Bundle Up! November quick knits ebook, plus some recipes!

Hey, it’s November already!  That’s crazy, huh?  Well, I released my third quick knits club ebook on Tuesday – themed Bundle Up! Here it is:

Pattern number one is Oval Pockets, which can be sewn onto a sweater that’s in need of pockets, which is pretty much all sweaters, as far as I’m concerned!  There’s a 20 yards of bulky version (each pocket uses just 10 yards), pictured on the cardigan, and then a larger any-gauge version, pictured on the two pullovers:

These are now instantly my three favorite sweaters – but I think the hooded fair isle yoke one is my all time favorite sweater (found at a thrift store in Salt Lake City, isn’t is fabulous?!)… The any-gauge pocket pattern is a little wonky, so I’d recommend attempting in a finer-than-worsted yarn it only if you’re comfortable with short rows and making adjustments – it’s been tested in the bulky and worsted weights, and I fear that finer weight yarns will need some extra steps (all this is discussed in the pattern).

The second pattern is a little weird, maybe… I called it a Cabled Cowl Maker – it loops and wraps around a long scarf to kind of turn it into a cowl:

Depending on how you wrap it, your “cowl” can be snug…

…or fluffy and loose:

And you can tie it behind the scarf to hide the ties, or in front for a bow design element.  You can’t really see in these photos, but it’s designed so that the cables appear to come off the piece and become the i-cord on one end, and the braided ties on the other end… very similar to the way the cables come off the garter stitch based piece and become buttonhole tabs in Twisted Ankles.  And because they both use bulky, you could whip up this quick knit with leftovers from that project, making those legwarmers and this cowl maker a good winter pair!

A running theme throughout the ebook is modifying stuff that’s easily found at thrift stores (all the sweaters in the examples were thrifted, as well as the blue scarf), so my extra is 2 pages of tips and info about thrifting for secondhand sweaters!  Ideas for reconstructing and embellishing, and how to felt wool sweaters for crafting – and the craft tutorial this month is a recycled sweater wool felt mug sleeve:

Make it either with velcro or ties; a template is included in the pdf.  Keep your coffee hot longer this winter with a wool sleeve, yay!

This month’s cozy winter set matches January’s club, themed Keeping Warm, with its Afterthought Earflaps and Pinwheel Earmuffs designs (available in Vol. 2 of the old quick knits pattern sets – ravelry link)…

…and included in that club was some hot winter drink recipe cards, fitting right in with the mug sleeves this month, so I wanted to share my favorites with you!  These are leethal “recipes” which means they are just the way I make the drinks, not necessarily the best way or the right way, but they work for me!  The first is non-alcoholic and the others are adult drinks…

leethal Tea!

• flavored black tea of your choice (berry flavors are good, like blackberry sage)
• hot water (about 2 thirds of a mug full)
• milk (soy or regular, a third of a mug full)
• white chocolate syrup/sauce (a generous squeeze)
• hazelnut flavor syrup (a big splash)

Let tea steep in hot water for a minute or two, then add milk and syrups, and leave tea bag in to steep as long as you like.

Hot Buttered Rum!

• hot water (a mug full)
• butter (a small chunk, about a teaspoon)
• brown sugar (a tbsp-ish or as sweet as you want)
• cinnamon (a teaspoon-ish or very generous sprinkle)
• cloves, nutmeg, any other spices you want (a little)
• dark rum (as much as you want)

Pour water over butter, sugar, and spices, and stir until butter is melted.  Add rum and enjoy.

Variation: Skip cinnamon & stir with a cinnamon stick.

Hot Toddy!

• hot water (a mug full)
• honey (as much as you like for sweetness)
• lemon juice (a splash)
• bourbon whiskey (as much as you want)

Stir honey and lemon juice into hot water, and add bourbon.  Sip and enjoy.

Variations: Use hot apple cider (like Trader Joe’s spiced cider, heated) instead of water for an apple hot toddy (yum!); add a tea bag for a tea toddy.

And then there’s my Spicy Cup of Yum recipe from the blog last winter – a coffee drink with optional adult twist.  So good!

As usual, you can grab this month’s ebook alone for $5, or you can subscribe for 6 months of club ebooks (starting with this one) and save $10 – either on my club page, or on ravelry.  My club page has been updated, so now you can get past months’ club ebooks there on my site, and add the subscription to a patterns cart so you can continue shopping in my patterns section as well (where the old club ebooks live).

Happy winter knitting, and I’ll be announcing a super fun thing soon… ok actually I can tell you what it is right now – a mystery knit-a-long!  Hopefully it’ll be announced officially, with details, early next week, and it’ll start around mid-month, as close as possible to the 15th.  I’m super excited about it!  It’s gonna be awesome!  Yay!