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Knitted Toys from Neat Designers

Posted on December 18, 2008 by Anna

It’s been my pleasure to get to know some talented knitters over the past couple of years that I’ve had my website up. Many of them design toys of their own, so I thought I’d post a few of my favorites as last-minute gifts. All of the below patterns are available online, so all you need is a trip to your yarn stash or maybe the local yarn store (because you were going there anyway) to get started.

For an inventor or anyone in need of a bright idea:

Bright Spark the Light Bulb by Kate Jeffery
Available as a free download on Ravelry.

For the musician in your life:

Guitar by Katie Park
Available on Etsy or Ravelry.

For your hipster friends or great-aunt who still collects owls:

Horned Owl by Hansi Singh
Available on Etsy or Ravelry.

For Australo-philes or kiwi fruit fans:

Crazy Kiwi Bird by Hannah Kaminski
Free on her blog.

For anyone who likes silly monsters (that’s everyone!):

mmmmm by Joan De Lurio
Available on Etsy or Ravelry.

That should just about cover everybody on your list, right? If not, you might check out the patterns in my own shop and the freebies on my blog.

Happy holiday knitting!

Two Funny Toys

Posted on December 17, 2008 by Anna

I was lucky enough to be able to attend both of the plush-making workshops that we recently held at gallery hanahou in conjunction with Luv-able + Hug-able!

The first workshop was led by the Ossu! Syugeibu “crafting club” from Tokyo, who encourage people to craft without patterns or any skill whatsoever. We made funny creatures out of socks, somewhat a la Sock and Glove but without stuffing and with a mouth opening. Mine turned out to be a type of bear with a bow tie.

Here he is gagging on his hand.

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The idea is that the toy will change shape depending on what kinds of objects you put in its mouth, but I kind of like my guy floppy.

The second workshop was the Jenny Harada workshop last Saturday, in which Jenny led us in making silly Elf Chums! This is the second workshop I’ve taken with Jenny. She’s a very patient teacher, especially when I’m attempting to sew things on the inside of my toy.

Here you see my Elf Chum (on the left) next to two of Jenny’s. (Her furry brown one is still my favorite.)

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And here you see it with his cousin Bjornzi, a plush in Luv-able + Hug-able that I bought at the opening and have yet to bring home:

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Both my red bear and my little elf have moved in with me, but neither of them have names. Any suggestions?

Update: Jenny’s Elf Chum pattern is now available in PDF form in her Etsy shop. So go make your own!

Santa Snail and Santa Slug

Posted on December 15, 2008 by Anna

I was happy to see that Whipup blogged about my free Snails and Slugs pattern last week as a “simple gift” for the holidays. This inspired me to make them just a bit more festive.

santasnailslug

The tiny Santa hats are very simple to make.

With white fingering-weight sock yarn, cast on 9 sts onto 3 size 1 or 2 dpns, and join in a rnd.
Purl one rnd.
Switch to red sock yarn, and knit 2 rnds.
Next rnd: [k2tog, k1] 3 times (6 sts)
Knit 2 more rnds, then break yarn and draw through sts with a tapestry needle.

For pom pom, thread white yarn through top of hat several times, crisscrossing over the six stitches that you pulled together to close the end. (I made more of these stitches on the hat on the left for a bigger pom pom.)

Weave in loose ends, and now you have a Santa topper for your Snail or Slug!

Couture Cross Stitch

Posted on December 12, 2008 by Anna

This has been a nice break from endless knitting, started over the Thanksgiving holiday.

gera

My awesome mother-in-law Bonney gave me the chart, which was created by Kyoko Maruoka, aka Gera. Her designs are way cuter than most traditional cross stitch.

(My finished cross stitch will hopefully resemble the above in the end.)

Outside of Japan, you can get them from superbuzzy. But this cute Japanese import doesn’t come cheap—it’s$17.95 for just the charts to the above design, NOT a kit. No wonder Bonney thought she was getting kits, and ordered multiples of the same design! Well, at least I’m getting full enjoyment out of this project.

Highballs for All

Posted on December 11, 2008 by Anna

I seem to be on a ’90s music kick lately. Well, here’s one more. But this time it’s new to me!

The Coctails made playful lounge-y music in Chicago in the early ’90s, which I discovered recently when I should have been working or maybe sleeping. The collection of their early works contained on the Early Hi-Ball Years album is actually an eclectic mix of sounds from different genres and eras throughout the 20th century—it’s mostly light on vocals and heavy on vibraphone and sax, but there are some exceptions. One of my favorite exceptions is “Jobless,” a very catchy little song that stops abruptly after 58 seconds.

Later in the ’90s, the Coctails changed their sound to more closely resemble something like Pavement, which is fine, but less interesting to me than their earlier groove.

Mmmmm!

Posted on December 10, 2008 by Anna

Coincidentally, one of yesterday’s Elf makers just released a new knitted toy pattern of her own!

Meet mmmmm, aka Mr. Mighty Munchie Mouth-pouch Monster!

Aren’t they hilarous? This is an original pattern by Joan De Lurio available as a pdf from Ravelry or Etsy for $5.

Joan, aka Giolou, has tested tons of patterns for me over the past two years, so she really knows her stuff when it comes to pattern construction, and toys in particular.

Nice job Joan!

Elves Aplenty!

Posted on December 9, 2008 by Anna

December feels like the fastest month of the year to many of us, I’m sure. Luckily, some of us are getting a little extra help this year from a few diminutive friends.

Sparkle sparkle! No one can accuse lisamarykay1’s Elves of not getting into the holiday spirit.

Giolou whipped up some fraternal twins, Winey and Limey, to help her out for the holidays. They may have stubby appendages, but they look ready to lend plenty of moral support!

Hannah’s duo has “Christmas tree radar,” and set up camp under her tree while her back was turned. These guys are ready for the 25th!

Something tells me that many more elves elves are on their way. Thank you very much to Giolou and Hannah for testing!

Pics from Luv-able and Hug-able

Posted on December 7, 2008 by Anna

The opening last Thursday was wonderful! The gallery was full throughout the evening, and many people went home with new hug-able friends. Thank you to those of you who turned out!

I was too busy to take too many photos, but here are a few from Thursday.

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I wanted to take home all of these, but I ended up picking the big blue furry guy with the candy cane legs!
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Katie Park, known to many of you as Caffaknitted, was there with her Henry VIII and his darling wives (who are less blurry in real life).
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Nicole Gastonguay was there too! Her creations were way cute.
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Blythe Church sent us some amazing objects.
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Love this tiny antlered creature by Ariana Marinelli.
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Ossu! Syugeibu came all the way from Tokyo with their Mr. Slim. Then they lead a fun workshop at the gallery on Friday.
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And of course Jenny Harada was there! She made the blue furry guy that I adopted. (And I just noticed her matching stockings!)
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Funny plushes by Rei Komurasaki:
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Eloole made their versions of Picasso and Dali.
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Here I am with the cities and a few rogue elves.
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More pics are up on the gallery hanahou flickr page. The show will be up and also online through January 7th!

Luv-able and Hug-able
Through January 7
gallery hanahou
611 Broadway, Suite 730, NYC [7th Floor of the Cable Building, NW corner of Broadway + Houston]