Toys, toys, toys....

 

Toys and more

I have to admit, my favorite knitting projects are usually toys. I love to make them and even more I enjoy giving them away. Sometimes I get to do special requests toys that require me to be creative and use more than just knitting needles in order to capture the image or an idea. In the collage picture above, you can see some of the toys I have made over the past few months. 

The large picture has our dog posing with a large teddy bear and a small cat. They were both Christmas presents for two small children. The two dolls in the bottom corner were created to replicate drawings of a young artist, and they were received with a huge smile on the artist's face. The cat in the top corner was made for a colleague of mine at work. One day we were talking, and he showed me a picture of this peaceful looking yoga posing cat and I tried to recreate that image, while adding the coloration of his own cat.  

At the moment I am working on a new toy mystery KAL. I have to get the PDF files ready with all the clues and set the dates and hopefully it will bring some smiles to anyone who will participate. I will post more information as soon as I have everything ready. Here is a sneak preview of the yarn I am using for Cleo.

Cleo, toy mystery KAL

I spent yesterday evening knitting a new sample for my older pattern named Grande Gatto. Here is a link to the original blog post about the pattern. The jumbo weight yarn that the original Grande Gatto was made in has been discontinued and I have received new yarn from Knitpicks to give the pattern an update. The original Grande Gatto made in jumbo weight yarn measured about 15" / 38 cm, the new resized Grande Gatto is about 10" / 25.5 cm, which is still a decent size for a huggable toy or a cool decoration. It might be on a smaller size as a pillow, but I may make another sample with different stitch counts and rounds to make the Grande Gatto closer to the original size. 

Grande Gatto

Grande Gatto

Thank you for visiting.

Bernie's Doll

 

Remember how in January of 2021 Bernie Sanders and his knitted mittens were all over the Internet? 
In a sense it feels such a long time ago, yet it's less then five months ago. 

This knitted Bernie’s doll is inspired by the images I have seen. I started to work on this doll at the end of January, see my first blog post about it here: Work in progress - Bernie's doll  Somehow to knit this doll took much longer then usually, see my March work in progress blog post with a picture of still unfinished Bernie's doll. But in the end I have finished the doll sometimes at the end of March, Work in progress blog post from the beginning of April finally have a finished Bernie's doll picture. 

It took almost equally long to type up the pattern into a PDF file from my handwritten notes. You can see that part of work in progress in the picture bellow. 

Finally, the pattern is available to all, and it's free, my gift to you. You can get it by visiting my Ravelry designer page: My designs or you can download it from Ravelry by clicking on the download now link  bellow. At some point in the next week I will add the pattern to Lovecraft website as well. 

download now

The doll is knit in worsted weight yarn and it uses several knitting techniques: knit in the round, increases, decreases, I-cord, short rows, Grafting (Kitchener stitch), Bobbles, Loop Stitch, stranded colorwork and stripes.

I have to say that my knitted dolls designs have been improving over the years as I try to get more realistic and 3D appeal to them. In the pictures bellow you can see how the dolls have changed from my first doll designs to the latest by using a variety of knitting techniques and adding the clothes as separate layers instead of knitting them as the part of the dolls.  It started with the Man with the Yellow Hat, through the Spider Man, Iron Man, Batman and Robin, Pat and Mat, Luki's doll, Baba Yaga, and now Bernie's doll.

All of the dolls, except Baba Yaga are available as free patterns. There is no pattern for Luki's doll as that was a very special design for one boy based on his drawing. 

See all the toys in the pictures bellow. 

Thank you for visiting.

10 years of work in progress

Ten years ago I have started this blog with a help from my friend. 

Here is a link to that first blog post: Welcome to Stana's Critters Etc Blog. 

The image from the first blog post is a whole bunch of knitted teddy bears and a pink polka dot dog and a yellow striped cat. All of these toys were given away either to my kid, my friend's children, my kid's friends, or variety of charitable organizations. 

When I started this blog I really didn't know what to expect and what would happen. Somehow my love for knitting has evolved into a small side business and in the process I have managed to write and publish almost three hundred knitting patterns. As of today, officially, there are 295 published knitting patterns in my Ravelry store, and my patterns were published in seventeen different knitting books, as well as variety of websites and magazines.  To have my work accepted and published by a variety of third parties I have learned the different ways to submit my ideas and inevitably also understand that the rejections happen more than the acceptance, and usually it has nothing to do with the idea itself but rather with how the different ideas from so many other talented creators fit together. 

I do not know what the future holds, but I know for sure that I will continue to knit one stitch at time.  That way I am sure that I will manage to finish this Bernie Sanders doll, my current work in progress since January 2021. 

Thank you for visiting and reading. 

Knitting Pattern for Leonard and Lola

Leonard and Lola

Leonard and Lola

The toy mystery KAL is over, but you can still knit your Leonard and Lola. The pattern is available to purchase on Raverly:

Ravelry store

or by clicking on this button:



or you can purchase the pattern on Lovecraft:

Leonard and Lola

Thank you for visiting.

Knitting Pattern for Pat and Mat

Pat and Mat

The knitted toys for Pat and Mat were inspired by the Czech animated show named Pat and Mat. Two handy men doing all sorts of do it yourself project with some unfortunate accidents and unexpected results. We love to watch them and after so many years I finally start working on the two toys just before last Christmas, thinking that they would be a great Christmas gift. Nine months later I finally finished the two dolls. After the time it takes to write the pattern, edit it, and have it test knit the pattern is available now.

Pat and Mat

You can download it in my Ravelry store or by clicking on this button:

download now

Don't forget to check out the adventures of Pat and Mat, they are possible to find on YouTube, and have fun knitting.

Thank you for visiting.