Monthly Archives: April 2012

Promotions at HSFA

Jackie and the Beanstalk – get free magic seeds

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Jackie and the Beanstalk Seed Packets. Read on for an offer, good April 15 – 30, 2012 or while seeds last.

Purple Hyacinth Bean

I love the freshness of Springtime and the opportunities to play in my garden before the heat of summer sets in. This is a time to mulch old friends (meaning my plants, lol), fertilize the lawn and plant new seeds. Almost every year I try a new thing or two.

And so I’d like to offer you a packet of my special Jackie and the Beanstalk magic seeds. Actually, they are purple hyacinth bean. But I didn’t know their name during the time I first grew the largest, most beautiful flowering vines from just a few seeds. Since I did not know what I was growing when I planted the seeds (other than I recalled it was some kind of flowering vine), I did not have any special care instructions to go by. I just used common sense to keep plants happy, lol. But now that I know the name, I’ve found references in many places. There is a good one at The Gardener’s Network.

purple hyacinth bean vine seeds and pods
purple hyacinth bean vine seeds and pods

To receive a free packet of real seed pods with your order of any Kits or Yarn products in the HeartStrings catalogs at Shopatron, just enter the words “Jackie and the Beanstalk Seeds” in the comments field of your Shopatron order. One gift packet per customer. Offer is good April 15 – 30, 2012 or while seeds last.

Capture the magic. Happy spring planting! Happy all-year-long knitting!

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Friends of HeartStrings Gallery

more Bunny Ears and Tail variations

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Mary Lou Norton of Washington state is another of many Friends of HeartStrings who are so kind in sharing what they are knitting with HeartStrings patterns. She also contributed instructions and photos of ear and tail variations for the bunnies she made from the Knitted Bunny pattern.

Knitted Bunny photos from Mary Lou Norton

She wrote:

Hi Jackie

I have made 6 of your bunnies and here is how I did my ears and tails.

Also I use a knitting machine so hope these hand directions are good enough to understand what I did. LOVE your bunny.

I am providing here the instructions from Mary Lou exactly as I received them, i.e. they have not been edited for completeness, accuracy and consistency as would normally be done for my officially published HeartStrings patterns. But I think her instructions look reasonable ; so wanted to pass them along on behalf of Mary Lou for your enjoyment and use as you see fit.

EARS

cast on 6 stitches on a small double pointed needle, leaving enough yarn to sew this side to the body of the bunny

FIRST ROW

Row #1 Knit 1, P1, K2, P1, K1 TURN WORK

Row #2 P 1, K1, P2, K1, P1

Repeat these 2 rows for a total of 12 rows

decrease – K2 together, K 2, K2 together. You should have 4 stitches left

decrease in the same manor again leaving 2 stitches

Last row knit the last two stitches together, cut yarn (leaving a small tail) and pull through the last stitch… using a darning needle tack this loose end down at the top of the ear. Tight

Gather the cast on row a little bit and sew to bunny.

Knitted Bunny photos from Mary Lou Norton - ear variation

TAIL

Make a idiot cord …….. co 3 stitches on small double pointed needle

knit across these 3 stitches… Push stitches to the beginning side of the needle (this is a slip row) and knit across these same stitches again. Continue the knit row, slip row 10 times total.. Pick up one of the CO stitches and knit it along with the first stitch on the needle. Continuing to have 3 stitches on your needles.

Knit/Slip 10 rows, pick up a stitch in the same space, knit 10 R. Repeat 5 times so you have 5 little loops/bumps, cut yarn. Fasten off….

Pull the yarn through the center so both tail ends are on the same side and sew to bunny bottom.

Mary Lou Norton

Walla Walla, WA

Knitted Bunny photos from Mary Lou Norton - tail variation

Interested in trying some other variations? I had posted some other ear and tail variations on the official Knitted Bunny pattern page at the HeartStringsFiberArts.com website (I didn’t have this blog yet, at the time, I don’t believe). Thanks for Nicole Huau, Barbara White and Mary Lou Norton for their contributions to bunny happiness.

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Friends of HeartStrings Gallery

Dusty Bunny and Knitted Bunny

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I love to hear and see what others are doing with HeartStrings patterns. How appropriate at this time of year to feature Mary Love in today’s Friends of HeartStrings Gallery with her pet bunny, Dusty, and the little knitted bunny she made as a beginner knitter. I think she did a great job, don’t you?!

Pet bunny Dusty and Mary's knitted bunny

Mary wrote:

I stumbled upon your site when I was searching for an easy toy pattern.

I just started knitting at the beginning of the year and joined a knitting group. They want to make toys to donate, and I thought this might be beyond my new beginner skills. So, you can’t imagine how happy I was to find your bunny pattern! It’s great! So simple, and I like the realistic shape of the rabbit. Even our pet bunny Dusty liked it as you can see in the photos … I’m going to try another one using a softer yarn.

Thanks again for this great pattern! I’ll check out more of the treasures on your site!

How cute is this?! Thank you so much, Mary, for sharing. Dusty is just precious, and so is your little knitted bunny.

Dusty kissing Knitted Bunny

Happy Easter!

 Mary's Knitted Bunny

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Needlearts

No Calorie Chocolate Bunny

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One of the most popular little patterns I offer is the origami Knitted Bunny (a.k.a. Bunny from a Square or Bunny from a Swatch). Of course, part of its popularity might be that it is available for personal use at no cost to you (although a donation is appreciated if you are able and feel inclined). But I think that more so (even if I were charging for the pattern), it would be popular because this folded origami style makes up into such dang cute bunnies!

I’ve made SO many little bunnies from this pattern and have enjoyed every one of them. Most are given away, but here is one I still have on hand to keep me company this Easter. I call him my No Calorie Chocolate Bunny.

Chocolate Knitted Bunny

This is a sample I  made in a class I taught at an alpaca farm in Mississippi. Appropriately, the yarn is alpaca. I love the chocolaty color. This version of Knitted Bunny is done entirely in garter stitch, so is even better suited to the absolute beginning knitter level.

You’ll notice that one ear flops forward and one flops backwards. I love the personality of this little bunny — those ears give him a jaunty, carefree look. I think he is enjoying nibbling in my herb garden!

The tail is a little felted ball of yarn with the ends securely sewn into the body. So this little guy can also be considered a ‘kid safe’ version.

I’ll be back again in a day or two with instructions and photos for other Knitted Bunny ear and tail variations contributed by one of the many Friends of HeartStrings who are so kind in sharing what they are knitting with HeartStrings patterns. Can’t wait to show you — so cute.

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Cooking

Savory Sage for Taste, Sight, Smell

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With the addition of herbs and spices to meatless dishes, you’ll hardly miss the meat. Especially if you are using the freshest ingredients. And what can be more gratifying than growing your own? Today I am going to feature Sage, because as you can see here, it is happily blooming away in my garden. Isn’t it pretty?

Sage in bloom
Sage in bloom

Not only is Sage a tasteful addition to your cooking repertoire, but it makes beautiful, fragrant bouquets. Or dry some of your garden-harvest sage leaves and flowers for your next batch of homemade potpourri.

There are SO many ways to use Sage in your cooking, in your decor, and even for personal health and hygiene. According to Wikipedia, Salvia officials is the official botanical name of common garden sage. Both  Salvia and Sage come from the Latin salvere (to save). That’s really close to the word savory, too, which is definitely a wonderful, tasty attribute that sage lends to so many dishes.

Sage is probably most often thought of in its dried variety for use in stuffings and sausage. But you can fool your taste buds into the satisfaction of those meat dishes without the meat. Try a bit of sage in your next vegetable dish. But don’t overdo it. A little goes a long ways. It balances out well with other herbs like basil, rosemary, thyme, oregano and mint, too.

Fortunately, when you grow sage yourself, you can take advantage of the many ways to use sage in its fresh stage. I love the smell of the fresh leaves. Try them as an aromatic garnish for salads. Did you know that the flowers are edible as well as beautiful?

Sage flowers are both beautiful and edible
Sage flowers are both beautiful and edible

You can even toss the stems or leaves onto the hot charcoal of your grill; it will add a wonderful aroma to your grilled veggies (or meat if you can’t bring yourself to go meatless).

Speaking of potpourri and sage in bloom, here is a little lace-edged sachet pouch that we are knitting over at the Bits of Lace knit-along this month. This would also make wonderful gifts for the important “Mom’s” in your life on Mother’s Day.

Three Eyelets Sachet
Three Eyelets Sachet

The pattern is available to Bits of Lace members through April 27, 2012. So get on over to KnitHeartStrings.com now and register for your free membership in Bits of Lace 2012 if you have not already done so. And remember to grab the pattern from the Free Membership Pattern area before it is taken down from the free area to make room for the next pattern.

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