For the Love of...

Daytime. Every second is spent protecting and teaching my children as we go through our routines. One thing is certain though. They love Mommy's stash. It's quite common to find yarn unraveled running from one side of the house to the other. Or to hear them playing drums with needles that I've been looking for. Yesterday my son had a fake snowball fight with fiberfill he found in my desk. They'll sit on the couch and play next to me while I work on patterns or knit up gifts for friends. I hope they never get tired of being so curious or creative.

Valentine's Day Cloths...

I had hoped to get these out last week but with everyone getting sick again and Ella's teething it just wasn't possible. I had originally made these for a friend's new apartment but when my mother saw them I had to let her keep them. I loved every second of creating these cloths.


I made each written pattern with a corresponding chart for the dishcloth. From the sets that I've already made, I've managed to get about 2-2½ cloths out of one ball of Lily's Sugar'n Cream Solid Yarn. Though you can use any kitchen cotton you prefer.

Lily's Sugar'n Cream Solid:

Heart - 00042: Tea Rose (Orange)
Rose- 00095: Red (Red)
Love - 00046: Rose PInk (Pink)
Lips - 01740: Hot Pink (Pink)

Lion Brand Cotton-Ease:

Be Mine - Berry Article: #830-112

TLC Cotton Plus Solid

Necklace - 3706: Light Rose (Pink)

This pattern is available as a PDF download and priced at $3.25. There are six cloth patterns in this set. You can purchase this pattern if you are a Ravelry member by clicking the "Buy Now" button below the pictures. The Valentine's Day Cloths are also available in my Pattern Store here as a Ravelry Download. There are 4 pages total and the download is sized at 4MB. If you have any questions about the pattern or payment options, please feel free to contact me via email at KrisPatay4@yahoo.com or on Ravelry, KristenKnits.

I wanted to answer a few questions that I frequently get through email.
To get the best stitch definition out of your cloths I recommend using a smaller needle size, no bigger than a US #6, 4mm. I use a US #3, 3.25mm Addi Turbo to knit all of my cloths. I also recommend blocking your cloth by soaking it in water for a few seconds and then gently squeezing out excess water until it is damp. Shape your cloth into a square with your hands and lay flat pushing down the stockinette stitches to dry. This should help your cloth's pattern really "pop". When photographing them for your blog or Ravelry try and use natural light whenever possible. Or use light from a table lamp shown from the top of the cloth down towards the bottom to create shadows from the different stitches. Hope this helped a little. If anyone has any other questions please feel free to email me or leave a comment.

Photo Love.

It's been so long since I've posted any pictures of WIP's. I'll try and post tomorrow morning with some updates. Just wanted to quickly share the reason I'm a little behind. They are my love, they are my world.

Winter is upon us.

Although I'm longing for some sun I can't help but love the beauty that is Winter. I took my camera out the other day and had a little fun around my neighborhood.


It seems that all we're doing these days is shoveling or throwing some salt down. We haven't had a big snowstorm yet, just a few inches here or there. I know my son would love to have enough snow to jump in. Ella has another cold. Or maybe it's more teeth coming in. But every night like clock work the fever spikes up again.


I'm still playing around with some new patterns, graphic editing and test knitting is what goes on for most of the week during my free time. Thankfully I'm used to cleaning up as I go or this house would be atrocious! Valentine's Day Cloths are just days away from being published. For the spring I'm dreaming of dyeing yarn again. I made some beautiful colorways last year and it's all I've been thinking about as of late. I might even attempt to make enough to sell. I really need to set up my etsy one of these days.

Home for the Holiday's...

When I came across this fabric doll house tutorial in December I knew instantly that I would have to give it a go. I also knew exactly whom I was going to make it for. It honestly took only about a day and a half between cutting the materials and then assembling them by machine and hand. I had so much fun playing with the design that I'll probably make another for my little girl when she turns 2 later this year.



Sarah got this for Christmas with her smaller dolls in mind. She loves it, maybe even more than I do. It was hard to part with but I'm sure it will go even faster the second time around. I increased the size of the dollhouse from the 4"x 6" size in the tutorial to around 10"x 12". I used plastic canvas mesh and batting taped around the edges as it was suggested to keep from slipping inside the pieced fabric. I appliquéd the windows, doors and greenery motif with a basic slip stitch. Using only stash fabric I was able to stay true to Sarah's "mostly purple" rule.




I love working with felt and the creative process that this took. I would highly recommend trying it on a weekend if you have some patience. I'm sure everyone knows a special little girl or two that would deserve such a timeless gift. If you want to see more pictures of the doll house click to see my flickr album.

Zodiac Cloths...

I've been trying to finish these since November but the holidays got in the way every time. I had hoped to make it by New Years but they're only a few weeks late. I really like how they turned out and have been gifted to lots of family and friends. These would be great for gifts year round and I can see making more cloths for upcoming birthday's.

Pattern: Zodiac Cloths
Source: Kris Knits on Ravelry
Yarn: Lily's Sugar'n Cream Solid
Needles: US 3 / 3.25 mm

Size: 5 1/2" x 5 1/2"

I made each written pattern with a corresponding chart for the dishcloth. From the sets that I've already made, I've managed to get about 2-2½ cloths out of one ball of Lily's Sugar'n Cream Solid Yarn. Though you can use any kitchen cotton you prefer.


These small cloths are so fast to knit up. I can knit up one cloth in a little less than an hour.

I tried used cotton yarn colors that would match the gemstones of the month that each astrological sign most represents. It was hard to find exact color matches so I used what I had in my stash.

Lily's Sugar'n Cream Solid:

Aquarius - 00071: Grape (Purple)
Pisces - 01215: Robin's Egg (Turquoise)
Taurus - 00016: Dark Pine (Green)
Cancer - 00095: Red (Red)
Leo - 00084: Sage Green (Green)
Virgo - 00083: Cornflower Blue (Blue)
Libra - 00046: Rose PInk (Pink)
Scorpio - 00010: Yellow (Yellow)
Sagittarius - 01009: Soft Teal (Turquoise)
Capricorn - 00015: Wine (Red)

Lion Brand Cotton-Ease:

Aries - Stone Article: #830-149
Gemini - Lake Article: #830-110

This pattern is available as a PDF download and priced at $4.25. There are twelve cloth patterns in this set. You can purchase this pattern if you are a Ravelry member by clicking the "Buy Now" button below the pictures. The Zodiac Cloths are also available in my Pattern Store here as a Ravelry Download. There are 7 pages total and the download is sized at 5.7MB. If you have any questions about the pattern or payment options, please feel free to contact me via email at KrisPatay4@yahoo.com or on Ravelry, KristenKnits.

I finally got around to uploading pictures from Christmas and some of the gifts that I made. I'll post them up in a few days. I'm also working on a Valentine's Day Set at the moment and hope to be able to offer it by next week. Till then stay warm and happy knitting.

Disappearing Act...

This might be the first year that we've actually taken the Christmas tree down on time. I feel somewhat liberated to pack the holidays away and wait for more pleasant seasons to come. The temperature in New York has become frighteningly chilly and the kids and I don't venture out too much these days. I'm already longing for brisk walks to the park. Watching the trees begin to bloom and the warming sun. Though we're going to have a bit of a snowstorm in our area tonight, I've already turned the heat up and I'm grateful for all the winter knitting surrounding me.

A few designs and cloth sets that I'm trying to work out for this month have been completely dominating my free time. With so much going on otherwise I've fallen behind on emails, (and laundry), an I owe a few apologies. I will get to them within the next two days I promise. For everyone who has asked if I plan to do more Cloth sets the answer is yes! I'm going to attempt to design every season and major holiday for the full year. Baby and wedding themed sets are also in the queue.

I haven't uploaded any pictures from Christmas or New Years yet. I'm so behind everywhere, but I do have one gift to share that I made for my friend's baby girl.

Pattern: Bunny Tails by Susan B. Anderson
Source: Itty-Bitty-Hats
Yarn: TLC Cotton Plus Solid (off-white)
Needles: US 6 / 4.0 mm
Size: 6-12 Months

This year I'm going to try and blog more and take more pictures of my completed works. So many of them are gifted before I have a chance to share it with everyone. I know my project page on Ravelry is definitely suffering.