Cleaning Up

I have several friends that I wanted to make a little something for this Christmas. When I was making the baby blanket for my friend's little boy, I got the idea of knitting dish cloths for them. There are so many patterns available to choose from, and they make quick little projects to give you a break from some of the more time consuming undertakings.

There are lots of sites with free patterns. I always start with Ravelry , but have also found nice ones on Knit A Little Store , and Knitting Pattern Central . If you have something specific that you want to do and you can't find them here, just Googling usually will find a free pattern on someone's site.

Part of the fun is thinking about the person and the things that they love. My friend Amy loves hummingbirds. Her lake house has hummingbird feeders visible everywhere and some of the closest to tame hummingbirds you have ever seen. One of the nicest mornings I've had there was spent watching a momma hummingbird bring her baby to the feeder. She would show baby how to drink the sweet liquid and then back away to chase the other hummingbirds away while the baby fed.

Hummingbird Pattern

Anyway, picking a hummingbird for Amy was a logical choice.

My one major learning curve on doing these was in selection of yarns. I picked a bunch of Sugar'n Cream cotton yarns in a variety of colors before I started these projects. Most of them were multi-colored, patterned yarns and the patterns would kind of interfere with the ability to see the image that I was knitting.  But you live and learn. I still found these fun to make and hope people find them useful.

Terrier Pattern

My friend Leigh Anne loves her Jack Russell Terriers.  Bailey (no relation) and Bama are adorable, sweet dogs who are spoiled with all the love that every dog should enjoy. So with a little digging I found this pattern. Now, I know that the creator called it border terrier, but I don't know exactly what that is. You look at her dogs and tell me this doesn't look like her cuties.

Bama and Bailey

Dog House Pattern

In keeping with the dog theme, I found this little pattern for a dog house. (Not that her dogs have ever seen one, but her husband Steve might be familiar with the idea.)

And then, just because initials always work, I did this one for their surname. When I started doing the baby blanket, I had purchased patterns for all letters from the Knit A Little Store , so I used the pattern for K.

I decided to do no border for this one.

Harley pattern

My cousin, Susie, and her husband have recently purchased a Harley Davidson. It took a little digging for these, but I finally found a pattern for a logo.

Motorcycle pattern

Yeah, her kitchen isn't lime green, but she loves lime green.

And I have to get my use out of my letter patterns I bought.

Owl Pattern

When my youngest girlieques saw what I was making, they decided that they wanted their own cloths. So I let them pick their pattern and colors. The oldest loves owls and the youngest kittens, so ...

The owl pattern is called Whoo Loves You Baby.  Isn't it adorable? They have a pattern for making a baby bib with it too. I see that in Cruz's future.

And I couldn't resist this kitten for Caroline. After all, she has my heart.













So now I'm back to other projects, but I love knowing that when I need a break I have a supply of cotton yarn and a stack of patterns to match with a surprising number of people who like them.