4 posts tagged “lambs”

A Lambie Thank You to Snuffykin...

For all the very hard work she did on the weloveamigurumi swap, and for being the sweetie that she is,
I sent snuffykin this wee limbless Pocket Lambie named Laddie  (see snuffykin's awesome creations here)

Please check out www.flickr.com/knittycat for larger photos and all of the peeps.

:o(   ERRATA:

Well it was bound to happen... An error in one of the patterns, and a big one!  Poor Nellie the Elephant has an error in the instructions for her feet.  :o/

The corrected pattern is in the pdf now, if you prefer to download Nellie again. (since 04/09/08 so if you downloaded it after that date, you have the corrected pattern) 

Or you can substitute the following instructions for the ones in the pattern:

Nellie's Feet:

* FEET PATTERN *
Feet
C/o 6 st onto two circs.
Rnd 1: Kfb each st around (12 st)
Rnd 2 and all even rnds: k around
Rnd 3: kinc, k1 around (18 st total)
(increase every other st, using
the increase of your choice - I use the kinc
throughout because it is less noticeable)
Rnd 5: kinc k2 around (24 st total)
(increase every 3rd st)
Rnd 7: k2tog k2 around (18 st total)
Rnd 9: k2tog k1 around (12 st total)
Rnd 11: k around
Stuff quite full and Bind off.
Sew feet to bottom of elephant evenly spaced.
Put front feet as far forward as looks good, so
she won't topple forward.

........

My apologies to anyone who was caused any grief by my error. 

And profound thanks to Susan of spinblessing.com for finding this and bringing it to my attention! 

On to happier news...

:o)  NEW PATTERNS!

Eggy/Bunnies

Download Eggy/Bunny Peeps Knitting Pattern

Wee Lambies

Download Wee Baby Lambies Peeps Knitting Pattern

Petit Fours

.

Download Petit Fours for Peeps Pattern

And, coming in the not too far distant future I hope:

Kermit Peep! (Yes, Really!)

and Hello Kitty Peep!

  (--- update --- these have been delayed again, though I have made progress on Kermie)

They're in the works (meaning that I'm working on them), but I'm veeerrry slooow, so not sure how long it will be.

I hadn't planned to make a Kermie pattern, but I found out that our niece, Kristina, likes him, so I'm making her Kermie 2 for her June birthday, and while I'm working on him, I'm recording what I'm doing.  I ran into a bit of a  problem though, I didn't remember how I'd made his feet and hands.  :o/  So that's been a bit challenging, but I'm recreating them.  it would actually be easier for me to re-invent them, to just start fresh, and go at it, but since so many of you have professed a desire to make this particular Kermie, I'm doing my best to make the new one as close to my original as possible.

Hello Kitty peep was going to be next, but the need to make a Kermie for Kristina has bumped him ahead, and Kitty is on the back burner for a while.  Also, it turns out that I find knitting with white yarn rather boring, so I'm not anxious to get back to her.  But I will, eventually.

I've been experimenting with speaking into a digital recorder while I'm knitting, recording the steps I'm taking.  This is working lots better than stopping to make notes as I'm knitting, because it doesn't interrupt my flow very much.  Whereas writing as I go is very disruptive.  I really recommend this method to pattern writers.

         ..........................................................................................................................

Kermie Update:

Time has passed and I haven't gotten this posted, or completed either the Kermie pattern (though I have completed Kermie 2), or the Hello Kitty pattern.  :o( 

Health issues have imposed themselves between me and what I want to be doing.  So please forgive my slowness.  I do hope to eventually get it all done, Hopefully in our lifetimes.  ;o)  Well it would be really difficult for me to get it done AFTER my lifetime! 

Future Tutorials:

I've also begun a couple of photo tutorials that I hope to finish in the not-too-far-distant future (but going by my track record, I wouldn't  hold my breath waiting if I were you.)

These are the ones that I have started:

 1. making yarn knot eyes (a la Jean Greenhowe)
 2. double knitting for peeps

I haven't found any available for these, so I'm attempting to fill that void.  At least put a crumb out there.

And there's another one that I'm currently working on:

3. knitting in the round on two circs - from a different perspective
(though there are plenty of great tutorials on this already available, while describing the process to a friend, I recently noticed a great similarity in knitting this way to knitting flat, and I'd like to illustrate it to take the mystery out of a really easy, and useful, technique.)

Next post will be about what I HAVE completed lately! 

We hope that you are all having a lovely summer so far, and aren't suffering too much from the heat!

You can see that Pudge doesn't!  ;o)

"For he loves the sun and the sun loves him."

                                        - Christopher Smart

What comes between Easter and Mother's Day?

This post, apparently.  ;o)

This blog is becoming a holiday affair... Quite unintentionally, I assure you.   But since I make a lot of peeps as holiday gifts, it's just been happening that way.

I'm busting out of that mold today, though.  

Belated Easter for Kristina & Mia:
Last Sunday, we had a happy family gathering, celebrating 3 birthdays, and belated Easter for our two younger nieces, whom we hadn't seen since Christmas.

  Mia and Kristina got their Eggy/Bunnies, Eggletina and Eggalia:

 

(Made with Softee Baby "Rocking Horse" and RH Baby Teri "Baby Print")

Their fuzzy lambies, Lambie Pinkletoes and Lambie Meringue:

(made with  TLC Baby Amore and Paton's Be Mine*, respectively)

(Patterns for the Eggy/Bunnies and Wee Lambie Peeps will be coming in the next post.)

* I am not recommending knitting peeps with Paton's Be Mine though, because it's so hard to work with, even though it does make a yummy soft and fuzzy fabric. *

And we (finally) gave Kristina her Christmas Cookie Monster!  Made after Christmas, to replace the one that Kristina didn't get at Christmas.

When we gave an Elmo to Mia and a Cookie to Kristina for Christmas, wee Mia "adopted" Cookie with such fervor that no one had the heart to take him away from her, least of all, sweet Kristina.  So I promised to make Kristina a replacement.  And finally, she has him! And she was delighted with him!  Hurray! 

(Cookie Monster Pattern is available free!  See this post.)

Here are all three Cookie Monsters, D's - the original - and Mia's and Kristina's.  You might notice that D's felt that he should have a Christmas scarf as well!  :o)

Tony's birthday goodies:
The main purpose of our gathering, was to celebrate Tony's birthday.  For the occasion I made some goodies for him.

He LOVES hot bright colors, especially orange, red, and yellow, so I made a simple cotton washcloth with a very bright colorway of Sugar and Cream.  Just a plain garter stitch. But it made a wonderful zigzag pattern, and the garter st made it nice and cushy.  :o)

Don't you love multicolor yarn? You never know what you're going to get.

 

 

Next - a money bag, stockinette st, in the round, bright yellow, lion brand soft baby, with a big red dollar sign on one side and a big red t on the other.  Filled with money of course.  :o) a teen boy's fave gift. 

 
An interesting feature is the closure: I felt that tying the drawstrings or using a bead would be too bulky, but it needed to close pretty securely so the money wouldn't fall out, so I knitted a strip and wrapped it around the drawstrings, snugly, and sewed it closed, making sure it still would slide.  It worked just great!

 

And last - but of course not least to a peep or amigurumi lover - a skateboarding monkey peep, Maximillion, with a backpack full of bananas! 

He prefers being called Maxie, by the way.

 

Making the teensy backpack was such fun!  I felt like Gulliver in the land of Lilliput.  :o)

We owe the skateboard to chez michelle... I'd considered making one, since Tony loves skateboarding, but I wasn't sure how a knitted skateboard would come out, so I hesitated to make it.  But then I saw this wonderful ami [here] by chez michelle and saw how feasible the skateboard was.

 

Construction  comments:

Maxie was made with Bernat Microspun Mango, and bright yellow, Lion Brand Soft Baby, using my Wee Lambie Peep Pattern (free pattern for the Lambies coming in my next post, along with the pattern for the Eggy/Bunnies).  I made him with longer legs and arms (appropriate for a monkey), and slight modifications for the ear shape.  And, of course I did some simple colorwork (which I don't like doing), for the face.  The face and head were made the same way as the lambies, but after stuffing and closing his head, I needle-sculpted his face to give him a more monkey-shaped muzzle.

His skateboard was made with two strands of size 10 crochet cotton, and size 1 needles.  Knit in the round, a simple tapered tube, then slipped a piece of cardboard in (cut to fit) and closed up.  Added seed beads for wheels and a piece of yellow beading elastic for a carrying strap.

My DH and I were really happy with him!  :o)  and so was Tony, which is what counts, of course. :o)

Marvel Comics' The Human Torch for Matthew:
I couldn't have peeps for the other nieces and nephews and not have something for Matt, of course, so we took the opportunity to give him the "Human Torch" I'd finished a few weeks ago.

 

Unlike the Thing, the Torch peep is much more impressionistic.  He rather reminds me of a fire elemental.  He's quite small, doubleknitted in my "classic peep" style, with sz 3 crochet cotton (Senso) and size 2 needles.  The flames were crocheted in long strips (I've forgotten the hook size), and sewn on. 

The moment I saw that yarn, I immediately thought "The Torch!"

Matt seemed quite happy with him.  :o)

I'll be posting the Lambie and Eggy/Bunny patterns with the next post, and I hope that won't be tooooo long from now.

Also.... I'm actually working on a Kermit the Frog pattern (as I've received MANY requests!).  Making a Kermie for Kristina's June birthday, but it's a challenge, trying to remember how I made the original!  :o) 

Wish me luck!

Many thanks to all of you kind folks who have been so supportive, and so willing to comment so positively on my flickr.com pages, and elsewhere.  I appreciate it more than I can say.  It gives me strength to do the arduous work of pattern writing. It's arduous for me, anyway.  I like to just grab my needles and some nice yarn and just CREATE!!  Stopping and thinking about what I'm actually doing is quite a stretch.  ;o)

Cheers!

My abortive attempt to blog the Peep Saga has been put on hold because it's taking me too long to get it going.  Sooo... I've decided to start this little interim blog to more quickly address the requests for patterns and how-to's that are coming in, while I'm bogging along with the main blog.  :o)

I make my Peeps (also known as Amigurumi) freehand, without patterns (unless I write one), and only some of them with a plan.  :o)   Almost all are knitted, as that is my current passion (and is much easier on my painful hands), but I reserve the right to toss in a crocheted one whenever the whim strikes.  ;o)

Classic Peeps:

Classic Peeps are made using the double knitting method from the legs to the neck.

For an excellent description of this technique, please see this pattern.  www.free-knitting-pattern.com/doubleknitbear.htm
Although I cannot find the author's name on her site, she does give the following credits for the inspiration for this pattern:
"I got this idea from Jacquee Gillespie of Heber, Utah. The Double Knitting technique is from Beverly Royces’ book which is edited by Meg Swanson and available from Interweave Press."  The doubleknit bear pattern author also has this pattern available for purchase in a package with other patterns here or alone here.

Double knitting, using the method described above, is a really fast and easy way to knit a simple three dimensional tube-like item.  You knit the item inside out so that you simply knit one stitch and slip the next, across the needle (you don't need to pass the working yarn back and forth like you do with double knitting right-side-out).  This knits one side of the item, then you turn the needles and knit/slip across the other side.  When you finish, you turn the item right side out, and VOILA!  It's one piece of in-the-round knitting that you did straight across!  Magic!  :o)

The body, legs and arms of each of the classic peeps are knitted with this method, inside out, in one piece, on one circular needle (you can use two straight needles if you prefer) and then turned right side out and placed on two circs (or on dpns if you're comfortable with them), and the head is knit in the round.  The pieces are all together when you finish knitting, and there are no seams to sew.

In the pattern (above) for the doubleknitbear, the author suggests that the head also be done with the doubleknitting technique, but I find it unwieldy to do much shaping while doubleknitting, so I turn the peeps right-side-out before knitting the head, and continue in the round from that point.

  

Character Peeps:

Character Peeps are based on existing characters and are created in a variety of ways, depending on the looks of the character, and my mood.  :o)  And the desires of the recipient, if they know about the gift before it's made.

Some of them (like Elmo and Cookie and Kitty and Super Bear) are started in the classic peep method, and veer off when the head is made.  Some (like Kermie and Hedwig and Taz) bear no resemblance to the classic peep creation method, and are each approached on an individual basis.

 
 

  
  

  

More Elaborate Peeps:

More Elaborate Peeps are also created in a variety of ways, depending on the looks of the character, and my mood.  :o)  And the desires of the recipient, if they know about the gift before it's made.  But these aren't based on an existing character.  The inspiration for them can come from anywhere, and their design may begin with looking at lots of pictures of real and imaginary animals (like for Linus the Penguin, and Harmony the Hedgehog) or may just be a product of imagination (like Marietta the Flat Cat, the kitty pillows, or the video game bunnies).

 
 

Some of them (like Marietta and the kitty pillows) are made using the double knitting technique, but most are knit in the round on two circs.  There are a few exceptions, of course, like MiniMe the crocheted turtle, and Harmony the Hedgehog, who was knit partially in the round but, although the fuzzy back was knit at the same time as the front, they weren't connected while knitting and had to be sewn up (ugh!) later.

Inanimates:

So far, most of the inanimates are food, and most are created simply knitting in the round with two circular needles.  There are exceptions, of course, including an "unbroken" heart which is created all in one piece, using slip stitches, with no break in the yarn to make the second lobe.  Most of them, thus far, have been created as brain food for the ZomPeeps (more on that later).