Sue's Knitting Projects

This project has been a long time in its gestation. I have had Jean Greenhow's book 'Knitted Toys' for many years, and wanted to try something a tad more ambitious than the smaller toys I had previously knitted. At the suggestion of some small friends, I decided to try her knitted dolls.  I don't think I had realised quite how big they would be, despite the instructions stating that they are each 47cm. These dolls are different from most of the knitted toys in this (or other) books, as they have removable clothes. I didn't know who I was making them for at first. I wasn't sure I would even finish them; I was more interested in making the clothes than the dolls, as they seemed more interesting. It's over two years since I started with this, the 'boy' doll.  I never like knitting dolls with pink faces and hands; the pinks available never seem like flesh colours. So I prefer to use light browns, to give a suggestion of Asia or South America, or p

As I wrote in my last post, about knitting blankets for premature babies , there is quite a demand in UK hospitals for blankets, tiny baby clothes, and also bonding squares. I had not heard of bonding squares until I started reading about knitting for premature babies. I joined a useful Facebook group , and they provide both instructions and some explanations. Bonding squares are knitted in identical pairs, usually square in shape, around 10-12.5cm square (that's four or five inches). They are used when, for any reason, a mother must be separated from her baby. This happens most often when a baby is premature. There is evidence for the vital importance of 'bonding' in the earliest hours after a baby's birth, when he or she gets to know the mother's scent. This works both ways; the baby's scent is an important part of the trigger for the mother to produce milk. Normally mother and baby would spend a lot of time cuddling, including some skin-to-skin contact,

I was looking for a new knitting project for this year, after spending much of 2016 on the knitted nativity characters , and 2017 knitting toys for my grandchildren and some young friends. Early in January I discovered this page about knitting for premature babies in the UK . The page listed several different sizes of blankets that various hospitals require, as well as some other smaller items. A similar project in Cyprus (where I live) had closed, but I knew we would be visiting my son in the south-east of the UK in April, so I set to work with enthusiasm, using one of the patterns given on the site, and some purple yarn I had bought somewhat randomly from the local thrift store. I intended to make an 18x18 inch blanket (yes, all dimensions are given in inches) but despite making an attempt to check my tension, I realised after about twenty rows that this particular pattern - which was the one called 'waffle stitch' in the knitting info pack - knitted fairly tightly, so m

After spending most of the year knitting soft toys for friends and grandchildren, I thought I would try something entirely different. I browsed through my Patons accessories booklet, something I acquired many years ago but, as far as I recall, have never previously used. I decided to attempt the hat labelled 'lacy beret'.  I'm not one to follow fashion, but this kind of hat seems to be 'in' at the moment, and - more importantly - I rather liked it. The pattern looked complicated, but is only one piece. I felt more confident than I did a year ago, after trying so many different items, so I found some grey yarn - to match, roughly, a grey scarf I have already - and got started. Here's the top view of the finished hat: The first part is deceptively easy. 3mm needles and fifteen rows of simple rib. Then a switch to 4mm needles, and the lacy pattern part.  I had to learn a new acronym: 'tbl' means 'through back of loops'.  I didn'

My three-year-old grandson watched me knitting soft toys for friends, and paged through my patterns. Then he asked me if I could knit the scarecrow shown on the front of Jean Greenhowe's 'knitted toys' book. I gulped a little - it's quite a complex and highly detailed pattern - but said I probably could. He's quite keen on scarecrows, and although I did suggest various alternatives, he stuck to his choice. I said I would send it to him for Christmas. The first part to knit was the trousers, which are done as two pieces in sideways stripes in stocking stitch with the purl facing outwards. They were easy enough. The main body part is knitted with the head as a single piece, and also proved relatively straightforward. Then, keen to see how it looked, I started sewing it together... unfortunately, I was quite tired, and forgot that the trousers were 'inside out', so to speak. So I then had to un-stitch it, by which time I was fed up of sewing. I decided

I had knitted toys or ornaments for four siblings, and just one birthday remained. This was for a girl soon to turn nine years old. She paged through all my patterns, before deciding she would like the one labelled, simply, 'puppy' in the Jean Greenhowe Knitted Animals book. I didn't have any yarn of the colour shown in the book, and couldn't find any at the local shops. Eventually I found quite a nice tan/brown, and my friend said that would be fine. I didn't start knitting it until a couple of weeks before her birthday. The body and front legs are all once piece; a bit fiddly, but not too time-consuming. The head wasn't then too difficult, either. My heart always sinks when I see instructions that begin, 'increase in every stitch' right after casting on. I knit quite tightly, and never like increasing in every stitch. However, there weren't too many stitches, and it wasn't too painful. When I got to the collar piece (in red) I was

I finished the Jean Greenhowe 'Hush-a-bye' knitted doll a few months ago, intended for my granddaughter's first birthday.  One of my young friends kept looking at it, and when I offered to knit something for her birthday, she asked if I could make a few adjustments.  She wanted a doll in white underwear which she could dress, and which she could make more garments for, rather than one with a fixed outfit.  I said I was willing to try, so she helpfully wrote me a list of what she wanted: Detachable skirt No collar or belt Sleeves in the same colour as the skin Chest in white Skirt in beige Bonnet in blue Shoes in brown I sewed a bit of machine style elastic into the skirt so that it doesn't fall off, and when I made the arms, I simply kept knitting, missing out the sleeve cuffs, so that the hands were part of the same piece of knitting as the arms, rather than separate. I was a bit concerned that it wasn't going to look particularly attractive, but o