Little Knit Jingle Bells

Well, from the poll, it appears that out of the 2 votes (thank you two for visiting and voting!!!), both people had heard of Tunisian crochet, hairpin lace, and knitting looms/boards, but no one has yet heard of beadpoint. Looks like I need to do a bit of presenting! Stay tuned for more on beadpoint and a new survey.

As promised, here is my first free pattern!
You can also download this pattern from my site: http://www.horse-round.com/shop/freepatterns.html.


Traditional Jingle Bells
A traditional knitting pattern written by Kathy Kemp (http://www.horse-round.com/)




These adorable bells can be made in nearly any type of yarn. Use them as Christmas ornaments or attach them to packages. You can even use pastel yarn for baby shower gifts or Easter ornaments!

Materials:

• 1 skein of worsted weight yarn, or yarn of choice


• 1 pair of knitting needles in 1 size smaller than recommended for chosen yarn


• Yarn needle


• Scissors

Directions:

Cast on 14 sts.

Row 1 (right side): Knit across.

Row 2 (wrong side): Purl 4 sts; knit 10.

Repeat rows 1 and 2 until you have 46 rows. The edge with the purl stitches will curl slightly on its own.

Bind off, leaving a tail that is long enough to sew up the edge.


Finishing:

1. Fold in half so that the right side is inside. The curling edge should be on one side.
   


2. Sew up the edge. This becomes the side of the bell.


3. Turn right side out. Attach a metal jingle inside and ½ inch loop on the top.

Lulu.com sales!

Here's some pretty exciting news -- for me anyway. I've sold 2 of my beadpoint patterns that are published on Lulu.com!

Presenting.... (drum roll please)

The Lancaster Chess Knight: http://www.lulu.com/content/795951
The English Rose: http://www.lulu.com/content/805051

Both stained glass bookmark patterns (and more) are also available as kits from my HnR web site, http://www.horse-round.com/shop/shop.html, as well as at the Seattle Knights store during summer ren faires and pirate shows in the Pacific Northwest.

Check 'em out and let me know what you think!

Not another new blog!

Here we go with a brand new blog -- by a Brand New Blogger. In the horse world, they say Green and Green make Black and Blue. I guess I'm about to find out just how dangerous this might get! Fortunately, I have some "on-the-ground" experience, having been a technical writer and graphic designer for almost 15 years. It's just the blogging and yarnwear (yarnware?) that I'm new to.

I decided to start this blog to post little triumphs in life: new knit/crochet/whatever patterns and projects, equine events, and who knows what else. No promises on how often I can update. Life can get really insane, and I thought the year would be slowing down once the summer and show season was done. That has not happened this year!

To kick things off, here's my first attempt at posting a few pictures...

Snowdancer is my first horse, bought with jousting, trails, and general horseback fun in mind. She is a Belgian Draft, purchased at an auction. The other bidder was a meat buyer. (Oh, and the same week I bought her, I started dating the man who is now my husband of almost 5 years. How's that for tracking!)

For the past few years, she has been working on a new hobby -- vaulting!

My second horse, Tempest, was purchased as a yearling who had barely been handled, by all accounts. After several years of trust-building, she has turned into one of the barn's adored love bugs.

That 2nd picture was our 3rd ride, and the first going completely solo. (No holding the lead, no help on, etc.) And for scale, keep in mind that I'm definitely not a small woman -- 5'11 1/2", 34" inseam, etc.

Other than that, I don't have a lot of good photos to post of my crafting, although there are several pictures of things I have for sale on my web site, http://www.horse-round.com/:

Well, that's about it for today. I might rifle through a few other projects and take pictures of what's on the needle (knitting), hook (regular or Tunisian crocheting), fork (harpin lace), wheel/board (loom knitting) or any of the other UFOs. In the meantime, I'll figure out how to add links to some of my favorite blogs, pattern sites, friends' journals, etc.

I'm really good at making lists -- have you noticed?

Happy crafting!