Chrysanthemum the Ninja Bunny

... and sometimes pirate bunny....

My latest toy creation:

Chrysanthemum

Chrys is not just any bunny, she's a special bunny with special moves and a bandanna that she sometimes wears...

... as her special eye patch, when she feels like being a pirate.


Not for the faint of heart, she is cute, feisty and a little bit wild.

She needs a very special home with a special little person to look after her.


Chrysanthemum has been made from soya (body), cotton (bandanna and embroidery) and merino Astrakhan yarn (her tail and the little fluffy bits on her ears). She is stuffed with 100% lambswool and soft and squishy. You can wash her gently in warm water with a little bit of special delicates washing liquid. Leave her to dry and she'll be good as new, but make sure you wash the bandanna separately as this has been hand dyed and might make her lovely vanilla colour go pink. She wouldn't like that. Really, she wouldn't.

Chrysanthemum is about 15cm (6") tall and she'll be waiting in my Etsy shop sometime later this week for someone to give her a loving home.

Note: This toy is not suitable for very small children due to the buttons on her face and the bandanna.

Mimi the Wishing Cat

Here's a little cat I made earlier....

... she's a special present for my sister who's moving house soon. She loves cats but is allergic to them and I thought this little cat is perfect for her.

Mimi

Little Mimi is a special wishing cat. She makes wishes come true. :-)


She's knitted using a pattern I made up as I went along in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino in rose, fuchsia and burgundy.


Her face has been embroidered with embroidery silk, and cotton, and yarn and her eyes are two black buttons.

The flower (she insisted on having) is hand crocheted and embellished with another button.


Mimi is all soft and squishy as she's stuffed with pure lambswool.

Her paws are also embroidered.


Mimi can't wait to get to her new home....

If you want your own special cat, let me know and we'll sort out something. :-)

Snowy the Bear

Ta-Da - Snowy the Bear.

My very first knitted toy, made for Ben. It should have been a Christmas present but I got snowed under with request for warmers and it never happened. Have to say I felt a bit daunted by the pattern too...

The pattern is called 'Otto' and is available from Ysolda Teague's Store.

It took me about 4 days to finish the bear and Snowy turned out very cute, but I did have a few issues with the pattern. I think the nose as per pattern is too long and it caused me no end of trouble when I embroidered it with the black yarn. In the end I had to take it apart, shorten it and therefore get rid off any resemblance to a well known German dictator....

I am also not happy with the mistakes I found in the pattern regarding the legs and gusset. Unfortunately, despite the promise of pattern support I got no help Ysolda herself, nor from the Ysolda Ravelry group.

On the whole though Snowy is sweet and much loved.


A personal touch was adding the bouclé yarn embroidery around the ears. The yarn is Sirdar Juicy in White (Coconut) for the main body, Cashcotton in black for the nose and eyes and Rowan Astrakhan in cream for the embroidery around the ears. The stuffing is pure lambswool. Very squishy and soft! :)

I loved knitting with the bamboo yarn as it's lovely and silky and so smooth. Perfect for all sorts of projects.

The pattern got my appetite wetted for some toy knitting. I've almost finished a little cat which is based on my own pattern. I quite fancy making a monkey or a different kind of bear though. We'll see... I'll have to add it to the very long list of projects which gets longer by the day.

The emerald green shrug got put aside whilst Ben was nagging me to make his bear... however, that is almost finished too. AND I did some more yarn dying. Once the yarn has been untangled and wound up into balls I will show you the results.

Penny's Wrist Warmers

Penny from Natural Attrill commissioned me to make her a pair of wrist warmers. We decided on the most wonderful Habu silk mohair (60% and 40% mohair) which I knitted to specification.



The design is very simple with purl on the front and back with a single cable keeping the wrist warmers tight around the wrist. There are a few rows of ribbing at the top and a single row of crochet at the bottom to keep the wrist warmers tight around the top and bottom.


You can see how light and fluffy the wrist warmers are! In fact, they weigh less than 25g and are as soft as eider down.


They are intended for use all year round inside the house and out and they can be worn with the cable on the front or back and even inside out.


You can commission wrist warmers too. Prices vary depending on design and yarn but are around £20 plus P&P.

Featured...

I just discovered Craft Cult, where you can check if your Etsy items have recently been featured on Etsy's front page, Storque or one of the gift guides.

Seems my turquoise and gold silk flower garland made it on the front page and one of the gift guides - Shades of Emerald. :-)

Spring Splendour - Magnolia and Cherry Blossom

A couple of weeks ago I took some more photos of the Spring Splendour all around me. I have a thing about cherry blossoms and magnolias, so here are more pictures.


Cherry Blossom

Both images were edited with filters and all sorts of clever stuff to create the different painterly effects.



Magnolias

The following pictures were only edited to enhance the subject rather than change it.


More images of crafted things to follow soon... I've just finished and posted a commission and I am working on the next commission....