Little Acorn

Squirrely Valentine, 2009

I got so much positive feedback from my squirrel valentine last year and so many of you made the pattern, which totally made me smile, so I decided to design another papercut project for you for this Valentine's Day. Of course it features squirrels - what says "I Love You" more than squirrels?

This papercut is a bit trickier than the last one, with more fine details that might frustrate a beginner a little and I definitely suggest an x-acto blade and a cutting mat rather than scissors this time. If this is your first time papercutting I'd suggest using last year's pattern and tutorial first to get a feel for the tools and techniques. Or just go for it. It's just a piece of paper, right? Just make sure you DO NOT CUT TOWARDS YOUR HAND. This lesson was hard learned as I cut out one of these valentines for you! This year you can choose from a classic, folded, cut-both-sides-at once pattern or a no-fold-in-the-middle, takes-twice-as-long full page pattern and they can be yours by saving the images from this post to your computer and then printing them at full size or by downloading the pdf files below. If you use the folded pdf pattern, please note that it doesn't fold right in the middle of the paper. If you make one I'd love to see it and please let me know if you have any questions or problems.

Happy cutting and long live squirrely love!

 

Download Squirrel Valentine 2009, folded 

Download Squirrel Valentine 2009, full page

Goodbye January!

I'm so glad January is over! Nothing good ever happens in January. It's always dark and damp, I can't get out and garden, the sugar train ends with a crash after Christmas and there's nothing at all to celebrate. January is definitely the longest month of the year. But once February hits I've got all sorts of things to look forward to in the next few months, including celebrating love with both Valentine's Day and my wedding anniversary in the next little while. Other couples who've been together as long as we have probably don't mark these occasions with quite the enthusiasm that we do, but here in the Little Acorn household we look for any occasion to celebrate. And a holiday that's about chocolate and kissing? We're all over that. What's better to celebrate than LOVE?

So in my I-love-the-world mood I've made a few things to share with you in the next few weeks, starting with this embroidery pattern for a couple of sweet birdies with their Valentines. It's drawn by me (and rather shabbily, I must admit), in a retro style inspired by one of my favourite pieces of vintage wrapping paper and all those classic bluebird embroidery patterns.   

You can save and print out the jpg or download and print the pdf file below, transfer your pattern and stitch up some cute for yourself. You can click on the image of my finished piece to see it larger and get some ideas for colours and stitches, but go ahead and make it your own. If anyone makes one I'd love to see it! I don't need to say that it's not okay to sell things you make with this pattern or use it for any other commercial purposes without my permission, right? Floresita has a great tutorial here on transferring patterns if you need some help. Happy February! 

Download Birdy Valentine Embroidery Pattern in PDF format 

Autumn Scarf

  Back in July my local yarn shop had a big sale and I bought an excessive amount of sock yarn for someone who doesn't knit socks. But it was all just so PRETTY and such a great price. I'm not the kind of knitter with a huge stash. I like to have projects lined up for my yarn and I like to move things through so that I can buy more yarn. I've got a few "too special to just knit any-old-thing" yarns, but these sock yarns didn't fall into that category, so I needed to find patterns that used just one skein of sock yarn. I searched online for patterns, but didn't really come up with anything. Then I thought of the old standby - Feather and Fan or Old Shale. There are a lot of Feather and Fan haters out there, but it's a great basic lace pattern which will teach the beginner some solid skills or for the more advanced (or lazy) it's an easy to memorize television watching project that turns out looking more complicated than it is. I think it looks best  in variegated yarns and in the fine gauge of sock yarn I think it's very elegent. My finished scarf is about 6 feet long and about 6 inches wide and the colours and pattern together make me think of sun dappling through autumn leaves. In the photo it's wound around many times and what looks like pooling in the yarn is just shadows. I was lucky enough to find a charming model, although she was a little shy about posing. I don't claim to have invented this scarf pattern, I'm sure it's been done by generations of knitters before me, so we'll just call this a scarf recipe.

Feather and Fan Sock Yarn Scarf

You Need : one skein Fleece Artist Merino 2/6, or sock yarn of your choice.                

               : one pair straight needles, I used 3.25 mm.

Gauge: it's a scarf  

Instructions:

Cast on 42 stitches

Knit 5 rows

From this point on the first and last 3 stitches of every row will be knit to form a border. The 36 stitches in the middle are your Feather and Fan. Feather and Fan is knit in multiples of 18, so if you would like your scarf to be wider and shorter you can add 18 stitches to this pattern and no less. You will still have your 3 stitch border on each side and your lace in the middle.  

Row 1: Knit

Row 2: Purl

Row 3: Knit 3, *[K2 tog] 3 times, [yo, k1] 6 times, [k2 tog] 3 times, rep from * to last 3 stitches, Knit 3

Row 4: Knit

Continue these 4 rows until you're almost out of yarn. End with 5 knit rows, cast off, block and there's your scarf! Do take the time to block it. It will stop the curling, even out the stitches and just make it look so much better.

A Little Acorn Valentine For You!

Just for YOU, dear blog readers, I've designed this papercut Valentine that you can print out and make! All it takes is a printer, two sheets of paper in contrasting colours, a small x-acto knife or scissors, a cutting mat and spray adhesive or other glue.

Directions:
1) Click on the pattern image here to open it up full size then print it at 100%. A heavier paper stock is  nice to work with, but regular printer paper will work too. Card stock would be too stiff for the papercut, but would make a nice backing.

2) Carefully fold the paper so that the middle edge of the pattern is aligned (note that this isn't the exact centre of the paper).

3) Starting with the centre part of the heart, use your x-acto knife or scissors to remove everything that isn't the pattern. I started with scissors, but moved to a blade quickly and found it faster and more accurate. Remember to protect your work surface and your hands - those blades are SHARP!

4) Using pinking shears or other decorative scissors if you like, cut out the main heart shape.

5) Unfold and turn over.

6) Using spray adhesive or your favourite method, attach the cut out heart to a contrasting piece of paper. Remember to have the side with the pattern on it facing down.

7) Using your pinking shears again, cut around your heart, leaving a little border.

8) Give to someone special or keep for yourself, make some cookies and spread the squirrely love!

Hey! My squirrely valentine was featured on the Craft Magazine Blog! I'm THRILLED!