taking the easy way

I like to do a dedicated windy post once a week, but I need to cheat a little this week and pull some posts from my own notebook to make the Saturday post. I have a lot to get done. This is a roundup of activities from the last month. They were all to varying degrees of success because, to tell you the truth, my son is on strike against hats this week and bits of my home that used to be not sky blue are sky blue. But on the other hand, we've had much more drawing and painting this week and tried some new activities. And the days are getting longer.

rainbow bread

A few months ago Auggie found a video about baking rainbow bread on youtube. It’s a pretty long cooking demonstration — I never would have guessed he would find it so interesting, but he asked for it a few times. So we finally decided to try making it. The recipe in the video requires kneading and uses all the colours of the rainbow. Since we didn’t have the time or patience to do a long recipe, we did a much easier version using less colours and no-knead bread... read more

the easiest pancake

Maybe I will dedicate this pancake to Tulip the Buffalo. Snowy & Chinook already have their favourite recipes for pancakes, but this is such a fantastic recipe and so puffy and simple (and good with berries) that maybe it's perfect for Tulip via endless banquet ... read more

kindergarten hat from pickles

I made this little hat (another one from pickles) from their kindergarten set. The pattern is great and simple and good for using up scraps of yarn... read more

owl cabled gloves

Ever since I found out that there is a cable pattern for owls, I've been wanting to do an Old Al pattern. However, when I found this clear pattern from craftsy — I decided someone had already done a much better job of it already ^_^

I did some sizing adjustments to make a pair of these for a toddler. My pattern notes, materials and sources are here at my notebook.

bat | cat hat

This is a good October Saturday project if you knit: bat or cat or superhero hat/mask pattern. Notes and information here.

If you don't knit, I bet you could sew together 2 squares of fleece or knit fabric and cut out some eye holes. The pattern gives dimensions.

noodles, knits

This week: noodles and knitting.

In a pickles

I tried out a pattern via pinterest from pickles — small and clever baby set (free pattern). The bonnet is very sweet and a pleasure to knit. It fits a little small, so I added in a few extra rows. 

Squishy

The winner of our Squishy giveaway, chosen by random draw, is Wienna Lee.

Congratulations! Please email your mailing address to windyandfriends@gmail.com and we will send it over shortly.

Image is from Julie Morstad's ABC Cards.

Chinook's Scarf (free pattern)

A simple lace scarf for beginners (PDF link). This project is inspired by Chinook’s mauve scarf in Snowy & Chinook and the flower they find in the snow.

This lace stitch used in this scarf, called the four-spot,

Another Yarn Giveaway

We had such a positive response to our last yarn giveaway, that we thought we'd do another.

If you'd like to be updated about our next project or giveaway, you can subscribe to our blog by entering your email address on the upper-right corner of this page. We keep our mailing list private.

You could use the yarn from this giveaway for some finger knitting or even pair it with some of your own leftover chunky or worsted yarn for our Lonely Doll Scarf.

Finger Knitting

Well,if you are sad you didn't win the cute knitting needles, why not try finger knitting! No need for needles. You can use any yarn, and it's easy as can be. It's great for cute little scarves for teddies or little sisters, or one year my daughter's knitting was long enough to drape around the Christmas tree.

Here are two sets of directions, a helpful video or a pdf version.

Little giveaway winner

The winner of the children's knitting needles , by random number draw, is: Melissa of Sew Sweet Stitches!

Thanks to everyone who entered. It was fun to hear everyone's crafting memories. Making sleeping bags for Barbie, clay soup and many, many potholders!

Congratulations, Melissa. We'll send 'em out within the week.

We have another giveaway in a couple of weeks!

A little giveaway: kids' knitting needles!

This is a cute one. We found these children's knitting needles in NYC (at purlsoho), and knew we needed to get them as a giveaway.

Vintage Baby Knits

This post has moved

Colour Wheel

Some knitters use these to help them design their projects.

Children can make these to learn about colour. Here is a simple kid's project from Wee folk art to make a yarn colour wheel. You could do the same thing with scraps of paper or fabric, if you don't have yarn at your house.

wee folk art via craftzine.

Yarn Giveaway: The Winnah!

Thanks to everyone who entered our giveaway. The winner (drawn at random) is PharmaMom who said:

My favorite red used to be a deep dark red, but now with little ones in the house I've been loving fire engine or cherry red! Bright, bright, bright and happy!

Sounds good and congratulations!

We loved reading everyone's answers (including the fantastically enigmatic "I like pickle"). 'Our favourite reds: Fire-engine and Campbell's Tomato Soup with Radish and Popsicle in hot pursuit.

Yarn Giveaway

We're having a little giveaway this month, for anyone looking for a light, little, portable summer project: 1 ball of organically grown, Blue Sky Worsted Cotton in "Tomato" red, enough to make 1 Windy's Spring Scarf. We are not sponsored by Blue Sky, we chose it because it is soft, squishy and knits really nicely. It is also nice to knit with in warmer weather.

Windy's Spring scarf

We've made the first of our series of children's scarf patterns. This one is a light, cotton scarf (unisex), inspired by Windy's red scarf. It is very simple and quick to knit and a great first project for anyone wanting to try knitting for the first time. It's also a nice project to knit over the summer and wear in September. Our pattern also has a cozier muffler-length version for winter.

Here it is: Windy's Spring Scarf. If you are a member of ravelry, you can find it there, too. This is a free pattern.

Patterns

We've been developing some new, simple craft projects for the spring. Here's a little preview...Spud & Chloe Sweater yarn in "Lake"; Blue Sky Cotton in "Tomato" and Manos Serena in "Boysenberry".

While we're on the subject, Spud & Chloe have some very cute free patterns on their web site. If you would like to knit a hat, or a pear, for example!

The Lonely Doll scarf

A  very simple project for beginners: a unisex scarf, sized for adults. This post has moved here.

Brown Owls

We've been taking a bit of a break due to summer colds, but we'll be back soon with a book review and some snow globes.

In the meantime, here are some owls we've come across recently in our travels:

Owls and nests by the K 1/2 class at Charles Dicken Elementary and a brown owl cardigan adapted from the Owlet pattern by Kate Davies.

Edited to add one more owl, this time one for Auggie, with button eyes: