Little Cotton Rabbits

monkey business

They've been a while coming, but at last I've finished working on the monkey patterns and they're now available on Ravelry.

 

 

As usual there is a boy and girl version of the pattern.

 

 

The boy has shorts and two options for making a houndstooth patterned sweater - one that is worked in stranded technique using two colours on each row (shown in bottom of 3rd picture) and the other which is worked in single colour stripes and uses slipped stitches to create the pattern (shown in top of 3rd picture). I've included both because I know that not everyone likes working with 2 colours at once, so the second sweater is easier from this respect.

 

 

The girl pattern also has 2 clothing options - one dress that is worked in stranded technique with two colours on some rows and the second that has a textured dot pattern knitted in a single colour. There are also instructions for making a bow decoration and for adding decoration to her shoes.

Hopefully anyone who uses the pattern will have fun making their own little monkey and I'm really looking forward to seeing the first finished monkeys popping up in the Ravelry group.

We're having a very quiet weekend here without the usual music that comes constantly from Amys room - she's away for the weekend doing her Duke of Edinburgh Award practice expedition. She left yesterday morning in her walking boots and waterproofs with a rucksack almost the same size as her strapped to her back! She's walking around 10 miles with a small team from her school and they then have to pitch camp, cook their own food, spend the night, pack everything away again (this will probably be the hardest part for Amy!) and walk the 10 miles back. Typically after weeks of dry weather this weekend has had a lot of rain so I'm expecting a very damp and tired daughter back at 5ish!

Hope you're having a good weekend where you are, see you soon 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

 

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

Seasonal sweaters pattern

Just a quick post today to say that I've finished my little collection of seasonal sweaters which is now available if you fancy making any extra clothes for your little cotton rabbits.

The pattern has 20 pages (with each design in it's own section so you can print out one rather than the whole thing if you prefer) and contains a range of sweater designs from easy to more challenging knits. There is a Fair-Isle design sweater, a cabled sweater and a reversible top-down cardigan/button back sweater. There are also 3 different styles of simple sweater which can be customised by choosing from eight seasonal designs worked in duplicate stitch. I'll be writing a proper post with tips for duplicate stitch very soon (it sounds a daunting technique but is really very simple)

The pattern is available on Etsy and on Ravelry if you were interested in giving it a go.

Right I'm off to make some duplicate stitch samples for a photo shoot and will pop back next week with those tips. Thanks for stopping by, enjoy what's left of your week x

Elephants

Hello and sorry to have been away for so long.

There has been rather a lot going on here recently in between the day-to-dayness of family life. Of course I've been knitting lots and have finished off a few animals which I'm hoping I have time to re-home before easter. But I've also been busy writing, tweaking and compiling patterns and at last have 2 elephant patterns to share - a girl in a frondy frock and a boy in a textured sweater.

 

 

I've uploaded them to both Etsy and Ravelry if you are interested.

Whilst on the subject of patterns I've also published a new  free supplement to the existing animal patterns - this time for a little peter pan collar which you can attach to any of the dresses. It's my plan to release plenty of free supplements to my patterns, so if you've bought any it's worth taking a look on Ravelry to see what else there is to download. At present there are 2 extra dress designs and the collar but more will be coming.

It's the school Easter break here at the moment, so I don't have much time to chat but after Easter I'll be back properly and now that the latest pattern writing is out of the way I hope to have some more regular posts.

I hope all is well in your corner of the world, see you soon x