Hey everybody! I’m writing about knitted toys right now for something special to be published in the future, and I’d like to ask for your help!
I want to come up with a fun list of the different kinds of people that we knit toys for. Who have you knit toys for as gifts? I’m especially interested in hearing about more unconventional toy recipients—someone with an interesting occupation, such as a truck driver, or maybe someone with an interesting relationship to you, like your great-great-aunt.
Ideally, I would like like to hear about people for whom you’ve knitted Mochimochi Land toys, but any kinds of knitted toys are OK.
So, who have you knitted toys for, and what did you knit? Please comment! (And thank you for your help!)
I’ve made tons of knit food for my nutritionist when I was first figuring out how to maintain a balanced vegan diet. :)
I’ve knitted a couple of toys for *ahem* my kids.
I knit toys for everyone!!! Latest creation is a zombie for a friends son about to celebrate his 18th birthday.
kinda of unoriginal but i knitted a elephant for a new born baby and it happened that the patterns name was the same as the expected baby ^_^
I’ve knit some mochi patterns for my aunt, who loved the grass so much it’s been in all family pictures, from my cousins prom to her swim meets and even graduation.
I made Resisty the resistor and Captain Capacitor for my best friend who is an eletronics/inventor/magic guy. I also made Gargle the Giraffe for him because he looks like a Giraffe.
I mostly knit toys because I can’t resist making them. I seldom have a recipient, so they usually just end up in a closet. I have however knit the mischievous snake for my BF and he loves it. Miscievous snake lives on a shelf in our living room with its mouse. Resisty the resistor and Captain Capacitor lives at my FIL who is a amateur radio operator. A toy I made as a test knitter lives with my mother who loves animals with antlers :)
I have also knit some of Hansigurumi’s animals (snail and chameleon) and they live on some of our loud speakers along with the crab from the new Knitty.
And I once crocheted an elephant for a friend of mine. He and his boyfriend had just had a baby and I wanted to greet him.
I knit little toys for my goddaughter :)
I’ve knit Gargle, from commercial cotton for a friend’s son, and from giraffe-colored yarn I spun for an ex-boyfriend/friend who loves giraffes as much as I do. Oh, and the mischievous snake/mouse for a newborn– I figured he could grow into it, and given his parents’ sense of humor, he’d learn to appreciate it. :D
I’m currently crocheting (not knitting! oh noes!) plushies that look like the main characters of a current television show to mail to the production offices to tell the behind-the-scenes peoples how much fans appreciate their work, too.
But generally I knit toys for my friends, who are mostly in their mid-to-late 20s. Oh, and for people who run the department in which I study/teach– the person who holds a department together is the secretary, and you want to make sure s/he knows you appreciate him/her!
I knit toys for all my friends’ children. I also make them for my nephews. I also make toys for swaps in a Ravelry group. I just love making them up and then giving them their characters by stitching on faces. It feels you have created an individual who is going to bring joy into someone else’s life.
I seem to mostly make toys for my little brother. I’ve been making him toys for most of his life. It started when he was still a toddler with a little pink stuffed elephant. I think my mother still has it somewhere. When he was about 10, I made a plastic canvas space ship – complete with finger puppet aliens. For his PhD graduation last year, I made a knit snake and a crocheted apple. (Pictures on my Rav page.) And, as you know, I asked you to create the hand puppets for him. These he plans to use as part of his work. He is a Clinical Psychologist. The puppets are for play therapy with emotionally abused children. I really should make a few more of these for him.
I’m so proud of my baby brother. I’m glad he still knows how to play with toys. :)
Not knitted, but I made a sewn buffalo toy for my graduate advisor (he did his research in prairies) after I finished my Ph.D.
Most of the toys I’ve made though, I’ve kept for myself.
i knit toys for everyone. the best one was about a year ago for my brother…he has a giant monkey doll (about 1.5 feet tall) so I made him a 2 foot tall knitted banana to go with it. It took me a month and a half to finish He loved it…we took pictures of the banana eating the monkey.
i haven’t ever kept a toy for myself :)
let’s see…I will usually fit the person to the toy, instead of vice versa. Although I really wanted to knit Luv Gun for my criminal law professor because we did a really long section on murder, and a knitted gun seemed appropriate, somehow.
I also knit a cat for my coworker, who has only dogs. It ended up being one of her dogs’ babies, which she gently hides behind her dog bed and carries carefully around in her mouth.
I am loving your answers, everyone! It’s so neat how it almost seems that there is no one who isn’t a rightful recipient of a knitted toy.
I’m planning to make a funny list of all the different types of people that we knit toys for: nutritionists, newlyweds, bachelors, etc.
Did I mention this is for my first book of knitted toy patterns! It’s really being written! So thanks again to you all, and keep ’em coming!
I make them for friends mostly. I have a friends who love dogs, so I make alot of those for them. I just met a new friend over memorial day and she made a mention that she likes penguin and we had went by a shop that has penguins stuffed with lavender. So, I specially made a penguin stuffed w/ lavender and sending it to her now. :)
I made a Bob for my carpenter/artist stepdad, he totally loved it! Other than that I’ve knit (and crocheted) toys for my boyfriend (also an artist) and my friends/siblings/nieces. I think my boyfriend appreciates it most, because he get’s the sculptural aspect of it. He really wants me to get into making knit sculptures and showing them as art. Congratulations on the book!!!
I make them for my friends, and my friends and I made toys for our teachers. Grass for our science teacher, Pundit Babies for our Reading teacher, (we saw Obama’s inauguration speech with him) Butterfull for our PE teacher, and so on so forth. Dustbunnies for the band teacher who never cleans his room, (he hid them around.) And hearts for our core teacher, just because. I just made a Rainycloud for my math teacher because he likes to hang stuff up.
I’m currently knitting a lot of toys for my workplace. I’m a writing center director and our writing center has that institutional gray look. The toys spice things up, get the students talking, and are quick and easy.
I actually haven’t knitted any toys for a baby yet! Crazy I know! But I do have plans to convert some of your patterns (bunny heads and carrots) into a fun mobile for my friend who is having her second child in a Beatrix Potter themed room! I have knitted toys for my sister in law who LOVES all things Japanes and I have knitted a tiny Siamese cat for my Aunt who is in her 50’s and a firmly single cat lady. She also happens to have two Siamese cats. She thought I wouldn’t mind her giving the tiny toy to her kitties to play with, but I quickly corrected her on that!
My Pee Wee Herman doll just loves the Hrumph you made for him. But of course, Pee Wee loves most everyone! Thanks again, Papa
I’m currently knitting a lot of toys for my workplace. I’m a writing center director and our writing center has that institutional gray look. The toys spice things up, get the students talking, and are quick and easy.
i love to make toys for my friends, sisters and my cousins (especially my friend who taught me how to knit)
i like to give out mochi knitted hearts on valentine’s day to my friends
also a friend and i are making toys to give to a hospital
and i recently made some crocheted and knitted toys for an english project – my teacher loved them and asked to keep them ^_^
i’ve also knitted a mole for my chem class (yay extra credit!) but i kept that one!
Hey all — there was a website glitch that caused a delay in comments being posted. But it’s fixed now, so keep them coming!
I have knitted a toy for a friend who had breast cancer. She took the toy with her when she had to go to hospital for operations.
I just started teaching at a youth detention facility. Since the kids there aren’t able to just run around outside anymore I’m knitting up some grass for their classroom.
I knit the Ninjabun Garden for a vegetarian friend of mine for her birthday. I also knit the SausageDog Links for her boyfriend. :D
Two stories. Two Easters ago I played Easter bunny to a local kid I know. I made her a Giant toy Totoro (from Studio Ghibli’s My Neighbor Totoro). She loved it… Although she wondered why it didn’t have a tail… She was told the Easter Bunny lost it along the way.
I also made your small heart pattern. I made quite a few of them in some left over yarn. Then I carried 5-6 of them to my college. During the time I was there, every time I saw someone who looked like they were having a bad day I handed them one. It was a lot of fun and it, hopefully, cheered people up!
I do knit toys for kids sometimes, but I really enjoyed making Resisty for my boyfriend, who is a mechanical engineer! He loved it : )
Hi Anna…
I have made toys for both of my kids (4 and 6 years old). Also, toys have been knit and given to the grandparents and teachers. Actually, I just realized that I have yet to knit a toy for myself yet!
I knit a flower for my great grandmother when she was in the hospital (for the first time in her life at 100 years old!). I thought the knit flower would last longer, and she was a life long fiber artist.
I knit toys for my family for Xmas presents usually. A Joey Ramone Doll for my older brother, strawberries for my little brother’s girlfriend (she’s a redhead who was into Strawberry Shortcake when she was young), slugs and snails for my nephew’s 19 year old girlfriend, puppy finger puppets for my other brother’s wife who works at a vet, and various toys for my two year old daughter.
Hi Anna!
I knit toys for my World Vision Kids… they are light and non-breakable, so they are easily sent in the mail. I also knit them for my friends and family. Most of my toys somehow make it to our kitty babies, though. They love them the most.
I knit toys for my family and friends, pretty much. I gave my boyfriend one of your bats for our 3 year anniversary :) I made my cousin a horse, because she loves horses, and my brother a ninja (that was actually crocheted)!
I make toys for friends, twentysomething lovely people, and for my nieces and nephews who are all under 5 years old.
I’ve made a set of 4 Kates for my nieces and nephews for this Christmas (’09!), the youngest of whom isn’t born yet.
I knit a Rainycloud for my best friend David, who explored your site when I linked to it on my blog and just fell in love. He doesn’t knit, and has been wanting one for a while, so I made it for his last Christmas gift. Oh, and he got a grumpasaurus for his birthday – he’s a really enthusiastic recipient of handmade toys, so gets quite a few!
This weekend I made 7 Bobs (minus feet!) at a folk festival, and they are going in the Christmas/just because gifts box – I love having litttle gifts to post to friends across the country when they are having a rough time, and the Bobs are perfect for it.
I knitted a pair of Sparky lightbulbs for my dad’s Christmas gift last year – he’s a theatrical lighting techy, so they went down very well.
I also sew lots of toys – I really like the Black Apple doll pattern – made David a <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/heatherramsden/3477664794/in/set-72157617258761271/”little nurse from it, and I’ve just finished a doll for my second niece.
So yes, mainly nieces/nephews & friends for occasions. One of these days I’ll make some for me!
The obvious answer is babies. I haven’t made any mochimochiland toys for babies yet mainly because the ones I’ve knit I’ve kept for myself! I also knit Trogdor (from Strong Bad) for my hubby.
Everyone got slugs (and an occasional snail) from my co-workers to relatives to the Yarn Harlot. I would knit them up in meetings, start to finish then give them to someone there! And the other Mochi pattern I used was the resister and capacitor for a Christmas gifts for my dad, I think he laughed for 10 minutes!! :) The were perfect for him.
I crocheted some birds as good luck charms for our high school student exchange program. The pictures are on my ravelry (lovimoment), if you’re interested.
I used the “Birds of a Feather” pattern to make the Travel Bird of Happiness (he is blue – http://www.flickr.com/photos/14457761@N07/2742612557/in/set-72157612179316178/) and the On-Program Support Bird of Tranquility (he is pink – http://www.flickr.com/photos/14457761@N07/2752763633/in/set-72157612179316178/). I used the Lion Brand Penguin pattern to make the Placement Bird of Paradise (in purple, green and orange, decidedly un-penguin colors – http://www.flickr.com/photos/14457761@N07/2712094945/in/set-72157612179316178/). I made an Owlette in maroon and white to be the Pre-Departure Orientation Owl of Knowledge – http://www.flickr.com/photos/14457761@N07/2752763201/in/set-72157612179316178/.
I knit a little wedding cake for my sister when she got married. I knit little animals for my nephew (which he swings around by their tails). All of the Halloween-y stuff I keep (it’s my favorite holiday – I intend to add the Boos this year). A group of friends does a Political Secret Santa on July 4th and/or election day. I think this year I’ll knit the pundit babies for it (last year it was red, white and blue dish cloths).
An elephant for my husband’s co-worker, Rocket Scientist
I have knit-and crocheted-toys for my brand new cousins.
Anytime I look at patterns on the internet, my brother is looking over my shoulder. He always asks for toys…sometimes I make them for him, sometimes not. I have made him a bob and dustbunny. I also knit for “cousin”…He’s my dad’s best friend’s son. And, I knit for…. ME! Not usually but when I get the chance…
I knit toys for my kids, for my friends kids, and my Mom. Like many of the responses above, I like to knit toys that are suitable for the person/occaison: I knit Dust Bunnies for my sister who hates to clean, and will knit Butter Full to tie into a Caterpillar project my kids are doing. Then, when we plant some winter vegetables, will knit Ninjabun.
I am also going to do Rainycloud in white to go with an Eric Carle book about Clouds for an upcoming author study with my kids.
I knit it like i see it, pretty much!!
my favorite reason to knit toys is to test patterns for you, Anna! i just get such a great feeling of joy from contributing to your wonderful world that way… plus, i get a new friend out of it! that’s my second favorite reason to knit toys, they always really like you when they’re finished. ;) so i’ve knit them for you, and for me, and for my beau, for my mom, for my dad and my sister, for one niece and one sister-in-law, and for my oldest friend from college, but never ever ever for anyone who wasn’t *technically* an adult. hee hee.
I love knitting toys for my daughter and my nephew. Anna, your patterns particularly appeal to me for this purpose because they are cute in an innovative way. My nephew especially seems to be partial to small treasures, so he was the first candidate for a snail, which he loves. I’ve made a pair of boos for the aforementioned, and I may just need to whip up a dust bunny for myself to glorify what a horrendous housekeeper I am! My daughter also has a laundry list of your patterns that she wants to me knit for her!
Dentists! They get no love, especially in the movies and on tv. Teeth (with cavities, braces, crowns, fillings, broken), toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, mouthwash….
I knit mochimochi land snails and slugs for the contractor who works on our house, for my friends’birthdays, my librarian, and for my grandparents. I have also knit teddy bears, stuffed monkeys, and mice for my cousins, aunts, and uncles.
I knit toys for my nephews and nieces and the children of my friends. I’m also in the process of knitting a miniature boyfriend for one of my single girlfriends!
To be honest, I haven’t knit many toys as yet. Fear of the patterns, and a fear of DPNs, but I recently knit an acorn to use as a keyring, and now I am going to spring from there!
I am about to knit up your Bunny Nuggets for myself. I am going to place them all over my desk so I am surrounded in cuteness crafted by my own hands. My fiancé appreciates cute, so I think I will surprise him with a Bunny Nuggets to put on his desk, or three, because they have to go in threes. ^_^ I also have a friend who is into cute, so I am probably going to knit her a Bunny Nugget too.
Bunny Nuggets were designed by Rebecca Danger, not me!
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bunny-nuggets
I hadn’t seen them before—they’re really cute.
I just knitted stackable cats for my friend’s birthday; my sister drew a really cute birthday card with one of the cats traveling the world! If I can ask my friend to take some pictures of the birthday card, I’ll post it here.
I also knitted little hearts and sent them in the mail to my friend who moved to California. :) I love your patterns! They’re so cute!
I knitted a bear for my husband for Christmas one year, maybe our second year of marriage. We named it Pohaku, because I gave it to him in Hawaii, and that was the name of the hot stone massage that was all the rage that season. The bear was like our second ‘child’, the first child was a store-bought stuffed bear named Sinky that traveled around the world with us, but then got lost in Los Angeles.
We still have Pohaku, plus two children and a dog now.
I love your site, by the way! I just found it though e-junkie’s list of companies. We just moved to Vancouver, and the only set of needles I have are size 15, so the tiny things are not in my immediate future, but I would love to try something.