Patchwork Cuddle Ted

Hit play before you scroll down. 

Guarantee this song will make you feel chilled and happy.

This year I have been running a lunchtime knittting club at the school where I work, with a very lovely lady called Joyce. Throughout the year our little group of novice knitters, all aged about 7-10, and so far all girls, have been creating knitted squares. Everyone successfully learned to knit, and we have great plans for next year (possibly to learn how to purl). My other ambition is to get a few boys to come to knitting club.
 

But what to do with our knitted squares? As you can see we did not worry too much about needles sizes, number of stitches, or the tedious matter of tension. Sewing them together I treated them a bit like a jigsaw, and I love the variety in sizes and textures. We only met for 30 minutes each week, and it has taken all year to make the pieces for this little blanket.
 

... And with the addition of a head and some paws, the blanket was transformed into a snuggly teddy, a gift for my class teacher's new baby, which is very imminently expected. Isn't Patchwork Cuddle Ted adorable? It was so nice for the children to have created something this special together. 

Taxi

I have finished my New York cab knitting pattern, and knitted it has reminded me of the TV comedy Taxi. Oh the lovely drivers of the Sunshine Cab Company. Taxi never seems to be repeated on UK TV, so I have not really thought about it since I used to watch in the late 1970s early 1980s. I used to love this show. I think mainly at the time because I had a bit of a crush at Tony Danza. (OK, I was very young.) I have been watching some clips on YouTube, but these days I just find myself drooling at glimpses of those lovely shiny yellow cabs in the background. How times have changed!

So many great people! First time I had seen Danny Devito, and also Christopher Lloyd. I think my favourite character was Latka (played by the late Andy Kaufman).

As you can see I have used a bit of trickery to transport my cab to New York. It is just balanced in front of a computer screen, but I think it has done the job.

So having discovered how to link to Youtube clips, here are the show credits. This instantly takes me back in time?

My knitting pattern is finished, and available Craftsy, ravelry and Etsy. It is really not a hard knit, but there is a bit of fiddling sewing up. (Have I managed to put you off?) I hope not as the end result is really cute, but if you just can't wait to own a taxi, I am putting my two samples cabs into my Etsy shop. I am sort of hoping they might find their way to someone in New York.

"You Don't Know What You've Got Till It's Gone ..."

This is just a sneaky peek at my new pattern. I don't usually do this - that is show a pattern until it is ready. But I have nothing else in the pipeline, and although the pattern is almost written, I have to make a few tweaks, and then knit another New York vintage cab, before I hope I will be set to go. 

If you are interested in knitting your own taxi, then keep watching Ginx Craft, as I will probably release the pattern in another week.

I hope most folk will get the song reference in the title of this post, so if you would like a reminder I have linked Joni Mitchell singing Big Yellow Taxi. Love this song!

London Routemaster Bus

Finally, my new pattern is done. This really has been a labour of love. I have spent so much time thinking about buses, looking at vintage routemaster buses, and writing up the pattern that I am probably going to do something fairly simple and from someoneelse's pattern for my next knit. 

I had the idea to knit a vintage London bus after my trip at the end of last summer to a Vintage Bus Rally, as well as a school visit to the London Transport Museum. But even more so than ever, the details had to be just right. The windows and doorways had to be as close to the original as I could get. These buses can still be seen in London, but have mostly been replaced by the modern version. It also had to have the little platform at the back, so you could naughtily stand holding on to the pole and jump on or off between stops.

You will see that I have knitted two buses. One was the my prototype, but then I always feel I must test my pattern out a few times. (I will probably knit another soon, but at the moment I am completely bused out.) The No 9 was my regular bus to work, when I lived in Hammersmith and worked near The Aldwych. I spent a lot of time on the No 9, reading a book or gazing dreamily at Hyde Park or the shops in Kensington High Street. So that one is for me, and the other was meant to remind my husband of his route to work when he first came to London, from Kensal Green to Aldwych on the No 6.
 

The pattern is available on ravelry, Craftsy and Etsy. I have to say this is not a knit for the faint-hearted. The pattern is eleven pages long. Only attempt it if you really like colourwork. There are charts for the side panels and back and front sections, which I think are fairly easy to follow. I have also written out fully the details for each row, though I think if you fairly experienced you could just work from the charts.

 
I have left the advertising panels at the sides blank. I was very tempted to embroider the words Ginx Craft, but these buses are chugging off to my Etsy shop with the offer that I will embroider on whatever the buyer wishes. So here for now are a few more photos of my London buses.
 

Vintage Tractor Pattern

I can finally announce the winner of my "guess the next pattern" giveaway. Thank you to everyone who entered. I loved all of your guesses, and even if you were not right, perhaps you have given me some new ideas for other vehicles. I particularly like the idea of a snow plough, so you never know, maybe that will be what I work on next.

So we put the names of everyone who said tractor (and there were quite a lot of you) into a hat and the winner is Janet of Yellow Pink and Sparkly. I have sent you a message, so if you let me have your address (I won't publish it) through my comments box your Christmas Heart Decorations will be on their way to you.

Tractor before the mud guards are attached.

I think the tread pattern on the tyres were a bit of a clue. You might also have seen this post about my visit to the North Devon Show, where looking at the Vintage Tractors first gave me the idea.

This has been quite a tricky pattern to write. There has been unravelling, and a bit of frustration. Sometimes it is just like that, and for other patterns everything seems to just fall into place first attempt. The tyres took a lot of work, and I have had to devise my own codes for the cabling. It is a bit complicated, but I did feel that the cable on the tyres to give a deep tread was a really important part of the design. The other bits that caused me a bit of grief were the mud guards. They had to be big enough to curve over the back tyres, but also not so big as to be floppy. 

I also dithered over whether to add the chimney or not. This was partly because I thought it would need to have wire to keep it standing straight. But by making it not too big there is no wire, just wool, so this would still be safe for a child, and I think it does add something.

My two prototypes are for sale in my Etsy shop. My hope is that someone will buy them for a retired farmer, who wants to remember his many happy years on a tractor. 

The pattern is already available on ravelry and Etsy.

The Village Shop

I knitted several houses from my Little Woollie House pattern in the spring, with the plan to make them into shops rather than just houses. As usual other projects got in the way, but I have been thinking I should try and stock up my Etsy Shop a bit for Christmas, and have managed to finish the first shop.

This shop is the village greengrocers. Can you see the bunches of bananas hung up, as well as strings of onions? At the back of the shop is a little cart, piled up with a delivery of potatoes.

It was great fun to stitch. I love hand-stitching on my knitting, and although it may look complicated it is just made from a few basic stitches. There are some tutorials in Embroidery Corner in my sidebar if you fancied making your own shop.

So this shop is off to my own little shop. I am now working on a village post office, so if you keep watching my blog that will appear quite soon.

Stanley Spider

Meet Stanley the Spider. Each year I try to make a toy mascot for the class that I have been working in at school. First there was Caterpillar Class, and they got a caterpillar and a butterfly. Next year was the rather daunting job of making a cricket for Cricket Class. And finally this year the delightful Spider Class. 

I was going to try to knit a really realistic tarantula, but I couldn't find the right wool. That may come later. So Stanley is just your average sort of spider. He is quite easy to make. The body is knitted on two needles and in one piece. I thought that buttons would make cute little feet, although you could use beads. He is hung on a long piece of elastic thread, which has a big black bead on the end. 

I was delighted that my one little ball of Rowan Fine Tweed wool (25g) was perfect to make two Stanleys, I haven't managed to take photographs of Stanley II yet, though he looks almost exactly the same.  Although I am sure other makes of wool would work well, I really liked the texture and bumpiness from using this brand.

Stanley is looking a little glum I know, and that is because he has found out that from next year the classes are going to all change and be named after biblical trees. Perhaps it is just as well, as the prospect of knitting a Firefly was worrying me. Spider Class will become Palm Class, and I will be in Olive Class. I'm not quite sure how that is going to work as far as knitting class mascots is concerned.

So farewell to my lovely Spiders, and if you want to make a similar toy you will be able to find the pattern in my shop later tonight.

The Italian Job

I have finished my knitting pattern for a the iconic Mini Cooper. The pattern is available in my ravelry and Craftsy shops. These sample cars are for sale in my Etsy shop I have tried really hard to be as accurate as I can to the mini cooper cars that I see around today. It has caused me a few headaches, but I do think the final result is very cute. Can a car be cute?

"The Italian Job" - I haven't quite reproduced the film poster, but you get the idea I hope.

I would be lying if I said this is an easy knit. There is shaping, icord knitting, colourcharts, and quite fiddly sewing up. But I think the final results are worth it. If you don't want to knit the Union Jack roof, then you can do a plain roof version. I keep spotting other colourways that I like out on the road, so am going to knit a few more of these. 

Racing Green

The car is made up of just three panels. The wheels, grill, bumpers and headlights are knitted separately, and then sewn on.

Patriotic

If you want to read a bit more about the history and evolution of the Mini Click Here.

New Car Blue Car

No, this isn't the title of a Dr Seuss book. 

I was so pleased that three of my 2CV cars are now in Italy with their new owner. So I have made one more for my Etsy shop, this time a blue one. You may notice that there are no numberplates at present, as I really like the idea of making personalised ones. This car is knitted from my Henrietta 2CV pattern. I am currently working on a pattern for a completely new vehicle.