Category Archives: knitting

17 years of blogging

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It was August 2008 when I got the idea to start a blog. I opened up the page to create a blogspot account and it asked what I wanted to name my blog. I gave it ZERO thought and the words Fleece Love and Happiness popped into my head. Knitters on-line tended to use puns—okay, I like puns. I didn’t plan to stick with it, I was just seeing if I could figure out how to get a free blog at the time. (Ah, remember when blogs were free.)

In the old days I wrote about spinning, carding, and dyeing wool. There was a time that I blogged about weaving. I always knitted and blogged about that too. All those old post are still out there on the internet. I ended up losing that account, changing my last name, changing my email address, but I kept my knitter “handle”. I moved over to wordpress—and here I am. Still Fleece Love and Happiness after all these years.

To celebrate the anniversary of my blog, I decided to put out a free pattern. A gift to you! Sleeping Bear Hat was designed and knitted this summer while we were traveling. I made it with 3 different color schemes and decided to put them all in the written pattern. I’m assuming people will use their own scraps of fingering weight yarn if they want to make this hat. The colors I chose are just a jumping off point. There’s so many color combinations that would look good with this pattern.

Sleeping Bear Hats are fun to knit to the very end!

Here’s the FREE KNITTING PATTERN for Sleeping Bear Hat. Happy Knitting!

Sleeping BearDownload

A Little Warmer

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Back in 2023 I wrote a knitting pattern called A Little Warmer Mitts and posted it to Ravelry. It holds the record for my least popular knitting pattern that I have published with a total of ZERO people knitting it. I thought I’d take it down so my “portfolio” of knitting patterns looked good. It turns out once you post on Ravelry it’s there forever. That was news to me!

My next idea was to knit a new pair with more interesting colors and post new photos. I chose these natural colors: dark dray, medium tan, tan, and cream.

This was also a chance for me to update the pattern. I’ve been writing patterns for a few years now and I’m getting more skilled at it as I go. I’m going to slowly go back through my old patters and update them. I’ve already updated Golden Hour Mittens and it feels better having something out there that I’m proud of. Here’s the new and improved free knitting pattern for A Little Warmer Mitts. Happy Knitting!

A Little Warmer Mitts, updatedDownload

Latvian Braids All Day

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Sitting on my desk is a big jar of left over yarn balls just waiting for me to think of something to do with them. I love Latvian braids so I thought I’d work out a hat that uses up these scraps.

I started by grouping the colors and thinking about how to make the braids look interesting.

With my first hat I used a light color for the base color (main color) and chose various greens and blues for the braids.

For this one I chose a base of dark gray with tans, browns, and grays for the braids—plus that one green ball.

This hat has a dark brown main color with tans, oranges and greens. However you configure your colors, I think it’s best to have high contrast with your Latvian braid colors.

I must say that these hats didn’t even put a dent into my scraps and I still have a big jar of little bits of yarn sitting on my desk. Now I’m thinking about weaving with them!

This isn’t my first attempt of trying to design something that would eat up my scraps. I did a stranded hat pattern called Using Up Scraps Hat that you can get for FREE on this blog.

Here is the Free Pattern for Latvian Braid All Day Hat:

Latvian Braids All Day HatDownload

Lit Mitts

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When I write a pattern I search the name I’ve chosen to see if anyone else has used it. I’d been calling these little mitts “Lit Mitts” since I started working on them. When I did a name check I came up with my own pattern Star Lit Mitts! Oh, right, I forgot about that! I decided to stick with “Lit Mitts” anyway.

I thought it would be fun to incorporate Latvian Braids—plus it’s a good use of colorful scrap yarns. I chose Hollyberry and Fuchsia for the accent braids but any bright colors for this trim would work.

Most of the mitten and mitts that I’ve designed lately have the same pattern on the palms and backs of hand. I like the idea that there is no left or right. Here’ the FREE pattern for Lit Mitts for you to enjoy. If you want to share this pattern, please link to this webpage instead of posting the pdf.

Lit MittsDownload

Flower Field Legwarmers

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Flower Field Legwarmers were fun to design and knit but it took forever to get the pattern in order. The problem was the photographs. I’ve given up and have decided to present it all as I have it now— even with my not-so-great photos. I do not like modeling. I don’t mind putting on some mittens and taking a few photos but modleing legs is another thing all together.

I took photos with 3 different kinds of shoes/boots to show how one could wear these. Wearing them with my rubber boots if my favorite for sure.

Here I am with my slippers and sleeping shirt! Woah… lots of leg showing.

Enough about modeling! Let me tell you something about the actual leg warmers. I designed them with a 7-stitch stripe up the back, kind of the way socks are designed. There’s lots of color changes in this pattern and I’m hoping people will use those 7 stitches to weave in the color changes as they go. Sometime people post photos on social media of their stranded color work with dozens of tails that need to be woven in. At that point it’s too late for anyone to suggest to weave in as you go. But let me say now, before you begin this project—weave in your color changes as you go! I designed this pattern specifically so you can do that on the back of the legwarmer.

Here’s the free pattern for Flower Field Legwarmers. If you want to share this pattern please link to this website. Enjoy!

Flower Field LegwarmersDownload

Favorite Mittens

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I spend a lot of time thinking about color. I shuffle my yarns around to see what looks good together. Then I get on my computer and work it out in a grid pattern. I use Stitchmastery software which gets the job done but I can’t say I love it. It’s doesn’t save my colors which is unfortunate. I mostly use Knit Picks Palette line and my old on-line program had those colors all imported. Sadly I can not use an on-line product like Stitchfiddle due to the time I spend in places without internet. So Stichmastery it is.

Here’s a photo that includes my first attempt at this mitten. I got pretty far before deciding to chuck it. Regarding the half-finished mitten on the left: I love these colors together, but I didn’t like the lack of contrast with the blue and dark brown. With the second attempt I made the flower section very high contrast with light and dark gray (basically black and white).

I think Favorite Mittens would look good with lots of different color combinations. You could use the colors I’ve worked out or pick some of your own. Below is the free pattern. If you want to share this pattern with anyone, please send them to this website.

Favorite MittensDownload

Glacia Mittens

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Glacia Mittens kept me busy for a week. After designing on the computer, I sat down and started knitting. I didn’t do a swatch this time!

I’m sure we all have knitting “focus” categories in our minds. Mine are: Everything quiet, No talking, Ok for music to be playing, Ok for podcast to be playing, TV knitting, Conversation knitting, etc. I get motion sickness so I can never knit while riding in the car. There are, however, transportation knitting categories: OK for flights, OK on a ferry, OK for walking (never for me!). Glacia Mittens start with the cast on (No talking, No sound). Work a simple 2X2 ribbing (TV knitting). Work a Latvian Braid (OK for music). Start the charts (No sound for a few rows, then put on music). End with a kitchener stitch (No sound, No talking). Thumb (Music). Weave in the ends (Conversation or Podcast). Categories may very. Warning: if you don’t weave in your ends as you go you will need to listen to several podcasts to weave them in at the end.

Here’s the pattern for Glacia Mittens. It’s free and if you want to share it please link to this blog. If you make them please send me a photo or post on Ravelry. Enjoy!

Glacia MittensDownload

Edie Beanie

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Because we were camping without cell reception/internet, I didn’t post weekly patterns like I said I would. Instead we went to Utah to the Uinta Mountains. There I found bright fall colors! I also realized how each region has different fall colors. (Of course there are no fall colors at my home in the Mohave Desert.) When I designed Edie Beanie it was still summer and I was going by memory of what fall feels like. I still love the colors in this hat pattern, but they are more subdue than the real life bight fall colors that are happening in some places. It doesn’t matter really because are we just trying to match the colors in our coats, right? 🙂

Edie Beanie calls for small amounts of 7 colors. I think it’s a good use of fingering weight scraps. The pattern of alternating botanical motifs travel up to the crown and meet in a way that creates a star at the top.

This is a free pattern for now. Please do not use any of these images without consent or post the pattern pdf on another site. It is okay to link to this website so others can find it.

Happy Knitting!

Edie BeanieDownload

Bonney Lake Cowl

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Earlier this summer I started making cowls while traveling around in our camper. I brought lots of balls of Knit Picks Palette yarn and worked on small projects while camping in Oregon and Washington. I tried several sizes of cowls to get a fit I like. The first cowl pattern I put out was Ozette Cowl which is 7 inches tall. Bonney Lake Cowl is 10 inches tall so it is a bit more ample.

Sometimes choosing colors for a project is time consuming and other times it just clicks and I know what I want. I usually make my patterns on the computer using a gray scale or just black and white then add in the colors. With Bonney Lake Cowl I knew right away which colors I wanted and I was happy that I had enough on hand.

Here’s the free knitting pattern for anyone who wants to make it. I do not care if anyone links to my free pattern BUT it’s not ok to take the pdf and use it for commercial purposes. This happened to me this week and I’m not happy about it. I’m trying to figure out what to do in the future so my work isn’t used for someone else’s gain. Even though my patterns are free I consider them my intellectual property. I ask for no money but I do want proper credit for my designs. Enough said. Here’s the download for Bonney Lake Cowl. Enjoy!

Bonney Lake CowlDownload

Blyn

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So many of my designs lately have a flower motif. This kick started a while back when I notice I had so many greens in my yarn collection I decides to use them for leaves. That’s how I came up with the design I called In the Weeds.

In the Weeds has 9 color changes for a busy colorwork project. I recently had a comment on Ravelry about this hat and they called it “controlled chaos” which I took as a great complement because that was the effect I was going for!

Excuse my rambling about an old project. This post is really about a new project called Blyn. (Named after the town Blyn, Washington. I was camping there when I was knitting this hat.) Blyn came about because I decide to use something other than green for the leaves. Why be so literal, right? I started using a color called Bittersweet Heather from Knit Picks and it gave me the effect I wanted–dark leaves.

Here is the Free Pattern for Blyn. Enjoy!

BlynDownload