Knitted Goose

Hi. I hope you all had a great Christmas. I was and still am busy making new knitted toys. This will be a short post as I have to also work out a new goal plan for 2011. I've had to make some changes and am finalizing my plans now to be ready after New Year's. Hope you enjoy my little knitted goose. She was a Christmas present for a friend. I'll be back after the New Year.     HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Busy Making Christmas Gifts

My cactus is getting buds again.

My take of a Victorian style jug cover.

Tried something. Don't quite like it.

This spider lived in my bathroom for about a month. Left for parts unknown.

Big mushroom in a tree.

Monday we were snowed in my building until around noon. It had snowed like crazy during the night with the wind creating huge drifts against the doors. Well it was the 13th lol. Good day to try to finish the gifts I am making. I can't show anything until after Christmas. But here are some photos for now. I am also in the process of making some changes to my goal plans. More on that later as well. There will be lots of interesting new things after the new year. I'll tell (and show) you all about it then. And hopefully by then I'll have figured out to get the photos where I want them.

Designing is Work. Really.

I happen to work at something I enjoy. Writing, designing jewelry, developing recipes, taking photographs and so forth. I'm not alone in this. Many people make a living being creative in one way or another. Some like me are just starting out and others have spent a lifetime at it.

Now here is where the problem is. Some people have no qualms about asking for the pattern, recipe, whatever. They expect to be given it with a smile and with no thought of all the effort that went into it. Further some expect you to feel honored to be asked and are offended when you say no. I say get your hand out of my pocket. Maybe it doesn't seem like work to you and yes I enjoy what I do but why should I give it away for free. I want to make my living with this. Not give it away.

Do you ask the local baker for that darling loaf of bread? Or an artist for a free painting because you can't afford the price being asked for it? Of course not. So don't ask me for free patterns, recipes or even the actual item. I have no problem giving away some things for free. I enjoy doing that. Occasionally. When I feel like it. Because it makes me happy to do so. But I won't give anything away because it is expected of me.

Let me give you a quick example. To design the teddy bear I had to spend many hours working out the pattern. The first try was not quite right as the proportions were wrong. What I thought would look okay ended up looking just plain ridiculous when actually knitted. After some adjustments I got it right. There are one or two wee changes I might make but the bear is fine as he is. All this takes time. Coming up with the idea, working out the pattern and then making the item is not a snap of the fingers. It can take a few hours or many days depending on the item.

Then I have to sell the item and/or the pattern. More effort on my part. And I should give it away for free? Nah-uh!  If I was just fooling around to amuse myself that would be different. Well, I am amusing myself but in a serious way as I want to earn a living by this.

I'm not the only one to feel this way. Now I realize some of those who ask for freebies are just thoughtless. After all there are a lot of people giving away their designs, either some or all. That's their choice. But there are those like myself who do it for a living.

Something to think about folks.

By the way, there are literally thousands of free patterns out there. There are videos that show you how to do the basics up to the most complicated techniques. There are step by step written instructions with photos or illustrations for practically anything.

Fuzzy Teddy Bear Toy

Here in Cobalt it's been snowing since Sunday. The wind is so icy cold it takes you forever to warm up once you're back inside. Brrr! Good weather to stay indoors and catch up on my knitting. I designed a teddy bear toy. He's a  soft and fuzzy bear. Not quite perfect as he is the first teddy bear I finished. I am working on another bear but he's going to be growling and showing his teeth. He definitely is not going to be a cuddly teddy bear. More like a hungry grizzly. You'll see him in the New Year.

I am still way behind. There are presents to make yet and there are less than 3 weeks till Christmas. How does it happen that Christmas sneaks up on one so easily? You think there is lots of time yet and then BOOM! Christmas is just around the corner.

Next year I will  have more time to work on my teddy bears and other toys and dolls. I am in the process of making some necessary changes. For now I hope you will enjoy having a look at my teddy bear. TTFN

Knitted Rat

Christmas always comes too soon but this year I am busier than any other year in the past what with writing weekly houseplant articles for BellaOnline and taking courses. I haven't had time to start on anything for Christmas yet. I did finally finish this knitted rat yesterday. He can stand on his own which was a nice surprise when I was posing him for his photos. I couldn't resist taking him with me yesterday when I went out for a coffee to show him off. He was a big hit. I hope you will enjoy my knitted rat too. He was a lot of fun to make. I used the knitted mouse pattern as a starting point and made adjustments as I went along to make a rat. The pattern was perfect the first try. I wish they would all be that easy.

 I have experimented some with the foot design but I stayed with this one since this design allows him to be freestanding. One of the other designs with some tweaking will be suitable as a pattern for a hand which I can use when I get around to knitting the dolls next year. There are a lot of animals and dolls I will be knitting next year once the holidays are over and things calm down again. I will share them with you. Also my jewelry and beadwork designs. TTFN

Painted Rocks

Today it's going to be painted rocks. I went nuts earlier this year painting rocks. I found a lot of small, flat rocks while walking around Cobalt. I have a large coffee can full of rocks actually, waiting to be painted. But that will have to wait until next year. I had made pins out of some but they were too heavy and they ended up hanging facedown. Painted rocks work best as magnets or pendants like the one below. I love painting but I'm not not much good at drawing. I can't even even draw a realistic stick figure, lol. But I'm happy at how the ladybugs turned out.

Free Knitted Catnip Mouse Pattern

Here is the pattern for my catnip mouse as promised. It is good for using up scraps of worsted weight yarns. There is no gauge. I used 3.5 mm needles. The mouse is knitted from nose to tail using stocking stitch throughout.

Cast on 2 sts

Body staring at nose

Row 1:  Increase in each stitch (4 sts)
Row 2:  Purl
Row3:  Increase in each stitch (8 sts)
Row4:  Purl
Row5:  Knit
Row6:  Purl
Row7:  (k1,inc. in next st) to end of row (12 sts) (eye position row)
Rows 8-12 knit even
Row 13: Increase in each stitch (24 sts) (ear position row)
Rows 14-24: knit even
Row 25: (k1, k2tog) to end of rwo (16 sts)
Row 26: Purl
Row 27: k2tog across and cast off

Ears

Cast on 4 sts for bottom of ear.
K 1 row, Purl 1 row
Increase in every stitch (8 sts)
Next 4 rows continue in st. st.
Next purl 2 tog. across
Next k 2tog across and cast off

Note: the wrong side is the inside of the ear so it faces the front. It will curl in a bit like a "real" ear

Tail

I crochet a chain the length I want the tail to be using the yarn doubled

Sew and stuff. Add catnip if you wish. I wrap some stuffing around a pinch of catnip to hold it in place.
I simply stitch on the nose and eyes. If you want whiskers, lay 2 or 3 short pieces of yarn on top where the nose will be and sew them in place. This creates the nose at the same time.

Let me know if the pattern doesn't make sense or if you have any questions. This is the first time I tried to write out one of my patterns for others to use. It's not as easy as I thought it would be. It's much easier writing it down for my own use. I hope you will enjoy making this mouse pattern. TTFN

Knitted Catnip Mouse

It's cold today with an icy wind. Good day to stay inside and knit. I made catnip mice for my friends' cats for Christmas. They knit up quick and easy. I will give away the pattern for these knitted catnip mice in a few days or so. But first I want to make sure the pattern makes sense. The way I write the pattern for myself will be unintelligible for others. Last year I wanted to make a rat pattern and I used the catnip mouse pattern as a guide. It turned out lifesized and oh so cute. So cute in fact it found its way home with my daughter. So now I have to make another one.  My knitted rat has the cutest pink feet and a long pink tail. You'll love him!

Christmas is almost here again and I'm behind as I am every year. I think I was only in time with finishing everything one year. But I think I missed the mad rush, the 'OMG I have less than two weeks to finish' feeling.

I'm  not a very good photographer but here are photos of the catnip mice I knitted. Hope you like them.

Knitted Yellow Bird

Here he is, my little yellow bird. He's not quite perfect yet but I thought I'd show him off anyway. He is soft and cuddly and likes to hang around while I work. Now if I could just train him to make my coffee.

See his cute little tail. He is a bit lonely so I am making him some friends. Soon he will be joined by a fierce looking bear, a big rat and a bunch of mice. Hmmm...what do you call a group of mice anyway?

Other things I'm working on are some winter acccessories for myself and some new jewelry. Also I have to start making my Christmas presents. I'm behind as usual.

In a week or so I'll have some more critters to show you. TTFN

Hello and welcome

Hi everyone. I live in the little town of Cobalt. Here is a photo of the view from my living room. You can see the town bus coming down the hill.
I am working on my Christmas presents  now as well as designing crafts to submit to crafting sites. I am working on dolls and toys for cats and also some new jewelry for myself. I'll be posting pictures as I get items done and I'll be giving free patterns away of some of them.

One of my interests is houseplants and I write a weekly article for BellaOnline. You can check it out here.
http://www.bellaonline.com/site/houseplants
More tomorrow. Thank you for visiting.