Pear Knitting Pattern Tutorial

Pears anyone??

This is my second fruit so far, the knitted pear... I think he looks all peary shaped... I knitted him up this afternoon with a little waste yarn. He is quite a sturdy fellow...

Happy knitting:) 

Materials:
Some green or brown or any pear colour you can think of, I have used spring green hand spun.
Brown yarn for the stalk
4mm circular needles if using Magic Loop and DPNs' if knitting in the round.
Wool needle for sewing in ends.
Fleece for stuffing

Pattern:
Cast on 6 stitches and join for knitting in the round.
Round 1: Knit
Round 2: Knit into the front and back of each stitch. (12 stitches)
Round 3: Knit
Round 4: Knit into the front and back of each stitch. (24 stitches)

Round 5: Knit
Round 6: Increase 6 stitches evenly throughout the round. (30 stitches)
Rounds 7-12: Knit
Round 13: (Knit 1 stitch, knit 2 stitches together) repeat brackets across round. (20 stitches)
Round 14: Knit
Round 15: (Knit 1 stitch, knit 2 stitches together) repeat brackets across round, knit 2 stitches on the end. (14 stitches)

Round16: Knit
Round 17: (Knit 1 stitch, knit 2 stitches together) repeat brackets across round, knit 2 stitches on the end. (10 stitches)
Rounds 18-24: Knit
Round 25: (Knit 2 stitches together, knit 1 stitch) repeat brackets across round and knit 2 stitches on the end of the row. (7 stitches)

See below for finishing instructions.

Stuff your pear with fleece until firm while still on the needles.

Break yarn and thread onto the wool needle. Pick up the stitches off the needles onto the wool needle and pull tight. Finish off.

Sew in the ends at the base of the pear. Pick up two stitches with the double pointed needles and attach the brown yarn for the stalk. Knit an i-cord for about an inch and then bind off.

You are finished!
Thanks for visiting:)
xo
Linda

Please note, this pattern is for personal use only.

Our Little Homestead

I really am grateful for our little homestead in the middle of suburbia. Today has been a warmer day so outside we went to do some work on the chicken coop. The young chickens have grown now so we thought it was a good time to integrate them among the older girls who live in the main chicken house. We opened the fence, took out the small wooden house and moved it away to the wall and now the little chickens live in the main chicken house too. We decided the smaller house can be an egg laying spot out in the garden for them...

 

The Violets are here... I love them...

Last week we noticed our number of eggs per day were down, on closer inspection of our grounds, we found a nest behind our water storage tank with 10 eggs in it. I found this one there the other day... They really are free range birds...

This is our porcupine aloe in flower...

Kye is watching the girls scratching around the spot where the small chicken house used to be.

One of our hens laying next to the egg laying box:) She is trying to figure out what I am doing with my camera. Look how she has turned her head:)

Walked down to our veggie garden and picked some fresh leeks for leek and potato soup for lunch today.

And Charlie overseeing all the goings on around the homestead...
xo
Linda

Candlemas in the Southern Hemisphere

Today, August 2nd, we are celebrating Candlemas in the Southern Hemisphere, the return of the warmth of the sun and the lengthening of the days stretching out towards Spring... We have been enjoying our day making sand and egg candles...

Candle making instructions can be found here below:

There are wonderful tutorials for sand candles and egg candles on Natalie's lovely blog.

We also referred to the beautiful book, All Year Round by Ann Druitt, this book is an amazing resource with seasonal celebration activities, crafts and recipes...

We used our beautiful beeswax that we bought from Tonya's shop. We also added some colourful pieces of our Stockmar moulding beeswax that we no longer use to give some colour. I love the smell of beeswax, just wonderful...

Jen pouring her beeswax candle... We will light these tonight while we eat our dinner ...

We thoroughly enjoyed making our candles today and will continue with this lovely tradition in the years to come... I love how our children look forward to the yearly festivals, it adds such joy and enrichment our lives.

Warmly
Linda
xo

Lemon Circuit Battery, Grade 8

We have been busy with our 8th grade Waldorf Chemistry block. It has been such fun, we built a lemon circuit battery. It has been fascinating and I have learned so much! It's amazing to think that with a few lemons, zinc, copper, wires, springs and an LED we could have power! Amazing!! If you would like to give it a try (oh you  must you simply must, it is awesome!!, No pressure... ahem:) visit here there is a step by step tutorial and a You Tube video. Oh yes, and if you are looking for wonderful Chemistry and Physics block work, I have been using Eric Fairman's guide for grade 6 they are truly wonderful curriculum guides. 

Can you see the little LED light up (light emitting diode, see, I had no idea that this is what  LED represented, until now... I love homeschooling:)

This is the circuit Jen built completely on her own using coins instead of the copper strips...
Wishing you all an inspired day:)
xo
Linda

Sending Love Heart Swap

Update:

There has been such a lovely response to the 'Sending Love Heart Swap', 68 people have joined, I have started emailing out the the swap partner emails:) If you would like to join, it isn't too late, just go here and you can sign up:)

August

Welcome to our August sponsors

I would like to welcome our returning sponsors and our new sponsor, Creating a Family Home, to Natural Suburbia.

Creating a Family Home

Creating a Family Home is a beautiful blog written by an incredibly crafty woman called Kelly. Here she shares her family's day to day activities living on an old dairy farm. Kelly also offers her readers many wonderful free seasonally inspired knitting patterns, craft tutorials and delicious recipes. For a wonderful read, pop on over and enjoy this inspiring blog.

The Little Gnomes Home

The Little Gnomes Home is a beautiful Steiner / Waldorf inspired blog based in Australia. Its pages are filled with gorgeous handmade crafts that are sure to start your creative juices flowing and beautiful posts showing their incredible Waldorf play area... a lovely blog to visit.

Colour Spun

Gorgeous natural designer yarns.

Ecomilf

A truly lovely eco friendly blog with pages of delicious recipes, natural cleaning recipes for your home, gardening and crafting. A wonderful place to visit...

Hip Mountain Mama

Natural Designer Wear

The Waldorf Connection

A amazing Waldorf Homeschooling resource.