Fox Fingerless Mittens Free Pattern

I visited John Lewis and they had a pair of Fox mittens in the shop which I fell in love with, but on closer inspection they were not made very well and the stitch was very loose on the ears and would not last long in my opinion.

So I decided to make my own in addition I wanted them to be fingerless with the mitten cap.

I found Colleen Michele Meagher 's Urban NecessityGloves which were perfect, free and set about changing the pattern to suit my design.  

I knitted my first glove in small and discovered that I am a size small in the palm and then medium for the finger size, so in the end had to seriously change the pattern to fit my hands.

I have written the full version of the pattern to fit me up and is a size small/medium. Mitten cap pattern up as this should fit a small size. I have done a chart or written is long hand but this is quite rough write up.

The gloves are knitted in stripes with the first section of rib in red then 2 rows pattern, after that I changed colour every 10 rows including on fingers. The Mitten Cap in knitted flat to allow the picture work.

Click here to download My version of the pattern

I must clearly state that this is Michele Meagher design not my own, and she has the copyright to it. And it is a rough write up on the pattern so there is quite possibly errors

Platty the Platypus

A little while ago I asked my friends on facebook what animal I should knit next and the answer was “Platty the Platypus”, so here he is a truly social network Platypus!

Platty’s body is knitted in the round on DPN, and his feet are knitted flat. 
As with most toys there is know real setting for yarn or gauge, just as long as you remember to go down one or two needle sizes from ball band, you should be all right. 
He does not need a large amount of yarn I used Hayfields Bonus DK walnut for body (just under a ball) and Chocolate for bill and feet ( 1/4 of ball). Tiny amount of black and only a spot of white for eyes.
I have decided to sell this pattern and it can be found here on the blog, my web page or ravelry

£1.99

Celebrations and recent knittings.

So the most observant of you will have noticed that I have to blogged since April! And I bet you thought I had given up blogging, but No I have not. It's just real life has been very busy, about the time that I last blogged I discovered that I was pregnant with my first baby!

I haven't really had a easy pregnancy, I had the terrible morning sickness and lost so much weight! I was very tired and then in the last month I went into early labour. But all is on track still and I am due in December! 

So you say I must be busy knitting lots of baby things, the answer is yes and no. 

I set out when I fell pregnant with such good intention but that has fallen by the way side. I picked out a pattern from Wacky baby Knits the book, The frog Suit! 

But I just don't like knitting garments I find it incredible boring just going backwards and forwards for cm after cm! So far after 7 months I have managed to knit the legs, front and back and half a sleeve! Not great progress!

Note- if you want to knit this pattern it's FREE you don't need to buy the book, which is good though! 

Click here

So I keep getting distracted by toy patterns so I shall tell you about my project for a friends little boy

Eddie the Friendly Elephant

Eddie is from Knitted Toy Tales by Laura Long but I got my pattern free in a pullout from Let Knit magazine April 2012. 

He was fantastic to knit and I loved him, I used a cotton DK that I found in the bargain bin at John Lewis. The pattern calls for Aran so I doubled up and work with two strands, which proved to bit of a problem as I ran out of yarn half way through and had to dash across the city, back to the Bargain bin. I used a fabric for the inner ears and the bottom of the feet as called for the pattern. 

I think this is a wonderful pattern and would recommend it to everyone, if you look on Ravelry you will find that everyone seems to come out with good results, which is the sign of a good pattern! 

Knitted Doctor Who Dalek

I have finally returned to work after my long period of illness and I am some what sad because I will be missing out on my knitting time in the afternoon! lol!

While off I managed to complete some rather nice things that I really enjoyed. My first was a Dalek from Doctor Who! I have really wanted to knit this for ages as the pattern is free online at Ravelry:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/extermiknit

This cuddly little monster is lovely and I really enjoyed knitting him. I put wire into his extremities such a the plunger and "eye". I sewed a like piece of blue fabric to make his "eye" and used a silver metallic yarn for all the bobbles. It was a fantastic knit which I did in only a few days! 

Please Knit this pattern is amazing!

Illness and knitting.

I have recently been quite unwell and as normal when I am sick I take great comfort in my knitting.

 There seems to be a lot of talk on the internet about the things that you do with your hands like knitting and crochet (Nothing rude) being strongly linked to helping mental health. I find that you end up concentrating so hard on the knitting I am doing that I forget any problems.

Also before I started knitting I had no friends, I had hidden away from the world and had nothing to do with it. My husband started me knitting he said I need something to do in the evenings and too stop me drinking so much.

 I had knitted as a child and for some reason compelled to take this craft back up, so I bought a book Stitch 'n' Bitch and off I went. I have taken to it like a duck to water, but I have failed in all attempts to knit a jumper or such garment. I joined a knitting group and my husband basically pushed me through the door on the first meeting, it's been good to have the routine of going out once a week and meeting people.

If you want some more information on knitting and crafts help your health there is a lovely charity called Stitchlinks which offer a wide range of advice and tips.

Crafty Crocodile!

Can't believe I didn't blog about this earlier as it one of the best things I have done in ages!

I am rather fond of crocodiles and have a small collection of them and decided some time ago that I wanted to create my own design for one. There is a small number of good knitted crocodile patterns out there so I started from scratch. I first wanted my crocodile to be about 15" in length but that quickly went out the window! 

No self respecting croc is without bobbles so mine has to rows down his back 24 in total. The body is made in one long piece knitted flat with the jaws knitted in as well. It looks a bit weird but makes more sense as you go along. Sew the side parts of the jaw at the very front together ( the left and right side) then knit the inside of the mouth inside and sew in. 

If you are making this it very important to add the stitch through the low jaw to keep the whole mouth in place! 

I sewed along the bottom of the head, added eyes continued sewing till half way, stop sewing and stuffed. 

Then started sew up at the tail so you meet in the middle, add the rest of the stuffing and sew up.

The legs and feet are a bit fiddly and I am sorry about that. 

Add felt teeth and you have a crocodile. 

He measures it at a impressive 2 foot/60cm! But is fantastic!

I used Araucania Ulmo solid cotton in green but this has be discontinued, I recommend that you use

Rico Design Essentials Cotton DK grass green and red, it good and cheap!

I would think you need 3 balls of the green and one of red, but any good Double Knit will do!

You can buy the pattern on Etsy

Knitting Pattern Crocodile Toy - PDF file

or Ravelry.

Chunky Chicken by Sue Stratford

Just a quick update of all the new things since my last blog, I will put them up as indiviual posts so the google search will be easier. 

I knitted the Chunky Chicken pattern by Sue Stratford with I bought in kit form at the stitch and knit show, which I talked about in my last blog. 

I made some changes as I was not to impressed with some of the design. In the pattern in calls to make to wings in Stocking stitch but I continued with the moss stitch design to keep it all the same. I also did not add legs but put a bag of rice inside to make into a doorstop not the tea cosy version. 

In review of the item my Mum loved it as her Christmas present but I the design is a bit strange.