Jumbo Comes to Town

Hi

I have been laid up for a while, nothing serious but a stupid accident has kept me off my feet for a few weeks.  As a result of this inactivity my knitting needles have been in overtime.  Before I start boring you with the huge pile of cardigans I have been making for my little nieces, I thought I would show you the elephant I made last Christmas for one of them.

Do you renumber 'Big Bunny'?  He was the extra large bunny I made using one of Julie Williams 'Little Cotton Rabbits' patterns with large needles and chunky yarn.  Well, I have done the same with her Boy Elephant pattern, I really love the result.

Here are a couple of shots to show you how he looks under his clothes, as you can see these patterns are soundly designed and should stand up to all the tugging and dragging around a toddler will inflict on him.  The yarn is wonderfully soft and he is really cuddly.  

His eyes are several French knots stitched one on top of the other.  Just look at that cute tail.

There are only 9 pieces to any of these toys, making them quick and easy to make and it is stunning how quickly chunky yarn knits up.  

Unfortunately, these oversized toys are too big for my stands, so I have had to use an old dictionary to give the stand more height (and even that was not really enough).

I could not make the Boy Elephant clothes using chunky yarn, so instead  I used one of Susan Hickson's Mary Jane's Tearoom patterns.  Although, I had to improvise the neckline of the jumper because the head of this elephant is very large.

The trousers have a drawstring around the waist to ensure they stay in place, they also have a slit in the back to accommodate his tail.

I have photographed him next to a normal sized elephant so you can see how much larger he is .....

oh, and I could not resist showing you both of my big boys side by side.

Meet Candy the White Bear

Hands up who remembers Romeo Bear?  My post was quite some time ago , over a year in fact, so you are forgiven if you do not remember him.  Well, I have at last got around to posting his girlfriend, 'Candy'.  To be honest, I thought I had posted ages ago, but it seems I was mistaken.

Candy is another pattern from Susan Hickson and Mary Jane's Tearoom. You can buy the pattern on-line from Ravelry.  When I made Romeo I managed to match the colours he was originally made in but I could not find those colours for Candy, so I gave her a violet/lavender theme.

As with Romeo, I made the body with from 100% alpaca wool, it is so warm and soft and so very hugable. Candy stands around 14 inches high.

Her clothes are made with 4 ply cotton.  The lilac and white striped jumper has a rolled neck.

Her Violet dungarees have a sweet lazy daisy embroidered on the bib and the buttons are tiny lavender hearts. 

Both the legs of the dungarees and the legs of the bloomers have a pretty Picot edging.

Candy's lavender slippers come with socks attached, these are made with more of the alpaca wool.  I think that the little bows are so sweet.

Candy has a striped hair slide to match the bows on her slippers, it can be removed or moved around.

Under the bow Candy has a sweet lazy daisy embroidered in her ear (to match the heart in Romeo's ear.)

All of her features are embroidered on using black alpaca wool, the eyes are French knots.

I took these photos before I purchased my doll stand and it was hard to keep Candy propped up for her mug shots.

As ever, I have to apologise for the poor lighting in these photos, a lot of the colours are washed out, sorry.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Dionne