The Evolution of Baboon - A Work In Progress

I am very bad at sticking to WIP Wednesday, as I like to put projects on my blog when they are finished. I have been working really hard on my newest pattern, but it is still very much a work in progress.

I call him a baboon (although I think he is technically a mandrill). Although I really like his serious little face, he still has quite a few issues. Nose should be a bit bigger! Should he have ears? Something not quite right about his arms ..... etc.

But some of his features have turned out as I imagined: his prominent brow, and his colourful rear end.

Baboon Bottom!

I have had him in mind for a while, and when on holiday saw his wool (Sirdar Escape DK) in a bargain bucket in the window of a tiny wool shop in the village. I had to buy it, as it was just perfect. But it took three visits to the shop before I managed to get my hands on it. Shop owners in North Devon seem to close for long lunches. So now I have ordered two more balls of this wool online, so I can have another go at refining him.

And although he is not quite right yet, I am not going to unravel him. So I hope to be able to show you how he has evolved from this to the final version in a few weeks.

Spirals

Spiral Artwork, Made from Weathered Wood

This week I am going to try and do a photography post (only one little bit of knitting has slipped its way in). Spirals are important in both nature and mathematics, and art. I cannot give you much more information, but I do know there is something called the golden ratio, which is very important.  

This shell below was in the bathroom of our holiday cottage. It is real, and as huge as it looks.

Spiral Shell

Knitted Spiral Shells

I love this shot. The angles of the spiral are so beautiful. But I also really like the odd bits of human anatomy that have been caught. (I have another shot, which doesn't have any of the bits of hand, and although might be a better photograph technically, is not as exciting.) This was taken at The Monument in Pudding Lane, built to mark the spot where the Great Fire of London began.

Cherry Ripe!

Meet the Cherry Fairy Twins. I was delighted by Frankie's reaction when I first showed them to her. "Lady Gaga!" she exclaimed. Not my intention, but I can see what she means, although I had thought of them as more in 1940's dress.

Sorry about the seemingly never-ending stream of fairies. I do love making these little girls, which are still my basic pattern. It is such fun deciding on the flower or fruit and how to give them their character. There are still more on the way, and even when made I have to hope for a sunny day and seek out the right flowers for photographs.
 

These ones also come in their own little dupion silk bag. The cherries are hand embroidered, and the drawstring made of suede leather. They are also off to my Etsy shop. I am still working on a slightly bigger toy pattern, but whenever I need a bit of a break I return to my fairies.

The Bluebell Fairy

This is the new flower fairy that I have had in mind. I suddenly realized that although there are plenty of bluebells around now, they will probably be over quite soon. 

She is off to my Etsy Shop. I was going to stop knitting fairies for a while, but was so pleased to have some sales, and three of my little girls have headed off to the States.  For this fairy I have added a cream silk drawstring bag, which is hand embroidered. There are some more fairies in the pipeline, and I am in the middle of working out how to knit some little breeches for some boy fairies.

Her dress is a little different from the other fairies, and is bell-shaped like her flower, and I have sewn on her little hat, just to make sure she doesn't lose it.
 

Here she is in front of The Harebell Fairy poem by Cicely Mary Parker, which is what the bluebell is called in Scotland. There is also a Bluebell poem, but I don't have that book.

I don't often put pictures of myself on my blog, but I just love this one which was taken a few years ago of me and my children in a bluebell wood. I try to get us to skip through bluebells each spring, but it is getting harder and harder, as they get older and a bit more inhibited, so it is often just a nice country walk these days. 

I have also been making some little pincushions, which are also going to head to my shop. I will probably put them all in a separate post, as there is a selection of flowers, but I thought I would give you a peek at the bluebell one.

The Bluebell Fairy takes a dive! Hubby's idea of a joke.

Zingy

We are very keen on Zingy in the EDF Energy adverts, and Frankie asked me to knit one for her friend as a extra birthday present. So I have had to wait for the gift to be given before I could put on this post. I used Brackenzcraft's free pattern from ravelry. 

Zingy turned out much larger than I had imagined. He is 15cm tall. The only thing I altered was the eye-size, as I made the white bit smaller with only 20 stitches.

We tried to set up the photos to be a bit like the adverts.

But we don't have a dog so had to make do with our cat.

Poor Noodle, has to put up  with quite a lot!

Daisy Daisy

Once again I have got slightly sidetracked. I have a plan for a slightly bigger knitted toy, but other things keep getting in the way. My best sellers at the craft fair were my baby shoes. I added a cream dupion silk shoebag to keep them in, which I have also added to the shoes for sale on Etsy. But noticing that I only sold the decorated shoes, I decided to jazz up the few plain ones I have left with some handknit daisies. I love daisies: such a simple but pretty flower. 

So I set about designing some daisies. I have knitted fairly large ox-eye daisies for the shoes, but then thought I would also have a go at some tiny daisies, like the ones on my lawn. So this pattern shows you how to make flat daisies for decoration in both sizes, and how to knit a stem and sepal back if you want a really realistic flower.

Just to show you what you could use your daisies for I knitted a hairband, which is probably heading to my Etsy shop.  I just love these little daisies, and think they could look lovely on all sorts of things.

Frankie was not really in the mood to have her photo taken in the garden, and she was suffering from hayfever. A bit ironic really, though I guess knitted flowers is one solution.

How to Knit a Cable Cast On

I'm adding this tutorial as this is a good cast on method. It makes a strong, but stretchy edge, and having cast on you are all set to start on a knit row. But the main reason is I found it useful when knitting the petals in my Daisy pattern. I experimented with other cast on techniques, but the petals always look nicest with this one.

Make your first stitch.

Place your needle behind both threads to make your next stitch.

This is the main difference between this cast on and my normal way, where you put the needle into your stitch as if you were doing a knit stitch.

Pull the loop around and put it on your needle.

Continue in this way, remembering to put your needle behind both threads, and not into the stitch.

I do hope this is visible from my pictures, taken by hubby leaning over my shoulder.

Ready to make the fourth stitch.