I released the Puppet Love pattern about a year ago, but did I ever tell you how it came to be? The pattern was originally commissioned by a New York knitter named Katy, whose brother is a clinical psychologist who works with children. He had asked her to knit some hand puppets for him to use with his younger clients, and she was in need of a basic puppet body shape that she could modify to make into different types of people and animal puppets.

I worked with her to come up with a size and shape that was best for what her brother needed, and since last year, Katy has been hard at work making all kinds of puppets for him! Here are some of her photos.

I asked Katy to tell me a bit about the different characters she’s created, and this is what she said:

I made one for myself and ten for him. I sent him a picture of the yarn/unfinished puppets and asked him what he wanted each color to be. He sent me back a list. The ideas were mostly his. The execution of the ideas were mine.
He specifically asked for three different kinds of puppets. First, there is a family – Mom, Dad, Girl, and Boy. Obvious choices to act out events in the childs’ life. Second, there are some animals – Bird, Lion, Whale. I don’t know what the inspiration was for these, possibly the colors. The lion is my personal favorite. Third, there are what I call movie stars – Godzilla, Vampire, Avatar. I’m guessing recent movies inspired the choices, but we did need some fantasy creatures too. His bosses think they are great and from what I understand they are all using them in their practice as part of the play therapy toys.

I was so happy to hear that she’s getting a lot of use out of the pattern and her brother and his kids are getting a lot of use out of the puppets!

Designing this pattern was a fun challenge for me, and Katy was nice enough to let me add the pattern to my shop last year, so others could make their own customized puppets. And boy, have they ever! There are lots of creative Puppet Love mods on Ravelry, so I’ll have to share some of them here soon.

Feeling compelled to add a little green to your outfit today? If you have a few minutes, you can whip up a shamrock pin by making three hearts from my free pattern, attaching them together, and adding an I-cord!

I blogged about these shamrock pins that veeda made last year, and I’ve since seen one or two more pop up on Ravelry. It’s such a clever idea!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

OK, I just can’t resist sharing Hannah’s technicolor Hugs + Squoze that she just posted on Bittersweet!

Her accompanying post about the dangers of love is equally adorable, so I recommend you head over to her blog to read it. Then check out her recipe for adorable heart-shaped pomegranate pops.

Happy Valentine’s, everyone!

I have a few favorite creative use of my Hearts pattern! Jennyontheblok connected the tips of four knitted hearts, added a leaf and a sweet little button, and voila: a valentine flower!

These would take a bit longer than just making hearts for those you love this Valentine’s, but still a quick project. So you could make hearts for your wider circle and heart flowers for your extra-special ones. Sweet!