Stuff we love

I have seen so many cute things around lately I thought I might let you guys know about them!

Real Simple Magazine – A special family edition! Some truly wonderful and in-expensive up-cycle type art projects, fun recipes and wonderful articles. I had never seen the family edition of the magazine before and it is done really well.

Simplicity Vintage Stuffed Animal Toys Retro Collection 2763 – These are just adorable. I saw one of these sewn up on flickr or a blog, and quickly ran out and got the pattern! It’s a retro pattern that Simplicity has re-released and it is adorable. I have never actually hand sewn anything before and I have big plans to make a horse by hand. Wouldn’t one be cute using some Heather Ross Far Far Away fabric? I have a scant amount in my stash that I was saving for something special!

Custom Playboxes from Etsy – I special ordered an adorable play box to give to my 3 year old on her birthday (2 weeks from now!) and it’s been sitting in my closet for a while now waiting for her! They are adorable but better for slightly older children. I may have to wait another year to give it to her, but I know she is going to adore it when she gets it. They also sell more affordable doll house accessories.

As we mentioned last month, the best way you can support Petite Purls is by visiting our advertisers and shopping with them, they are the life blood of Petite Purls, aside from of course the other important half, the designers. One of the best way you can support designers is by purchasing their patterns. I wanted to share with you the most recent acquisitions I have made within the baby/kid pattern realm! All I have to do is go visit my Ravelry PDF library to see the latest patterns I have purchased;

Marnie MacLean’s Alsace Le Monstre Doll & Hat Combo

Bekah Knits Baby Merry-Jane’s

Ysolda Teague’s Elijah

Jared Flood’s Tweed Baby Blanket

Here is one last one for the women out there who need a fun but basic sweater to wear this winter;
Jane Richmond’s Oatmeal Pullover

As for what I’ve been knitting most recently, I’ve gone on a hat knitting binge using my own Serendipity Hat, my little monkey is so chunky!

Petite Purls Marketplace

Know anyone who would like to advertise their crafty shop or handmade kids products on the cheap? Petite Purls is now offering very affordable marketplace ads that will debut in our upcoming Fall 2010 issue!

Email us at adsATpetitepurlsDOTcom for more info!

We Have Winners!

We are finally choosing our four very lucky winners for our Celebration Giveaway! We used the RNG and the lucky readers are….

drumroll please…….

Prize #1: Petite Purls Swag winner is: Laura!

Prize #2: Spud and Chloe package winner is: Carey!

Prize #3: Our Designer package winner is: Stephani!

Prize #4: The Indie Package winner is: Laurie!

Congratulations to the 4 winners! Winners, please contact us at infoATpetitepurlsDOT for more information about how to get your prizes!

If we don’t hear from a winner or winners after one week (July 12), we will randomly draw another name for that prize.

Thanks for all of the great comments. We will be writing a post soon about some of the suggestions  you gave us.

Petite Purls Turns One, Celebration Give Away!

Petite Purls has turned One! As a thank you to all of our wonderful readers, we are giving you the opportunity to win one of four fantastic! amazing! prizes! We have been very lucky to work with such wonderful and talented designers and sponsors this year. Many have generously donated some wonderful items for our Celebration Giveaway.

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Prize #1: Petite Purls

• One Petite Purls Sigg Water Bottle
• One Petite Purls project bag
• Knit Picks Land & Sea Playset
• Knit Green by Joanne Seiff
• Namaste Oh Snap! Bags (set of three)
• Debbie Bliss Eco-Baby (three balls in Moss colorway)
• One copy of Phoebe’s Sweater by Joanna Johnson

 

 

 

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Prize #2: Spud and Chloe

Spud and Chloe is offering ten (10!) hanks of Fine and patterns to create the Dial Up Gloves and the striped Lulu Leggings, plus a Spud & Chloë zipper pencil bag and pattern box.

 

 

 

 

 

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Prize #3: Our designers

• One copy of Kate Oates’ Master Charles Sweater pattern and coordinating Elbow Patches
• One copy of Craft Corps, by Vickie Howell
• One copy of Fairy Tale Knits, by Alison Stewart-Guinee
• Jennifer Casa: one pattern of winner’s choice
• One copy of Brandy Fortune’s Serendipity pattern

 

 

 

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Prize #4: The Indie Package

• Kirsten Kapur: choose one of two bundles: A) Ulmus,Hamamelis, High Line OR B) Wood Hollow Hat, Wood Hollow Mittens, Wood Hollow Vest
• Carey Huffman: one bundle of three patterns (2 knit, 1 crochet)
• Talitha Kuomi: winner’s choice of either Loved or Shining Around
• Mandy Powers: a copy of I Heart You Sweater pattern
• Scout’s Swag: one skein of the sk8r chick colorway featured in this issue.

 

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What does it take to win? Not much, all we ask is that you leave us a comment about what you’d like to see from Petite Purls in year two. Comments will close on July 1st, 2010.

“Handmade Beginnings” by Anna Maria Horner

We are honored to be the last stop on the blog tour for Anna Maria Horner’s new book: Handmade Beginnings: 24 Sewing Projects to Welcome Baby.  This is a lovely book, not just for the wee ones in your life, but Anna Maria has thoughtfully included the soon-to-be (and also the post-pregnant) mama, dad, family members and the family’s home.

Anna Maria has been there. She’s been there six times to be exact. She has six gorgeous children, all of which grace the photos of the book.  Throughout the book she gives little snippets of good mama advice, whether it’s the safety and care that should go into making garments for little ones, taking the time to put your swelling feet up if you are expecting, or my absolute favorite from the book: “The transformation that you and your body will experience during and after pregnancy is nothing short of a gorgeous wonder. Ignore any thought that has you feeling otherwise.” I love this advice. Reading this book is like having your best friend at your side who’s helping guide you on this beautiful journey of motherhood.

Anna Maria starts the book off with wonderful tips and tools for successful sewing. From typical sizes for mothers (pre-pregnancy), sizes for children, suggestions for the best fabrics to use as well as basic tools needed.  Anna Maria writes it all with such ease, it feels as though you’ve gone into your favorite fabric shop for advice.

Oh the patterns.  They are wonderful. At first I was a little sad to see the “Mama Sewing” section, feeling envy that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy any of the maternity clothing that Anna Maria has designed. But, because she is awesome, Anna Maria has written the patterns for both the expecting and the not-expecting. I have to say that I am putting on my sewing “queue” the Lingering Layers Skirt, the Mariposa Dress and Tunic and the Flower Bed Slippers.  For those who are expecting or new mothers, I love the  Early  Empire Cinch and the Four Corners Blouse.  Anna Maria’s designs for women are feminine, flirty and sexy; some things that women sometimes forget when they are sleep deprived, running around in their “typical mom uniform” of black yoga pants and a tank top!

There is a very nice assortment of children’s patterns, including booties, a dress, great reversible pants and a hoodie jacket, all modeled by some of the cutest children on this planet.  There are many projects for the baby’s room like the Daydreams Mobile and Lampshade, and a few quilts including the amazing Sixth Time’s the Charm Crib Quilt, honoring Anna Maria’s youngest child, Roman.  And, showing Anna Maria’s thoughtfulness once again, she has created some cute projects to include those siblings that might be feeling a little lost when mama is busy tending to the new baby, like the Patchwork Welcome Notes. These mini patchwork quilts swaddle a sweet baby announcement, using bitty fabric scraps which can be worked by even the smallest of hands in the house.

This book is a must have for just about anyone who loves sewing.  Wiley Publishing has generously given us a copy of Handmade Beginnings to give away to one of  our lucky readers! Make sure you leave a comment at the end of this post if you would like to be in the drawing for the copy. We will be drawing the name of the lucky reader on June 1^st, which is just around the corner!

ALSO!!! Be sure to check out the amazing giveaway on Wiley’s Handmade Beginnings page! Run, don’t walk, right now and enter now!

A Winner and a Blog Tour

We have chosen a winner of Ann Budd’s wonderful book, Knitting Green via Random Generator. Let’s hope we get it right on the first try!

The winner is:

Sherry Lucy!!

Please contact us at infoATpetitepurlsDOTcom with your contact information and we’ll have the book sent to you. Congratulations!

We also wanted to tell you that we will be the last stop on Anna Maria Horner’s blog tour featuring her new (and wonderful) book, Handmade Beginnings. Make sure you check it out on May 27th! Here’s a listing of the whole blog tour:

May 3      Craft

May 4      Indie Fixx

May 5      Sew Mama Sew

May 6      Pink Chalk Studio

May 10    Wise Craft

May 14    House on Hill Road

May 16    The Purl Bee

May 18    All Buttoned Up

May 19    Alabama Chanin Journal

May 20    Homemade by Jill

May 21    True Up

May 22    Oh, Fransson!

May 23    Prudent Baby

May 24    Sew Liberated

May 25    Handmade by Alissa

May 26    Hazelnuts

May 27    Petite Purls

Third time’s a charm, right?

Well, sadly we never heard from Patricia about winning Amanda Soule’s books so back to the (random) drawing board we go!

The new (and hopefully FINAL) winner is…..

Rebecca!

Here is her comment:

so fun…i’d love to have those books! i am knitting a blanket for my daughter and socks for my sister-in-law. i’m re-purposing some foam from an old chair to make to upholster a foot stool. i use cloth diapers on my baby. i re-use baggies. thanks for the chance to win!

PLEASE contact us at infoATpetitepurlsDOTcom with your address so Amanda can send you her lovely set of books! Congratulations!

The Matriarch of Modern Knitting

As are many knitters before me, and many will be after, I am a fan of Elizabeth Zimmermann. Two of the most well known “baby knits” were designed by her, The Baby Surprise Jacket and the Baby Sweater on Two Needles (aka February Baby Sweater).  I will admit to you that I knit my first BSJ (Short for Baby Suprise Jacket) using the video from Meg Swansen (Elizabeth’s Daughter), it is such a fantastic video and Meg is a phenomenal instructor full of calm and encouragement. I learned a lot more from that video then just how to knit that pattern. I have on my amazon.com wish-list, pretty much every video EZ and Meg Swanson have available. If you are intimidated by the BSJ, add the video to your birthday list and you will not regret it, in fact you may watch it more then once, just for fun.

One of the best aspects of these two famous designs is how very little “finishing” there is to do in the end, simple shapes, knit in a clever manner with very little seaming to do at the end, make for a very happy knitter. Hands down one of my favorite aspects about her was that she really liked wool, and never minded knitting children’s items with it. You can very easily swap out cotton for any of her projects, in fact the BSJ and FBS that I knit were in cotton, but I love that she appreciated the fact that wool can very easily be worn by children, and even in the summer. After all, wool is natural and breathes; acrylic, does not. I often knit kids clothing in wool, and dare I say I get a bit frustrated when people say you can’t knit baby or children’s items from wool. I am a mother of two, and don’t mind hand washing/soaking a few small items of clothing in the sink every once in a while, and if you do mind or have an allergy to deal with, quality cotton is not too hard to find these days! Even better, you can find some organic cotton too! I make sure my kids aren’t eating spaghetti while wearing hand knits, even if they are machine washable!

• You can find the instructions for the February Baby sweater in the book Knitters Almanac
• Knitting Without Tears is a fantastic introductory EZ book
• The first EZ book I read, has instructions for the BSJ, The Opinionated Knitter which I love because of all of the hand written notes, stories and photos from her life and travels.

Knitting both of these patterns is a bit like a right of passage in the baby knitting world, for many probably because it might have been their first time knitting a garment with lace, or in the case of the BSJ, their first time knitting something so seemingly complex, yet amazingly simply and clever once the knitting is done, so much so that you will want to knit 5 more. You can’t help walking away from knitting an EZ pattern, feeling very clever  and accomplished indeed.

There are over 4,000 February Baby Sweaters on Ravelry.

There are over 11,000 Baby Suprise Jackets on Ravelry.

If you have not yet had the chance to knit any of the baby/child patterns by Elizabeth Zimermann, now is the time to start! You can check out the website of Schoolhouse Press, the home to Meg Swansen and birthplace to all those wonderful videos (they also carry the always coveted and hard to find, un-spun icelandic wool).

Behind the Scenes: Difficulty Rating Graphics

When we launched our first issue there was a certain amount of things we had to accept that would need to be improved as time went on, part of designing a good website is about iteration, an organic proccess where you get a good design base up, and you launch, and as you add more content to the site you tweak things slowly to make them better. One of the items I was anxious to improve was our Difficulty Rating graphics. When we started, we had the idea of using alphabet blocks, with each letter representing a different level of difficulty, but the alphabet font that I found did not turn out to be very attractive and it never looked as nice as I wanted it to. Alas we had to move forward and we didn’t have the time or funds to support getting something nicer.

Now that we have some sponsors and the ability to get some nicer graphics, we found some wonderful illustrations of people in various stages of life; baby, child, teenager, young adult, mid-life and elder. They seemed just perfect to use for our new and improved ratings graphics.  The older version of the rating graphics are still present in past issues and will be slowly updated over time.

Level of Difficulty

Beginner: Projects for first-time knitters using knit and purl stitches. [Totally do-able for a mama while breastfeeding or snuggling with baby]

Easy: Projects using basic stitches, as well as repetitive stitch patterns and simple color changes. [A simple knit when time is limited and you want

everyone to ooh and ahh at that baby shower you were invited to next weekend]

Intermediate: Projects using a variety of stitches, including cables and lace

and perhaps some simple color work. Use of circular needles as well as knitting on double pointed needles. [This isn't for when Grandma is knitting while babysitting. Unless Grandma is babysitting and mama is knitting!]

Experienced: Projects using techniques such as short rows, fair isle, and intricate intarsia, lace and cables. [Seriously? Wait until the kids have been dropped off at college to take on this project]

Other future iterations will include; print buttons, ability to go to “next” at the top of a pattern page not just the bottom, enhancement the archives page (it’s about time!). I look forward to updating you as we make these improvements!

Fun Spring Giveaways!

ETA: These giveaways are now closed. All further comments left will be deleted.

We hope you all have been enjoying our newest issue. It was such a fun issue to put together and the amount of talent involved was truly amazing!

So we are back to tell you about not just one, but TWO great giveaways we have to offer you!

We are going to be giving away some of Blue Sky Alpacas great Multi Cotton that we reviewed this issue. There will be TWO winners! One winner will receive Punch, Marmalade and Slushie and the other winner will receive Limeade, Spearmint, Icing. In order to be in the running for this yarn, you have to do some work for us:

We currently have five places where you can read about what going on in the Petite Purls world:

Blog

Newsletter (read #3)

Twitter

Facebook

Ravelry

If you are not following us, well, you should be! Sign up for as many of these groups as you want/can, come back to the blog and leave a comment telling us where you follow us and you’ll be automatically entered! FYI, the more places you follow/join, the more chances you have to win!!

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The next giveaway is a great one too! (Would we give away anything that wasn’t great?)

The lovely and inspiring Amanda Soule from SouleMama has generously offered a set of her books, The Creative Family and Handmade Home to one of our lucky readers. I hope you all had a chance to read my interview with Amanda in the recent issue. Her blog is full of daily inspiration and her books do just the same. We really wanted Amanda to be involved in our Green Issue because she is very passionate about repurposing, recycling and does it very creatively. For this giveaway, all you have to do is leave a comment on this blog post about something you are doing in your life that is creative AND green. We’re all doing a little something aren’t we?

So, there you go! Great stuff to win! The deadline for BOTH giveaways is MONDAY APRIL 5th (11:59 pm MST). If you want to be in the running for both giveaways, please leave separate comments for each.

Good Luck!