Pompom puffin

This puffin is made from 2 pompoms. The yarn I used is Jamieson and Smith Shetland wool.

I made him during an online speedcrafting session with Helen Robertson, a designer from Shetland.

These sessions (I joined three series during lockdown) were so joyful, meeting new people, learning a new craft, having a chat. I hope Helen will host more online ones in the future 😊!

I love gnomes!

Inspired by the knitted figures and animals I keep seeing on Pinterest, I decided to knit a couple of gnomes myself. They are my own design and are a fairly straightforward knit. I gave them a hat made of an old sock with a funny charm.

It's another good way to use up those yarn scraps.

My new gnomes played their part in our Christmas decor last year 😊

 

Christmas speedcrafting

Last Christmas I joined two speedcrafting sessions with Helen Robertson.

On the one evening we knitted an owl:

The other we made a Christmas pudding, which started us chatting about Christmas traditions and food from around the world. We were a group of people from the US, Shetland, Iceland, Sweden, England, Scotland and Belgium, so it got very interesting, we all got hungry and we had some great laughs! This is the World Wide Web at its best!

I used Shetland’s Jamieson’s spindrift yarn.

I gave the Christmas pudding to my little bear, who was very pleased:

A Pompom snowman

I used the best part of a skein of soft and fluffy organic yarn (Pure,100 % wool, Creative Collection by Veritas - 50g/100m) to make this pompom snowman. I gave him a sweet colourful nightcap and his nose is made from a tiny scrap of fabric. Who doesn't love a cute snowman?

Doll make-over

Like many other people, we used the lockdown period to clean out our attic. I came across this doll that a dear, old relative gave to me as a present in the seventies.  I was a little girl back than and not very fond of the doll, but I’ve held on to it because of the person who gave it to me. I still think it is rather ugly and even a bit scary... But I’m also still not able to get rid of her, so I decided to give her a make-over, using fabric scraps from old clothes and a beaded necklace. Now she looks nice and happy and keeps me company in my workspace.

Projects like this I find the nicest and most rewarding. You get to be creative, look for creative solutions, use your stash to make something you are attached to beautiful again. 

 (And I hate throwing stuff in the bin 😊)

 

                                         Poor old dolly before, not very well loved I'm afraid...

much happier now!

Another dear woodland friend

And here is Robbie the robin, knit from a kit that came with the Christmas special 2013 of Let's Knit magazine.
These kits often contain acrylic yarns that feel horrible and aren't so great to work with. But sometimes the pattern is so cute, that I have found myself persuaded to knit it anyway. Besides, I have learned some great things by making these small objects. And that is why I feel attached to them, although nowadays I make more sustainable yarn choices.
The filling is sustainable though: all kinds of yarn and fabricscraps, so this is one heavy bird!

The owl that didn't like flying

There was this little owl that didn't like to fly. He was more of the observing and the thinking kind, let us say. And so he found other ways to move around, which made him quite a content owl after all!

This is a tiny knitting project with fiddly bits that takes more time than you would think, but the result is fun! You can find the pattern in Mini Knitted Woodland  by Sachiyo Ishii.

He travels by hot air balloon:

Or by cable car:

or gets simply carried around by his human!

There is even some video footage of one of his travels here: https://youtu.be/McY9zydPxAA

Susan B. Andersons lovely Butterfly

I'm a fan of the lovely, wonderful knitting patterns of Susan B. Anderson. This particular pattern can be found in the magazine "Making" No.2 and also here, on Ravelry.
Knitting a Susan B Anderson pattern is on my "20 for 20 list". So despite all the other unfinished projects demanding my attention, I decided to give priority to this one. Just because it is so cute!
The butterfly and cocoon are both worked seamlessly from the bottom up, picking up stitches for the wings and antennae after the body is knitted.
I used small amounts of Baa Ram Ewe Titus yarn (a wool and alpaca blend).
This wasn't a very easy make, but the pattern is clear enough and I loved the process of creating this sweet butterfly in its cosy cocoon.

Shall I fly this way...

...or that way?

 Cosy and warm!

A woodland friend

This little friend, Rusty the squirrel, I knit around 5 years ago. He's made from a kit that came with the magazine Let's Knit (issue 83). As often, the yarn in this kit was dreadful, but I like Rusty and his fluffy tail came out very nice! Also, by knitting him, I learned some new techniques.
And we had a lot of fun taking the pictures!
Perhaps I will knit this pattern again in a nicer rustic yarn. Not sure about what yarn (non-acrylic) to use for the tail though. Anyone any ideas?

Ferdinand

I have a soft spot for Ferdinand, perhaps because I wrestled a lot with the pattern from Mollie Makes issue 91. In the magazine the squirrel was made out of felt, which I think is more forgiving and easier to shape. I used fabric from a discarded T-shirt. The filling consists of yarn- and fabric scraps, not the most easily manageable stuff. So it took me a while to make Ferdinand looking sweet. In the end I got there more or less I think.
Ferdinand wears a lovely soft flannel cloak and also has a warm knitted hat, all custom-made.
He lives with me in his own hanging basket, knitted from very soft wool, where he sleeps and dreams of mountains of beech nuts!

dear Ferdinand

with his cloack and his hat      

                                                                say hi!

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Here he lives and dreams his dreams!

Hamish the reversible penguin - egg

I think this is a lovely and original way to use up yarn scraps : a small egg knitted in the round which transforms into a penguin! I found the pattern in Let's Knit Christmas special 2013. And of course it's a Susan B. Anderson pattern! She designs the cutest and loveliest soft toys and clothing. Hamish is a hit here!

Happy Easter from Boo and me!

Here is my Boo rabbit, made from the "Belle and Boo book of craft" I borrowed from the library.
In the book, a firm felt is suggested as fabric. I chose to use some old fleece jogging pants, a T-shirt  and a small piece of quilting fabric from my stash. It's my goal to recycle as many of our discarded  clothes as possible and I really try not to buy new materials (not always easy, I admit…).
It was sometimes a bit of a struggle to get this hand-sewn project right, because my fabric was not as firm as the suggested fabric and the T-shirt fabric tends to fray a bit.
I also wanted to find an alternative to teddy bear joints for the legs, because I don't have any and would have had to buy. So I used two tiny plastic containers (waste) and some pipe cleaners. It works, but I would definitely suggest using real teddy bear joints if you want to make an actual toy for a child. My Boo is meant to be for decoration, so it's OK to experiment a bit.
Inside the ears I also put some pipe cleaners, which makes them look funny and floppy. For stuffing I used tiny scraps of fabric and yarn.
Boo has now been appointed to the very important task of guarding and distributing the Easter eggs!

floppy ears!

The home made joints... 

Rubbert Bear

A few years ago I visited the lovely town of Lacock (UK). In one of the independent shops I bought this adorable kit to make a small teddybear from Bower Hinton Bears, a small business in Somerset (UK). The instructions are well-written and included all the necessary things, and of good quality too.
I struggled to get the nose right and I am still not one hundred percent satisfied. Nevertheless, Rubbert Bear is loved here!

With his good friend Comet and the Christmas tree.

Thinking about the hedgehogs last summer

We have a small garden and it's not very neat. As a reward for this untidiness, 5 little hedgehogs were born this spring, in our compost heap! So so cute!! They have gone their own way now, perhaps one of them will come and visit us again some day.
As a keepsake, I sewed these 5 little hedgehogs. The fabric is tweed from a sample book I bought on the Dutch second-hand website "Marktplaats". I think I'm going to have much more fun with this sample book in the future!

And here are some of the real little rascals !

Elsa

This is Elsa.
She is made from textile scraps (I even used a shoe cleaning cloth I got in a hotel). The yarn I used is Scheepjes Cotton (brown) and a lovely mini-skein of Trava and Wool, bought at Yarnporium London. I based this on a pattern I found in Mollie Makes issue 84, but changed the knitted part of her dress and made the scarf a bit smaller. I also gave her a more open and confident look.  I often don't like the way girl dolls and cuddly toys have been given this all too sweet and submissive look with long eyelashes etc. So here's Elsa : a real girl bear, smart and confident and ready for the world!

Here is Elsa taking a nap whilst I am choosing yarn for her scarf:

Daddy-Long-Legs

This fun giraffe is my own design. I made him from a piece of vintage fabric (more than 30 years old), using the sewing machine for a quick make. He reminds me of the original drawings in the 1912 children's book "Daddy-Long-Legs" by Jean Webster, hence the name I chose.