Some more baby shoes. These ones I have called Bug Shoes. I have knitted with this wool before, and just love all the different shades in it. I have no idea where it came from, and am a bit sad I only have the tiniest bit left. The bugs were my daughter's idea, at least the ladybird on the leaf. Then I thought it would be rather cool to have a different bug on the other shoe. I'm not sure that caterpillars are considered quite as cute, but I really like them, and it had to be something really small to fit on the shoe.
I then thought for these little pink shoes I would go back to my little bumble bee, and a sprig of white blossom. For these I used a wool that is 100% cotton. The pink in the photo is really accurate, and I love the gentle shade.
My neighbour told me this morning he has a few snowdrops in his garden. So for the last pair I have made a new pair of Snowdrop Shoes. Previously I have made these in yellow and green, but I thought a light blue would look good and wintery.
These shoes are all knitted from my Baby Bee Shoe pattern, and are off to my Etsy shop. Although the embroidery may look tricky, there are tutorials for all the stitches you need in embroidery corner in my right sidebar.
I've been so busy crafting for Christmas I have nothing very new to show this week. I am a bit craft-faired out, and am going to get back to making something just for the sheer fun of it next week.
So I just thought I would put together a compilation of all my minibeasts and bugs. Patterns for all the above are on ravelry (some for free), and on the others I have a Minibeast promotion: £1 off if you buy any two of the above patterns together.
Since autumn definitely seems to have arrived here with a bit of a blast, I thought I would post this photo as a reminder of summer. I did not see many ladybirds (ladybugs if you are in the States) this year, but snapped this one in my back garden.
Did you know that the group name for ladybirds is a "loveliness"? Well I didn't until I found out earlier today. I read it online, so it must be true! There are also over 46 species, in Britain alone. Ladybirds seem to be considered lucky all over the world!
I do know there are lots of other ladybird patterns out there, but I thought I would do my own version, and get back to my realistic insects. At first I had the idea that my ladybird would have a shell that flipped up, possibly even to reveal some ladybird wings, which would flip out. As my husband said, why not go the whole way and fit a motor and a small remote control. Ok, so my ambitions got a bit ahead of what was practical. I still like the idea of separate wings that flip, but I think it would have to be a much bigger ladybird for this to work.
My ladybird doesn't have wings, but she does have legs. I decided to use the same trick as on my stagbeetle, but as it is quite expensive to keep buying plastic, I have realised that you can make just as good, if not slightly better legs, just by using the black plastic from a food container. I love the idea of recycling. If anything the result is a darker black, and much more durable. But if you find the idea of legs too fiddly, she is just as nice without legs, as in the picture above. The pictures are not great quality, but I am hoping I may be able to take some better ones later today - when I have opened my presents!
The pattern is available for free on ravelry and craftsy. If anyone knits one, I love to see it and would really love it if you would link a photo to the pattern. I'd also welcome any feedback on the pattern instructions.
So apart from my ladybird, we are all going a bit jubilee crazy here in Britain. School parties have started, and tomorrow there is a street party in my road. My little one went off to school dressed in red, white and blue, determined to make the expression "have a loverley jubberlee" spread around the school.
