PATTERN PHOTO: http://www.simplicity.com/assets/4077/4077.jpg

DESCRIPTION: I made two versions, both with with gathered cap sleeves: one with a peter pan collar, and one with a mandarin collar. Can also be made with 3/4 length sleeves, and/or bow or ruffles detail. BananaAnnA posted her great ruffled version here: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=142989.0

INSTRUCTIONS: The instructions were very easy to follow. This was my first from-scratch shirt project, and the clear instructions made techniques that could have been intimidating, like gathered sleeves and the use of interfacing, super easy.

LIKED: The pattern has lots of options; both collars are very cute and well-designed. The cap sleeves are also well-cut -- not too short or too long; not too skinny or too poofy.

MODS: I'm not curvy, so I used the bust and hip from size 6 and the waist from size 8, and made the darts a little shallower. I eliminated the ruffles on the mandarin-collar version.

Highly recommend! And it's a great first blouse for beginners. More and bigger photos on my flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pamelawynne/sets/72157600028620030/

UPDATE 2/25/07: Tutorial at http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=154596.msg1542831#msg1542831

I didn't feel like picking up any of the knitting projects I've got going on, so I recycled an old sweater today.

With a thrift store sweater 4 sizes too big, some cheap supplies, and a few hours work, I made a jacket! Since I'm pretty uptight about following patterns to the letter, I'm awfully proud of my seat-of-the-pants improvisation here, and wanted to share with people who would understand. Now go out and make your own!

UPDATE: Details on my blog -- and if anybody is interested, I can post a more specific tutorial.

Thanks for sharing my joy.   

I wasn't happy with the patterns out there for felted totes (most of them either too scrawny or too huge) so I designed my own. It's the first felted pattern I've done, so it's quite simple and great for beginners.

It's got a wide, flat base and handles that are attached after felting with circle-shaped tabs. I embroidered this one with an image from Jenny Hart's Sublime Stitches.

**** EDITED TO ADD: You can find the pattern at http://www.flintknits.com/blog/?p=130***

Now that Wabbit has so generously provided a French-to-Estonian-to-English translation, who wants to knit this lovely sweater with me?

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=122186.0

I'm ordering from KnitPicks this weekend -- Swish superwash in Bordeaux (I thought I'd stick with the Francophile theme).

As I have mentioned before, my s.o.'s grandmother died and left me 30 skeins of magenta Red Heart acrylic yarn (shudder), so I am collecting fellow craftsters' ideas for small projects that will use it up.

My first project was a version of Knitty's Pasha the penguin (http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=120004.0).

Now I've finished a scratchy little acrylic vest, which I jazzed up with an appliqueed owl. Owls = always jazzy.

*****EDITED TO ADD*****
If you're interested in a free pattern for the owl, PM me -- if enough folks want one, I'll put one together.



Here's a close-up of the owl, in case you want to make one yourself.

my s.o.'s grandmother died and left me 30 skeins of Red Heart magenta acrylic, which I will neither wear nor expect my friends or family to wear.

SO, I started making unusable crap. My first project was Pasha the penguin from Knitty.com [http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter04/PATTpasha.html]

I gave it to a friend who promptly named the thing "Nacho."



Then I knit Nacho a fuzzy scarf.