My first free pattern a.k.a. El Elephanté

A quick introduction as to how and why this pattern has come about. Our wonderful charity knitting group were in the throws of getting prepared for our Christmas stall. As part of this process, they had been looking for cute critters to make and sell, however a lot of the patterns place unreasonable restrictions on what you can do with the finished goodies you make from them. Having seen my pin cushion critters, they asked me to step up and design them something that we could happily sell for charity. And so I came up with El Elephanté, who is a jaunty little elephant. This is an intermediate to expert level pattern, as you will need to be able to knit in the round, knit an i-cord, work Kitchener stitch, and be able to knit short rows. Please feel free to make and sell as many as you wish.

El Elephanté

Materials:

• You will need aproximately 50g of some bright DK yarn. I've used Marriner Mermaid Double Knit in the Fireworks shade, but you can use whatever you have lying around. You can play around and make him up in stripes to use up any scraps you have, or you can use a solid colour as a contrast for his feet, trunk, and ears. The point is - have some fun! He is afterall supossed to be a jaunty elephant.
• Gauge(tension) is not important, so I've used size 4(3.5 mm) DPNs as this little fellow is knit in the round. Use a needle size that will result in a fabric that won't show the stuffing through based on how you knit.
• A stitch marker is also required, as well as a tapestry needle.
• You'll need some toy stuffing too.

Body

Cast on 6 stitches, distribute evenly across 3 needles, join in the round making sure not to twist the stitches. Mark the first stitch with a stitch marker to keep track of the beginning of the round. Make sure to use the tail to sew close the hole once you've got a few rounds knitted.
Rnd 1: knit
Rnd 2: inc in each stitch to end (12 sts)
Rnd 3: [k1, inc] to end (18 sts)
Rnd 4: [k2, inc] to end (24 sts)
Rnd 5: [k3, inc] to end (30 sts)
Rnd 6: [k4, inc] to end (36 sts)
Rnd 7: [k5, inc] to end (42 sts)
Rnd 8-16: knit
Rnd 17: [k5, k2tog] to end
Rnd 18: [k4, k2tog] to end
Rnd 19: knit

Begin stuffing the body.

Rnd 20: [k3, k2tog] to end
Rnd 21: [k2, k2tog] to end
Rnd 22: knit
Rnd 23: [k1, k2tog] to end
Rnd 24: knit
Rnd 25: [k2tog] to end

Finish stuffing the body. Cut the working yarn, thread on a tapestry needle, draw through the remaining stitches pulling up tight, and bind off.

Head

Cast on 6 stitches, distribute evenly across 3 needles, join in the round making sure not to twist the stitches. Mark the first stitch with a stitch marker to keep track of the beginning of the round. Make sure to use the tail to sew close the hole once you've got a few rounds knitted.
Rnd 1: knit
Rnd 2: inc in each stitch to end (12 sts)
Rnd 3: [k1, inc] to end (18 sts)
Rnd 4: [k2, inc] to end (24 sts)
Rnd 5: [k3, inc] to end (30 sts)
Rnd 6: [k4, inc] to end (36 sts)
Rnd 7-14: knit
Rnd 15: [k4, k2tog] to end
Rnd 16: [k3, k2tog] to end
Rnd 17: knit

Begin stuffing the head.

Rnd 18: [k2, k2tog] to end
Rnd 19: knit
Rnd 20: [k1, k2tog] to end (12 sts)
Rnd 21-25: knit
Rnd 26: purl

Finish stuffing head.

Rnd 27: [k2tog] to end
Cut the working yarn, thread on a tapestry needle, draw through the remaining stitches pulling up tight, and bind off.

Legs

You'll need to make 4. Cast on 4 stitches, distribute across 3 needles, join in the round making sure not to twist the stitches. Mark the first stitch with a stitch marker to keep track of the beginning of the round.
Rnd 1: [kfb] to end (8 sts)
Rnd 2: purl
Rnd 3-8: knit

Bind off, leaving enough yarn to stitch the leg to the body. Gently stuff the leg.

Ears

You'll need to make 2. The ears are knitted from the head, by picking up 2 rows of stitches, with 7 sts on each needle. Look at the photo to see how this is done. Position them as far back as possible using the photos as a guide. The ears use short rows for shaping, which method you use for doing your short row turns is up to you. I've used the German method, but you can use whatever you are comfortable with.

This bit is important: With the trunk facing you, you will start knitting the right hand side ear. To start the other ear, you will need to have the trunk facing away from you. This allows you to get the shaping in the right part for both ears.
Rnd 1: knit
Rnd 2: knit
Rnd 3: inc in each stitch to end (28 sts)
Rnd 4: knit
Rnd 5: knit
Rnd 6: knit to last 8 sts (20 sts), turn & purl to last 8 sts, turn & knit to end
Rnd 7: knit to last 6 sts (22 sts), turn & purl to last 6 sts, turn & knit to end
Rnd 8: knit
Rnd 9: k2, ssk, knit to last 4 sts, k2tog, k2 for each needle

Use Kitchener stitch to weave the remaining stitches together closing the ears.

Tail

Pick up 3 stitches on the body, and knit 6 rows of i-cord then bind off. Attach a tassel to the end of the tail.

Assembly

Sew the head to the body using the photos as a guide. His head needs to be fairly back on the body so that his ears help with his centre of gravity, else he'll fall over and be a clumsy elephant instead of a jaunty one.

Position the legs under the body and sew onto the body.

Lastly, you can either attach some beads VERY FIRMLY for his eyes, or you can use a scrap of black wool to embroider on some eyes with Satin stitch or French knots.

Lastly, sit back and admire your work. Now go off and make a bunch to sell for charity.

This year's chosen charities

Reporting back on our knit & stitch group's summer lunch out on Tuesday. We had a brilliant turnout with around eleven of us at the local cafe, given that it's summer and a lot of folks are away. The food was great and the company even better!

With the proceeds from our last fair, we're in the wonderful position of being able to support more than one local charity. The decision was made to split the kitty across the following groups:

• 
  The local dementia group, who are self funded.
  
• 
  The Girls Brigade who need a new gazebo, having lost theirs at the last fair to a rather nasty gale force wind.
  
• 
  The local pet sitting service charity the council use when people go into hospital suddenly with no one to take care of their pets.
  
• 
  Ourselves. We need a couple of folding chairs for manning stalls.
  

In between knitting stock for stalls, we do other charity knitting. We churn out a fair amount of twiddle muffs that are used for dementia patients by a number of hospitals and other groups. They are used to give patients something to do with their hands, so there are lots of fiddling things attached. This apparently helps to alleviate angst and has a calming effect.

We also knit "fish and chips" jumpers and hats, as well as teddies for a hospital in Malawi. The reason they are called fish & chips is because infants would be wrapped up in newspapers when ready to leave the hospital as they had nothing else to clothe them in. Now little ones get to leave with warm clothing and a teddy.

Breeding one square bunnies

We've embarked on a journey that has only been shared with a handful of people closest to us. I'm not really just sitting around at home doing nothing but knitting. I'm actually studying- doing a diploma in Child Psychology in preparation for a career change. After many years thinking about it, we've decided to become Foster Carers. We completed our initial training last weekend, which is a prerequisite before you can officially apply. It's taken 9 months to get to this point, and will take at least 6 months if not more before we get approved. So, while we wait for the assessment process to be completed-I'll keep busy knitting.

On to the knitting then shall we? Our last charity stall was very successful. We were left with very little stock by the end of the day. The braided balls, and bunnies were very popular with the school kids. I've started building up stock for the next fair, and this time I've made sure to take some pics of the completed bunnies. In addition to the bunnies I've done a few snowmen. I hear you sniggering. It's never too early to start preparing for Christmas!
I've also conjured up a couple of critter key chain charms, a cat, and a couple of bangles. When I tire of knitting for the stall, I've got jumpers and teddy bears to knit for our church outreach to Nkhoma hospital in Malawi. If I've got time in between the studying and foster care assessment I'll probably squeeze in a critter or two for my Etsy shop, and maybe an occasional blog post 😝

Cute Critters

In-between all the reading and knitting, and there's been a lot of both happening, I thought it was time to do a little writing. Or should that be sharing? I do so to encourage people to get out there and become involved in their local community. If I’ve mentioned this before, sorry ….

I go to a weekly get together with other like-minded knitters, crocheters (those people who crochet?), and stitchers. Not only is it fun to get out the house for a couple of hours, but it’s also great to be able to assist those struggling to read a pattern, or occasionally to get some help from them in return. I think the best part about the group is its mission to donate the proceeds of selling our finished goodies at local fairs to various local groups. I was also delighted to learn that some of our ladies taught the local Brownies group how to knit last year. They all did some squares and joined them into a blanket that they use to play ‘hide the brownie’ with. Not sure what that entails, but it sure sounds fun. The photo they sent in to thank the group showed them all holding up the blanket. It was a pretty impressive blanket.

Not only have I been busy doing my own stuff, which I’ll share in a bit, but I’ve been busy creating stock for our group’s next fair coming up end of May. I finished a batch of ‘one square bunnies’ at our session today, which have turned out really cute. I didn’t take a pic of the completed brood before I handed them in, but I did take some in-progress ones. I’ve got an idea to do a ‘one square’ chicken, which I’ll share once I’ve done it.

As for my own stuff, I’ve added 3 new critters to my pin cushion collection. So, in addition to the existing tortoise, ladybird, spider, octopus, sheep, and hedgehog, I’ve now done a cat, pig, and panda, which had been put up on Etsy. I’ve had a suggestion for a dolphin (but it’s just not the right body shape to fit in), a frog, and a dragon. I think I can do the last two, but I sure would like some more suggestions. Feel free to add to the list. I’m all ears ;-)

So much for good intentions!

So much for good intentions, i.e. more time, therefore more blog posts. Afraid I got all caught up in knitting Xmas prezzies for everyone. Seeing as I no longer have an income, they all got something knitted. Not a big cash outlay as I have a mountain of stash yarn, but certainly time consuming - which is something I now have in abundance.

I spent a bit of time thinking of the next project I wanted to tackle. It's been a toss-up between a new doggie jumper or coming up with new products to sell. I've ended up juggling the two instead. I was fiddling around with the original Drops pattern and decided to do a bit of a 'fair isle' cable. Imagine that the actual cables are in a different colour to the background, or better yet I'll just show you. Unfortunately, it turns out that my compensating for the looseness of the previous doggie jumper has resulted in a far too tight fit. Think I'll have to frog all the way back to the neck ribbing, and start all over again with larger needles. Lucky I've got plenty of time to do that ... lol.

On to the new designs. I was trying to come up with a collection, something cute and appealing, but a little practical or perhaps with a dash of purpose. I was trolling around looking for inspiration and came across a crochet ladybird toy from Lion Brand. It caught my eye, so I decided to whip it up to see if I liked it as a candidate for our local 'Stich, Knit, & Natter' charity knitting group. It passed with flying colours.

Once I was done, I wondered if I could put together a knitted version. A bit of fiddling and before I knew it I had a little critter all done. I liked the shape and tried to think of other animals that I could make with the same shape, and came up with my little menagerie of pin cushion critters. And so you've guessed where the dash of practical comes in by now. I can see these little guys adding a little cheer in someone's sewing room, whilst for fulling a purpose. I know I'm always looking for a pin cushion, and not just for sewing. I'm always misplacing my darning needles too. I've also found myself popping these on my desk and catching myself smiling every time I see them. Maybe they would make the perfect Mother's Day gift?

Every time I completed one, I got another idea to try. So far I've got the original ladybird, a tortoise, a sheep, a hedgehog, an octopus, and just recently a spider. I've had other suggestions of animals to add, including a pig and a cow. I'll have to try those out and see how they turn out. If you have any suggestions to grow the family, let me know and I'll see if I can do it.

Cablelicious set

After a lot of careful consideration, and one too many threats of redundancy, I quit. Yip, you read it right, I decided to take some time out and decide if Software Project Management is really what I want to do with my life. Sadly, the answer turned out to be no - but that could just be the fact that I was wearing so many different hats, and PM was not taking up the majority of my time. My biggest frustration was acting as technical lead, pre-sales consultant, account manager, web site designer, content manager, and first line support(and last resort when everyone else was on leave), all roles I was reluctantly dragged into out of a feeling of obligation. This year is the year I say NO MORE! No more people pleasing. Time to restore the joy in my life, time for me.

What this means for you: hopefully I get to post more. Probably. I might bounce ideas around of projects I want to do, or designs I'm working on. Most likely my posts will revolve around what I'm getting up to with my new Etsy shop. With Christmas fast approaching, I'm busy knitting up a storm for the family. I've decided to give the girls all a set of boot cuffs and matching hat. Two sets down, one to go. I may offer these on Etsy, once I've worked out exactly how long a set takes to knit. I keep forgetting to time it. I may even take my design notes and actually write up the pattern and put that up. Got to brush off my pattern writing skills first - nobody else will have a clue what my notes mean otherwise.

Chasing cats

I'm playing around with an idea for a new product. I was thinking a knitted ball with a small bell inside would make a great baby toy. I played around with a design and whipped up a sample, sans the bell. Once I'd stuffed it I started to wonder about small hands pulling at it and what the effect would be.

I figured that a trial run would be in order, and since I don't have a small child of the human variety running around, I went with the next best thing. Well, he might as well be our little baby - he gets treated like one. Yip, I gave the ball to Milo to play with. I can report that it was a resounding success as far as he's concerned. It's become his new favourite toy. I'll let him test drive it for a little while to see how well it holds up to being tugged at, clawed, and chewed. At this rate I might market it to cats and dogs too.

Demanding daughter's knitted hair bows

With the kids finally moved out, I've been getting a little more 'me' time in between all the crazy busy work. The perfect thing to occupy these hands during this downtime has obviously been knitting! Duh! However, just when I thought I wouldn't have any demands on me to fix this and make that, my daughter came to visit. Her demands are usually made about an hour before she needs something for a party she's going to.

She happened to pop in while I was knitting a men's bow tie, for an upcomming formal event. She decided that she wanted bows as a hair accessory. Natuarlly she wanted one in about every colour she could think of, and all done before she left. Thankfully she didn't have too many elastic bands in her handbag. Phew!

So I grabbed some needles, and rummaged through my yarn stash under close supervision. We ended picking out grey, turquoise, black, and purple. I cast on some stitches (about 10 I think) and started knitting away for about 6 inches, then did a 3 needle bind off. I made sure the bind off edge was in the centre of the bow, pinched it in the middle, grabbed an elastic, and then wound some of the yarn around them securing the bow to the elastic.

Just when I'd done all the bows, my darling daughter found another elastic band hiding in her bag. So you can guess what happened .... another bow had to be made of course. This time in maroon. Imagine my surprise when a few days later I found she'd worn her hair bows as part of her Voodoo doll Halloween costume.

I have to thank her for the inspiration. I ended up making some hair bows for my Etsy shop, matching the bows with coloured hair elastics and knitting a band around the bow and elastic, finishing it off with Kitchener grafting.

Recycled dish scrubbies

It's been a while since I've posted anything. I recently joined Pinterest, and I love that it sparks all these creative ideas, but sometimes I spend far too much time on it looking instead of doing. There are days I wish I didn't work full time, just so I could make stuff instead, but it's what pays the bills so I'll have to settle for fitting things in that are quick and easy to make. This is one of those things.

The original Knitted Dish Scrubbie tutorial calls for cotton worsted weight yarn and medium tulle. I took a look at what I could find lying around and decided I could re-purpose some items. I came up with some cotton twine I found in my kitchen drawer. The kind you use to wrap around a beef roast to keep it rolled up. I then saw I had some onions still in the netting bags they came in.

The only preparation I had to do was to take a pair of scissors and cut the netting bags into a long strip about 1cm wide. I grabbed the nearest pair of knitting needles, cast on 15 stitches with only the cotton string, and then knitted the netting along with the cotton string in plain old garter stitch for as long as I had netting available. I knitted one more row of only cotton sting before casting off. Turns out I had just enough string to make two scrubbies. I ended up with 26 rows, giving me a scrubbie measuring 8.5cm wide by 8cm long.

They took about an hour to make last night, and I feel good about recycling the netting, which would normally end up in the bin for landfill. They feel really firm in your hand, probably because the tension is really tight. They are rough enough to take the grime off, but will not scratch your non-stick pans. The good thing about them being 100% cotton is that you will be able to pop them in the dishwasher to clean and they won't shrink. Here's a close up to inspire you to rummage around and see what you can do.

Knit two socks together on a single circular needle

So it's been a while since I've posted anything, for a couple of reasons, but mostly because I've just not had much time to do any projects. I thought I'd share my current one as I think it's a great idea to get a pair of socks walking off the needles quickly.

I saw a book on Amazon whilst shopping for some knitting needles that had me interested enough to look inside. It's called Knitting Circles around Socks: Knit Two at a Time on Circular Needles. However, having seen it, I thought to myself I don't have another set of the same size needle tips, as I usually knit with my favourite KnitPro - Deluxe - Interchangeable Needle Set - Cubics. That got me to wondering if I can still knit 2 socks at once with just one circular needle? The answer my friends, was a resounding yes!

How you ask? Let me tell you ... or better yet show you. In this case the socks are knitted top down, so I did my standard 'long tail' cast on, only I cast on half the stiches from the first sock, then with a separate ball of wool, all the stiches from the second sock. I then pulled the cable through the middle of the stiches of the second sock, so the stitches were facing each other, before casting on the remaining half of the first sock. This means you end up knitting the first half of the first sock's stitches, then knitting the first of of the second sock's stitches, before turning the work over and continuing with the remaining stitches of the second sock, and finally completing the rest of the row of the first sock.

The socks are being knitted inside out, so I thought I'd turn one right side out to show you the pattern. For those whose may like the pattern, I'm knitting from one of my favourite sites, and the pattern is aptly named September Socks. I'm using DROPS Cotton Light so that these socks can be worn for most of the year and not just for winter.

I have been so amazed by how quickly these have grown. I've decided that this is how I'll do all my socks in future. This means I won't grow bored of the project half way through and sit with one sock all lonely waiting for me to get enthused enough to finish it's pal. So far I've managed to knit 20 cm of sock times 2, all in roughly a weekend with some major interruptions. I may actually finish these in time for someone's Christmas pressie, with loads of time to spare!

Desperate measures

Well it's that time of year again! The time to dust off your Christmas tree and decorations, or in my case buy a new tree and decorations. We somehow lost ours in the last house move and I thought I'd better start again. Obviously leaving it too late to actually make all my decorations again, I've had to buy them. I did however think I could squeeze in one decoration, and happened to come across a sweet little angel from one of my favourite magazines which included a kit to make her.

So off I set about knitting all the pieces and got to the assembly stage only to discover that I'd also lost my stash of toy stuffing in the move. Being 12 miles outside of town and after hours there was no way I could go in and buy some more. I thought about raiding my stockings drawer, but remembered I'd cleared that out 2 weeks before. So what to do ...

I hit upon the brilliant idea of up-cycling some plastic shopping carrier bags, the kind you get your groceries in. So I scrounged around and found 2 that were mostly clear with minimal writing on. I rolled them up and took some scissors and cut uneven strips off the bags. Once I'd chopped them up I proceeded to stuff my angel. This worked like a charm. I took a photo during the assembly to show you all, and one of the completed angel hanging from the tree with 2 fairy lights strategically placed behind her wings.

It's a boy!

A while back I shared my pattern adapting baby hat with ear flaps. It's been a favourite pattern of mine and all the moms who've received it. So far all the little recipients have been little girls. Well, would you know it a colleague is expecting and she knows it's a boy. How to adapt this wonderful pattern so a little man will be happy to wear it?

First things first. Colour makes a huge impact on perception of "girly" factor. The original pattern called for pink, yellow, white, and lilac - all pastels. Just not macho enough. Digging through my wool stash, I came up with some bold bright colours: orange, blue, yellow, and red.

 

The second hurdle to overcome - hearts. No self-respecting little boy would be caught dead in hearts no matter what colour they were. I didn't want to have to work out a replacement pattern as it was only six rows that needed changing. What better way to replace the pattern than using existing elements. I decided to pick out the middle five rows from the snowflake, and work in the additional row in the top band in order to keep the same number of rows before decreasing for the top of the hat.

Now there's no way this little chap will be mistaken for a girl!

I've got a tension headache!

Are you one of those gang-ho type knitters? The kind who grabs any wool available and the indicated size of knitting needles and just gets on with it? I know I've often just ignored the tension square details given in the pattern, but to be fair this is only where the size of the finished article really doesn't matter. I tend to do this when knitting toys, as long as I know I have more than enough wool to complete the item. I do find them to be a tedious afair, rather dull, yet utterly essential in the knitting process. Ever wondered why that fabulous bolero, the one you spent so long knitting, doesn't fit? The answer my friend is in the tension.

Some of you may be wondering, what is a tension square? These are usually made up by knitting a 10cm square of the particular pattern stitch used in your project. The goal is to get the same number of stitches and rows in the 10cm square as indicated in the pattern. This is a sure fire way of ensuring that the completed article will turn out the same size as the designer intended. How to achieve this goal is the tedious part - it invloves possibly knitting a number of tensions squares until you get it right.

To get it just right, cast on the number of stitches required for the tension square plus 6 more stitches. Do this with the recommended yarn and needles as specified in the pattern. Make sure you knit as you would normally, not too tight and not too loose. This should result in you being able to maintain the correct tention throughout the project. Continue to knit in whatever pattern is given for the tension square(usually stocking stitch), and continue to knit for about 14cm and cast off. Now comes the measuring. If you find that the required number of stitches actually measures more than 10cm, your garment is going to turn out larger than you want. Change your knitting needles for a size smaller and try knitting the tension square again. If the number of stitches measures less than 10cm, you guessed it - that item is going to be too small. Increase your knitting needle size and start again. If you are lucky, you only need to knit two tension squares.

One more benefit of knitting a tension square is seeing how it responds to being washed. This will answer the questions that may plague your mind. Will the colours run? Will it shrink in the wash? Will it felt? A bit of effort required, but worth the peace of mind knowing all the hours spent will not be in vain when your item fits first time. Not only that, but you'll know how best to care for it to ensure it brings you pleasure for years to come.

Adapting a baby hat to add ear flaps

I often buy knitting magazines for inspiration. Most of them include 'free' items, such as wool or stich markers, in addition to the patterns. I like to use the wool for small projects like knitting baby hats for expectant colleagues. One of my favourite patterns comes from the January 2012 'Lets Knit' magazine available in the UK. It's a fair isle pattern called 'Faith', but I've found that in the chilly winter months here in the north of Scotland, baby hats should really have ear flaps.

Luckily the same pattern pull out included a pattern called 'Maisie' which did have ear flaps. That got me thinking about how I could combine the two patterns to add ear flaps to the pattern I wanted to knit.

Pattern adapting to the rescue!
You could apply this to any baby hat pattern designed to fit 0-6 months, knitting from the brim up, using yarn equivilant to Sidar Snuggly DK, and knitting stocking stitch at a tention of 19 sts x 26 rows on 10 mm needles. I include the pattern for knitting the ear flaps so you can adapt any pattern you already have.

Ear Flap (make two)

• Using 3.25mm needles, cast on two stitches
• Next row: kfb*, k1 [3 sts]
• Next row: k
• Next row: kfb, k to last st, kfb [5 sts]
• Next row: k
• Next row: Rep last two rows until you have 19 sts
• Break yarn, leave sts on spare needle

*kfb

Technicalities over, this is how I did it. With my ear flaps in hand and a total of 38 stitches, I subtracted this number from the total number of stitches I needed to cast on for my hat pattern which is knitted in the round (in this case it was 80 stitches in total). I then took this figure and halved it to give me the number of stitches I needed to cast on inbetween my ear flaps. That meant I cast on 21 stitches, then transfered over the 19 stitches from my first ear flap, cast on another 21 stitches, and transfered over the 19 stitches from my second ear flap, joined the round and jumped straight into the first row of my hat pattern.

If your pattern is not in the round, you would need to do the following. Halve the number of stitches you need to cast on between the ear flaps, which was 21 stitches, and cast on this number of stitches. Obviously, if the number is not a whole number, as is the case in my example, you need to round up to the next whole number and cast on that many stitches (in this case 11). Now transfer over the first ear flap, cast on the number of stitches between ear flaps (21 stitches), transfer over the second ear flap, and then cast on one less stitch than what you cast on first (this would be 10).

This is the finished project.