Turtle Project

Once in a while someone shows me a project made from one of my patterns which is really special, and they allow me to feature it here.

 

 

This was the case with Lori, from Louisiana, who contacted me a few weeks ago about the finished size of my Tortoise pattern. She had found this beautiful turtle shell in the woods, and decided the time had come to make a body for him. As you see the shell is stunning in itself, but now Cecil has a body too.

Lori had to slightly adapt the pattern for size, and as you can see has done a wonderful job. She has made a body, which she has carefully slid into the shell, which is one piece.

Doesn't Cecil have a wonderful expression on his face. Thank you Lori for letting me share your project here. 

I love to see when knitters have used my patterns, especially for an unusual project. It makes designing a pattern really worthwhile to see it being enjoyed.

Lizards

I've been knitting a few more lizards from my own pattern. They may make some people recoil, but I love these little creatures, and they remind me of Noel, our pet lizard who has now departed from this world. 

They are knitted from sock wool, and I like the randomness of the wool, which means that they never turn out exactly the same. They are fairly easy, although perhaps after my fourth one I am bound to say that. They are knitted on just two needles, with a bit of icord knitting and short rows to give the curve on the body. You can also click on the lizard picture in my sidebar to find the pattern on ravelry. Though if you are not a knitter there are a few lizards for sale in my Etsy shop. I think they would make great stocking fillers.

I had quite a lot of trouble finding safety eyes that were small enough. Well what I mean is I couldn't find anything even close in the shops, and had to order them online. Then after all that I found I already had a pack in my work box, left over from another project. Duh. I do think the shiny eyes bring the little lizards to life.

Lizard

Wild Lizard Photo Taken in France

My latest knitting pattern has really been a labour of love. I have interspersed some photographs I managed to take of a lizard in the garden in France on my recent holiday. It seemed such a coincidence to be sitting in a garden with real lizards as I was knitting mine.

Several years ago my son pestered and pestered for a pet lizard. I was not too keen, but have to say from the moment we got Noel, the green anole lizard, I was completely captivated. We had him for several years, but he unfortunately passed away last winter. 

What I really liked about him was the way he moved. He would stalk his prey (small crickets) around his tank, and moved in such an intelligent way. And when he was happy you could really tell, as out would pop his flaming pink dewlap (a small piece of skin at his throat).

This is a fairly straightforward knit. I used two double-point needles, as there is some icord knitting. I tend to use double-points for a lot of my knits now as they are conveniently short. The body of the lizard is knitted in two pieces, so there is some seaming, and the legs are knitted separately and have to be attached. I tried other ways, but this seemed to give the best result. I used craft eyes and beads, but if you are going to give this to a small child it is probably best to sew the eyes with wool.

These sample lizards are for sale in my Etsy shop.