Tidings Craft Fair

Southern Maine Folks! 

This Sunday, December 3rd, I'll be participating in my first craft fair! I'll be one of the many wonderful vendors at Tidings Craft & Art Fair at the Ocean Gateway in Portland. I'll have all my embroidery and knitting kits on hand, and some special fair deals. 

There's free parking , live music, and kids activities - so come on by!

Not in Maine? You can always order via the online shop, but if there's something you have your heart set on, I'd suggest ordering before Sunday, as I won't be restocking these items before the holidays. 

More details on the Tidings Fair can be found on their Facebook Page.

Indie Design Gift Along 2017 - Shawls & Cowls

It's GIft Along Time again! 

Every year a growing group of independent knitwear designs band together on Ravelry to host a knit-along to kick start your holiday gift knitting! 

This year there are 311 designers from 31 countries and 6 continents, with over 18,150 patterns eligible for the giftalong's 2,000+ prizes.

From now until midnight EST on Nov 28, over 5,000 of those patterns are 25% off with the code giftalong2017

But 5,000 patterns is a lot to look through, so over the next few days, I'll be highlighting some of my personal favorites from the offerings - today I'm wrapping up my list of favs with shawls and cowls.

Clicking on any photo above will take you to an individual pattern page, or you can see all my Gift Along favorites on Ravelry here. 

I've got 16 patterns in the sale,  including two sweaters.  

As an added bonus, all kits on MsCleaver.com are also 25% off for the same time/same code. - ENDING TONIGHT!

Happy gifting!!

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Indie Design Gift Along 2017 - Socks & Hats

It's GIft Along Time again! 

Every year a growing group of independent knitwear designs band together on Ravelry to host a knit-along to kick start your holiday gift knitting! 

This year there are 311 designers from 31 countries and 6 continents, with over 18,150 patterns eligible for the giftalong's 2,000+ prizes.

From now until midnight EST on Nov 28, over 5,000 of those patterns are 25% off with the code giftalong2017

But 5,000 patterns is a lot to look through, so over the next few days, I'll be highlighting some of my personal favorites from the offerings - today we'll be looking at those most gift-able of knits, Hats & Socks.

Clicking on any photo above will take you to an individual pattern page, or you can see all my Gift Along favorites on Ravelry here. 

I've got 16 patterns in the sale,  including two sweaters.  As an added bonus, all kits on MsCleaver.com are also 25% off for the same time/same code.

Happy gifting!!

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Indie Design Gift Along 2017 - Women's Sweaters

It's GIft Along Time again! 

Every year a growing group of independent knitwear designs band together on Ravelry to host a knit-along to kick start your holiday gift knitting! 

This year there are 311 designers from 31 countries and 6 continents, with over 18,150 patterns eligible for the giftalong's 2,000+ prizes.

From now until midnight EST on Nov 28, over 5,000 of those patterns are 25% off with the code giftalong2017

But 5,000 patterns is a lot to look through, so over the next few days, I'll be highlighting some of my personal favorites from the offerings - starting with Women's Sweaters.

Clicking on any photo above will take you to an individual pattern page, or you can see all my Gift Along favorites on Ravelry here. 

I've got 16 patterns in the sale,  including two sweaters.  As an added bonus, all kits on MsCleaver.com are also 25% off for the same time/same code.

Happy gifting!!

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Transferring Embroidery Patterns to Opaque Fabric

Generally, when it comes to transferring a printed pattern on to fabric for embroidery, my favorite (easy and cheap) method is to tape it to a window and trace.  But what do you do if you can't see through the fabric, even with a window/light box? 

Enter tracing paper. 

A pretty common notion in the sewing world, my mother taught me to mark my sewing fabric with tracing paper and a jagged edged wheel. For transferring embroidery designs, we'll skip the transfer wheel and use a pen, pencil or stylus to do pretty much the same thing.

Transferring an Embroidery Pattern to Opaque Fabric

To transfer an image to opaque fabric you will need the following:

• Fabric
• Embroidery design printed to appropriate scale and facing the finished direction
• Single-sided transfer/tracing paper in a contrast color (I used double-sided here, because it's what I had on hand. In a pinch, you could rub a piece of chalk generously across a sheet of paper and use that.)
• A pen, dull pencil, or stylus. Something with a decent point to get details, but not so pointy you poke through the paper.
• Chalk pencil or water-soluble pen (optional)

1. Sandwich the transfer paper, chalk side down, between the fabric.
2. Trace over the pattern using your pen, pressing firmly and going over each line several times as needed to make a clean mark. 
3. Remove pattern and transfer paper.
4. The chalk marks can be very light and easy to brush off - if desired, trace over your marks with a chalk pencil or water-soluble marker for a more clear line.

That's it! Easy-peasy, right? 

Felt Ornament Kit - Pink, Blue and Green

$23.00

Felt Ornament PDF Pattern

$5.00

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FO Roundup - Fall 2017

One of the most fun parts of being a designer is seeing how others interpret your designs. Here are a few of my favorite finished objects (FOs) of late, with a focus on cool winter-y gray and blues, and shawls on chairs. (click on any photo to visit the knitter's Ravelry and/or Instagram page):

Toulouse - knit by lovegrayhues

Lamassu - knit by ninafer

Woodland hat knit by elainemaxseb

Dal, knit by rie4

Eiswasser knit by lucidfuse

Atlee - knit by kishpai

Fleet Fox knit by Knitty_Jo

Summer Rain knit by NeweJersey

Want to share your knits with me? Tag me @mscleaver on Instagram, or if it's on Ravelry, I'll see it. :) 

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Dal - PDF Pattern

Lamassu – PDF Pattern

Eiswasser - PDF Pattern

Woodland Hat - PDF Pattern

Atlee - PDF Pattern

Corrugated Ribbing Tutorial (for Two Hands)

Corrugated, or two-color ribbing, is a common decorative edging on many colorwork designs, including my Woodland Mittens. It has a great effect, but it can be a bit trickier than regular colorwork, which is usually done all in knit stitches.

I'm typically a "picker" or continental style knitter, but this tutorial will use both the "picking" and "throwing" techniques for the most efficient way to work this pattern. Not familiar with continental style? This is a helpful tutorial. 

By working the rib with two hands this way, you don't have to fuss with dropping and picking up a different color for each stitch.

For the purposes of this tutorial, the green will be our contrasting color, or CC; and the grey will be the main color, or MC. This tutorial also assumes you will be working in the round.

One important thing to know before you start, two-color ribbing will have less recovery/elasticity than regular ribbing, so you may wish to go down a needle size, especially if you're replacing a solid rib with a corrugated one.  

To start, cast on in your CC and join in round. Knit one round in CC.

Join your MC at the start of the round. From here, you will knit in the CC, and purl in the CC.

Take your CC, or the color you will be doing knit stitches with, and hold it in your right hand. Take the MC, or the color you will be doing purl stitches with, and hold it in your left hand, tensioning the yarn around your pinky finger as in Continental style. To begin, both yarns should be behind the needles, with the CC in front of the MC. 

Step 1: With the yarn held in your right hand, work a knit stitch by "throwing" or wrapping the yarn around the needle with your right hand. 

Step 2: Shift the left hand needle, so the MC yarn is in front of the work. Purl the next stitch Continental-style. Shift yarn back behind work.

Repeat Steps 1 and 2 until you reach the desired length of rib! 

Ready to Get Knitting?!

Woodland Mittens - PDF Pattern

$6.00

Woodland Hat & Mittens Kit

from $24.00

Fall Family Fun

While I spent a lot of time in October working hard to get the WOODLAND collection ready for release (and fighting a a few colds), I also made sure to I made time to enjoy my favorite season with my favorite people. So there were leaf piles, and ballet classes (I just die every time I see her in that uniform), pumpkin carving, painting and decorating. 

One of my favorite things to do at Halloween is make themed family costumes (see 2015, 2016  and pre-LMC, 2011), which I will continue to do as long as LMC puts up with it. So about 10 days before Halloween when she decided to be a butterfly instead of an owl, I had to do a little creative thinking, but I think the garden costume I came up with worked out great. Mr. Cleaver was supposed to be a gardener originally, but since I was laid low with a sinus infection on Halloween night, I let him take the better costume out on the town, which he was a great sport about.  

Either way we gave out and received loads of candy and LMC went to bed wishing everyday could be Halloween. All-in-all, a pretty good October.

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Introducing WOODLAND - A Ms. Cleaver Collection

I'm pleased to announce the launch of my first seasonal collection: WOODLAND.

Consisting of four new embroidery designs, three new knit designs and one old favorite, WOODLAND takes you through fall, to the holidays and beyond into winter. Projects range from beginner-friendly to the more complex and each design is available as a stand-alone pattern or as part of a complete kit of high quality materials like 100% wool felt and 100% wool American yarns, making your making all the more attainable.  

The four knitting patterns can be purchased as an e-book for $18.00 USD or individually ($5-$6 USD). Likewise, the embroidery hoop designs (Cabin, Ice Skater and Moose) can be purchased as a set for 20% off the individual price.  

Flip through the lookbook below, or check out the shop! 

Hot Buttered Apple Cider - Cocktail Recipe

One of my favorite things to do in the fall is relax with a good movie, a big bowl of popcorn, and some hot apple cider. This drink is a more grown-up version that takes its cues from Hot Buttered Rum. The Demera sugar on the rim adds an additional caramel flavor (and looks pretty to boot!)

Hot Buttered Apple Cider

(makes 1 drink)

• 2 Tablespoons Spiced Butter (see recipe below)
• 1 1/2 oz rum
• 3/4 cup apple cider, heated to boil. 
• Juice from orange
• Demera (raw) sugar
• Apple slice

Wet the rim of a heat proof glass and sugar with the raw sugar. Place slice of spiced butter in bottom of glass and top with rum and hot cider. Mix until butter is dissolved. Top with a generous squeeze of orange juice (about a Tablespoon). Garnish with apple slice or fan and serve hot. 

Spiced Butter

• 4 oz (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• zest of one orange
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until well combined. Transfer butter mixture to wax paper and roll into a log, approximately the size of a stick of butter (this will help to measure later). Wrap butter tightly in wax paper and plastic wrap and store in fridge, allowing to firm up. Can keep keep for up to two weeks. Also great on toast! 

To print, see button at bottom of post.

Hot Buttered Cider Cocktail Recipe

Makes 1 drink Ingredients: 2 Tablespoons Spiced Butter 1.5 oz rum 3/4 cup apple cider orange juice Demera (raw) sugar for rim apple for garnish