May Day Blooms

Happy May Day Folks!
When I was a little bitty thing we used to hand weave paper baskets and bring them to our neighbors stuffed full of flowers. I'm a bit bigger now, and the whole internet is my neighbor, so I say you all get flowers! I've put together a little collection of fun handmade finds from Etsy to brighten your day and warm your heart. Click the pictures of the items to learn more about each. Enjoy!

1. A trendy Floral Hoop Necklace from FreddieandGeorgia

2. A stunning Flower Crown from OhHiRosie

3. These marvelously bright Mini Clothespins from MAKINGtheNESTofIT

4. Some stunning Hand-Painted Yarn from LBArtYarn

5. A beautiful resin Flower Necklace from NThandmadeJewelry

6. This amazing Felted Iris Hat from FeltedFlora

7. A sweet Baby Girl Shirt from primposies

8. These elegant Rolled Flowers from PaperPerfectPetals

9. This bright Zippered Wristlet from UnexpectedTreasure

10. A gorgeous Poppy Serving Bowl from TurningTrueStudios

11. And my Sunflower Cup Cozy From KnittyVet

Wow! Thank you to all the creators of the above items for sharing their gorgeous work.

Remember I am still offering FREE SHIPPING through Mother's Day with the code MOMGIFT15 in the KnittyVet Shop. Now go enjoy your May Day!

Best Ever Sourdough Biscuits

Last week I had a magical day. A sublime day. I still don't know how it happened.

I made 3 separate recipes that were SPECTACULAR (if I do say so myself... but the family did agree, in my defense).

Number one was a sublime molasses cookie recipe. I feel like I've made this recipe before, but I don't know, maybe the stars aligned or something. They turned out crisp/chewy, just the right amount of spice and sweet, and they lasted for a few days perfectly (until they all got chowed) in the TARDIS cookie jar. Yes, I have a TARDIS cookie jar. Find the recipe here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/molasses-cookies/

Number two was a lovely wild rice cream of chicken soup. I'll post the base recipe here but I may go back and write more about this later since I did change some things. http://www.food.com/recipe/minnesota-cream-of-chicken-wild-rice-soup-134627

And Number three. Number three turned out to be the Best Ever Sourdough Biscuits. I've made biscuits before... and sourdough biscuits before... but these were fantastic. Light, buttery, just a hint of tangy sourdough. I've made them again and wow. Just wow. The beginning of this recipe is from www.tasteofhome.com, but you should try mine instead.

So -->

- Best Ever Sourdough Biscuit Recipe -

Prep/Cook Time: 30 Minutes
Makes: 12 Biscuits
Oven: 425 degrees F (I used 400 with convection)

Ingredients
2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup cold butter
1 cup sourdough starter
1/3 cup of plain yogurt
1/6 cup milk (just put your yogurt in the measuring cup first, then add enough milk to reach 1/2 cup. I used skim milk but I bet 2% or whole would be even better)
Melted butter for tops after cooking

Directions
1. In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients and mix. Cut in the cold butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Great kid activity. E can attest.
2. Combine sourdough starter, yogurt and milk. Stir into the crumb mixture until the dough just holds together.
3. Turn onto a well-floured surface and knead 8-10 times until the mix begins to behave like dough. Then STOP or your biscuits will be tough. Roll or pat to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with a floured 2.5" biscuit cutter. Place 2" apart on a greased baking sheet
4. Bake at 425 (or 400 convection) for 12-15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Remove and brush tops with butter (if wished) and allow to cool on a wire rack. They taste best when still warm! With honey! Yummm....

--------

Happy cooking you guys. If you make this recipe feel free to post comments or photos here or my facebook (www.facebook.com/knittyvet) or instagram (@knittyvet) or twitter (@knittyvet).

And remember I have a Mother's Day Shipping Sale at the KnittyVet Etsy shop right now - FREE SHIPPING on any order over $10! Just use the code MOMGIFT15 until Mother's Day.

Ok folks, thanks for reading, and enjoy those biscuits! Man, I'm so hungry now!!!!

"Sapphires" A new sock knitting pattern, or how I learned to stop worrying and love knitted sock design

Oh, I'm so excited! Seriously, big time, excited. Today I launched my first peer reviewed (ie test knit), big time sock pattern. It's legit yo.

This sock pattern entered my brain when I found myself the owner of some lovely Cascade Heritage Paints in a gorgeous, glowing, blue sapphire color. (It had somehow made itself into my bag at a visit to Webs in Noho, MA... seemed to happen to me a lot). I knit up a pretty cool pattern called Brienne by Purrlescent, but I wanted more. I wanted... more sapphires. Sapphires...

I started looking through books, getting ideas and inspiration. I found what I wanted in a classic Barbara Walker Book of Knitting Patterns. Honestly. These books. My dear MIL gave me a set for Christmas one year, and I am forever in her debt.

The pattern was in a lozenge shape, and I thought that if hooked together correctly, maybe with some ribbing in between, I could make a sock.

So I knit a little test swatch on my favorite rose colored #2 DPNs (I am a knitting nerd do not judge me), found my gauge, did a little math to figure out how many I'd need to cast on, threw caution to the wind and started knitting.

The knitting was the easy part. I took notes as I went. I tried to be specific and organized. I am not that person at heart. In the end I had a lovely sock... and the notes from hell. This is when the real fun started. I looked at sock patterns on Ravelry. In books. I reached out to knitting communities on Facebook (thanks Knitting Heart Pattern Group!) Provided with some inspiration I made an outline and tackled the written form. Really not that hard, just extremely tedious. I don't know about anyone else, but my eyes tend to glaze when reading knitting patterns unless I'm actually knitting. I talked myself through this section. So far so good.

However, the chart. I knew what they looked like, I knew how to knit from one... but how to CREATE a chart? So internetting I went. Now, I bet *real* knit designers have programs for this sort of thing, but I was improvising. My first time. Learning experience. I was lucky enough to stumble upon this really excellent tutorial and excel template from Color Yarns LLC that I could adapt to my needs. They rock.

So now I had a chart... but how in the world to make all the knitting notations? I sure didn't see all those dots, y slashes etc etc on my QWERTY keyboard... Back to the internets! This time I found Knitter's Symbols Fonts by David Xenakis. I was able to download the font, download the crazy looking key sheet, reformat my excel sheet (Font 14, Bold, Column Width 0.16", Height 0.12" in case you were wondering) and viola!!! I could begin filling in the chart with my pattern.

I did some figuring and re-figuring on how to explain some aspects of these socks... especially beginning and ending the ovals. It is fairly intuitive but a little tricky to put into words. Once I had a version I was more or less happy with, I tossed it to my plucky test knitters Sherry and Nissa. They knocked this thing out of the park confirming gauge, finding mistakes, and making sure the pattern made sense. Seriously. They are amazing.

The final hurdle? Getting the final .pdf file from 25.7 Mb to 747 Kb. It had to do with embedded image size and resolution. It was solved at midnight. Don't even ask.

So here we are. Sock pattern number one. I hope to create more in the future - hey - I already know what column width and height to use! Please let me know what you think and if you have any comments or questions - I usually respond quickly! Thanks for the support and help oh internet peoples!

Ravelry Link: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sapphires
or


Etsy Link: https://www.etsy.com/listing/230836398

Enjoy!!

Launching Something New : Knitted Play Bracelets

I've been working hard at the Etsy shop recently - updating photos, SEO (should I think about a post on this?), and promoting in and outside of Etsy. I also had an idea for a new product, inspired by my own daughter's desire to play with my yarn. Not that I am upset about her playing with yarn - she just seems to be taking after me :)

Anyhow, she wanted some "lovely jewelry" to wear, and I wanted to make her something that would last through her hard wear and boisterous play. I grabbed a pair of double pointed needles and started knitting i cords. A few days and some cycles through the steam washer later I had something I was happy with, and something I could hardly get her to part with!

I love these little wool bangles - they are bright, colorful, soft and durable. They can be made in a rainbow of colors and variety of sizes. My daughter attends a Waldorf style preschool and toys like these fit right into the sensory toy theory and encouragement of creative play. They've also been proving popular with Etsy buyers and folks on Facebook. I especially like the custom orders that have been rolling in.

My next adventure is trying a rainbow pattern in one bracelet... we'll see how that goes. I'm also toying with the idea of making a tutorial for these guys - any interest?

If YOU want a set of bracelets feel free to contact me in the comments, through my facebook at www.facebook.com/knittyvet or Etsy at www.knittyvet.etsy.com -Kendra

Tuesday Treasury

Keeping it simple this week - here is a nice quiet collection I put together this morning.

https://www.etsy.com/treasury/Njc4NDAyMnwyNzI0NzUzMDc1/sky-blue-for-you?index=0&atr_uid=

Enjoy!

Busy Treasury Tuesday - Artist Feature

I know it is Wednesday. But yesterday I had so much fun creating treasuries with a great group of people on Etsy that I didn't have a chance to post over here! I think instead of linking each treasury I will highlight some awesome finds from the artists I met. In no particular order...

Beautiful bright necklaces from ElliegantGems:

A sweet bird painting from StudioEmmaKaufmann:

A magical fairy door from DoodleDotGifts:

An adorable felted cloud from Fairyhollowcreations:

Amazing espresso cups from JennyNguiDesign:

A cute toddler dress from SecretSquirrel13:

A groovy giraffe from ThePaperLighthouse:

A folded page sculpture from TheBookVandal:

A charming cross stitch pattern from redbeardesign:

A bright bag charm from WillowCraftsx:

A fun and funky needle book from StripyKite:

An amazing copper bangle from EmmaWyattArt:

A bright poppy purse from EngeeStar:

A beaded tribal cuff from TheBeadyLittleEye:

A lovely butterfly bracelet from 44DaisyStreet:

A cheerful embroidered garden from CrafyFox:

A vibrant handmade card from HandmadePeaCards:

 WOW!!! I hope you enjoy the great items - don't forget to visit the artist's shops for more amazing finds! -Kendra Ann www.knittyvet.etsy.com