Monthly Archives: June 2013

Cabled lamb

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lamb

This is “Cute Cabled Lamb,” another in a Lion Brand series of free animal patterns that knit up to about 10.5 inches. The pattern is available here. You will need to join the Lion Brand site to download it, though. As with Long Eared Bunny, my only modifications were to gather in the neck, add a seam at the top of the legs, and embroider the face with yarn.

The lamb is shown here in Martha Stewart Crafts Extra Soft Wool Blend, a Lion Brand pattern in colors that tend to the pastels. It’s a comfy 35% wool, 65% acrylic.

The cabled sweater is the inspired touch in this critter, for sure. Lamb likes it so much she’s decided she’ll never take it off.

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Building a bunny

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bunny

This is a “Long Eared Bunny,” a free Lion Brand pattern, available on their website once you register. I had plenty of Martha Stewart Crafts Extra Soft Wool Blend left over from my Le Cirque playmat and so I knit a number of critters from this set. My modifications were to gather the neck a bit and sew creases into his leg joins to help him sit. I also embroidered the face with yarn rather than use felt, as called for in the pattern.

Oh yes, I knitted a little bobble for his tail rather than a pompom. I am sort of a pompom adverse knitter. The first time you wash a pompom it looks more like a mopmop.

bunny_buttBunny looked so…so…naked. I settled on a sweet hoodie that Meg Swanson designed for a 10-inch bear. It’s part of a 1993 booklet that included many top knitwear designers, edited by Judith Shangold: “The Designer Collection (For Bears).” The booklet was a fundraiser for The Children’s Aid Society. Vogue Knitting was associated with the project, which included designs for a 10-inch Boyd Bear that was being sold in many local yarn shops when the booklet was first available. In addition to Swanson, there are sweaters and outfits by Kaffe Fassett, Nancy J. Thomas, Nicky Epstein, Deborah Newton, Norah Gaughan, Nancy Marchant and others.

Here’s the Swanson design (I added the bunny tail hole, the earholes are Swanson’s):

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The hoodie pattern is knit all in one piece. It took me several tries to get the zigs and the zags figured out. It would make an interesting baby sweater, but I don’t think I have enough knitting IQ points to figure out how to make that happen.

The hoodie fits bunny just right. He especially likes that he can wear his hood low–almost over his eyes.

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And he can still easily twitch his tail.

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