Category: Knitted Things

Six Little Lions

Posted on by Anna

Update: I’ve had some inquiries about whether I’ll make a pattern for these guys. Maybe someday! Let me know in the comments if you’d like that.

We now have six little lions to greet our baby when he comes next month!

littlelion5

I’m happy that I was able to come up with six mane variations. But making variations on a simple theme is one of my favorite things to do, so this has been a fun project. (If anyone is still wondering, these guys are about the size of a softball—not choking hazards like all my other tiny projects!)

Today is actually my 10th anniversary—10 years married to my best friend is a pretty good life, and now seems like a perfect time to be adding a third to our family. Just a little more than a month to go!

Four Little Lions

Posted on by Anna

littlelion4

I now have four out of six little lions done, with about six more weeks of pregnancy to go. The end is in sight!

I’m either going to hang these on a circular mobile structure (like the one Joan used for the “Lighthearted Lovers” mobile or else use twigs wrapped in colorful yarn a la The Wooly Woods. Probably six lions is too many to hang from the mobile, but I like the balance of colors, and maybe baby will want one or two to play with anyway.

We may have a ton of practical things to buy and a whole house to move to before the big event, but at least the cute stuff is coming along nicely!

Bumble Bee Beanie Kit Giveaway Winner

Posted on by Anna

Update: Kim sent a photo of her bee onesie—she wasn’t kidding about it!

beeonesie

I don’t know about you all, but now I want a bee onesie too.

Last week I blogged about an interview that Let’s Knit magazine did with me in their July 2015 issue, and I threw in a giveaway because it’s a little boring to just talk about myself.

letsknit_ju15bee

It’s now time to randomly select a winner winner, which is… commenter number 8, Kim!

I had a huge collection of bee related stuff when I was little, and am currently sitting in my bee onesie as I type this, and with our first baby on the way, this would be awesome for them and me!

It seems that this is a very worthy winner. I for one would love to see this bee onesie that she was wearing as she typed!

Congrats, Kim! I’m emailing you for your mailing address right now.

Giant Gnome Update: Three Feet Tall

Posted on by Anna

Previously: Project Giant Gnome

The cool thing about knitting a giant gnome is that at some point, you get to knit standing up!

giantgnome_standing

But most of the time I’ve been sitting.

giantgnome_sitting
(Thank you Audrey Peck for this photo!)

And now, giant gnome has a body!!

giantgnome_body1

I can now say exactly how tall he is: three feet, four inches (a little over one meter). Pretty big for a gnome!

I’m feeling good about the project right now, but let me tell you, over the past week there were at least two points at which I was very close to ripping out the hat and the face, or the face and the shirt, or the face and the shirt and everything else, and starting all over again. I think I could have done more planning in advance, but there’s also just an unpredictability when working with very large, soft things. Even though all the increases and decreases are uniform, from different angles the gnome can look plump and perfect or cylindrical and not-so-perfect.

My method of judging the progress was to stuff the body and take a photo, then overlay some roughly-drawn shapes to get an idea of what the proportions will look like.

giantgnome_photoshop1

The black area under this guy’s pants is where I cut the pants in Photoshop and nudged them up under the shirt. Because the pants were looking way too tall! But in the end, instead of frogging back to the point where I could make the pants shorter, I took a shortcut and gathered them at the bottom and stitched them in place.

giantgnome_underside

This seems a little like cheating, but I’m OK with it—backtracking at this point would mean less time to make other things for the show, a compromise I don’t want to make right now. (And the reason these stitches are so sloppy is because I’m going to have to undo them to remove the stuffing for shipping anyway.)

It feels like the hard part is over now that the body is finished, but many questions remain: Do I have enough yarn, or do I need to request more? What should I make giant gnome eyes out of? Could I pull off a second giant gnome in time for the show? Is there a treatment for gnome addiction? How about gnome burnout? Check back to find out what happens!

Thanks again to Lion Brand for sponsoring the yarn for this project. And don’t forget to send me your tiny gnomes!!!

Happy 2015

Posted on by Anna

new2015

Happy 2015, year of the sheep! I’m taking that as an auspicious sign for all of us.

2014 was overall pretty good, but I also think I spent a lot of it stressed out, either because I had taken on too much or because I wasn’t as busy as I wanted to be and was feeling weird about that. It was also our first full year living in Chicago, and getting settled in a new place just takes time, I’ve discovered. This year I’m resolving to focus more on things that I’m truly excited about and not worry so much about doing everything possible. That might mean a little less blogging here, but I still have plenty of exciting things in mind for 2015. Including:

– Vogue Knitting LIVE in NYC in less than two weeks! (More on that soon.)

– An exciting participatory art project

– A new book! (Which you can already preorder if you are so inclined.)

– Obviously, a new tiny sheep pattern! (Coming soon.)

I think it’s going to be a really good year, and I’m looking forward to seeing what we all do with it!

Creepy Peepers

Posted on by Anna

I think it’s been established that I prefer basic black when it comes to eyes. I like how big black eyes are cute, but also can be mysterious and even creepy—you can almost read whatever you like into them. But when I was designing the Thwickeds, which were partly inspired by Jenny Harada’s plushes (who all have kooky eyes), I briefly considered a couple of different options…

thwickedeyes

Spooky black won the day, but there are so many cool eyes out there (I went to 6060 on Etsy to get mine), I’m going to have to start incorporating them into my art projects, if not my pattern designs.

Do you give your toys funky eyes of one kind or another? I’d love to see examples!