I confess that someone else beat me to the punch on spreading the word on this cute pattern.

But hold on. I’m getting ahead of myself.

You’ve been doing for other people the past 4 weeks, including lots of cooking, baking, knitting, buying, wrapping, cleaning and more. It’s time to do a little something just for you. Around Thanksgiving, Beth and Staci said that we HAVE to include the French Press Slippers. They ARE darling. Just the thing to knit in the next few days and have ready to warm your feet for New Year’s Eve, the next snow/ice storm, bowl games and they are JUST FOR YOU!

Suggested yarns include good ol’ Ella Rae, Cascade 220, and Lamb’s Pride Worsted. The pattern is $7.50. You’ll need two buttons in addition to 300-330 yards of worsted weight yarn and size 15US needles. Wait. That’s just under TWO skeins of the suggested yarns. If you want to dive in your stash, you could make the bands in different colors, but I don’t know that effort will gain you too much yardage.

Never mind that the Yarn Harlot devoted her column to this on 10 December.  And one of her friends claims they can be knitted in 90 minutes. My feet are larger than your average woman, so I’ll guess mine would take about 110-120 minutes. How about you?

Here is a small sample of feltable wool available at the Studio to inspire you (and more has come in since this photo was taken):

Given that many of us are in a knitting countdown, here are three recommendations for last minute gifts.

Fastest:
Elf Shoes by Pamela Wynne. FREE!

Alie's Elf Shoes. Wild, huh?

Alie knit a pair of these in an afternoon. Really. Recommended yarns: Ella Rae, Lamb’s Pride Worsted, Cascade 220, Nashua Julia. You can knit them plain, add stripes from leftovers from previous felting projects, embroider on them, and if you want to be truly annoying, put jingle bells on the toes. Remember to put some newspaper or recycle-bound paper in the toes to get that upturned shape post-felting-while-drying.

Not as fast, but also cute:
Quarters Cap by Kristin Nicholas. $4.50, available online only.

Quarters Cap on Joel, the reluctant model

I knit this for my husband, and it’s sized from baby on up. Recommended yarn is Nashua Julia, named for Kristin’s daughter Julia. It’s ALL GARTER stitch. I’m cheating because I mentioned this earlier in the week on Ravelry, but still. Julia is worsted weight yarn, so it’ll also work with other worsted weight yarns. This is knit flat, then seamed using mattress stitch. Color options: I used 3 different colors to create stripes in each quarter, with one color staying contstant throughout the hat. You can make each quarter a different color, stripe 2 quarters, whatever suits your color personality or the color personality of the giftee.

New, more challenging, perhaps for a New Year’s present:

Knotty But Nice Hat by Natalie Larson. FREE!

This hit the boards this week from Knitty. It’s a lovely cabled hat knit in the round. This pattern calls for Cascade 220, but you can use any worsted weight yarn (Ella Rae, Lamb’s Pride Worsted, Julia, Noro Kureyon, some of the new Classic Elite and Berroco yarns in the shop). I’d love to see this knit up in a tweedy yarn.

NOTE: ALL of these use worsted weight yarns. While I love working with laceweight and sock yarns, when you’re down to a knitting deadline, it’s great to be able to use size 7 or 8 US needles and a worsted weight yarn to rock out a project on time. If you make any of these, please share your photo with us!

our Studio Quick Kits?

Bangle kit. includes bracelet, yarn and pattern. You need US10 needle and a cable needle. $15 at the Studio.

Kit includes yarn and pattern. Needs US11 needles. Kit is $25 at the Studio.

Pot scrubber kit. Includes yarn for 3 scrubbers plus the pattern. Requires size K crochet hook. $15 at the Studio.

Kit includes yarn, cute hangers and pattern for 3 ornaments. Uses US8 double points. $15 at the Studio. What a deal!

Is that wine getting cold? Here's a kit for a wine sweater. Uses US7 double points. Yarn and pattern provided in kit. $15 at the Studio.

Like many of you, I eagerly await the newest entry on the Yarn Harlot’s blog. When she knit a beautiful cowl and followed up with the pattern months later, I couldn’t help but think:

• a-how beautiful it was
• b-how many different yarns would show off the lace
• c-how quickly this might knit up, because it’s just so beautiful and I would devour each and every stitch.

Steph calls this a “Pretty Thing,” and it quickly rose to the top of the Ravelry popular patterns list for over a week.  BTW, you can purchase it directly from the Yarn Harlot and cost is $5.00.

Yarn ideas:

Filatura di Crosa Superior: one Ravelry user made her cowl from this and used .35 of a skein. That means you can get at LEAST 2 of these from one ball. Yes, the Superior is around $25 a ball, but if you can get TWO cowls from one, that means each ran you $12.50. And who can buy a beautiful, warm and elegant holiday gift made of silk and cashmere for $12.50???

Filatura di Crosa Superior in Silver

Rowan Kidsilk Haze in Lipstick. YUM.

Filatura di Crosa Baby Kid Extra. More YUM.

Wagtail Yarns. Yes, more mohair. Still YUM and lots of it to each 400 yard skein. Shown in Scarlet Red.

Jojoland Melody. Wouldn't that subtle striping look lovely in this lace?

While this won’t satisfy Lynn H’s request for something for her brother-in-law, next week’s pattern just might. Stay tuned!

Despite the weird weather today many attended the Sit N Knit today.  What a wonderful way to stay warm with friends.  Beth Schaffer made some delicious muffins.  Here’s the recipe.

Moist Pumpkin Spice Muffins (With Cream Cheese Frosting)

Muffins:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
1 heaping cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Generously grease 12 muffin tins.

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Cut in butter with two knives or a pastry blender until all incorporated. In a separate bowl, mix together pumpkin, evaporated milk, egg, and vanilla. Pour pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture. Fold gently until mixture is just combined. Pour into greased muffin pan. Sprinkle generous amounts of cinnamon-sugar over the top of each unbaked muffin.
Bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove and allow to cool. Ice with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/4 cup softened butter
4 ounces cream cheese
1/2 pound powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Mix all ingredients on high until soft and whipped. Spread onto completely cooled muffins, or place into a large pastry bag with a large star tip and go crazy!

Store in fridge, as icing will soften at room temperature

We are so excited to have guest teacher Polly Blair for this wonderful class.  You will learn tons and make these adorable coasters.  Polly will show you how to use recycled sweaters for some awesome holiday gifts and decorations.  You will lern fulling techniques and how you can turn thrift store sweaters into gifts such as mug sleeves, brooches, and a table top tree.  This is a class not to be missed.The class is Wednesday Dec. 9 from 11-1 or on SundayDec. 13 from 1-3.  Call in to sign up.  816-531-4466

If you’ve not visited the Studio lately, you’re in for a big surprise.  Not only do the windows have a fabulous winter display (thanks to Jen and Staci!), but the elves came in 11/30 and shook things up.  If you’d like a sneak peek, look here!

One of the blogs I read regularly is Grumperina’s. One day the Super-Natural Stripes sweater was posted, and I fell in love with how she striped it. Grumperina chose to use Mission Falls cotton, but here are a few ideas from what I found at the Studio.

Cascade 220 superwash in blue/813 and brown/853 (and we have some superwash handpaints too)

Minnowknits superwash in pink/4719 and brown/4778

Minnowknits superwash in white/4701 and blue/4757

Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton in brown/82 and striped/83

The pattern is available for free from f. pea’s blog, and sized for babies from birth to 3 years. Uses worsted weight yarn, and size 5 and 7 US needles. You can make this with two colors or three, depending on how you decide to stripe it.

This is a fast knit – and if a newborn has just come to your family, a quick holiday/welcome to the world gift! Thank you, Fawn Pea, for a cute and versatile pattern!