Here’s the concept sketch:
I left off the tummy and added whiskers.
One of these days I’ll do a post series titled “From Picture to Pattern.” But that day is not today, Ellie has shared a cold (the deluxe version with fever). Today is a win if I answer all my email.
*blows nose*
‘Scuse me.
Is there such a thing as too many monkeys?
Not as long as they continue to give each other bunny-ears in their pictures.
I think she likes it.
Ellie knows what she likes – she picked flowers for Mother’s Day all by herself.
Pink! Surely you aren’t surprised.
Happy Mothers Day! Ellie and Pink Meow are sleeping off the excitement.
According to my customer, pink cats have blue eyes.
She would know.
Parfait Tabby is turning out pretty cute. I may make another for the shop.
Ellie’s first sentence: Mama knit pink meow?
We picked out yarn right away.
She wants stripes.
We’ll do a little bit every day. She can pick what part comes next.
I wonder what color eyes a pink tabby cat has? I guess I’ll check with my customer.
Head to toe, he’s 19 inches. Ear to toe 20 inches and a little bit.
Whew.
Dear Yarn Miracle,
Have you ever made a bear taller than 12 inches?
Curiously,
A Collector
This guy will be at least 20 inches.
I love a challenge.
Every Easter basket needs one to keeps the bunnies away from the chocolate. This stuffed carrot is a great last minute project – it’ll take less than an hour.
Carrot
It’s Good for You
They look exotic with a bunch of different green yarns on top.
Materials: You’ll need about 20 yards of worsted in orange, miscellaneous green yarns for the carrot’s top (I used Blue Sky Alpacas Worsted Cotton), a set of 4 double pointed needles (I used US3s) and something to stuff it and a yarn needle for finishing. A safety pin to use as a marker is also handy.
Gauge: isn’t super important as long as your stuffing doesn’t show. My standard worsted toy gauge is 5sts to 1″ – that will get you a 5.5″ carrot not counting the greens.
Abbreviations: M1 means do that increase where you lift the yarn between the stitches. *blah blah blah* means do the stuff between the *s for the whole round.
Notes: If you don’t like to knit in the round, no problem. Knit it flat in stockinette, seam and stuff before you add the greens. Want a bigger carrot? Double the yarn and increase your needle size accordingly. Try braiding some of the green yarn to make the top more substantial for the big version.
Instructions
Cast on 6 stitches leaving a 4 inch tail.
Arrange stitches evenly on three needles and join to knit in the round.
Round 1: Knit
Round 2: *K1, M1, K1* (9 sts)
Round 3-6: Knit (4 rounds)
Use the cast on tail to close up the bottom of the carrot, securing it to the inside. Mark the beginning of the round with a safety pin if you need to.
I need to.
Round 7: *K1, M1, K2* (12 sts)
Round 8-13: Knit (6 rounds)
Stuff the tip.
Round 14: *K1, M1, K1* (18 sts)
Round 15-24: Knit (10 rounds)
Round 25: *K1, M1, K2* (24 sts)
Round 26-37: Knit (12 rounds)
Round 38: *K1, K2tog, K1*
Round 39: *K1, K2tog*
Round 40: K2tog around
Break yarn leaving about a 6″ tail. Using a yarn needle, pull the cast off tail through the live stitches and remove from the needles. Finish stuffing the carrot, but don’t pull up the opening.
Cut several six inch (at least) pieces of green yarn and tie them all together with an overhand knot at one end.
Already looks yummy!
Stuff the knotted end into the open top of the carrot, and draw the stitches up tightly.
This is the only part that might be considered remotely tricky.
Use a yarn needle to run the tail through the knot several times to hold the green in place and secure the end. Hide the rest of the tail inside the carrot. Trim the green yarn to the desired length. I put knots in my carrot’s greens to give them a nice little flop and to keep them from unraveling. But that’s optional.
Feed to your bunny.
omnomnom
As always, the things you make from my patterns are yours to give, sell or hoard. But don’t sell my patterns of derivatives of my patterns. That’s just tacky. PDF available on the patterns page. Or just go straight to the pdf.
This is a bear I made. He’s in a magazine!
Buttercream Bear is the high end Teddy Bear in the article “Behind the Price Tag” in the March 2010 issue of American Baby Magazine. This distinction is well deserved – hand knit with cashmere makes anything pricey. And that’s awesome. Or it would be awesome if the attribution wasn’t completely wrong (even in the buyer’s guide, so good luck to anyone who wants one) because of failure to fact check or figure out how Etsy works or ask or even read the bear’s tag.
I’ve been in touch with editors and there have been apologies all around. Which is nice. Hopefully there is some kind of correction in the near future. Which will be nicer. But still.
I’m not over the angry yet and you can’t help feeling how you feel.
Many thanks to my Darling Sister (Maintaining Sanity) for the pictures and for procuring multiple copies of the magazine. I can’t wait for them to get here so I can see him in person.
My bear (my former bear – he was bought from my shop last month) is famous!
My Valentine Offering
I’ve offered made-to-order monogrammed sweaters for my toys for a while, but it only just occurred to me that some Ready-to-Wear sweaters would be fun.
