With 8 strands of yarn held together and 20.00 mm needles, I was able to make a blanket for Pusheen:

With only 30 stitches, this was a very quick knit. You can see that at almost 1" per stich, it is quite large:

Eek! Sorry for the blurry photos (for some reason, they turned out really small, and I had to enlarge them).

I've been busy planning lots of new things and starting new projects that I didn't have an FO this week! So...I plan on showing you what I'm plan on bringing to the blog this June!

Now bear with me. This might get long (but, probably not).

That's right! New patterns! I currently only have a few patterns for sale, but I have a lot more that I haven't added yet (plus some patterns that have yet to be typed up :D).

Although I do sell on Etsy, I get more traffic on my blog than I do at my shop, so I decided to add Amigurumi stuffed animals for sale right on the website! I'm already working on a couple of things, so look for those in June.

Has it been done before? Yes. Has it been done moi? No. To make it last longer, I'm going to do a tutorial ever 2 weeks (That'll give you plenty of time to master your new technique).

This (along with all the other things mentioned above) will go on long after June, but it should be introduced next month. I'm going to be featuring crochet/knit bloggers and Ravelry.com users, so that should be fun (if you'd like to be featured, feel free to contact me :))!
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Okay, it's not that long, but it's a lot! I have lots of a new things planned, but these are the only things I can get done for next month. I hope you're looking forward to them :)

After receiving requests for a smaller version of Pusheen the Cat, I've started and made quite a bit of progress on it:

Isn't she adorable? Unfortunately, I don't have the original Pusheen yarn colors, so I had to improvise. I personally like the tan/black combo :)

I've also restarted a previously shared project:

Here is the original (crochet-version) project:

I keep referring to it as a "project", mainly because I enjoy the suspense it gives people. I'll reveal what it is when the pattern is completely written up (it will be available for free). I started it over because I realized that knitting it would save me a lot of yarn, and possibly a trip to the yarn store. I do a lot more crocheting then I do knitting, so even though the main part of the pattern is very basic, it keeps me entertained.

A little while ago, I showed this bag that I "finished":

I added the lining, and eventually added a flap:

My sister has a large bag of buttons, and it was fun to search through them to find the perfect one (it's kind of hard to see since the photo is so bad. It's a wooden 2-holed button).

I've made a bit more progress on it than the photo below, but I'm working on a mini version of Pusheen!:

She's going to be palm sized, so it should be adorable :)

The title is a bit of a mouthful, but it says it all!

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Between March and April, the Freshstitches Ravelry group hosted a spring swap!

How did it go down? Well, since it was a "secret" swap, you know who you are sending to, but you don't know who you are receiving from!

All of the animals were super cute, but I definitely like mine the best: 

                Aren't they cute? The crocheter who sent my package made them it my favorite colors!

Along with these cute critters, I also received some yarn:

I've always wanted to try ILTY, but since I don't live near a Hobby Lobby, I couldn't, so this yarn was extra special! It went on to become these guys:

And if that wasn't awesome enough, I also got lots of other great stuff:

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What did I send in my package, you ask? Well, I couldn't get very good pictures because I had to send them off later that day, but I sent these two stuffed animals along with some yarn:

Like I said, I couldn't get very good pictures, but you get the idea: Neon colored animals :)

Recently, I've become obsessed with TricksyKnitter.com, a knitting chart maker. It gives you the tools to create your own color work knitting charts!

This is one of the charts I made:

I plan on embroidering it on a hat. It's going to be so awesome (you're welcome to use the chart, BWT!)!

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Yes, I said embroider. Unfortunately, I'm not very good at knitting color work. But (much to my delight), there is an embroidery stitch called the duplicate stitch (it may look a little intimidating at first, but don't worry. You'll get the hang of it). It looks just like the right side of stockinette stitch! So, even if you aren't very good at knitting color work, you can still have a really awesome, colorful piece.



Anyway, back to the free pattern! I designed Blank Canvas so I could have a go-to, easy-to-memorize pattern that I could embroider the different charts I came up with on. It currently only comes in one size, but in time it will be updated to accommodate different sizes. 

Size:

20"-23" head circumference (the hat is quite stretchy).

Supplies:

175 yards of worsted weight yarn (try something with wool in it. It's floppier and drapes better than most acrylic yarns).

A 4.00 mm (6) 16" circular needle

A set of 4 4.00 mm double pointed needles

A stitch marker (optional, but recommended)

A tapestry needle (for weaving in the ends)

Stitch and technique abbreviations:

Knit stitch: k

Purl stitch: p

Knit 2 together (decrease): k2tog

Stitch(es): st(es)

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With the circular needle, cast on 96 stitches.

1-12) *k 2, p 2* repeat from * around (96 st(es) in each round, for a total of 12 rounds)

13-56) K each st (96 st(es) in each round, for a total of 44 rounds)

57) *k2tog, k in next 14 st(es)* repeat from * 6 times (90 st(es))

58) *k2tog, k in next 13 st(es)* repeat from * 6 times (84 st(es))

Now would be a good time to switch from the circular needle to the double pointed needles.

59) *k2tog, k in next 12 st(es)* repeat from * 6 times (78 st(es))

60) *k2tog, k in next 11 st(es)* repeat from * 6 times (72 st(es))

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Continue decreasing in this manner until you have 6 stitches left on your needles. Cut the yarn with a yarn tail about 7-8" long, and thread the tapestry needle with this tail. Using the needle, pull the yarn through all 6 remaining stitches on your needles. Pull it tight, and tie a knot. Then, weave it into the inside.

Congratulations! You just finished a super awesome hat!

(BTW, this was my FO for the week).

I hand-dyed the yarn I used to make the hats above, but here are some yarn brands I recommend you use for this project:

It's been a week since the last blog post? Yeesh. Sorry 'bout that. I've been knitting/crocheting a bunch of different projects that I didn't although I made a lot of progress on them, I didn't finish any. But, you can always count on WIP Wednesday since I have a lot of unfinished projects.

For instance, I've been knitting hats recently:

This is just one of the hats I've been knitting. I knitted another one, and plan on making many more (just i