Easter Bunny Rabbits

Slightly distracted from my Teddy Bear (which is still slowly progressing), I've been knitting some little bunny rabbits for Easter. They are a fairly quick make, and a great way to use up any tiny scraps of wool you have left over. (Each rabbit takes less than 4g of wool.) Although I have stuck to quite realistic colours, it would also be fun to make some in really bright colours.

They are really, really very tiny (about 1 inch or 3 cms wide). 

So if you hate fiddly this is probably not for you. 
But if you like quick and cute then it is.

Did you know that a rabbit's tail is called a scut? 

My pattern tells you how to easily make a really tiny pom pom for a tail.

I have mainly been using 4ply, but this slightly thicker wool gave an even fluffier looking rabbit.

My husband looked at the growing collection on my work table, and said they really are living up to their name, and breeding like rabbits. If you want to make your own rabbits, the pattern is already on ravelry and Etsy, and will be available later today on LoveKnitting ...
 

Chinese New Year

Celebrating Chinese New Year, at the Magic Lantern Light Show at Chiswick House. Just a tiny selection of the many photos that I took. It took over an hour to walk around the park, and see all the beautiful lights. Although it was cold it was well worth it.

My daughter and her best friend (who was visiting from California). Churros to warm up on the way home.

Teddy in Progress

Teddy is still a work in progress, and writing this pattern is taking up so much time, that I have nothing else to write about. (But he has progressed a lot from Last Week.) As you can see Teddy No 1 is complete. My favourite bits of him are his head and ears, and his feet with their paw pads.  I love his little solemn face (I first of all made him with a big grin, but this was a bit spooky and had to be unpicked for this more serious fellow). The other thing that you really can't see from my photos, is that he has a slight hump, and a curved bottom.

But there are a few things not quite right, so as you can see Teddy No 2 is well on the way. Teddy 1's arms look a bit like he has been working out at the gym. So the next version is going to have thinner arms, a slightly more pronounced muzzle, and hopefully be a bit less hippy. Although I found it quite easy to buy toymaker joints on-line, these are really hard to put together. I haven't been able to do this yet (so my husband is my bear assembler), so you need to have someone with a bit of muscle to help. In fact Teddy No 1 looks like just the sort of chap you need.

WIP - No Teddy Bears Were Harmed in the Making of This Project ...

WARNING - Some of you may find these photos distressing. 

Poor old teddy, but he has been so helpful, as head is just the right shape. I have been working really hard on this new teddy bear pattern. I want him to be a perfect traditional old-fashioned bear.

I am probably not even half way there yet, as I have done the arms, and I am working out the shaping for the head panels using Eric the Bear as my assistant. On the final pattern his head will, I hope, be knitted in one piece. This is not the way I usually work, but the shape I need is fairly precise and unusual. Nothing is going to be knitted in the round, because I find working flat means I can use short rows to get extra curves and bulges where I need them. A teddy should have a bit of a round tum.

Teddy may take a few more weeks, and then there will be test knitting, so probably even longer before I release the pattern. He is going to be jointed, so I also need to check out where I can buy some toymakers joints. 

For me this is a fairly big project. For this first version I am rapidly getting through some wool that I unravelled from a pullover. My mum enjoyed helping me with this at Christmas, and although she can't really see well enough to knit now, she is a pretty good unraveller.

"It's A Mini Thing"

I've been asked recently to knit some variations on one of my favourite patterns - Mini Cooper. The Mini Cooper is the sort of car that owners seem to not just like, but fall in love with. This first Mini Cooper is already in Texas, with Alex. It follows the basic pattern, with the Union Jack roof, but this time there are black stripes on the bonnet.

... and here is the customer's own car.

Next I was asked me to reproduce a mini with a Paul Smith roof.  I really enjoyed matching the colours for the striped room. You might also notice that I altered my pattern a little, as this car is a five door mini. Minis seem to be getting less and less mini! This one has gone all the way to Taiwan.

And finally a mini cooper convertible. I have given this one the look of a roll back roof, so there is no window at the back. I also tried to recreate the look of the bonnet and black wheel arches.  I had a job trying to match the colour with this one, but the customer was delighted nevertheless.

So this is a new line in my Etsy shop. I wonder if I will be asked to make any more. There is such a variety of minis on the roads. Strange that I am turning into a bit of a car buff, as I am the sort of person who if asked what car I drive, say something dopey like "a red one"!

Dutch House Bookends

So as promised quite while ago some functional houses. ... I made these Dutch House bookends as a Christmas gift, so although they have been complete and the pattern written up for a little while, I have been keeping them secret. I also had a bit of a job getting photos, because of dark, overcast days. I'm still not completely happy with these ones, but am just having to go with it, as the houses are now with their new owner.

Although these houses are bookends, I think a single house would be very useful as a doorstop. They would also make a lovely toy. I fancy making some more so I could just have a little row of colourful houses along side an imaginary canal

The bookends are filled with rice, which make them very weighty. You could also use something like lentils or dry beans. Hubby says that they could also be cracked open in an emergency. 

They are knitted with doubleknit wool, and although there is some sewing up of seams, perhaps not as much as you would imagine. The front is a separate piece, but the back, sides and roof are all knitted in one. The pattern contains a diagram to help with the sewing up.

I have made the two houses different in roof shape and colour, but with enough similarities in style so that they look like a pair. The finished bookend are approximately 17cm by 9 cm by 9cm.

The pattern for them contains instructions for both houses. It has taken me a while to write up, as it also contains illustrations to help with the wool embroidery. I think some folk might be a bit scared by the idea of sewing on the doors and windows, but I find this the most relaxing part. You just plod away putting the needle in and out, and although it takes a while, at the end you have made something rather unique.

The pattern also contains a single pattern piece to make an inner lining from calico to contain the filling. This also caused me a bit of grief, as the pattern piece is bigger than A4 paper size, but I did not want to split it over two pages. The solution that I chose was shrink it from A3 to A4. So anyone using it will need to find a photocopier that enlarges it back to the correct size, A4 to A3. I think these are fairly readily available these days, although if anyone can't get to one I will email the shape split over two pages, and you would just need to join it together to make the pattern piece. Please contact me if you would prefer this.
 

I specially picked what I thought were my most photogenic books. What books would you put between your?

Sock Buddies

I have finished my second ever pair of socks!  (Ok it is 2 years since the last pair, so perhaps I shouldn't be quite so full of myself.) I can see why some people get hooked on sock knitting, as there is something so pleasing about turning the heel.

This was my "Christmas car journey" knitting. I do really find car knitting relaxing, and our journey back from Devon on a very stormy day, did mean I needed something to keep me calm. But car knitting has to be from a pattern, and also something not too fancy, so I can manage in darkness too.

So I thought I would have a go at these children's socks from Knits for Fab Feet and Cosy Toes by Anna Tilman, which I have photographed at the bottom of this page. What is great about the sock patterns in this book is that they come in a range of sizes. These were knitted on four needles. I didn't use the recommended wool, but some Sirdar Snuggly Double Knitting wool, which as you can see turned out great for size, and I really like the slightly unusual colour.
 

The pattern is called Sock Buddies, because of the little bears in the pockets. I didn't  quite follow the bear section of the pattern, but sort of improvised them. These socks are for my daughter (those are her legs!), who did not think she was too old at 13 to have teddies in pockets on her socks. I did suggest she could keep her asthma inhaler in one of the pockets, which didn't go down very well!

There are lots of other lovely patterns in this book, so I think it might be time to knit some socks for myself next.