I have been getting some photos of a few Sweetheart Hats and a bunch of Sweetheart Washcloths. I see people are posting on a Sweetheart Washcloth ravelry project page, too. Jody Meese was kind enough to send me a few photos of her completed sweethearts in some different yarns. The above version is knit in Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille in #200 Dotty Pink, it's very pretty. I hadn't seen the speckled version of the chenille.
The solid pink version is made out of Bernat Cottontots which is available at Joann's and Michael's. Jody says it is softer than the Sugar-n-Cream.
For these two Sugar-n-Cream Sweethearts Jody used Strawberry and White. She used a size 5 needle and a size G crochet hook. Great work, Jody, and thanks for sharing with us.

Thanks again for the support on the new patterns. I hope you are having fun. I'd love to see some Taiyo Reversible Scarves, too! I'll post some more pics later.

I have one last sweet Valentine project in mind and I'll see if I can find the time to whip it up and write it up for you. If not, I'll save it for next year, but by then I might forget:)

I am working on another yarn company project that I started today. It's kind of fun. I still have some manuscript stuff to finalize this week. The knitting story continues....

Okay, I'm off for now.

best, susie