Tuesday 31 May 2011

knitted menagerie - Part 2

Some of you may be relieved that I'm not going on about soap and candles today... it's time for a return to knitting!  

This is just a quickie to share Part 2 of my Knitted Menagerie...  or, in other words, three more random knitted creatures that I have been making for the baby that is due next week.  I blogged the first three animals here (Frog, Owl and Bunny)  and now it is time to introduce Pig, Bear and Caterpillar.


These have mainly been a way to keep my mind and fingers busy in the last couple of weeks, on days when my body has been too achey and inflated to move.


The caterpillar and the bear are adapted from a range of excellent little patterns that I found on Ravelry, by  Sarah Gasson, aka Knitables.   She has designed a whole range of small animal patterns which are very nicely priced and easy to follow.  I made a few adaptations of my own, the main change being to knit everything in the round, and to convert the bear from a finger puppet into a stuffed toy - (e.g. I improvised his lower body and gave him arms and legs adapted from a lion pattern by the same designer).


As with the first three animals, the pig was adapted from this book of knitted egg cosies by Susie Johns.  Again I had to improvise the lower body and legs, and also dressed him in a t-shirt, as is my whim.
  
When I started this gang of six critters, I was planning to turn them into a dangly cot mobile.  But I'm now wondering if they may be a little on the large size for a mobile and might actually be nicer as hands-on toys to be played with.  

In fact, a couple of friends have already begun to think up adventure stories for Frog and Owl...  (and I suspect I might add to the menagerie over time, especially now that I've discovered Sarah Gasson's patterns).   
As ever, full project details (yarns, needle sizes, etc) can be found on ravelry, here

2 comments:

  1. Cute, cute, cute ........ My niece and nephew were making similar once in Waldorf school, not as professional as yours but with the same cute effect.

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  2. hi! if you are prepared to share the patterns for all your little toys, I would be more than happy to pay for them. I LOVE your toys - the best I have seen on the net. My names is Louise, I am fropm Australia and my email is LLPHOTOGRAPHICS@GMAIL.COM thank you!!

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