Blue Bunny Jumper

This may be my last post for a week or two as I have been asked, as a matter of some urgency, to do some knitting for my little niece.  I will tell you more about that when I post my current projects. 

In the meantime, I have one of my favourite patterns to share with you, a lovely Fair Isle design featuring a row of sweet bunnies, complete with pom-pom tails.

This jumper is made from white and navy double knit yarn and has six buttons at the shoulder.  For those who are interested in such things the pattern is by Emu, number 8776A.

I have tried to get in close with this photo so you can see the knitted pom-poms on the rabbits.  The rabbits on the reverse of the jumper are plain so the tails do not dig into baby when they lay down.

This jumper has created more than a little interest in the family and I am sure this will not be the last time you see a version of it here.

Dionne

Knitted Jacket

I know, I know, you have seen this design many times before.  It is the only Aran pattern I can knit.  This pattern does not require a third needle, which is where I come undone, try as I might, I cannot hold on to that small third needle.  But it looks good, doesn't it?

This pattern is one of my eBay purchases and there is no name on the pattern only the reference to 'Knitting Pattern 398'.

I have tried to take a few close-up photographs so you can see the stitches a little better.  That little twisty cable one is my favourite.

I hope you have a great day.

Dionne

Congratulations Cliff the Stork

A few days ago I posted a card which was inspired by The Crafty Stamper'.  When I visited The Colour of Love's website to purchase Georgie Giraffe, I was struck by the number of really cute baby images they had, so I purchased another.

This image is called Cliff the Stork and, once again I took my inspiration from the stunning card made by Carol The Crafty Stamper. However, I could not faithfully reproduce her design because my stash of dies is very different to hers. Why is it that, no matter how many dies you have, you never seem to have the one you want?

Before making my card I spent the better part of the day sorting through all of my dies to see exactly what I had which I could use with this card.  This process left me asking myself three questions .....

•  i) why do we crafters buy so many dies, especially the nesting ones? 
• ii) I have tried several different ways of storing my dies and nothing seems to work that well so, when you have so many, what is the best way to store them? and 
• iii) why do these little bits of metal weigh so much? (My arms and shoulders ached so much after lifting those heavy boxes.)

At the start of this tidying up process I had all of my dies in one large box , admittedly there were a few new ones which had not made it to the box, and the box had burst it's seams.  I tapped up the box and then started re-stacking the dies, I could not get them all into the box.  I then hit on the idea of attaching all of the nesting dies to those magnetic sheets and putting them into a ring binder.  I still could not get the remaining dies into my big box.  My die and embossing folder stash now fill one ring binder, an extra strong box which started it's life as a Christmas hamper (I think that did mention that it was a big box) and three shoe box sized boxes and I still do not have the dies I wanted to make this card!

I coloured Cliff the Stork with Promarkers and picked out one or two places with Glossy Accents.  The dies are Spellbinders and Transer and the ribbon is from Really Reasonable Ribbons.  I used two different coloured inks to distress the edges of the card and the blue backing paper is pearlised - unfortunately, you cannot really see that here.

(I am sure there must be a way to turn this photograph the right way up but I cannot for the life of me figure out how.)

If you are not familiar with The Crafty Stamper's work, may I suggest that you take a few minutes to go there now, it is packed full of awe-inspiring designs.  

Have a good day and thank you for visiting my blog.

Dionne

Oscar's Little Brother

You may recall that a short while ago I promised you more information about Oscar's Little brother.

Oscar and his brother are made from the exact same Mary Jane's Tearoom pattern but I used a different brand of alpaca wool and the grey wool turned out to be a lot finer than the white.  Consequently Oscar's brother is, as you can see, smaller than Oscar, by how much really surprized me, after all the needle sizes and number of stitches was the same for both rabbits.

The result was a much neater 'fabric' and the reduced height made him look that much sweeter - if that is at all possible.

Looking at these photographs I realise that his outfit looks very much like a football strip, I must go back to my post on Oscar to see if he looks the same.

All of the clothes are made in 4 ply cotton, however, I had to adjust the size to make them fit this miniature version of Oscar Rabbit.

This sweet little stripey jumper has a triple heart motif with a polo neckline.

I made the pantaloons in an ivory white and left a slit in the back for his big powder puff tail to pop through.

The boots and socks are the one exception to the 4 ply cotton rule for the clothes, these are made from more alpaca.

His socks are actually part of his feet and legs and his boots slip neatly over the top of the socks.

I do love the fluffy tails these bunnies have.

Just one last shot of Oscar and his little brother so you can see for yourself the difference in size.

Dionne


Some of the other patterns I have made from this series are:-

Anaka Rabbit
Bluebell Rabbit
Bo Rabbit
Candy Bear
Daisy Bear
Donovan Bear
Dulci Rabbit
Lavender Rabbit
Oscar Rabbit

Prinrose Rabbit
Romeo Bear

Star and Stripes Jumper

Friday already, where do the weeks go?

Now I know that all the card makers out there will relate to this little tale.  This pale blue jumper started life as just that, a plain blue jumper.  Half way up the second sleeve I ran out of yarn and, much to my surprize, I did not have a second ball in my stash.  I was so sure I had another ball!

So like any good card maker I started improvising.  First, I unpicked both sleeves and used some white yarn to make them striped.  However, I then became concerned that the jumper would look exactly like what it was - a fudge job.  So next I unpicked some of the front and put a star shape on the chest.  I am hoping that it now looks like that is exactly what I intended to do from the start - do you think I pulled it off?

The plain jumper pattern is the easy to knit - BHKC pattern number 3.  I love this pattern, both the cardigans and jumpers are so quick and easy to make.

I hope you have a great weekend.

Dionne 

Welcome Georgie Giraffe

I hope you are well.

A few months ago I spotted this super cute image of Georgie Giraffe on my dear friend The Crafty Stamper's blog, the card Carol made with is image was breathtaking and very inspiring.  As my family were eagerly awaiting a new addition I headed to The Colour of Love's website to purchase a couple of their enchanting baby images.

My card is not anything like the one by The Crafty Stamper, but none-the-less I am very pleased with the result.

I coloured little 'Georgie' with Promarkers and picked out one or two places with Glossy Accents.  The hearts were made with a Sizzix Bigz die and the baby mobile die is by Transer.  The ribbon is from Really Reasonable Ribbon and the animal buttons are from my stash.

I made this card for the proud grandparents, in a day or two I shall share the one I made for the very happy new parents.


Dionne

Oscar Rabbit

I've had my knitting needles out again, this time it is the last of my Mary Jane's Tearoom patterns by Susan Hickson.  Which is very sad in many ways, however all of the bunnies are the same pattern, so all I need do is design my own clothes and come up with a suitable name for my individual bears and rabbits.  Of course, Susan Hickson has design many more toy patterns which are also available from Ravelry, so there are other patterns for me to collect.

The last of these lovely rabbits is 'Oscar'.  Isn't he sweet in his jumper with the heat motif and his pantaloons and walking boots.

Oscar's body is made from alpaca wool, it is beautifully soft but this wool is much finer than any other Double Knit yarns I have ever use. Therefore, Oscar is smaller than stated in the pattern and all of his clothes were much too large, to get his clothes to fit, I  knit them on 2mm needles instead of 2.75mm.

All of the clothes are made in 4 ply cotton.  This sweet little stripey jumper has a heart motif and polo neckline.

If you follow my blog you will know that my sister has a thing about toys wearing underwear and she has installed into me the need to make underpants for my knitted toys.  However, the Mary Jane's Tearoom rabbits do not have underpants patterns so I have designed my own boxer shorts for Oscar.

One of the songs from Bugsy Malone pops into my head whenever I look at this photo ...'So you want to be a Boxer?  In the golden ring.'  Inexplicably it really tickles me how his legs dangle out of his shorts, perhaps it has something to do with the big boots on the other end of his legs.  

On top of is boxers Oscar has a smart pair of pantaloons, made in silver grey cotton and with the obligatory slit in the back for his tail to pop through.

Oscar's socks are made as part of his feet and legs, his walking boots slip snugly over the top of the socks.

Time for the full frontal shot, please look away if you are of a delicate nature.  I can never resist sharing the the rear view with the fabulous fluffy tail.

Now the spoiler alert .... Oscar has a little brother.  Watch out for more news of him some time soon.

Dionne


Some of the other patterns I have made from this series are:-

Anaka Rabbit
Bluebell Rabbit
Bo Rabbit
Candy Bear
Daisy Bear
Donovan Bear
Dulci Rabbit
Lavender Rabbit

Prinrose Rabbit
Romeo Bear

Happy Bees

Wishing my dear friend Lisette, aka Mrs Beez, a very happy birthday (between you and me, it is not her birthday today but circumstance prevented me posting her card on the actual day).

Because of her nickname I am persistently drawn to all things 'bee' when it comes to Lisette's birthday.  Although, in truth, there are so many attractive things about her generous nature which I could focus on, like her love for her family, her adoration of Christmas, her natural affinity with good food - especially afternoon teas ...... and she is a brilliant cook herself, I find myself drawn to the bees.  

So sticking to my 'bee' theme, here is the card I made for her this year.

The bee images are from Digital Delights - Queen Bee and Barnaby Bee.  I coloured Queen Bee with Promarkers and used Glossy Accents to highlight parts of the crown, wings and antenna.

The card and papers are from my stash and the embossed gold paper was from Stamin' Up; it is such a shame that the camera cannot show you just how lovely that paper really is.  The large gold and pearl bee came from ebay and the unreadable sentiment is from Craftwork Cards.

Barnaby Bee went on the inside of the card and I coloured him with some metallic Derwent pencils, unfortunately they did not cover very well, and I had to go over them with some other pencils, so the end result looked a little scratchy.

I am still kicking myself because, right at the very end, I managed to dab a bit of the peach ink from the Stampin' Up 'Happy Birthday' sentiment in the foot of Barnaby Bee.  So annoying!


Dionne