More About Knitted Elephants.......

These elephants are such fun to make and they knit up very quickly on four needles with 8 ply (DK) yarn. I first devised this pattern a few years ago, but the problem was, it was mostly in my head and a number of people had asked me for the pattern.  I had to make more so that I could write down exactly what I was doing as I was doing it. And take progress shots.
This was never going to cut it:

 

Although I understood this "shorthand" I couldn't expect others to have the vaguest idea what this all meant!

I started knitting........

        
                                                            .......and knitting
 

 

                                                              ..........and knitting,
until I had made all these elephant parts, assembled them and recorded exactly what I did. Then it was simply a matter of formatting the information into an easy-to-understand document and uploading it into my Etsy store. The elephant is mostly based on spherical and cylindrical shapes and quite easy to make for anyone with some knitting experience.

I made a pink one, a grey one and a mixed pink and grey one. If you want to knit one yourself for someone special in your life, the pattern is available in my Etsy store for little more than the price of a cup of coffee! Instant download. http://www.susiemcmahon.etsy.com

Oh, did I mention that I really like elephants?

Serendipity!

The one thing I really love about the Internet is the way you can happen upon something unexpected and delightful, simply by poking around and following a few links. That happened to me a few weeks ago when serendipity lead me to the sites of a knitted toy designer based in the UK called Wendy Phillips. I'm a bit of a sucker for a well-designed knitted toy and I found these irresistable! Because they are available as PDF downloads in Wendy's Etsy store, almost instant gratification is possible. What was difficult was deciding which one to buy first, since they are all very appealing, but in the end, I decided to get "Mother Bunny". Since much of what I do is quite complex and time-consuming, occasionally I like to make something purely for the fun of it - this project fitted the bill perfectly. Wendy's patterns are very affordable - she has lots of different doll patterns as well as animals and even one for baby shoes. If you like to knit and want a few projects that will only take a few evenings to make, you couldn't do much better than ordering one or two or ten  patterns from this wonderful designer. Here's how my "Mother Bunny" turned out - the only things I did a bit differently from Wendy's pattern were the eyes and a little needle-sculpting of the face. I really love those shoes! Well, that's enough fun - back to work today - but I'm already thinking about which one of Wendy's patterns I'd like to tackle next!

You can also visit Wendy's blog at http://flutterbypatch.blogspot.com

Lou-Lou

I am in the middle of making some sample dolls for my upcoming classes. This is "Lou-Lou" - a design I came up with in 2006. It has been a while since I made a doll using this pattern and I had forgotten how much fun she was to make........so here is "Lou-Lou" in blue and gold. She is all cloth with a cloth-covered paperclay face-mask from one of my original moulds. The costuming is very simple and relies on fabric choices  (shot silk here) and colours as much as anything for appeal.

Next Steps

The first picture shows the body sketch taken from the finished head, and the pattern drafted from the sketch. Doing it this way helps me to get the proportions right - I think visually, so being able to see it all laid out really helps.

The second picture shows the legs sewn and cut out, but not turned; the arms sewn, but not cut out and the body turned and temporarily stuffed to check the size with the head. It will be 'unstuffed' to do the leg joints. You will also notice that I have pencilled in the features - this helps to make sure there are no major unevennesses. Having said that, I am not hung up on absolute symmetry in a face!