I LOVE This Yarn

And I don't mean the yarn brand I Love This Yarn! (which I actually don't love at all - if I'm knitting with acrylic I like Caron Simply Soft). I'm talking about Shine Worsted Yarn from Knit Picks. It's a blend of high quality pima cotton and beechwood fiber, and it's my favorite yarn EVER. It's so so so SOOO soft and luxurious feeling, and the colors are amazing. It is, admittedly, a bit pricier than, say, I Love This Cotton yarn from Hobby Lobby (which I also really like) and way more expensive than a relatively soft acrylic like Caron Simply Soft. And you have to order it and wait for it to arrive in the mail. But it still isn't that expensive (it's cheaper than most of the specialty eyelash yarns available in every craft store). And you get free shipping when you order a ton of it, as I always seem to do. I also bought a bunch of sock yarn with my last order, though. I haven't tried it yet, but there are definitely a few sock projects in my future.

I just made two teddy bears from my stash of Shine Worsted Yarn, and they are the softest, most wonderful stuffed animals EVER (if I may say so).

Creepy Crawlies!

I finally found the time knit up some of the ideas I told you about in my last post. Sadly, I still haven't knitted an elephant. The first thing I started working on after my last post was a zebra. I named him Zack. I've tweaked the pattern a bit since then, but I haven't made another one yet.















After the zebra, I decided to start on those creepy crawlies I mentioned. First is a caterpillar. I think he turned out pretty cute. I think I'll leave this pattern as is... but I'll probably play with the colors more on the next one.
















Next up, a bumble bee! Pretty cute, but the proportions are a tad off. Tweaking this one to make the head a little larger.


















Stay tuned! I've been super busy, and I also have a teddy bear knitted up. No pics of him yet, though. Looks like I'll have plenty of cute toys for sale at Market on the Square this weekend (in Cathedral Square in downtown Mobile). That is, if we don't have an annoying tropical storm or hurricane raining out the event. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

So Many Ideas...

And not enough time to knit them all up. I have three more designs for toys in the works, and they have a theme: African Savannah animals, or African Savannah Friends, if you will. So far I've written patterns for a tiger, a zebra, and an elephant. The tiger needs a bit of tweaking, so I won't show you the prototype just yet. I'm almost finished with the zebra prototype, and he is way cute. I haven't quite finished the elephant pattern, but I hope to get an elephant prototype knitted up this week. I've made two elephants in the past from patterns I got from the internet. Well, I did modify both patterns, and I really wanted to write my own using some elements from the patterns I already have. I don't plan on selling these patterns, so I don't feel terrible about shamelessly (and modifying) the best bits of some other patterns for my own designs.

In addition to all those exotic animals, I have an idea for a caterpillar and a bumblebee to go with the lady bug I made (Creepy Crawly Friends). I also have a teddy bear pattern written up that I need to make a prototype for, but I don't expect to have to make many changes to that one.

All of these ideas are well and good, but I really want to be able to get a bunch of these made up in time for Market on the Square downtown in a couple of weeks. That is, if I can get a spot at the market. That is not a given, but I have an application submitted anyway.

In the meantime, I've had several orders from daycare, and they'll do Market on the Square again in the fall, just in time for Christmas orders. I should have a good stock going by then, and hopefully I can get my application in early for that one. I have an idea for a penguin that is completely inappropriate for summer.

Hammerhead

I just realized that I never showed you the hammerhead shark I made for my nephew's birthday last month!

Here it is! Super cute, no?

Oops - comments now open

I just realized that my comments were set for blogger/Google account folks only. They are now open for anyone to comment.

Ravelry Stalking

Is it weird to sort of stalk people on Ravelry? Like when I see that someone has bought my pattern would it be weird to message them and say something like, "Hey, thanks for buying my pattern. Let me know if you have questions about it. And also, I really want to see pictures"? 'Cause I've sold my first pattern on Ravelry (squee!), and I sort of really want to do exactly that. But I don't want to be the weird kid in class. So maybe I shouldn't. But now you already know I'm the weird kid in class since I just told the internet that I want to stalk people on Ravelry. Great.

Al the Gator - Now for Sale!

So after finishing up my Krull the Warrior King prototype, I got busy working on the new and improved Al the Gator. It took about three days to finish up the latest version, but he's all done now and listed for sale on Etsy! I am quite pleased with the final result, and I've listed the pattern for sale on Ravelry. If you aren't on Ravelry but are interested in buying this pattern, click the "buy now" button below the photos in this post. This will take you directly to PayPal. Cost for the pattern is $3.

Materials needed to knit your own Al the Gator:

• Set of five US size 3 DPN's
• ~75 yards worsted weight yarn in green (I used I Love This Cotton! from Hobby Lobby in sage)
  
• small amount of worsted weight yarn in white
• scrap of worsted weight yarn in black
• tapestry needle
• stuffing

This pattern is not recommended for beginners. You should have some experience with DPN's before you try it.