Tuesday, February 05, 2013

Lambs and Mamas and Fixing Colorwork Mistakes

I'll start off with a photo of a project I am working on. I'm making a pair of my Heart to Heart Mittens for a little friend of mine. Hope I finish them for Valentine's Day! It's a great project to take to the Saturday Amherst Winter Farmer's Market because I don't have to concentrate too hard until I get to the chart section. As you can see, I didn't concentrate and made a mistake at the top of one of the hearts - it is circled. The nice thing is I can fix it quickly with a touch of duplicate stitch embroidery. 


You can see a tutorial for Duplicate Stitch Embroidery here. It's the first tutorial I ever did here on the blog back in 2006! Wow. Cannot believe I have stuck at this for so long! The pattern is sized for from babies to adults, includes 2 versions and makes a great Valentine's or anytime gift knitting project. You can buy the Heart to Heart Pattern for $6.00 here on my website or on Ravelry here. Or by clicking the button below. You do not have to be a Ravelry member to purchase the pattern. The pattern will be automatically delivered by PDF format to your inbox.


You may wonder why the mittens are bound off at the top. Tonight I am going to add a little embroidery to them. If the top of this small mitten is closed it is a lot harder to embroider. I leave the top open and bind off with a scrap of yarn instead of using 2 stitch holders per mitten. I'll add the embroidery, then pick up the stitches and finish the top and thumb. 

Now for all of you who have become addicted to the lamb photos..... today's offering!

Sweet little thing.
When I take photos of the sheep and lambs, sometimes a theme develops. Today it is Lambs and Mamas. Our ewes are hard working animals - taking care of their babies all day and night without a complaint. They just do their job. Just like when they spit out a baby. No drama like with we humans! As long as they are well fed, they are happy creatures.

Black ewes can have black or white lambs.
Hanging out.
Resting
Launch pad! My favorite photo of today!
A second after I snapped the photo, the lamb sprung off the mama. You have to be really quick to take these photos and have the camera set right. Have a great evening everyone.

7 comments:

Adaliza said...

I love your lamb photos and keeping up with your ever increasing flock. My favourite photo is the last one - those ears are so expressive! Glad the mittens have turned out well too. I'm almost done on my Carnival blanket which is monster size!

Unknown said...

Really cute photos today! Love those mittens too. my have to download the pattern.

Cathy said...

Love the last photo! What mamas do for their little ones!

Auntie Shan said...

hmm... it just goes to show how "sheep" some creatures can be, when they go and give birth to their own "personal"-BACK-SCRATCHERS for when the WOOL they "wear" gets ichy!!
;-D

Elaine said...

One droopy ears, one alert ears!!
You're right--the lamb photos are addictive. Sweet mittens too.

Dana S. Whitney said...

Lamb photos: definitely addictive. Love the mama/baby theme today. Your colors are addictive, too. Must finish the umpteenth baby blanket for the month... THEN some crazy colored gloves... Maybe WITH patterning/embroidery. I appreciate the inspiration. (If we weren't expecting SUCH a storm the Amherst FM sounds like a good day trip: if the storm fizzles... I'll look you up!)

Anonymous said...

Love the photos. It's getting me psyched for our lambing, later this year than usual, in early April. There's nothing better than watching mamas and lambies! But we always have one ewe who is a drama queen, and does make a fuss and a racket around birthing. Maybe they like to be pampered a little bit too!

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