Chimney
Once upon a time, a friend with kids came over for a visit and saw the tray of blocks that lived on my coffee table. She started talking about how nice it was when folks without kids had toys around for kids to play with when they stopped by.
I did not have the heart to explain that those were my blocks.
They were mine. They were for me. And I will totally share them with you if you visit! But they are very much mine. And I’m going to play with them, regardless of my age or how ridiculous it might seem.
That’s pretty much how I feel about these little houses. I want to play with them. I want to make a whole village. I want houses and a tea shop and a bookstore and a school and everything else I can dream up. I want to use just the right colors and arrange them just so and dream up little stories for the folks who live there. Regardless of my age. Even if it’s ridiculous.
But I will share them with you if you’d like.
Scintillation
These only exist because the hearts were so much fun. Well, that, and I wanted to see if I could make them with absolutely no seaming, no picking up stitches, and only two ends to weave in (the answer was yes, yes I could, which is just darn nifty).
Seriously though, the hearts were so much fun (and so popular with you folks) that I wanted to see what other sorts of tiny nonsense you’d let me get away with. Because really, there was every chance that the hearts were a fluke and only popular because I managed to bring them out shortly before valentines day.
But making tiny little structural things satisfies my brain in a way I cannot fully explain, so I wanted to do it again. And so the stars happened. And they’ve been my bestselling pattern ever since. I love it when you like my weird little projects as much as I do!
Hoard
These win the prize for the quickest and very possibly the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever knit (though to be fair, there is a good bit of competition for that last category). It’s also the thing I’ve knit the most times. By, oh, let’s just say by a rather substantial margin. I think I knit a dozen in an afternoon when the urge first came upon me.
For you see, there is a massive oak tree in my yard. And I’ve rather bonded with this tree. I see it out my office window all day long, and I love it dearly. Every year it drops absolute masses of double acorns. One fall, as I was spending some time with the tree, I noticed one tiny, gleaming acorn hanging out in a little pocket of moss nestled in the space between two tree roots.
It was unspeakably perfect, the sort of thing you see on a postcard and think it’s just a bit too charming to ever be real. So naturally I started wondering what it would look like with a knitted acorn. And then, well, you know what happens when I get an idea like that.
The pattern originally had you use real acorn caps for the tops of each acorn, and I’m still awfully fond of this approach. But I was eventually overcome by the urge to do a knitted version of the acorn cap (yes, yes absolutely including a double version, how could I resist), so now the pattern includes both options.
There’s absolutely nothing practical to do with them at all. They serve no useful function whatsoever. But I suspect you’ll find them every bit as irresistible as I do. Though I’ll warn you, it’s shockingly difficult to knit just one.
Decorum & Comportment
Do I realize that not everyone will want to walk around with two wee pointy bits (ears? horns? who am I to say) sticking up out of the top of their heads? Oh yes, that’s why I made them optional.
Am I going to wear them sticking out and absolutely revel in any funny looks they garner from passersby? Also very much yes!
But you, should you happen to be feeling a bit more subdued, can absolutely tuck them in if you prefer. The hat is equally adorable either way.
Don’t worry, you don’t have to commit to one option or the other. You can totally pop the points in or out as the mood strikes. And, as we all know half the fun of being a knitter is having truly smashing accessory sets, you can do it while sporting the delightful matching mitts!
Tacit & Implicit
These shouldn’t be this enchanting. They really shouldn’t. That bit of fancy business there is just cables (easy cables at that, borderline boring cables). No really, I promise. It’s made from simple little two by two cables, lined up right next to each other and then stacked up one atop the other.
There’s absolutely no reason for it to be this charming. And yet...
I can’t explain it. Maybe it’s something to do with how orderly and tidy and logical they are? Or maybe it’s because they are cables but somehow don’t actually look like cables? Or maybe it’s just me and I am alone in finding them unspeakably endearing?
But somehow I don’t think so. I suspect you probably find them every bit as delightful as I do. Though I was so enamored of this whole project that I had to knit two different hats, which might be a tad bit excessive. It’s totally cool if you just want to make one!
Constellate Hat & Mitts
I’ve never been any good at knowing when to stop. And I used to feel sort of bad about it—to think that, if only I could be a bit more moderate, a bit less enthusiastic, things might be easier.
But these days? These days I just embrace it. When I like something, I really really really like it. And that’s ok. Actually, it’s kind of fun!
So given how I feel about the first of these patterns, it should surprise absolutely no one that I wasn’t ready to be done after just one hat. Not even after one hat worked two different ways. Because wow does working this with a contrast color do something sort of magical. I should have known there there would need to be mitts (also worked two different ways because once you know, how could you not). Oh and just possibly a bonus version of the hat just for super secret friends, because sure why not.
This is just how I’m wired. And I’m totally going to bring you all along for the ride. Though whether that’s a promise or a threat is up to you!
Shiversome
Look, I have a somewhat complicated relationship with winter in general and with snow in particular.
There’s a fairly outspoken seven year old inside me who thinks it’s great. Snow days, snow angels, sledding…what’s not to like? But there’s also a very tired 40something in there who is really quite sick of shoveling the driveway and driving on slippery roads and worrying about the roof.
I’m trying to find the happy medium. Tucking up under woolly blankets with a new book, hot chocolate ready to hand, watching the snow while I am safely inside is actually rather lovely. And since winter is happening regardless of how I feel about it, I might as well try to enjoy what it has to offer.
But I’m definitely still working on coming to terms with the cold. And these little buddies help. Yes, they are snowmen. But they’re the warmest, coziest, toastiest snowmen you’ll ever meet. No cold toes or freezing fingers or wind reddened cheeks required.
Tufted
Look, I am not even going to try and convince you that you need these. Either you looked at them, fell instantly in love, and began spinning out a whole complicated tale for them (their names are Owlbert and Owllison. They own a combination secondhand bookshop and cafe. Owlbert makes the best popovers you've ever seen, and Owlllison has a knack for tracking down that book you loved when you were a kid but can't remember). Or you’re a normal, respectable adult who is not susceptible to such nonsense.
Either way is cool, and we can still totally be friends even if you’re not as easily distracted by the absurd and adorable as I am.
But if you are easily distracted? If you do feel a sudden longing to know what the owls get up to when no one is around? If you’re pretty convinced they’re having tea with the foxes and going on adventures with the raccoons? Well then you’re my kind of people, I think you’ll love these as much as I do.
And I think we’re going to have a marvelous time together!
Palpitation
This was the very first bit of tiny nonsense I ever knit.
I was having a bad time. I’d broken my leg. I couldn’t get comfortable to knit for more than twenty minutes at a time. Everything felt absolutely impossible. So I knit these. I knit piles and piles and piles of these sweet, silly little distractions.
I almost didn’t write a pattern because I truly wasn’t sure anyone needed any such thing. But when I shared a few pictures, folks were absolutely besotted. So I wrote them up, and they’ve been one of my most popular patterns ever since. I am truly delighted that you love them as much as I do!
They’ve shown up as decorations or favors at weddings and baby showers and birthday parties. They’ve been tucked in lunch boxes and book bags and coat pockets on both hard days and happy ones. They’ve found their way into envelopes and through the mail to folks who needed a little surprise. They’ve shown up on Christmas trees and garlands and mobiles. They’re basically the perfect way to turn a few dozen yards of yarn and a few hours of knitting into a tiny token of good will that you can hand out as needed.
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