NKBN: Winter Mechanicals

A weekly feature on the blog, NOT Knit by Nat highlights great patterns by budding designers on Ravelry

Now excuse me for saying the word WINTER in the throws of summer, but John's Winter Mechanical fingerless gloves are just perfect for my husband.   I think they would make a great vacation time knit and will be ready for him when the fall raking begins.   (I know, I'm sorry, what a downer I am today)

Check out John's design on Ravelry here!

John is not only a talented knit designer, but along with his brother, he is also the designer of the Wooly iphone app.  I have to admit, I have been hemming and hawing about spending the money on a Ravelry app, but I am remiss in updating my projects and especially my stash.   Downloading pics to the computer only to upload to Rav is a pain.   This would solve all my problems!  I think it's time to take the plunge.

From their website, these are the features:

* View your projects, project details and project photos
* Access your Queue and each queued project's details
* Access your Stash and each stashed yarn's details
* View a list of your Friends, their Projects, and their project details
* Add photos to your Projects and Stash
* Built in photo editor to make enhancements to your photos before uploading them to Ravelry

They are set to launch Wooly 2.0, you should check out their site!  www.getwooly.com 

NKBN: Felted Flute Bag

A weekly feature on the blog, NOT Knit by Nat highlights great patterns by budding designers on Ravelry


Do you have a little musician in your home?  My neighbour teaches piano across the street and I often hear nervous key strokes humming through the air.   It's not grating by any means, in fact it gives me some nostalgia from my own childhood.   We were very musical, all of us always learning some instrument or another.   I played trombone in grade school because my best friend at the time chose it, so of course I did too.   When we were handed the instruments the next day she had this confused look on her face because what she really meant to ask for was the clarinet.   Don't ask me how you confuse a clarinet with a trombone.    She dropped out of the band within a month and I was left playing Slide and the Family Bone all by my lonesome.  I was actually pretty good even though I felt like a dork hauling that giant case to and from school.

This cute little Felted Flute or Recorder (or Clarinet) Bag designed by Shelley would be well loved by your budding musician.  Hopefully they don't get confused in their instrument choice, because a felted trombone case would take a lot of yarn.

Check out Shelley's pattern on Ravelry!

NKBN: Summer Strawberry

A weekly feature on the blog, NOT Knit by Nat highlights great patterns by budding designers on Ravelry

Summer Solstice!   It's strawberry season here in Ontario!  We have one lonely plant in our urban garden, but she is quite happy and robust this year.  The wild strawberries up north are a treasure hunt for my kids.   I love finding them hunched over a little patch with dirt across their face.   I want to be a kid again!

Check out Melissa's Summer Strawberry pattern.   Wouldn't this be a cute addition to your decor here and there?!    I think this will be my weekend project. 

Check out Melissa's Pattern on Ravelry here!

NKBN: Quickie Flower Scrunchie

A weekly feature on the blog, NOT Knit by Nat highlights great patterns by budding designers on Ravelry

I was walking through Dollarama last week with Ella and she stops as usual in the hair section to pick out a cute headband.  She's a headband kinda girl.  Her eyes widened as she spotted something new she had never seen before.   "Mommy, what is this?".   "It's a scrunchie.  You don't know what a scrunchie is???"   Am I old?  Is she young?   Will the next generation think all hair ties are the tiny black rubber no snag deals?  How is this possible?!  

Lynn's  pattern is not only cute, it is essential!  Help the scrunchie live on!   

Check out this FREE pattern on Ravelry now!

Not Knit By Nat Anniversary! WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Thanks for playing everyone!  I used the random number generator this morning to select 3 winners, listed below.   I will contact you and send you the pattern via Ravelry!




One year ago today I kicked off the Not Knit By Nat series.   I started it off as a fun way to connect with people and spread some blog love.    I have not been disappointed.  I have been connected with 52 wonderful, gracious and talented knitters.   I am grateful to everyone who has been part of this, to those who have offered patterns for giveaways out of their own good will, to those who have been so kind to spread the word and offer encouragement.   I've said it before, and I'll never stop saying it:   Knitters Rock!

To celebrate the NKBN Anniversary I'm hosting a giveaway on all of my patterns I have for sale.   I will randomly select 3 winners, one for each of my patterns below.   Just leave a comment by next Wednesday, June 12th at midnitght and I will randomly select the winners.  Contest closed


Dolce, named after my cousin and best friend.    

WINNER : 

Carmen NulandJune 7, 2013 at 1:57 PM

Beautiful patterns! I especially like Emma - it's my daughter's name :)

Stella, named after Ella the Star.  I adore her poses.

WINNER:

Ana FigueiraJune 7, 2013 at 2:10 PM

Your patterns are great! I love them all, especially Stella, so cute!

And Emma, the first pattern I ever wrote for a friend's daughter.  

WINNER:

LindaceeJune 10, 2013 at 6:31 PM

Oh, they're all darling!

Good luck everyone and thanks for reading!

Rockin' Tic Tac Toe

A little while ago I saw an interesting craft from Martha Stewart about a domino game made out of river rocks.   I was instantly drawn to it since my kids regularly ask to make the trek to "Rock Mountain" several times a weekend up north.   Don't let the name intimidate you.   It's a 50 yard walk from the foot of our cottage to a slight incline off our little road that is made out of some sort of shiny rock and has an equally pretty spattering of pocket sized stones strewn across it. Naturally, my domino loving daughter excitedly started to collect perfectly sized domino rocks and we are slowly building up our collection to complete a set.  (She has discerning taste, afterall the rocks have to be juuuust  right, you see).

While the roster of pieces grow, Ella and I have been brainstorming in the meantime on other rock game crafts we could come up with.  And her clever idea was Tic Tac Toe rocks.  After quickly painting on some X's and O's in (sadly) the only available colours we had on hand (20 lbs of stuff in our craft bin and all we have are orange and red? seriously??)    "But we need something cool for the board".   Say no more, little one... now that is right up my alley!    A reversible little double knit Tic Tac Toe board was made expeditiously and we were all playing game after game before we knew it. 

I was tempted to knit a case for it, and I still might eventually.   But for now, it's found a home on a table off in a little nook.  Easy for all to quickly get a game in here and there.

I've written up the pattern, which is so simple it's almost embarrassing to publish.   But your little rock collector will be glad you whipped one up for them ;-)

Click here for the free pattern on Ravelry!

NKBN: Cheeky Little Monkey

A weekly feature on the blog, NOT Knit by Nat highlights great patterns by budding designers on Ravelry

At 7 inches tall and a quick knit, I think Tanya's Cheeky Little Monkey would perfectly replace a bow on top of any baby shower gift and be sure to get the compulsory ooohs and aahs.    I have a few of those coming up, I think I need to pick up some brown felting yarn!

Click here to check out Tanya's Cheeky Little Monkey on Ravelry!