Well, Jemma has been busy knitting up a storm of Amy Gaines Christmas Ornaments for her boys school teachers!  This were knit up in a weekend, so there’s still time for you to bedeck your tree with cuteness.

This pattern, by Kate Davies, is a dream to knit.  Owlet is knit in the round from the bottom up, and when you get to the cute-as-can-be owls, it’s so lovely watching the cabling turn into little hoots!  I knit this in a yarn that is a personal favourite of mine, a gorgeous blend of Alpaca, Merino & Silk, called Peru from Blue Moon Fiber Arts.  One whopping hank was more than enough to knit this sweater in the largest baby size (I think I used about 300 yards-ish in total), so this will be ready for Isobel when she’s 18 months (at the start of the winter) and last her probably through to 3 years old.  This pattern can also be purchased as a Ravelry Download, if you are a Raveler.

Fancy this for yourself???  There is also a FREE ADULT VERSION or FREE RAVELRY DOWNLOAD!

So you already know about my fetish for knitted toys (as well as knitted food) and whilst on my recent holiday to Coral Bay (way up the north west coast of Western Australia), I had a bit of time to complete a little Christmas Present for Isobel, my 1 year old!  The pattern is called Sisters, and is a reversible toy pattern from Susan B Andersons Itty Bitty Toys.  I knit this doll up using Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed from my stash (another lovely stash buster!) and I am in love with her.  It was an easy peasy pattern to follow and I will definitely be making more of these for friends.  Onto the Turtle & Frog reversible toy already……..

This gorgeous Amy Gaines Christmas Patterns have been HUGELY popular and we LOVE them!  Both Jemma & I decided to knit a few for School Teacher gifts and here they are, in all their cuteness.

Santa was made from yarn out of Jemma’s stash (bonus!) and she used Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Organic Cotton …..how CUTE is this little man?  I went for the Peppermint (and added a pom-pom decoration to the mix too!).  I used Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in Red & Cream for my dangley tree adornments.

Super quick, satisfying and great little gifts.

Apologies for not getting the before and after shots up on the blog sooner, it’s been a hectic here and life and 4 kids just get in the way sometimes!

So, without further ado, here are the photos of your efforts……….

These are Jemmas Slippers……

Donna’s two pairs (two!!! Busy girl!)……

Helene’s ‘progress shot’ (LOVE the colour Helene!)…………

Kerri’s before and after shots………………..

Juliette’s ‘in progress’ piccys………………

Trish made two gorgeous pairs….how well have they felted!!!?

These are mine….felted, ready to be sewn together…..but you know how much I hate finishing??? Yep, it’s an illness that many share I understand!

If you have been knitting along with us, do send in your photos!

It’s been a year in the making, but I am delighted to say that, last week, SPUN OUT, our new handspinning website, went live!  It’s been a long haul for me, and sometimes I never thought we would get to this stage, but I am really happy with the end result and all the yummy fluff and equipment that we have in stock.   My aim is to source independently dyed and ‘grown’ fibres from smaller artisans, as well as a range of imported wheels and spindles.

If you are not a spinner (yet!) I hope we can tempt you over to The Dark Side (you won’t regret it, though you might find it cuts into your knitting time….in a good way!).

Thanks to all of you who have waited patiently for months for our launch, and those of you who helped test the site before it went live.  There is still a lot of content to add, and new products planned for the New Year.

Now, with 4 kids under 7, I am a HUGE fan of knitted toys.  Love knitting them, LOVE giving them!  My kids have had robots, aliens, dinosaurs, and a few more to boot.  So, you can imagine my excitement when I got a copy of ITTY BITTY TOYS, the latest in the range of Itty Bitty books by the oh-so-talented Susan B Anderson (I love you Susan).

My first cast on was the irresistible Egg To Bluebird And A Little Nest Too!  Super, super cute, and for me, these ‘reversible’ toys make the book completely unique.   The picture below is taken from the book:-

This little cutie is my attempt, with a slightly bigger beak (not intended that way, but cute, so it stayed!) and I knit mine with a teeny-tiny amount of JO SHARP SILKROAD DK TWEED in Granary (for the nest), Iceberg (for the bird) and Fleece (for the egg shell).  I had a scrap of orange alpaca for the beak.

I am now in the process of knitting my 1 year old daughter the inside out little girl!  Sisters is a cute as can be pattern; on one side is a blonde, on the other a brunette (much like my sister and me!).   This time I am knitting from some left over stash (these knits are GREAT for that) and I have a range of colours of Rowan Scottish Tweed DK, but the JO SHARP SILKROAD DK TWEED would work equally as well!

Funny to imagine these as the dainty little slippers…a bit fugly at the moment, but hopefully, in a few hours and after a day or so of drying, they will look elegant!  That’s the fun of felting…..

This is the story so far with Jemma’s slippers!  She also has chosen Malabrigo for her slippers (the colourway is Brown Berries)

Now, where are all those progress shot’s you all promised you would email to us???  Don’t be shy now…….

Ok, this is my progress report for the Felted Slipper Knit Along!  I’m using Malabrigo from my stash and have two balls of different colours, but are close enough to each other that I figured it wouldn’t matter (as the slippers are knit with double strands).  So far, it’s been super quick, and I hope to have them all finished over the weekend, and firmly on my feet!

Sooooo, how are all your lads & lasses out there doing with your knitting?  You can email us at info@thewoolshack.com, with ANY photos of how you are coming along, or if you are a speedy super keen knitter, your finished shots!!

As Christmas is right around the corner (eeekkk!) we thought it would be a fab idea to run a knit-along for a great

quick knit that makes for a fantastic and stylish Chrissie Pressie for the ones you love (or yourself!).   These French Press Felted Slippers are truly unique in their elegance (nice and feminine, without being too bulky) and the ability to dress up or dress down with a lovely selection of buttons is just too good to be true.

The pattern can be bought from French Press Knits on Etsy, or, if you are on Ravelry, you can buy the pattern from the Ravelry Downloads for French Press Felted Slippers.

Once you have the pattern, all you need is the yarn, needles and buttons for the slippers.  We are going to use Cascade 220, or Malabrigo Worsted Merino, of which you will need 2 balls, and 10mm needles (when you felt yarn, you knit it up really loose, then shrink it down in the washing machine), plus two buttons of your choice (we have a fine selection in store at the moment!) and I think I will go for some nice big leather buttons!

For our Knit-along, you don’t have to buy the yarn from us, or the buttons, or the needles in fact!  Just grab the pattern, get yourself a 100% wool (superwash won’t felt) 10ply/worsted weight wool and lets get knitting.

What we DO want from you are progress shots, as we’ll create a montage of during and after slippers.  EMAIL us to let us know you would like to join the knit-along, and then we’ll contact you to see how you’re going and gather a few piccys from you to post on the blog.

It’ll be fun, and it’s easy to get hooked on small projects, hence planning this one in plenty of time to get a few pairs knit for Christmas Presents.