Kookaburra

It's a new knitted bird! I've been working on this Kookaburra for the last week and am so pleased with how he turned out.

Knitted budgie

It's really good to have someone help you with the paperwork at this time of year!

Knitted Rubber Ducks

Everyone needs a cuddly knitted rubber duckie in their life, don't they? Here's your chance to make a flock of your very own - my knitted rubber duck pattern is now available in my Etsy shop as an instant download. The pattern includes full instructions for a large and small duck as in the photo - and there's no reason to just stick to yellow, the pattern looks great in any colour!

If you live near Worthing, the paper pattern is also available at The Wool Bar.

Now, all I need to do is to find a way to make them float...

Knitted flamingo

Next up on my quest to knit birds from round the world - a knitted flamingo! While I was doing some research about the flamingo before I started knitting, I found out a couple of interesting facts. The pink shade of the flamingo depends on its diet - they eat shrimp and the colouring from the shrimp gives them their lovely pink hue. Flamingos in zoos have to be fed food with colouring added otherwise they would not be pink.

Also, when a flamingo loses its feather, it gradually fades away to white, so you will never be able to own a pink flamingo feather. Isn't that lovely?

No food colouring involved with my knitted flamingo - she is knitted from 100% pink merino wool. I've knitted a small flock of these and have decided to put one up for sale in my Etsy shop. I will post some photos of the whole flock soon!

Knitted blackbird

I've decided to make a limited number of knitted birds for sale on Etsy, in the run-up to my Knitted Birds book being published by Search Press in September. So here's the first one who is currently available for adoption on Etsy - a handsome male knitted blackbird.

He's approximately 20cm long from tip of the tail to tip of the felt beak. If you'd like to knit one of your own, he will be one of the patterns in my Knitted Birds book!

Barn Owl

Here's some work in progress - a knitting pattern for a little knitted barn owl. I decided to start with the face on this one which is quite unusual for me, it's usually the last thing I do.

Skrillex doll

Thought I would take a break from the knitted birds and knit a doll - the result was this Skrillex doll; an early Christmas present for my daughter. I liked him so much I ended up writing up the pattern and you can download it from my Etsy shop.

Skrillex is about 10 inches tall and has removable felt headphones and a tiny cigarette.

I revised my previous basic doll pattern for this one, using some simplified shaping techniques that I'd picked up while knitting a tufted duck, of all things. If you ever wondered what the connection between water birds and dubstep was, well, there it is. I do like making patterns simpler and more elegant - less is more in my book when it comes to shaping.

Blackbird

Knitted blackbird enjoying the autumn sunshine in the park. One of the bonuses of knitting birds is that finally I can take half-decent wildlife photos without having to use one of those massive telephoto lenses or having to worry about the subject flying off.

I'm particularly pleased with how the blackbird turned out - when you're knitting with black you're relying entirely on the shaping to create the sense of the bird and I think I captured the shape and the pose of a blackbird with this one.

(American visitors please note that this is a British blackbird - completely different to your beautiful blackbirds! I will get round to knitting one of the North American blackbirds one day.)

Seagull knitting pattern

If you'd like to knit a seagull, you can buy this gull knitting pattern from my Etsy shop! This is a small herring gull, about 5 inches tall. The life-size version that you can see in The Wool Bar will be along soon...

This small version is super-cute, well-behaved, and knits up quickly on 4mm needles. I've included detailed step-by-step photos on how to make the wire feet in the four page PDF pattern.

Severus Snape knitting pattern

If you fancy knitting your very own Severus Snape, you can now buy my knitting pattern for my Snape doll as a digital download from Etsy.

Once you've checked out, you'll be able to download the pattern straight away and get knitting! Magic!

Like Cake cross stitch

Like cake? Like Facebook? Then you will definitely like stitching this cross stitch sampler.

The Cake button in the photo is worked in cross stitch, with a half-cross stitch background, on 14 count aida fabric.

You can buy the pattern from my Etsy shop. And you can buy the awesome cakes in the photo from Parklife Cafe, Bath Place, Worthing, UK. If you're ever in Worthing, don't miss Parklife's cakes... very special.

A conventional pullover

A beautifully-tinted knitting booklet from Woman and Home magazine, dating from what looks like the late 1940s or early 1950s. Wholesome woolies for all the family, although knitting adult-sized long-sleeved jumpers in 4-ply is not my idea of a "quick knit".

The rather doubtful looking man in the middle is sporting "His New Knitted Pullover" - "He will like a pattern but the shape must be conventional". I think he's having second thoughts about the pattern and is dreading the manly teasing he'll be in for down the pub tonight.

Make a 1940s music belt

A really unusual belt from Stitchcraft magazine, December 1947.

"To make the belt you need a piece of felt 5 inches wide by 28 inches long in a bright colour. For the black lines you need 5 pieces of narrow black braid, each 28 inches long; 4 buttons and some black embroidery silk or cotton.

First sew on the black braid as shown in the picture, then with a pencil draw your favourite tune all around the waist, and embroider it in black, using stem-stitch for the thin lines and satin-stitch for the solid parts.

Sew on the buttons, then make loops for button-holes, using a bit of black braid for each. Trim down the edges of the felt so that the back is about half an inch narrower top and bottom than the fronts."

Distinctively Different crochet accessories

From Golden Hands magazine, 1972: "Distinctively Different: In this age of standardised clothes and mass production, it is easy enough to find your best friend wearing the same dress as your own. Accessories are the best way to add more individual touches of character, but any which are the least out of the ordinary can cost the earth - so why not try and make them yourself?"

Indeed. Every home-made craft project is a poke in the eye to mass production and conformity. By picking up that crochet hook, you are sticking it to the man, sister.

These co-ordinating 1970s accessories are worked in red, white and blue rows of double crochet (UK). This colour scheme gives our model a bit of a 1970s air hostess look - maybe she's about to serve you a crocheted gin and tonic from the crocheted drinks trolley.

All of these accessories are created iin the same way: you make a central band of main colour until you have the length you want, and then work double crochet around the sides of the band until you have the width you want. Simple, and easy to adapt to make a watch strap, belt, hat band, or tie.

Crochet snowflake Christmas decoration

One for the patient Christmas crafter - a pretty crochet snowflake made from crochet cotton or oddments of 4 ply, on 1.75mm crochet hook. This is a UK crochet pattern.

Make 10 ch, join into a ring with a sl st.

Round 1: Work (1 dc, 8 ch) 6 times into ring, sl st into first dc to join. 6 loops.
Round 2: 1 sl st into each of first 4 ch of first loop, work (1 dc, 6 ch, 1 dc) into same loop, 6 ch, 1 dc into next dc, 6 ch *(1 dc, 6 ch, 1 dc) into next loop, 6 ch, 1 dc into next dc, 6 ch; rep from * 4 times more, sl st into first dc to join.
Round 3: 1 sl st into each of first 2 ch of first 6-ch loop, 4 ch (count as one dtr), into same 6-ch loop work (2 dtr, 3 ch, 3 dtr), 5 ch, *miss 2 6-ch loops, into next 6-ch loop work (3 dtr, 3 ch, 3 dtr), 5 ch; rep from * 4 times more, sl st into 4th of 4 ch at beg of round.
Round 4: 1 ch, 1 dc into each of next 2 dtr, 3 ch, into next 3-ch loop work (1 dc, 5 ch, 1 dc), 3 ch, 1 dc into each of next 3 dtr, 4 ch, 1 dc into next 5-ch loop, 4 ch, *1 dc into each of next 3 dtr, 3 ch, into next 3-ch loop work (1 dc, 5 ch, 1 dc), 3 ch, 1 dc into each of next 3 dtr, 4 ch, 1 dc into next 5-ch loop, 3ch; rep from * 4 times more, 1 dc into ch at beg of round. Fasten off. Pour large Baileys.

Pin out, stretching evenly and spray with starch to stiffen. Leave to dry thoroughly, then sew hanging loop at one point of flake.

Two hats in one

I love the way that this cosy knitted hat from a Argyll yarn pattern can be worn in two ways: firmly pulled over the head for maximum warmth, or perched on top for a more cheeky gamine/blimey-my-ears-are-cold sort of look.

Yarn: 4ozs DK. It's knitted in doubled-up double knitting yarn for extra warmth - you're knitting with 2 balls of yarn at the same time.

Needles: pair of No 4 UK needles.

Tension: 3sts and 7 rows = 1 inch squre measured over pattern.

Note: Wind 2 balls of yarn together before commencing. Using No 4 needles cast on 27 sts, and k 1 row. Commence pattern: -

1st row (right side): Sl 1, * k into st below next st on needle, slipping st above off needle in normal way (called K1B), k1; rep from * to end.

2nd row: Sl 1, * k1, K1; rep from * to last 2 sts, k2.

These 2 rows form pattern.

Shape top:

1st row: Sl 1, * K1B, k1; rep from * to last 2 sts, turn.
2nd and every alt row: sl 1, * k1, K1B; rep from * to end.
3rd row: Sl 1, * K1B, k1; rep from * to last 4 sts, turn.

Continue in this way working 2 sts less at end of every alt row until "sl 1, * K1B, k1; rep from * to last 12 sts, turn" has been worked.

12th row: sl1, * k1, K1B; rep from * to end.
13th and 14th rows: Work in pattern across all sts.

Rep last 14 rows 9 times more. Cast off in pattern.

To make up: sew together cast-on and cast-off edges, leaving centre of crown open for pom-pom. Press. Make a pom-pom, insert through hole in corwn and sew centre seam.

Haven't tried making this hat yet - let me know how it turns out.