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. 

The Knitting and Stitching Show 2012

In early October myself and a friend decided to go to the The Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace, London. We booked on a coach trip and headed off with a whole bus load of knitters to a manic day of yarn and needles. 

I don't think I have ever seen such a busy place with so many knitter related things. I was very lucky and was given a rather large budget for the day out, so my main aim was to come away with as much stuff as I could carry (and I did). We spent quite a lot of time there but once spent out we went to the pub to survey our purchases. 

I got a  Alpaca knitted toy kit from Purl Alpaca Designs 

This looks rather complicated and I fear I may have bitten off more than I can chew. 

A ankylosaurus knitting kit by Patons 

This thing is big!! Looks amazing when finished as we saw it at the show and I fell in love with it! (note: husband does not know about this one due to the size of the finished item -lol)

I also acquired my first set of knit pro curricular needles and some Aracania Ulmo yarn

To finish my final item was a Chunky Chicken Kit by Sue Stratford.

This I have already knitted and will be my next blog.

Superhero's all round!

After completing my Ninja Knitting project, I went feverishly into a phase of making superhero related items.

It start with my husband who noticed a pattern for a Superhero in Simply Knitting 92, Spring 2012 by Alan Dart. 

I loved the pattern and set about make him his very own Superman by adjusting all the colours to match the famous superhero. There are always lot's of pieces when creating an Alan Dart creation but it's always worth it in the end. He is my Superman:

So after that a friend asked me to create some Golf Club covers so inspired by my recent creation and set about creating my own justice league golf clubs. I had seen someone else who had created them but I did make these up myself.

I created Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. I was very please with the way they turned out and so was my friend. 

Finally after seeing my Superman a work friend also asked me if I could make a Spiderman for her little boy. I said yes without thinking about it, but the project was quite epic and lasted a lot longer than I thought it would! I had to do intarsia knitting and adjust again this time the shape of the head, but I completed last week!

 Front

Back

Shocking yarn bombing in Norwich

Oky, so I haven't blogged since March and this is totally shocking!

 I had almost forgot that I had created it! 

I apologise For my lack of commitment to the cause and will now over the next few days update you on the many knitted thing that have been completed since my last blog!  

I believe that I mainly got distracted by a very large project that reached it's completion in May, and other projects went on hold when I took this on. I believe now is the correct time to discuss this amazing feet that a small group of little knitter created. 

On 11th of May 2012  I became a Yarn Bomber!

Looking back my project did start at the beginning of April so this might be why it all went quite on the blog front. A small group of ladies so I knew and some I didn't came together through the power of social networking. We selected our target, the front of Norwich city hall and set about creating as much knitting and crochet that was possible in time to cover as much as possible. 

I decided to create a lamp post cover and using Entrelac in Norwich City Colours.

I had never done Entrelac before and what looks a really hard thing to do was really very easy, though I would have to consult the book again when I decided to do another piece. 

On May 11th we made our attack for the start of the Norwich Arts festival. It took many hours in the cold but it was completed we covered lamp posts, bins and even the main Norwich Lions. Here are some pictures!

It was the most exciting thing I think I have ever done! We even made the papers

Thank you to everyone who made it happen! 

Mother's Day gift

This Mother's Day we found ourselves very strapped for cash (like many people), so being a thrifty minded I decide to make something on the Saturday. It needed to be a small a quick project that was very cute and I have had my eye on a little knitted critter for sometime.

Toerag the Tube Mouse

by Whodunnknit from the Stitch London Book

I have been wanting to knit him for ages but haven't found a person to give him too or found the time to complete him. I got the stitch London book seen left from the library but you can download the Toerag pattern here for free so have a go and knit one yourself. When you complete him/her you can upload you pictures at Planet Whodunnknit and show off your mouse on the site. 

Here is my mouse, I sadly forgot to add front paws : / but he looks just as nice on two legs rather than four. Plus my mum really loved him !

Misha Knitted Cardigan

In May last year I started a cardigan called "misha" by Jane Ellison, it was a pattern in the Lets Knit magazine in March 2011 and I fell in love with it. I had never knitted a garment before but the pattern was simple and I decided to give it a go. Since then I have regretted the decision many times and nearly give up just as many times.

            I picked a cotton yarn called Sublime Yarns Cotton Kapok DK which gives it a lovely drop to the knitting. But I made a horrendous error when I to started knitting in the back loop of the yarn. I had been knitting like this for years and when knitting small toys it doesn’t matter and actually creates a lovely stitch, but on such a large project it was a nightmare! I only realised I was doing it wrong half way through and by then it was too late and I had to continue it. It was at this point the whole project got shelved and sat in my knitting bag for months and months. It’s was only when a friend pointed out that I had started knitting it nearly a year ago that I took matters in hand and decided to finish it. I pushed hard on it and finished in a week and with a little advice from my knitting group it is now all sewn up and completed.

The pictures don't do it justice, I am very pleased with the results and have even worn it out! 

Cushion Making

For Christmas I received a voucher to take a course in a local place called "Make Place" in Norwich where I live. It offers a range of different courses from making peg bags to cushions and crochet, they are quite well priced and all materials are included so you exit with a finished object to proudly show off. 

I selected to do an intermediate cushion making course and arrived on the day bright eyed and bushy tailed for the day's activities. 

I learnt lots of new things like how to use an overlocker and the sew machines were very hi-tec. I also learnt how to make buttonholes on the machine which I have never done before. I was under the impression that I was quite good at sewing so picked the course and I thought it would be at the right stage for me, but I can honestly say I was a bit lost by the whole thing, my stitching was wobbly and I was confused about how the pattern came together. Stupidly rather then asking important questions I kept quite and did as I was told. 

I did come out with a lovely object but don't think I would be able to make the same thing on my own  :(

YOU MUST NOT BE PUT OFF BY MY EXPERIENCE

I am sure if I had paid attention more and asked more questions I would feel more confident in doing the cushion again, but I have come out of it with a very nice object and the day was very enjoyable.  

Whale out of a pair of jeans

I have been off sick from work this week, but I was not put off from crafting while unwell. 

While I have been ill I have surfing the blogs, I came across a wonderful toy pattern for a whale made out of a pair of jeans from a lady called Mevrouw Walvis (I think). The blog is in Finnish and thanks to google chrome which translated it straight away, I decided to have a go and make it myself.

She clearly states the following which means I can not show you images of her whale, so you need to click the link to view the original

Mevrouw Walvis’s whale

“this disclaimer: It's OK to link back to this post, but it is not OK to copy all the photos and the tutorial, or translate it Thurs another another language. Posting this as your own creation is evangelical worse. Making whales for yourself or as gifts is ok, selling or Producing Them Them commercially is so not OK. Would you be happy if you had this Happen to something you made ​​and shared on your blog? Did not think so.Stealing Is not just nice.”

So I hope it’s clear that I can only show you the pictures of my whale’s journey but nothing else :/   But I hope you enjoy.

I went down to my local fabric shop and ask for a sample of bright blue fabric so could make the eyes . 

 I hope you like him.