Chocolate Hugging Bunnies!

chocolate hugging bunnies

The pattern for this little bunny comes from the blog, Cherry Heart, by Sandra. I first heard about these little bunnies from my friend, Beth. Last year she gave me one and I fell in love with them. The pattern, Easter Huggie Bunnies, is a free PDF download. You can also find it on Ravelry.  They are a quick and easy knit. A great project for using up those scrap yarns. But of course, I went out and bought a few more fun colors nonetheless. I used Lily Sugar n' Cream cotton yarns. I ended up using a size 7 double point rather than the 8 prescribed. After experimenting, I determined I liked the knitted bunny to fit tighter around the chocolate egg.

Sandra's bunnies have little faces on them, obviously mine do not. After playing around with faces for a very LONG time, too long really, I decided that I didn't like the faces. And I realized, it is hard to embroider on a knitted piece, very different from embroidering on felted wool like I am used to.

finished bunny tails

But to my delight, a simple addition of a pom pom tail was just what my bunnies needed to finish them off perfectly! I made a pom pom using the white cotton yarn. Fluffed the tail up by swirling it gently between my hands, and then simply tied it to the bunny. That's all! and isn't it ever cute? FYI, I made all white tails for all colors of bunnies.

I bought a bunch of Cadbury Creme Eggs in various flavors: original creme-filled, chocolate creme-filled and caramel creme-filled, and stuffed a total of 16 bunnies!

As you can see from the photo, I placed my eggs on each dinner plate as a gift for my guests. I also treated my best girlfriends and my son's girlfriend as well.

My dream is to make a ton of these little bunnies and gift them to random people I encounter throughout the Easter season, a small version of the random-act-of-kindness-kind-of-thing.


Happy knitting!

A Real BIG Baby!

I just completed my over-sized Woolly Snowbaby and am very pleased. The original size of a felted snowbaby is 5-inches. The photo below shows the two sizes side-by-side.

 

two sizes of snowbabies

The little snowbaby used one strand of sport weight yarn and the large snowbaby, two strands of Cascade 220 worsted weight, #8010, and one strand of Frog Tree Alpaca cream sport weight yarn. The two yarns together created a wonderfully felted snowman! 

I used real twigs clipped from my crab-apple tree for arms. I held them in place by poking them into a small block of styrofoam placed within the snowbaby's interior. This worked slick! 
After having completed the arms this way, my first reaction is that I like him more withOUT the arms, but I wanted to have a photo to show with.

I didn't fill the snowbaby up with plastic poly-pellets like I usually do because of the size. I am planning on sticking a stone inside to give that extra weight, then sewing a circle of felt over the hole to finish off the bottom. 

For the eyes, instead of the usual french knots, I embroidered several small stitches using worsted weight black yarn. Then I added a single stitch using DMC white floss to create a highlight dot.

The nose is red wool roving needle felted into a round ball and attached to the snowbaby's face. The cheeks are small bits of pink roving again needle felted to the face.

I love this size snowbaby! so many fun possibilities for outfits, hats and accessories! let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Happy knitting!

A Little Bit of Blarney!

woolly leprechaun

Every year I need to introduce my little leprechaun to those that might not know him yet. He is created using the Woolly Gnome & Mushroom pattern and a few changes. For those that don't know, I have a free PDF download with all the changes for turning your little gnome into a little leprechaun. For that download and others, go to my website, Marie Mayhew Designs.

woolly mushroom

To help celebrate Saint Paddy's day, I found a fun snack mix with a bit of a twist, Thin Mint Puppy Chow! The recipe is adapted from the blog, Shugary Sweet. I made a few changes to include ingredients I could find in my local grocery store.


thin mint puppy chow

16 ounce chocolate Candiquik (for making almond bark)
4 ounces mint chocolate chips
a drop or two of peppermint extract, optional
2 cups powdered sugar
box of Crispix cereal
1 bag (8 ounce) mint M&M's (could never find these)

1) In the microwave, melt chocolates together for one minute, stir and continue melting in 30 second intervals until smooth.

2) Empty the box of cereal in a large mixing bowl. Pour melted chocolate mixture over cereal and gently fold until the cereal is good and coated.

3) Add the powdered sugar to an empty brown grocery bag. Spoon in the chocolate cereal mixture. Seal the bag and shake well until the powdered sugar has coated the cereal completely. Pour the mixture onto a cookie sheet and allow it to cool for about 20 minutes. Combine green M&M's with cereal, if you can find them, and serve. Enjoy!

My kids loved this minty puppy chow! My daughter brought it to her youth group and one young man ate most of it. He said that typically he can't eat puppy chow because he has peanut allergies and most recipes call for peanut butter. This recipe contains no peanut butter.

Happy knitting!

woolly snowman knit-a-long

woolly snowman

To help celebrate Woolly Snowman 2013, the 10-year anniversary of my Woolly Snowman pattern, I am conducting a KAL (knit-a-long).

I have bought my yarn and am ready to begin knitting today. On my Ravelry group, that's woolly something, I will share the details and tips along the way. Come join my group to stay in touch!

First off, I will be knitting my Woolly Snowbaby pattern but changing it out slightly. That is, I am going to make a large snowbaby using two strands of worsted and one strand of Frog Tree sport weight all carried together. I will use size 13 dps, rather than size 8. We'll see what the end result will be.

I am experimenting on the snowbaby because I am curious how the felting will turn out. I want to try it on the tall snowman pattern to create a LARGE one, door stopper-size. I will post plenty of photos along the way.

Happy knitting!

woolly sheep pin cushion

woolly sheep

Last week I started a Woolly Sheep knit-a-long on my Ravelry group, that's woolly something, and the photo above is the end result. I like my little guy!

I used yarns from my stash, Berroco Ultra alpaca worsted weight yarns, but after felting I don't think the cream was Berroco at all, only the black yarn. It didn't brush out nicely with my nap riser brush like it should have. I am not good at marking my yarns as I should. Oh well!

one in every family

To embellish over my disappointment in how the cream felted, I created a curly-cue pattern using 3-inch strands of 2-ply yarn and needle felting them onto the sheep. It is a little putzy, but worth the effort! The occasional dots here and there are embroidered french knots using the same yarn as the curls as well as to stitch the nose. FYI, I only embellished the sheep's front!

The pins are from Just Another Button Company and they are called 'button box'. The colors match perfectly! Another set of pins that would look equally as cute on my sheep are thematically called 'one in every family'.

I am starting a KAL (knit-a-long) of my Woolly Snowman starting hopefully today!

Happy knitting!

a woolly knit-a-long

woolly sheep with curly locks

Attention all you Ravelry fans!

I am trying something new on my Ravelry group page, that's woolly something. We are going to attempt a knit-a-long there. We will knit & felt the Woolly Sheep pattern. You can create either a black-and-white version or an all-cream lamb, your choice.

We begin tomorrow, Thursday, February 7th, 2013. Sorry such short notice, but come and join right in, anytime. I will be sharing my new unpublished updates to this pattern: a new approach to the legs. If everybody likes them, I will be sharing them with the world at large later on.

All you need is the current pattern and some yarn. Have any questions? don't hesitate to ask. All my patterns are now available in PDF format on Ravelry.

Look forward to knitting along with you!

Happy knitting!

woolly santa ornament

woolly gnome & mushroom pattern

I created this santa gnome ornament over the holidays and just love him!

I used the same Woolly Gnome & Mushroom pattern. As you can see he is smaller than my usual gnome, a perfect size for the tree or wreath. I hung him along with my matroyshka doll ornament on my dining room chandelier -- decked with pine boughs, little glass pine cones and ball ornaments.

This gnome santa is made using Cascade 220 fingering weight red yarn and size 5 dps. I needle felted a bigger nose and used embroidery thread for the eyes. I knit the gnome’s hat’s brim with the cream yarn and once felted, needle felted a decorative trim on to give the brim a fur-like look. The beard is needle felted wool roving. No feet on this gnome.

I also stuffed him with woolly stuffing so it would hold its shape longer. Plus the stuffing allowed me to needle felt it afterwards into desired shape. I love woolly stuffing for that little trick alone!

It would be cute with a white jingle bell on top too.

Happy Knitting!