(colorway above is Mosaic Moon's "Woodland Tale")

Gauge: unimportant since it's only ornamental.

Yarn: I used 2 colors of DK weight, but sport or worsted weight would work fine too.

Needles: I used US #3

Notions: tapestry needle & scrap yarn

Starting at the waist with your trim color:
CO 24 sts and join into a round. K1P1 for 4 rounds.
ROW5: Knit around increasing every 6 sts (28 sts)
Change to main color and continue in stockinette (knit all sts) for 10 rounds.

Divide for legs:
K 7 sts. Using your darning needle and scrap yarn transfer the next 14 sts onto scrap yarn. These are your stitches for the second leg and you will return to them later.

Knit legs:
Divide the remaining live sts evenly among 3 DPNs and *knit in stockinette for 16 rounds. Change to trim color and knit 1 round. Knit 3 rounds of seed stitch and bind off.* Return to the sts on the scrap yarn and divide them evenly among 3 DPNs. Join new yarn at the inside of the leg (leaving at least a 6-8" tail for closing the "crotch" later) and repeat steps between *'s.

Finishing & adding your drawstring:
Turn your Bitty Britches inside out. Make a couple stitches with your long tail to close the crotch opening. Weave in all ends and block. For my drawstring/hanger I made a tight twisted cord using my main color yarn and a hand mixer. You could just use a single strand of yarn, braided embroidery floss, ribbon, or any number of creative things to hang your britches. Whatever you use, you'll need a couple feet of it. Using your tapesty needle start at the front-center and weave your drawstring in and out of the ribbing until you arrive back in the front. Choose a hip you want the pants to hang from and pull a few inches of slack on the inside of the britches. Tie a little knot to keep it from pulling back out. Pull your cord snug from the front, tie a little bow, and snip the excess. Block and you're done. Blocking allows you to shape them a little more and really makes them look nice, so take the time ;)

I did it! 3 years, 360 class hours, and immeasurable amounts of determination, courage, and a touch of insanity have brought me to this day -- my graduation day. This morning I graduated from Core Star and I am now trying on the title of "Energy Healer" -- adjusting the fit a bit, but I think we're a match ;) Here is a photo of me and my eldest daughter at the graduation ceremony:

As a parting gift to my teacher I created a wall hanging. It is based on a zen quote, "The snow falls, each flake in its appropriate place." I took minor liberties with the wording and replaced the word appropriate with perfect. I'd like to share some photos of the process of this wall hanging's creation.

First the original chicken scratch sketch. This scene came to me as an inspiration while I was cooking. I grabbed my pad of paper I use for to-do lists and grocery shopping and sketched it out:

And here's that same scene sketched in pencil on poster board. The square is about 23"x23":

This the the canvas and background fabric (a hand dyed cotton with the colors of the evening sky radiating upward) with some of the poster board template positioned on top:

These were taken when most of the appliqué was finished. The wool felt tree wasn't yet stitched down -- it's just laying in place here. And the edges weren't turned yet. The crystals are just laying on top -- not yet in their final positions.

You can see here that the "snow" catches light when seen from the right angle:



and the variegated purple moon swirl:



And the fence fading into the horizon:

And this is the finished hanging:

If you're looking for news about Sweet Mama - Small Sugar... well keep watching for surprises ;)

Hi all. I got three messages over the weekend to update my blog lol. I'm taking the hint, ladies :)

So, I had plans to stock SMSS in May, but I don't even want to get into detail about ACTUALLY happened this month. Suffice it to say that nearly every moment that was supposed to be mine was sucked into the ever-widening-time-sucking-black-hole-of-surprise-life-events. I know it sounds dark, right? It was lol. I'm cautiously optimistic in saying I think the storm has passed.

I have a couple of personal upcoming events, a new product (so excited), and I am still planning a stocking with some custom slots available --- in early June *ducks from the flying diapers*

First personal event, my grandfather passed this month, and we are traveling to his memorial service this week into next. I am looking forward to celebrating his memory with my family and seeing everyone I haven't seen in so long. I expect it will be pretty emotional -- I am tearing up just thinking about it.

Second, I am graduating in June! Something few people know about me is that I've been studying energy healing for the past 3+ years. I am finishing my case presentation this week. I present and graduate the first weekend of June. Please keep me positively in your thoughts -- public speaking is not something I'm terribly fond of.

And the new product? A little something for my fellow knitting enthusiasts... the first knitting pattern from Sweet Mama - Small Sugar! It's the Seamless Infant Kimono. The sweater is knit from the top down without a single seam to sew! Comes in 4 sizes to keep your baby toasty the first two years of life, offers three sleeve styles, and includes a complete photo tutorial for crafting the button loop. Pattern will be available for download or in a snail-mail printed version on June 1st! Here are couple of the finished sweaters: