Sue's Knitting Projects

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...

Back in February, I remembered how my mother used to knit character sweaters for my sons when they were toddlers. Browsing through old photos, I found pictures of several featuring Thomas the Tank Engine, Postman Pat and Fireman Sam. I felt inspired to try one for my grandson, who - at the time - was just over two-and-a-half, and a fan of the same characters.   I could not find any suitable current knitting patterns, but discovered 'The Postman Pat knitting book' by Joy Gammon second-hand online. I was particularly keen on the 'Standing Postman Pat' version of the jumper (there are four different designs in the book) as that's one that my mother knitted. It also looked simpler than the others! I asked my son for my grandson's measurements, and decided, as my mother did, to knit the main part of the sweater in grey rather than red. By the time I began it was the end of March, and at first I made slow progress. I had never followed a chart before.  I began by...

Pondering knitting some soft toys for young friends, one of them commented that her older brother, who is about to turn 18, is a great fan of penguins. They thought he would appreciate a knitted toy penguin for his birthday. I was a bit dubious, but then we spotted the mini penguins in Sachiyo Ishii's book 'Tiny Toys to Make'. It didn't look too difficult, so I thought I'd try one and see how it looked.  The book recommends 2.75mm needles and double knitting yarn, but I prefer 3mm ones; I knit rather tightly anyway. The book shows one penguin in grey and white, one in blue and white. I was pretty sure penguins were black and white, so I set to work with black yarn, left over from another project. The pattern only takes very small amounts of each, and was so quick to knit that I finished it in about forty-five minutes. The head and body are made in one piece, and the feet, wings and beak are separate tiny parts. Sewing together and stuffing took another twenty m...

I offered to knit some soft toys for some young friends, who had showed a lot of interest in the toys I was making for my grandchildren. They liked the idea, and spent some time browsing my booklets. Slightly to my surprise, one friend - soon to be seven years old - opted for the pink pig in Jean Greenhowe's 'knitted animals' book. It's not a toy I've knitted before, but it looked straightforward, and I had some pink yarn already, which she agreed was a suitable colour. She asked for the pig's neck tie to be dark pink rather than blue. The pattern said that the set of small animals on the page - a koala, a rabbit and a bear, in addition to the piglet - only needed oddments of double knitting yarn. That's probably true for the ones knitted in more than one colour, but the piglet is pink throughout, and in fact took about 25g of yarn, which is more than I would consider an 'oddment'. I used 3mm needles and followed the instructions exactly. Ther...

I completed my most recent knitting project just a few days before my almost-three-year-old grandson (and his family) come to stay. He's a great fan of Postman Pat, so a few months ago I ordered 'The Postman Pat Knitting Book' by Joy Gammon. My aim was to knit a sweater, and that's nearly completed, but I also rather fell in love with the black-and-white cat Jess, and have been knitting that as well. Here's the final product, which, I realise, is similar to the original Jess in the 1980s/1990s series, but doesn't really look all that much like Jess in the 'new' Postman Pat books and TV show: But I hope he'll like it anyway. It's been quite a project. The book suggested using brushed yarn, but I couldn't find any easily, so I decided to use ordinary double knitting wool.  It wasn't until I was over half way through that I realised that the main body, head, legs and tail sections are all 'inside out', as it were. th...

Having knitted a soft pink and grey ball for my infant granddaughter, I thought I'd do a smaller one for my almost-three-year-old grandson, so he also has something that may be thrown or rolled in the house. In the same trio of knitted balls in my Paton's 'more bazaar items' booklet, one was supposed to be knitted in chunky yarn on larger needles. I decided to use double knitting and my favourite 3.25mm needles (10 in old style UK measurement) so that the result would be smaller.  I'm not usually sexist about colours, but since I like turquoise and I had some available, I opted for turquoise and grey. The pattern involved five identical panels, and they were rather easier to knit than those of the diamond motif ball.  Each one took me around 20-25 minutes and by the fourth one, I knew what I was doing and barely glanced at the pattern. Sewing together was straightforward, and the result not too bad: The grey amounts look bigger than the turquoise; this ma...

One of the knitting pattern booklets I've had for a long time is the Patons 'More Bazaar Items'. Many years ago I knitted a couple of the soft toys from it, as well as a tea-cosy cover for one of my grandmothers. It's not one I'd looked at for a while, but I was intrigued by the three different soft balls. I thought they'd be ideal for rolling around a hard floor, so I decided to knit one for my infant granddaughter who will be here in a few weeks. I studied all three of the ball patterns, and opted for the one called 'diamond motif'. I quickly realised that the diamond shapes shown in the pattern are embroidered on after the knitting. I prefer to keep sewing to a minimum, so I thought I'd try making the ball by itself.  The pattern said that it needed 50g each of two contrasting colours, double knitting. So as I had an unstarted bright pink and an unstarted grey, I chose them. Neither was Patons brand, but I don't suppose that matters. T...

Just over a year ago, when I decided to start knitting again, I browsed Amazon for some ideas. I put a couple of things on my wishlist, one by an author whose work I already knew, and one by someone I had never heard of. 'Tiny Toys to Knit' showed lots of very cute looking little animals, and I thought it could be fun to knit some really small toys or ornaments. I started the 'Little Beagle', near the back of the book, some time last year.  The author is quite flexible about yarn thickness and needle sizes, She recommends double knitting (or even tapestry yarn for some parts, as it's easy to have oddments of those) and 2.75mm needles, but suggests her readers experiment. I decided to use 3mm needles instead. I knit fairly tightly, and 2.75 (12 in the old UK gauge) seemed a bit too small. It didn't take much yarn at all. I opted for the black, brown and white one as I liked the look of it, and found it very quick and easy to knit. The head, a little confusin...

This is another project which I started some years ago. I don't know exactly when, but probably about ten years ago.  It's called, simply, 'kitten' in the Jean Greenhowe 'Knitted Animals' booklet from which I knitted many toys for my sons, back in the 1990s. I knitted this not with the recommended double knitting yarn, but with some rather thicker wool I had bought for something else. At the time, living in a new neighbourhood, I had no idea where I could buy yarn other than random small balls from the thrift store. But I had some thicker wool in cream, and used that. I don't remember what size of needles I used. For some reason I had mostly finished the kitten body, and had stuffed and sewn it together, even including the facial features which I tend to leave until the end. But I had not sewn the tail in place, nor had I knitted the cushion.  Perhaps this is because I don't like pink, but couldn't decide on an appropriate colour for the cushion...

I don't remember when I started knitting this mouse. I made several of the toys from Jean Greenhowe's excellent 'Knitted Animals' booklet back in the early 1990s when my sons were young, and liked an ever-expanding selection of soft toys. I made a frog, an owl; I think I even made the Puss in Boots. However the four mice, one for each season, didn't really appeal to them. I thought they were rather cute, and probably began making it about ten years ago. I didn't have a great selection of yarns, and used some rather knobbly curly wool for the apron. But for some reason, although I stuffed both the head and the body, I never finished it. After completing other projects, I decided I'd finish the mouse.  I was pleased to note that, rather than using cardboard for the base, I'd used some stiff fabric, making it suitable for a child's toy. I don't know how well the shape would hold if it had to be washed, but at least it wouldn't disintegra...

I wanted to try something different. I had thought about the Jean Greenhowe Cinderalla doll, with two bodies and two entirely different outfits, but decided to start with something slightly easier. So I opted for the 'hush-a-bye-baby' doll, which has two faces, one on each side of the head, depending on whether the doll is supposed to be awake or asleep. This doll is in the Jean Greenhowe 'Christmas Treasures' booklet, which is not currently in print but reasonably easy to find second-hand. I bought mine originally because I wanted the donkey for my Nativity scene. I had some bright yellow yarn, and some turquoise, and - as so often - decided to make the skin town a pale olive rather than pink.  I used the author's excellent method of creating eyes by making a knot in the middle of a piece of black yarn, then sewing each end so that it comes out in a place that isn't going to show, and knotting them together. One of the techniques I particularly like i...

I knew I was going to knit a specific toy for my nearly-three-year-old grandson, so wanted to make something small for my four-month-old granddaughter.  She has some teddies and other soft toys, so I decided to try the girl elephant from Jean Greenhowe's 'Knitted Animals' booklet, something I've had for many years, and used extensively about twenty-five years ago. The finished elephant is only about 15cm (6 inches) high, so it was fairly quick to make. The pattern shows four elephants: a girl in a pink stripy dress, a boy with a stripy top, a sailor with a blue outfit and cap, and a bedtime elephant with a nightcap. The girl elephant was the obvious one to choose, and I decided immediately that I would not include the twisted yarn bow that's by the toy's ear (I was going to say 'hair' but elephants don't have hair!) The instructions, as always with Jean Greenhowe's patterns, were straightforward and everything worked as expected. The body...