Elephants, piggies and panda bears

I found a Jean Greenhowe book on ebay and took a chance on ordering it. And I am so glad that I did! It is all knitted animals, of course, since that is the title. My first forays into this resulted in 5 elephants (one left to a new home right away for a little girl ) but I have pictures of the rest of the herd. The piggy has settled in with my father as he took a fancy to it. I think I will see if some of the dolls sell at the garage sale in a few weeks. I would not mind if my hobby at least became self supporting. Postage is so high it is not really worth selling them online as it would double the price. Perhaps I will give a try to selling the sweaters online however.

My Own Crochet Animal Creations

If I get energetic, I may make a few more of these and write down the directions, but I must warn you, crochet is not my forte. I stay with very basic things when selecting crochet patterns! I used some of what I learned from making the tiger, bee, and frog to create ----- >>>>>a ladybug .... basic body of the bee, but with no head and half a body added to make the wings. ------>>>>> an elephant ..... same idea as the tiger but started the head at the trunk and worked from there to make the rest of the head. When I was finished, I went back to the trunk to crochet a few rows of single crochet to make the trunk "open" a little. ------->>>>>> and a butterfly. Basic body of the bee but thinner and longer. The wings I am not happy with as they are too heavy for the body. I have to rethink this one, either to make the wings much airier or to find a new way of doing it. In my mind, I can see what it should be like. I am sure I will come back to this one to see if I can make it more what I envision it to be.

Another cat joins the party!

When I was making my little cat toys (see posts of a few weeks ago), I began to wonder what it would be like if I made an entire cat of the yarn that I used for the white mane of my own little guy. I put the idea on the back burner while I finished the little boy sweater and then I got into the amigurumi animals. A comment by my good friend brought the white fluffy cat back to my mind, and so it has now been completed. I used the same pattern as for the Siamese cat, except I put it together in a 4 leg down position. The head needs to be shaped differently to have it looking forward, so he ended up with a sideways gaze. I used grey for his 4 feet, but then became inspired and used a strand of both the fluffy white and grey together for the tip of the tail and the face. This gave a more muted colour difference, and I was pleased with how that worked out. The tail is a little long for the cat, as it was designed for the 2 leg standing up cat so that it would support the toy. I forgot that fact until I had it attached, but it is still cute! The cat itself is smaller since the yarn was not as thick as the double knitting, it is more of a fun yarn. No other changes that I can recall. So, I introduce the newest little cat to you, Buddy Blue Eyes!

Stripes again and more toys!

One final sweater for a little boy, this time using a pattern! Softee Chunky Bold Stripe Sweater, by Bernat is the pattern. It is about an 18 month to 24 month size, as I did not use chunky yarn, and I also used smaller needles. That is the size I was aiming for, and it looks to me like it is about the size I wanted. I need some models to try on some things! The sleeves were knit from the top down to make the stripe line up, and they were attached to the body so no sewing needed to insert them at the end. I also learned from my last striped sweater how much I did not enjoy weaving in all the yarn ends from the colour changes, so this time I did each section as I worked. It was still as much work, but it seemed to be better doing it that way. I am sure it took me over 2 hours of weaving in ends on the last sweater! I knit buttonholes and sewed buttons on the shoulder to make it easier to put on and off as well, which the pattern did not call for. For a young child, I think that is much easier than struggling to get it over their head and then get the little arms in the sleeves.

I am taking a break from sweaters for a little while, although I have enrolled in a course for myself on knitting lace into a sweater for myself. That will be next big project. For the moment, I am knitting toys again, or rather, I have gotten out my crochet hooks and have been brushing up my crochet skills by making some little amigurumi animals! The first attempts at the frog and bee turned out to be a little too large, so I adjusted my hook size and also learned a few new crochet techniques along the way. I will make more of these, perhaps as gifts for the dialysis nurses at Christmas. Or perhaps just for fun for myself! Hubby thought the bees were cute and he snagged one to take to one of the nurses already for her baby niece! There are many many free patterns for these available so I may end up making a mini zoo of crochet animals ... I am certain you will see more of these popping up in my finished projects pictures.

More Children's Sweaters

I just finished this little sweater. It is pattern JB027 by James C Brett, a pretty little sweater for a baby girl. It is knit in the largest size, which is not given a number, but the finished sweater measures 24 inches (61 cm) across the chest, 13.5 inches (35 cm) full length, and the sleeve is 9.5 inches (24 cm) in length. It took almost every bit of the 2 balls of Baby Marble Chunky, also  by James C Brett. It is 100 % acrylic and machine washable, dry flat like all knits require. The colour is BM 8, and it is a self striping yarn, as you can see. I am very pleased with the finished project.

This is another little girl's sweater I finished previously.  It is from Bernat booklet 530173, Baby Talk.  It is for a two year old in size, and it took about 140 grams of the main colour and small amounts of the contrast. It is also a pullover, but it does not have the button up shoulder, which I thought was a good idea on the above sweater.



The last sweater was also finished a while ago. It is for a little boy, and is a Patons pattern called Varsity Bound.  It is size D, which I think is about a size 3 toddler. The colour is medium blue and it took about 200 grams of the main colour, and just a small amount of contrast. All the small cables in it give it a lot of texture, and it should be a nice addition for a handsome little guy! I have also made this in a much smaller size, for a year old. I will have to see if I have a picture of that one.

The Cats are Done!

I had fun making the cats, but I would not recommend this pattern for anything except the Siamese cats, to be honest. They are very cute .... trying to change the pattern to make other markings was quite a challenge. Maggie's face has way too much white on it, but otherwise it turned out well. I learned how to make the white face more of an upside down V for Mickie, and I had fun trying to give him a long mane like he really has, but it looks a little funny! I got his markings more accurate, but if I made another, I would use the fuzzy yarn for all of his white. I bought some boucle for both the grey cat (Mickie) and the tabby cat (Daphne), as they are both very fuzzy kitties. Maggie is a true short hair cat so the regular fingering yarn was fine for her. Daphne is the tabby cat, and the yarn is a good colour for her, but the markings were very hard to make, other than her black paws. It was hard to make her eyes as she was so dark, nothing would show up so I resorted to using green buttons for her. It was fun making them, and I like them. Not sure if I will make more or not. Perhaps I will make a few in the Siamese pattern itself and see if I can find a different pattern for knitted cats if I feel like improving upon my own little pets! I will also post a real picture of the kitties, since they are my little fur babies!

Flower power and toy cats!

Shhhhh I have been working on a few Christmas presents during the last several weeks, so I can't tell you about them just yet! I will keep pictures of them and post them after the fact though. I saw a few patterns for flowers in one of the knitting newsletters I receive, so I had that idea brewing in my head. After making a few, I became inventive and made my own creations. I have 12 flowers now completed, and I crocheted a dark green doily to use as a base for them. My thought is to arrange them on the ruffle around the base of a crystal bowl/vase. Rather than sew them on, I used bobby pins so they can easily be taken off and rearranged. At Christmas, I may make some poinsettias for it. We shall see ... This is actually going to my father's apartment next week, if he would like it. My mother died a few weeks ago, and I thought this would make a nice tribute to her since she did not get to enjoy her sweater for very long. I wanted to keep the sweater, as a memory of her, but it was taken. So, I made something new for her memory. My father would not keep fresh flowers very well, but these knitted flowers may serve the purpose. I guess it will just depend on whether he wants to keep it. If not there, then I will keep it here as my own reminder of her memory. My daughter in law sent me picture of a knitted cat a few months ago, as I am a bit of a cat lady. She thought I might want to make one for each of my 3 cats. And it is so darned cute that indeed that is my current project! First under the needle is my ginger girl, as she is the oldest. I am part way done and will post the finished cats later in the week! This is the pattern I am using, but I am changing the colours to match my cats.

Source: Siamese Kitty via FuzzyMitten on Craftsy