Knit Toys | Mama Loves Knitting

A Snake for Roman Bryce

This little nugget entered our world on January 20, 2013. I love him.

P.S. He isn’t my baby, he is my nephew, Roman Bryce Hickey.

He waited to arrive until the very day I finished putting the button eyes on his gift (surely that is what he was waiting for).

I got this pattern from a book I needed to have, when I saw this very snake, on the cover. It didn’t call for the same yarn I used, but I had some 220 Superwash made by Cascade Yarns on hand (in a rainbow of colors) and figured it would be just as fabulous. It was.

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I followed the pattern exactly to shape the head and the end of the snake but lost track a lot in the middle stripe section. I knit on size 5 or 6 dpns although I could’ve just used regular knitting needles, since I wasn’t knitting in circles. I was thinking I’d like to knit in the round but I ended up just stitching it closed, as the pattern stated.

Here is the finished ‘bod’ and I was already pretty in love with it. He was all one piece so I just had to stitch his belly closed. He was a pretty simple project. I love knitting toys, especially striped toys.

long as my leg

Lexie had called me to let me know she was in labor, so I made sure I had my necessities packed (in my doula bag) before I headed off to bed. I was in bed for about 5 minutes before I got the call to head to their house. It made me happy I was going to be able to bring this fella along with me.

Notice the snake protecting the corgi, Papa and that badass laboring Mama.

I think Boo Boo was happy too. The snake for baby Roman was a good morning distraction (for a big sis) at 7am when she woke up to a laboring Mama.

Ladybug/Ladybird Pattern

My project to show off for the week is the birthday garland. If you want to see how we made it you can check our crafty blog. It was a kid-friendly project and we had a lot of fun spending our day, stuck inside, doing something creative to pass the time.

Now onto the pattern: This is ADORABLE! I’m kind of on a toy kick right now so I think I’ll knit up one of these sweet little ladybugs to stuff in a spring Easter Basket.

Happy Knitting!

Sick Day Amigurumi Carrot

What is Amigurumi? If you ask me it is a pretty pleasing way to fill an Easter basket or give your kiddos something to play with that is safe. I mean of course you could always shop at a store like this one to accomplish the same thing, but making something for someone you love is so gratifying. You might remember the chickens that filled the baskets last Easter or the Sock Monkey that I just finished up for my little Valentine’s. Those are both examples of Amigurumi. Knit toys.

I happen to be spending the day on the couch, just as I have been for a week, one kid gets sick, then my husband, then the other kid and leaving their sides isn’t really an option.

Instead of making yet another ribbed hat…oh wait I did start one last night…

It just seemed like the easiest thing to knit with a kid on my lap. This yarn is Raven Ridge handpainted worsted weight yarn made by the woman that taught me to knit. And, yet another ribbed hat…boring…so onto today’s project.

To pass the time I’m attempting to knit a carrot from this book.

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It was a gift and I haven’t attempted to make a thing from it yet and of course I’m on the first row of the carrot and ‘wrapping and turning’ (w&t) is in the pattern. There is a pretty great description of how to wrap and turn right in the book, but I’m not sure if I wrap and turn this whole lot of stitches that is left or just wrap and turn one of them? I just need a little bit more explanation. So I turn to You Tube. You pretty much never need to take another knitting class in your life these days. Funny thing is I’m signed up for one that starts on Tuesday to make that god forsaken sweater I started a coon’s age ago. I’m most likely going to be tearing apart everything I’ve accomplished so far, but it actually makes way more sense to me to knit on circular needles so I’m hoping that is what I will be instructed to do.

Back to that carrot. This w&t video seemed to be the most useful one I found. I’m hoping by the end of this sick day I’ll have a carrot to show off. I figured out that I just do one wrap and turn, not the stretch of remaining stitches. At least based on how my carrot is coming together that seems to be the right solution.

I chose this leftover Shepard’s Wool Yarn that I have, since I have a plethora of colors. Orange and Green (looks like a carrot to me).

The carrot in progress didn’t look anything like a carrot – and really when it was complete (sans the fronds) it looks more like Gwing (which is the name courtesy of my good friends Syd/Chris) that they named some mutant carrots a while back. We had carrots that looked like THIS and worse in our harvest 2010.

Mutants

So I thought it fitting that the carrot I knit up looked really similar. The encouraging family surrounding me the night I grafted it together reassured me it looked like a *real* carrot. Indeed.

Oh before I show you the finished product – well nearly finished product I thought this was pretty brilliant. I went to bed one evening and since I have plenty of things to remember I took a photo of the row # (#5) I left off on. Gwing won’t be missing any rows, she’s just got some tiny holes where we (me and Gwing) did the w&t. Still mastering that whole thing. That is Sloane’s Blanket (still in progress) and Gwing sitting atop before I called it a night.

And TA DA! Here she is…Gwing sans her greens (I think those will really make her beauty shine).

Gus thinks Gwing is good enough to eat – and he feels better – that’s all that is important to this Mama.

Happy Knitting!

Sock Monkey Love

Everyone loves a sock monkey right? Well I’ve been working on one, since about a week before Christmas. This is a kit that I actually sell at my toy store that is for children ages 8-12. I’m 33. To be completely frank, it wasn’t the most simple project I’ve ever conquered, but with some help and some previous knitting experience I definitely think a 12 year old could knit this sweet monkey. I am happy to just “own” the pattern now. Usually in kits you get a whole mess of acrylic yarn and boy did I ever. I’m anxious to sub my wool delights to create a new and improved sock monkey, maybe striped? I’m a sucker for stripes. I’m no master knitter, in fact I still consider myself a beginner, but I’ve been knitting over a year now, in fact today is the 1st birthday of this blog, I’ve come a long way! Thanks for hanging in there with me.

I think I’ve decided this will be for one of my little Valentines. The monkey comes with a heart that can be stitched somewhere…and I think I’ll put it right on the chest. I love knitting toys for my kids.

One thing that did happen while my monkey was under construction is I ran out of the main color yarn. You’d think in a kit like this they’d give you ample yarn to complete your project. Don’t skimp people, it is acrylic and costs next to nothing. The place where I had to make some compromises will be obvious soon.

The construction of the body was simple and fairly quick. I was pleased the opportunity finally arose for me to use my counter. Knitting row upon row of ‘monkey leg’ takes some counting.

So it was the ears – I ran out of yarn to complete the ears and had to use leftover scarf yarn. Colored ears on a sock monkey is nothing to turn your nose up at. A mass of acrylic yarn it might be, but that is one cute sock monkey (patting self on back).

Just chillin’ on the couch.

Signing off so I can get some sleep on my blog birthday! Happy Knitting!

Knitted Spring Hens

Happy Spring. I did end up getting the chickens done in time for the bunny to stuff a couple in Simon’s and Gussy’s baskets. I mentioned my intentions to do so on the 1st birthday of our five hens back in March. I knitted Fire then, and you can see she made it into some of these photos as well. She’s the only one that got eyes, lucky girl!

This was August’s Easter Basket. He ended up with the white hen (which we don’t even have – so while sorting through his basket he said, “A white one? Huh.”) and the Black Hen who we call Compsognathus.

I again used my ancient acrylic yarn and didn’t even put a dent in it. Oh well at least it has served some purpose. My kids love their hens. Simon ended up getting a couple of the other hens we have.

The black and white hen is Octopus Pie and the brown hen is probably Captain Dan we have two Auracanas so I suppose the brown hen could be either of them but it ended up looking more like Captain Dan than Boingy.

I used size 4 bamboo needles to knit the girls and cast on 16 for each of them. I knitted until I felt like it was nearly square and folded them into triangles and stitched up the sides until I had only a small opening and then stuffed them with just some poly fill. I sewed them closed and crocheted the combs with red acrylic yarn and just sewed beaks on with bright orange acrylic yarn. It was a fairly simple project that I finally finished on Easter Eve. I was cutting it close but still able to hang out and play cards with family that night…so nothing too stressful. And it felt really good to have such healthy goodies in the Easter Basket. I hate Plastic Easter Grass with a passion, I think it an awful product so I lined the baskets with some recycled shredded packaging I’d gotten in something a few days before Easter. I filled the baskets with the homemade hand-knit chickens, a flashlight, some modeling beeswax, a bird whistle, a zipper pull and a few chocolate eggs. Happy Healthy Environmentally Friendly Easter! I’m such a dork Mom.

Happy Knitting!