Winter? Spring?

The amaryllis finally decided it was time to G-R-O-W!! just when the lilacs decided to B-L-O-O-M!!

Early Spring in the Kingdom

It's pretty clear that spring is coming on, even though it's been colder than usual. The snow's pretty much gone. There are seedlings in pots, and the sweet potato plants are looking good and strong (unlike last year). The light has changed, or at least, the angle of the light has changed. We can't sit on our couch and feel the sun now as we did in January. Come July, this will be a good thing, but right now, we kinda miss it. The living room is still washed in sunshine though. And that lifts our spirits. Cassie has a little morning route as she follows the sun. Then again, in the afternoons she'll mosey over to the deck door to catch the afternoon rays there.

Much knitting is going on right now. Cookies, too. And sometime soon there will be clay play. Photos to follow. Hope you're seeing signs of spring where you are, too, friends.

Mo' Mittens

Cosy Quilted Mittens
(aka Frost Buster Mittens)

About a million years ago, long before the internet made communicating ideas a hundred times more easy, we designed a pattern for mittens. Those mittens match the Cosy Quilted Cap. In The Beginning, they were called Frost Buster Mittens. Catchy, eh? Years went by and we busied ourself with other things. Eventually, we prepared the pattern in .PDF form, so we could just shoot it off across the ether and not have to worry about printing and postage. However, up until today, we hadn't found a home for it. Today, spurred on by Kate and Maria, we've made it available on Craftsy. To that end, you can find the Cosy Quilted Mittens Pattern here. Back in the mid-'90s, it sold for $8.95 and today, almost 20 years later, it costs $5. from Craftsy. We think that's reverse inflation :) and a pretty good deal.

The Cosy Quilted Mitten pattern is pretty simple, but very unconventional. In a nutshell, you knit a picture frame and 2 quilted panels. You insert the panels into the frame.....by hand. The only real skills required are patience and a willingness to do handwork. Somehow, we think handwork isn't as popular today as it was then. However, maybe there are some die-hard handworkers out there who will appreciate it.

"Hands Up, Pardner!"
(no husbands were actually harmed in the photographing of Cosy Quilted garments)

While you're checking out mittens, we'll remind you of the Oddball Mitten Pattern, which is similar. The quilted panels have been replaced with knitted blanks. All very unorthodox, but very pretty. If you're tired of the same old, same old, you'll find a refreshing change in this take on mitten-making. Also $5. available from Ravelry.

A home for our Kobo

A couple of weeks ago we bought ourself a Kobo Mini. It's a very small e-reader. It was on sale. It's cute. It's perfect. Most of the time, we don't get too worked up about possessions. We like to think we're not that shallow. However, every so often we acquire a 'thing' that we develop an unusual attachment for ..... something we value because it's either extremely useful or extremely clever. Our Kobo Mini has quickly become of those things. We can access books from the public library and read them on it. No more getting the car out to drive to the library. What luxury!

We decided the only thing our Kobo Mini needed was a case to keep its screen from getting scratched. So, this morning, first thing, we set about making him a case. We used 2 rectangles of Dollar Store felt, and in less than a morning, we had this:

We made cut-outs for the top where you turn it on and for the bottom where you insert the cord to sync it to the laptop. We used one of our own polymer buttons and a bright hair elastic. It is perfect.

Cassie's annual Florida vacation

Wish you were here!

Dear Little Renn

We are very glad to see you're back, Little Renn. We know you've been busy, but we've missed you.

You know how much Grandma CoCo loves a challenge. When she saw your pretty stuffed hearts, she was smitten. When she saw that you'd asked for suggestions about how to create the perfect 'V' at the top of the stuffed heart, she was intrigued.

Very early this morning, she got us up and forced us to stitch stuffed hearts. She was sure it was just a matter of clipping. Unfortunately, she was wrong. Well then, she thought, if not clipping, then pressing would be the answer.

Our first effort (where it's so, so, so painfully obvious to anybody (with a brain and a pinch of foresight) that the ribbon's not going to be on the outside of the stuffed heart and therefore not functional in the least....but, hey! It was early. She hadn't even had her coffee yet):

Massive failure!

Attempt number 2 (where at least she got the ribbon to stick out of the finished stuffed heart . . . albeit not in a pretty way):

Abject failure

OK. That's what you were talking about. Right, Little Renn? That point at the top of the heart where the ribbon sticks out is all smooshy and not sharply pointed at all.

Hmmmm......

Well, let's try for a nice heart shape without the complication of that stooopid ribbon ("Easy, now, Grandma CoCo! Calm down.") :

We pressed the seam allowance back from the seam before cutting it out AND we clipped the V deeply . . . right up to within a thread of the seam line . . . the way you'd clip an appliqué shape.

There. That's not bad. But how to get that shape with the hanging ribbon in place? Well, you know, Grandma CoCo's not above cheating. She snipped a thread or 2 and slipped the ends of the ribbon inside (where they belong) and then hand-stitched the heart closed. It was just a few stitches after all.

Then she stuffed it and closed the opening. Ta-Da!!

There, Little Renn, what do you think? Cheryl thinks the V is very hard to notice. She thinks the extra work isn't really worth the effort. And she definitely thinks the toddlers at the Valentine's party will be too busy to notice anyway. If there are any other stitchers out there who have ideas or helpful hints, please leave a comment. (But you might want to try it out in fabric before you opine, because we're here to tell ya, it's harder than it looks.)