Apologies for not having posted any free patterns recently. I’ve had vertigo for quite some time, so instead of posting new patterns on my site I’ll be showing some of my favourites from around the internet.
Maurice the Monkey is a great way to learn the knitted loop stitch.
He’s made completely of rectangles so you won’t have to work out how to decrease while creating the loops, and he’s a real stunner. Make him for a little one or to keep your sock monkey collection company!
Many years ago, when the internet was mostly made of text and your website host complained if your site went over a megabyte in size, I paid a rather exhorbitant price for a lift-out from a 1968 Australian Women’s Weekly in an out of the way antique shop in rural Victoria. Alas, when I went to knit the toys, the front page had been torn in half and was nowhere to be found. To say I was miffed would be a massive understatement.
Groovy knitted toys from the October 2nd Australian Women’s Weekly, 1968
(Re)Introducing: The Mod Menagerie of Beasts and Birds including, The King of the Beasts, Carrot-Power Cottontail, Cat of Super Colors, Mopsy Bird, Hippie-Potamus, Wiggy Bird, Flower Bearing Bruin and Bangle Bell Bossy. They’re all knit at 3sts to the inch to make them super groovy and super fast.
My first two finished projects for 2015! One made from knitting and one a complete travesty. Er, I mean sewn.
These were finished last Friday (January 2nd) after a mad dash to Spotlight for a bag of stuffing. I accidentally came home with a bag of stuffing, a seam roll, an ironing mitt and a new hook for Charlie’s Rainbow loom. Oops. My truly awesome daughter also bought me a copy of “Gertie Sews Vintage Casual”. I’ll review that in a future post when I’ve had time to have a look at it). Here are some links to it on Amazon and Book Depository, in case you’d like to take a look. (For the sake of transparency, those are affiliate links).
So, what have I made?
All sixteen colours of sheep in MinecraftThe Minecraft Wool stash. Obviously the most important part of playing Minecraft.
Um, not that. Yes, I have a herd of every colour of sheep in Minecraft and a chest full of stash. Shut up.
Speaking of Minecraft ~cough~ I knit a Creeper for my son Charlie.
Hand knit Minecraft creeper and his friend, Hopper the pig.
Now I want one. Except the damn things keep blowing up my house. Heaven forbid they should ever let the sheep out.
I used the creeper pattern from Angel’s Knitting Blog, sadly now defunct. I figured out how to do the face by looking at other people’s projects on Ravelry.
There are quite a few comments about the foot section of the pattern being incomprehensible but it’s actually a very clever way to eliminate a few of the seams that toys need to keep their shape. The trick is to not read the pattern first. Knit, trust that it will make sense when you get to that part and it does. Or at least it did for me and seemingly the other people that finished it 🙂
I’ve made many toys over the years and developed my own techniques for stuffing without lumps. I made this video about it a few years ago, in case anyone would like any tips.
Charlie and I also finished this monstrosity charming fellow made from an unfinished (unstarted?) and incomplete teddy bear I found at the op shop.
Meet Mr. Bread WoodenHead.
Mr Bread WoodenHead the bear
Charlie arranged all the pieces but the fabric was pretty tough to sew so I had the honour of stitching him together. Charlie finished him off by sticking on a range of sparkly plastic thingies for his face, ears and paws. Truly, um, unique. It’s staring at me right now from the seat next to me. I’m pretty sure it’s planning to eat my face.
O.O
My next project is already in the works, in fact I started it on the Tuesday before Christmas and have been stitching away on it every time the Xbox gets too hot in our Summer heat.
and 
