Little Cotton Rabbits

mousey pattern writing

Writing up knitting patterns is quite a challenging pursuit (at least I find it so, probably because my brain has been scrambled by 15 years of parenting). I'm sure though that there are plenty of talented designers that breeze through the process in a logical, structured and professional manner but for me it is a much more haphazard affair!  Making finished items completely relaxes me and although I stitch count I don't bother to count the rows, instead I knit until it looks the right length. But writing up a pattern for someone else to follow is a whole different kettle of fish - it needs to be precise in terms of both stitch and row counts, easy enough to follow and there is a lot of self-imposed pressure to get it perfect. I thought I'd use the recently released mouse pattern to give you a little insight into the way that I put my patterns together.

 

 

Luckily I've had the benefit of 8 years worth of making and tweaking most of my animal patterns and they've evolved as I've tried out different methods of increasing and decreasing, varying stitch counts, placement of shaping and so on. That however has meant that I have mixed up notes in different notebooks/paper scraps so my very first step is to collate my scribblings into some kind of chronological order. Next I type up my most recent notes, checking back through previous versions to make sure I've not missed anything.

Then it's time for the first full knit through, ticking off each line as I go, clicking away with my row counter and making notes on anything that needs changing or clarifying. I'll make up the finished animal and check that it looks as I'd intended - sometimes I'll go back and add a couple of rows to a tail or change around some of the increases and decreases. On the mouse I did a fair bit of tweaking to get the nose shaping to be symmetrical which is fiddly as there is shaping at the nose (which is viewed right way up) and the underside of the chin (which is viewed up-side-down).

Once I'm happy with the pattern it's time to sort out which yarns to use. I try and research lots of different yarns and work out which will be best suited to the pattern. In order to decide which yarns to shortlist for inclusion in the pattern I make a finished head in each potential yarn. For the mouse pattern I tested out a total of 12 different white DK and Worsted yarns and 5 different flesh coloured ear and tail yarns.

 

From left to right:

• Freedom Sincere Cotton DK, shade 600 (quite thin)
• King Cole cotton soft DK shade 710 (mid weight)*
• Adriafil Carezza classic (Aran) shade 02 (quite thin but fluffy) See note at bottom of post
  
• Debbie Bliss Mia shade 001 (mid weight)*
• Rowan Pure Wool Worsted shade 101 (mid weight)*
• Debbie Bliss cotton DK shade 13001 (thickest of all tested)
• Rowan Pure wool DK shade 012 (quite thin)
• Rowan Cotton Glace (DK) shade 726 (thinnest of all tested)
• Rowan Pima cotton DK shade 069 (quite thin)

I've made notes on the thickness of the yarn - simply put, the thinner yarns will result in a smaller finished animal. The asterisks * are used to show yarns I'd particularly recommend.

 

 

Other yarns that I'd recommend for mouse making include: Sublime baby cotton kapok DK shade 15; Cascade 220 shade 8505 (worsted) and a combination of Debbie Bliss Rialto DK shade 001 held with a strand of Debbie Bliss Angel shade 01.

 

 

At this point it's interesting to compare the significant differences between yarns in the same weight classification. Below are two heads made with DK yarn, on the left Debbie Bliss Cotton DK and on the right Rowan Pure wool DK. They are both knitted to the same pattern on 3mm needles and stuffed to the same degree of firmness but there is a definite difference in finished size.

 

 

I've been asked a few times by people to give measurements for the finished heads (circumference, length etc) but you can see here how difficult that is for me to do. Throw in the variable of different knitting styles and tensions and it becomes impossible. The most important thing is that if you are the one doing all of the knitting throughout the pattern then everything should end up in proportion even if it is a little larger or smaller than someone else might make.

 

 

Next I work on the clothing patterns for sweaters and dresses and I often end up making at least 5 samples for each pattern. If I find a mistake as I'm working through each line in the pattern, I correct it, print off a new version and knit a new sample. When I've knitted one through with no mistakes and I know the pattern is correct I make several samples to test out different yarns and colour-ways for the clothing.

 

 

Once the yarns are finalised I make two full sets of animal parts and multiple parts for the step-by-step sequences ready for a photo shoot with H. We usually shoot the images for each pattern over a couple of days as it gets tiring bending over and moving things a millimetre here or there and it's hot under the lighting. We take an average of 2 shots for any static items and 3 shots for each image with my hands in (that way we have plenty to choose from during editing) so there are typically around 160 images for each animal pattern. We edit these images together and I work on the basis that if H as a non knitter can work out what is going on in the image then it must be OK to use! Once we've selected our final set of images H processes them and I do any minor retouching of dust etc. Then I resize everything and compile my step-by-step sequences before dropping all of the finished images into the pattern document.

When all of the images are in place the pattern gets a final read through before being sent out to my trusty test knitters. They usually spot a few things that I've missed as it's often easy to get a little pattern blinded. Hopefully once the test knitters have finished the pattern is all correct and ready to be turned into a pdf and uploaded. I always get very nervous on the first day of launching a new pattern, after all the time spent it can be hard to call it finished and put it out there. Happily pattern releasing usually goes smoothly and it's always a thrill for me to see finished items starting to pop up on the ravelry project pages and know that people have enjoyed using the patterns.

Finally, I get to settle down for a bit of gentle, stress-free knitting (and as much mistake making as I like) before starting to think about the next pattern :)

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A note about Angora yarn:

This information is shared with the sole aim of helping others make an informed choice of their own...

In December 2013 PETA released a graphic video which brought to light shocking cruelty in some of the angora producing industry. You can read a little about it here:

http://blog.loveknitting.com/angora-wool-is-it-cruel/

I've used angora based yarns to make a lot of my mice over the years and I have a fair bit in my stash. It is beautifully soft and perfect for fluffy mice but clearly there are now concerns about the ethics of producing angora yarn.

I cannot find anything on Adriafil's website about the sourcing of their of Carezza angora yarn (which doesn't necessarily mean it is not ethically sourced) but there are companies who stress their yarn is ethically produced, the most notable being Orkney Angoras (you can read on their site about how they source their yarn).

If you do not wish to use angora in light of this information there are alternatives such as brushed alpaca yarn or mixing a strand of thin mohair yarn (Rowan Kidsilk haze, Debbie Bliss Angel or Drops Kid silk) in with a strand of DK wool/alpaca based yarn to give a pleasing fluffiness.

Thanks to Lynsey for bringing this to my attention.

 

woodsy

Happily the half term school break wasn't as wet and windy as I'd feared and in fact we were rather lucky with mild, sunshiney days perfect for lots of lovely wood walks.

 

 

 

Toby is such a happy boy in the peace and tranquility of the woods, he notices lots around him, touching trees, exploring textures and enjoying the different sounds he can make with his feet depending on whether he's rustling through the leaves, tromping down the boardwalks or crunching along the gravelly paths. He does like to keep moving though (you can see his shadow pulling on my shadows arm in the picture above - "c'mon mummy, c'mon"). The only time he does agree to stop is when there is a snack involved. I might miss out on more in-depth looking at things and photo taking when I'm with Tobes, but I do love these peaceful little adventures that we share in the sanctuary of the woods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amy meantime had a great time on stage in 6 performances of the Addams family, though she was quite worn out by the end of the week. It was lovely to see her having such fun up on stage and the show was a great success.

Other than spending time with Toby and driving Amy back and forth I didn't get an awful lot done, so it's nice to have some free time again now he's back at school. I've been settling back into a bit of crochet blanket making.

 

 

 

It has been put aside for most of the summer but it feels right to work on it again now the days are colder and shorter and I'd like to think that I might get it finished to put on the bed before winter truly arrives, though that might be a little optimistic of me. Once it's a bit more finished I'll find somewhere to spread it out and take a proper picture. I'm also working on a small batch of animals that I hope to have ready soon, more news of that when they're ready.

I'll be back soon with that post about the mice pattern making that I mentioned. Til then enjoy the rest of your week x

 

squeak!

Firstly, thank you so much to everyone who entered the giveaway in the previous post. I so enjoyed reading all the comments, by turns funny, warm, moving and altogether a lovely reminder that it's so often the little things that make us all happy. I've drawn the winners and posted them at the bottom of the giveaway post.

 

 

 

The last few weeks I've mostly been sat here at my computer working on the patterns for the mice and yesterday I decided it was high time to call them finished (it's all too easy to become just a little obsessive with infinite tweaks to wording and layouts). So I've uploaded them to Ravelry and Etsy where they are now available. I've yet to update my pattern page links from here - it's quite fiddly but I'll get to it in the next few days.

 

 

Today is the last day of school before the start of the half term break so next week will be full of wet and windy woodwalks for Toby and me and Amy will be having fun performing in a musical version of the Adams Family with her theatre group. I'll be back after the break as I want to tell you a little more about the making of the mouse pattern but until then I'll wish you a good week and say thanks for dropping by x

 

Giveaway time, at last :)

As mentioned over a month ago, I have just celebrated the start of my 9th blogging year!

I published my first blog post in September 2006 on the day before Toby started school - he was still 4 years old and much, much tinier than he is today! Amy was 6 and loved Disney princesses, colouring books and ballet. One of the first bunnies that I made for her was a ballerina bunny so it seems appropriate to bring that into this giveaway.

For all of you knitters out there I've written up a free supplement pattern for any of the girl animal patterns. It has instructions for a ballerina wrap cardigan and a simple circular net tutu. If you've bought a copy of any of my animal patterns and you'd like to knit up a ballet outfit for them you can download a copy here.

 

 

For all of you non-knitters, I am giving away the two ballerina animals pictured above, one to each of two winners.

To enter the giveaway just leave a comment on this post and let me know what things are making you happy at the moment. I'll leave the post up until next Thursday (October 23rd) at which time I'll use a random number generator to pick two winners - the first number picked will be given the choice of the rabbit or the elephant so I'm afraid the 2nd winner will have to settle for whichever animal is left.

Thanks again for visiting here with me. Whether you're a new visitor or one who has been with me on my little blogging journey since the beginning, I really appreciate you stopping by. I'll leave you with a picture of some ballerina bunnies that I made back in 2006 and my lovely girl as she once was (now she's all eye-linered up and clad in black with purple Doc Martens - how times have changed).

 

 

 

PS: Just a quick note to say that if you are a knitter and want to enter the giveaway for the 2 animals, that's absolutely fine - I didn't mean to make it sound as if you weren't allowed x

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Thanks so much to everyone who entered the giveaway drawing. The random number generator picked numbers 257 which is Caroline Roberts and 926 which is Wanda (the winners have been notified).

 

autumn days

The last few weeks have been much busier than anticipated, mostly due to the complications of family life. In the meantime Autumn has arrived here, bringing wet and windy weather, falling leaves and cooler temperatures which happily has meant I've not been told off for lighting the fire (H must run hotter than me as I'm always chilly and like nothing better than snuggling up by the fire on a windy autumn day, whereas he's stripped off to a T-shirt and goes round opening windows). The biggest news is that I am now mum to two teenagers, with Toby turning 13 yesterday and Amy 15 last week! Doesn't life whizz by at an alarming rate?

The other stuff that has kept us busy is neither newsworthy nor of any interest to anyone else, so I'll not bore you with details but I am going to bore you with pictures of my homegrown red kuri squash, which I am rather proud of. I grew them as an experiment, fully expecting to have either no fruit at all or at best some the size of golfballs but in fact I managed to grow 3 whoppers - which leads me to the conclusion that they must be very easy to grow.

 

 

I've roasted them and made my usual spiced squash soup, which has such a lovely, warming autumny taste.

 

 

 

 

The colour of the soup has been featuring heavily in my autumny knitting too. In fact I've been just a bit obsessed with gorgeous mustardy-coloured yarn recently (as my friends who recently came yarn shopping with me might of heard me say once or twice).

Here, I'm using 2 skeins of MadelineTosh's new yarn home to make a really thick and cosy cowl. Pattern: Gaptastic Cowl, Yarn: MadelineTosh Home in 'candlewick', needles: 8mm

 

 

I have made one change to the pattern - using double moss stitch instead of the single.

 

 

and I might have a few other little mustardy projects on the go too...

 

 

Well, it's nice to be back here again and I'm looking forward to catching up with what everyone else has been blogging about recently - I feel horribly out of touch yet again. I plan to be back here later in the week with that giveaway that I promised weeks ago. And my work on the next patterns is going well - I'll give you a glimpse of what is coming up before the end of the month.

Thanks as always for stopping by, J x

 PS: here's the birthday boy enjoying his helium balloon and laughing at his own reflection!

 

 

Fair Isle cuffs

Thanks so much for all of the good wishes for Toby. He did indeed pass the Custard Cream test and was back at school for the rest of last week with only a slight snuffle.

 

 

(for those of you who asked, these are Custard Creams - a very British biscuit with a vanilla custard flavoured cream sandwiched between two shortbread halves and Toby's number one biscuit choice.)

With Toby busy again I've been settling back into term time routines and have started pattern writing again in earnest. A couple of people have asked for a hint about which animal I'm working on and all I'll say for now is 'squeak', but I hope to have some pictures to share on progress next week. I'm also working on a little free pattern accessory for the knitted animals which will be a part of my anniversary give-away later in the month, so more of that soon too.

 

 

The Fair Isle cuffs that I was working on in the previous post are now finished. I did smile at some of the comments and the fact that people found it funny I would say knitting Fair Isle is an easier alternative than pattern writing knitting. I think the reason for that is mostly due to the fact that I was making the cuffs for myself and so the pressure was off - if I made any mistakes it didn't really matter. When I'm working on writing patterns I try really hard to get them error free, which takes lots of concentration on stitch and row counting and checking and it can be quite intense. But, I'll also let you into a secret - Fair Isle knitting looks far more complicated than it really is. Each row has only 2 colours and these are repeated at rhythmically regular intervals. So if you look at the row you are on and note that you work 1 stitch of the first colour followed by 3 of the second colour then you're free to day-dream or follow what's on the TV. If you'd like some tips on knitting Fair Isle neatly, I've written a post here with how I like to work and there are loads of good video tutorials on You Tube too. Once you've got the basics you're able to tackle any 2 colour knitting and Fair Isle projects are always nice to impress your friends with.

 

 

I've written up a chart for these which is now available. I hesitate to call it a pattern as I've just included a chart and this is simply a tube-type wrist-warmer with no shaping, but it's there if you'd like to make a pair.

 

 

Right, I'm off to do some more pattern writing while it's quiet here. I'll be back with an update  soon x