Knitted "Vampire" Bat

I have been so terrible at blogging that it may have seemed like I had retired. I have seen other blogs disappear, but I am still here. I realise having a blog is not quite the thing it once was, but I think of my blog as a little bit of a diary, so hope I will not give up on it. 

I used to put on posts to pad out from crafting, with other things - gardening and walking. I have less to show from my gardening this year in the new house, as I have not quite got to grips with the raised bed, or greenhouse. Keep looking at the lawn and thinking perhaps part of it needs to be dug up!

I decided to make a bat from my bat knitting pattern, as it is approaching that time of year. I have given him vampire teeth, but I think it just makes him look not very scary but like a debonair gentleman bat.  

 

No pumpkins, but I managed to grow one Turk's Turban Squash. It is not very big, but is very pretty.

You can find the Bat Pattern on ravelry or Etsy. They do not take long to make, and it would be nice to have a whole chain of them. You could mix them up with some knitted Little Pumpkins. 

Just looked up that a group of bats is called a colony, although a group of flying bats can be called a cauldron.

 

Halloween Knits Special Offer

Getting close to Halloween, so I have decided to do a special offer. I have two spooky patterns, my knitted Bat and Little Pumpkins. My Bat pattern is one of my best sellers, throughout the whole year, and I love how on Ravelry so many knitters have linked their own projects.

 

So until October 31st I am running a special offer. If you buy both patterns which are normally £3 each on Ravelry, you will get a £2 discount if you use the code SPOOKY. This is the only platform that has the ability of set up discount codes, so go here rather than Etsy or LoveKnitting, where these pattern are also for sale.

I would love to see somebody make a Halloween garland with pumpkins and bats. Perhaps that's what I should do!

Little Pumpkins

I have been busy working on a pattern for some little pumpkins for Halloween. The pattern contains instructions for two sizes of pumpkins, which are really quite simple and quick to make.

 

The pictures above are knitted in DK, but searching through my stash of oddments I found a lot of pumpkiny (is that a word) wool in other thickness. It is very simple to adapt the pattern to whatever wool you have simply by changing the needle size. For DK I used 4mm, for 4ply 3.5mm and for the scrummy thicker wool 5mm.

 

So here are some photos of some individual pumpkins that could be used as decorations. 

 

 

The pattern is available here on ravelry, and Etsy and will be on Loveknitting in due course.

 

One other idea that I think would work well would be to make a bunting mixing the pumpkins with my knitted bats. Still working on this, but here is a link to the Bat Pattern on ravelry. 

 

Just to show that you could make your pumpkins in any colour here is a photo of my own homegrown pumpkin and squash.

 

 

Bats (and a Craft Fair)

Quite a few years ago I decided that craft fairs weren't really for me, and it was best to concentrate on online selling. Yet somehow here I was yesterday, in the village hall behind a table of my handmade items. Just seemed like a good way to get out there and meet some people, and although this fair wasn't not busy, I did quite well as people seemed to be there to shop. 

 

Preparing for this fair I have done quite a bit of Bat knitting, as I thought with Halloween approaching these might be popular. I only sold one bat, to another young stallholder, so the rest of these are heading off to my Etsy shop. If you want to make your own bats there is still time, and the pattern can be found for sale by clicking here Bat Pattern. 

 

 

 

I sold a few other items that I haven't ever listed in my Etsy shop (kangaroos, alpacas, and even an armadillo), so have decided to list a few of these in the Unique Knitted Items section of my Etsy shop. After all Christmas is approaching, although I try to put off purchasing until December, and then usually get in a bit of a last minute panic. Perhaps this year I will try to think a bit further ahead.

 

 

Still plenty of time to to join in Ginx Woolly Linx Party for October.

A Cauldron of Bats

I did not know that the name for a group of bats is a cauldron. So here is a cauldron of bats, the grey one above knitted by me and some by other people from ravelry who have used my new pattern. I do love it when folk link their projects back to the pattern, so I am hoping I may see a few more before the end of October and Halloween.

Thank you to everyone who has given me permission to post their photos. 

 

Just a reminder that there is still plenty of time left to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for September. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

 

Bat

Bats keep appearing in odd corners around my flat. I have had in mind to knit a bat for a while, and although it is still a while until Halloween, this new pattern will give you time to knit a few. 

 

This is a fairly quick knit, and although all my bats are knitted with doubleknit wool, I think you could use this pattern to use up any wool oddments you have left over in other thicknesses, so long as you adjusted the needle size. Children could have a lot of fun if their bat were put on an elastic thread, and I am also thinking of stringing mine together to make a bat bunting.

 

 

This pattern is available on ravelry, Etsy and Love Knitting. I hope you have fun making some spooky bats.

 

Just a reminder that there is still plenty of time left to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for September. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Pumpy the Pumpkin

There is a point with children when you will probably find yourself saying, "no more cuddly toys". There is only so much love to spread around the ones that you already have. I reached this point a few years ago, but made an exceptions for Pumpy the Pumpkin.  I know this isn't a snapshot, but hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Spooky Stanley Spider

Since it is the time of year for spookiness and all things creepy, I just thought I would show you my Spooky Stanley Spider. Actually I think he is not really frightening, just a little glum.

He is very easy to make. He is knitted flat on two needles, with icord legs. His feet are black buttons, although I think beads also would work well. Link to the pattern on Craftsy is in my lefthand sidebar.

I used Rowan Fine Tweed (Pendle), and knitted two Stanleys from one 25g ball. I think other wools would work well, although you would need to adjust the needle size. I liked the rough bumpy texture of this brand. 

A Well-Balanced Photograph

This week I gave my camera to my daughter to photograph something for Saturday Snapshot. This is what she came up with. It is a little desk toy, that suddenly had an eye-catching shadow.

But I also can't resist showing her in her Halloween outfit. This cost just £1.97 to make. Thanks to the lovely Fabricland: my favourite shop. (£1.50 for the orange felt, 30p for the green, and 17p for a metre of elastic.) I really don't know how they manage to make a profit. It is decorated with sharpie pen, and padded out with some cushions.