Happy New Year!!

Wishing you all a Very Happy New Year!  

May it be filled with many joys and wonders! 

 

And

A Very MERRY CHRISTMAS to ALL!

 

Blessings and Joy to All!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

To All You Lovely Toymakers out there 

(and everyone else too):

We wish you all great Joy and Many Blessings

with Love from theknittycat / Shar and Mr theknittycat / Anthor

and from the Mewligans too!

Happy Thanksgiving!

A New Improved Elmo!

=^. .^=

a New Improved Elmo?   Not possible!  Elmo is perfect just as he is!  

But my Elmo Peep Pattern needed some work, so at long last I'm finally publishing the version that I've actually been using for a few years.

Yeah I know...  I'm sorry it's taken me so long to pass it on.  Blame my non-cooperative health. ;o)

So ... ta Daaaaa

Elmo for Dorothy

New Improved Elmo Peep Pattern

#17 on patterns page

This is a newer, Improved, version of my Elmo Peep - not double knit this time, but knit in the round on two circular needles, from bottom to top. He comes out a lot neater without the inherent gaps that exist from the slipped stitches in double knitting. And the increases are simpler without the inside out double knitting.
He is a very quick and easy knit for an experienced knitter, using some advanced, but easy techniques, such as Kitchener stitch, and three needle bind off. When you are done knitting, except for adding his face, there is no sewing up to do! Yay! :o)


You can also make Cookie Monster Peep with this pattern, if you don't want to wait till I manage to publish an updated version of Cookie (and I wouldn't blame you) using the mouth and cookies info from the existing pattern.


The Elmo and Cookie for MaryJane below were done in worsted weight, instead of dk/sport like I usually use

for MaryJane's birthday 

More of Elmo for Dorothy and with his friend Dorothy Goldfish

 Elmo for Dorothy watching his friend
Dorothy Goldfish in her pretty bowl

.

Elmo in my Hand

 Dorothy is so happy in her pretty bowl! 

A Free African Violets Pattern for Mother's Day!

 No Water No Worries African Violets

Happy Mother's Day to all! 

 

 

 I wanted to make an African Violet for my sister for Mother's Day, remembering how much I used to enjoy growing them.  They're a bit fussy as to moisture and light needs, so they aren't the easiest plant to grow successfully and I thought that a nice knit one would be a great substitute for her.  :o)   No worries about watering or humidity or feeding or how much light it gets. Yay! 

A dear friend, who also loves to knit (check out her creations here www.chiwaluv.blogspot.com), liked my wee plant so much that she wanted to make one of her own, so I wrote up this pattern for her, while I still remembered what I did and while I still had the plant, so I could count rounds and stitches.

And as a nice Mother's Day surprise, thanks to my friend, you all get to have the pattern too - so you can all have African Violets on your windowsills, or wherever you'd like to have them!  :o) 

No water, no worries!  Yay!

 African Violets are very simply constructed plants and lend themselves well to a fabric or yarny interpretation.   The construction of my knit/crochet version is also very simple.  I've given detailed instructions on assembling it, but don't let the length put you off. You can put it together faster than it took to write up the instructions! I normally dislike making things with lots of pieces to attach, so I wasn't looking forward to the assembly,  but this turned out easy and quick to put together. Yay!

While most of the plant is knit, I did crochet the flowers. I may experiment with a knit version of the florets, when I get a chance, for those of you who don't know how to crochet yet.

I hope that you enjoy this wee cutie. :o)   I'm very pleased with how it turned out, and if I can squeeze it into my peep making schedule (sadly unlikely), I'd love to make one for myself!! 

Wishing joy on this day to all the mothers everywhere.  And the hope that they all have peace in their hearts over their children.

Happy Mom's Day!

 from theknittycat and Mr. theknittycat

No Water No Worries African Violets Pattern

(at the moment these are photos of the pages in the PDF. I'll post a link to the PDF itself in the next few days)

Quick Update - 
Whoops!  We got the pdf posted faster than expected!  So you can go to the Patterns & Tutorials page for the link, but I'm leaving these pattern photos up just now in case anyone wants those.  :o)

 

 

Happy Easter, Happy Spring! :o)

wishing all of you joy at this wonderful time of year!

with love from
theknittycat and mr. theknittycat (anthor)

Easter Owlies Coming Soon!
(oops!  How did that Kitty Peep Ball sneak in there?)