Bad Bunny

Bad Bunny - she's bad, she's bad, she's really, really bad!

If you’ve seen my LullabyLily natural knit toys you may be surprised by this latest creation. I made Bad Bunny at Easter for M’s girl who is mad about all things dark and Gothic and BAD – the badder and more ‘rubbish’ the better and especially loves the evil fairy Carabosse from Sleeping Beauty ballet. (Even while she is one of the sweetest children you would ever meet!)

See the amazing and beautiful Carabosse doll her mom made her here. I decided that as an Easter gift, I would knit her a Bad Carabosse-style Easter Bunny. I didn’t realise how like Carabosse’s hair rabbit ears could look like! i was also a bit unprepared for just how truly BAD this bunny appeared to be! How mean-looking is she? Even I was scared so I figured she would go down with well with her intended.

Wearing her wasabi green dress, but without her bag

Phew, after having a face-change, she became the bad Easter Bunny who delivered presents to all this little one’s Bad fairies/pig daughters/toys alongside regular Easter Bunny. (I also made Bad Easter Bunny a malachite-black chenille knit bag for her eggs.)

Bad Bunny ready to deliver

I couldn’t possibly feature her in my LullabyLily blog lest she chase all my other little darlings away. But I think I many offer other custom-style bunnies in Knitkin. Let me know if you’re thinking of a custom bunny for someone.

Natural hand knit toys

Hand made hedgehog, rear view!

Don’t get me wrong, I am not against polyester in any way and definitely not against polyester filling; it has a lot of benefits not least affordability. But, hello, there is just no comparison (em, let’s leave the easy laundry factor to one side for a minute!) with pure wool as a filling for natural hand knit toys.

I only use pure wool stuffing like Merino roving for all LullabyLily knit darlings. It sculpts beautifully, has a warmth to it, it is cosy and dense but squishy too. It was once a living fibre. It is comforting. And at LullabyLily we like comforting.

Giant slugs for little boys

LullabyLily Giant Slug needing home

(Yes, still here and not at my blogger second home yet.) As I made two Giant Slugs today to give as birthday presents I realised again how gorgeous these babies are. The shape of them is so appealing and you can squish them into different sluggy positions. [I have a continual impulse to tweak upwards the feelers on all my girl's knit slugs, I can't help it!] I made one each for two 6 year old birthday boys who were having a combined party. Boys love these knit slug toys, and no doubt there is competition over who has the biggest one.

This Giant Slug is now the beloved pet of an older boy in England

One of the things I love about knitting something for someone I know, child or adult, is allowing my intuition to choose the yarn colors and seeing what is created while I’m thinking about that person. So the first boy whom we’ve known for a couple of years now has a giant slug which was made with several different yarns in a rich burgundy, natural yellow mohair, natural mushroom raw wool and a soft twisted stripe yarn in brown and cream. He’s a warm Autumny honey just like this darling boy! (I am putting a slightly smaller version in my Etsy shop.)

The second slug I made was for a boy I haven’t known for long but like very much who is sensitive and complex and charming. The Giant Slug he inspired in me is so stunning I am delighted to have enough of all the yarns to make another similar one. It is in greys and blues, but different to the bluegrey one above.

Natural Giant Slug

Knitting with as many as 8 different yarns of varying plys [a fine mohair with a chunky raw wool or a thick chenille with a tape yarn] on big needles (7′s or even 9′s) reminds me of some of the different parts of each person that make them the individual they are. OK, I know I am sounding slightly pretentious but there we are. I feel the various yarns I use to knit, in this example, a Giant Slug, somehow DO represent the many facets of a particular personality. And I also think that by allowing my intuition to guide me this way I make something that in turn resonates in a surprising way with the recipient.

PS We found a real, live Giant Slug in our compost bin yesterday, he was a beauty!!

Dress-up is tiring mama

it's exhausting horsing around in fancy dress

Here we see just how tiring dress-up can be even if you are a knit pony with lots of natural energy about you. Dancing Pony has a nap with Carnivale Pony while still wearing royal crown and cape (the crown is a vintage doll’s underslip BTW, who knew what a great crown it would make?).

I will post more captured moments of the candid knit toy play my girl creates because it is just so happy-smiley!

Bubble wrap effect knitting

you want to touch me, right?

Crikey, who knew you could create the extreme touchability and irresistable texture of bubble wrap with some wool and knitting needles? I have just popped (ha, pun) a chunky plain stitch (or garter stitch) cream giant pig into my shop but I must knit another because this is THE most cuddle-able, finger-gripping textural anything I have ever made. And this porker weighs a TONNE too – am going to pop him on my kitchen scales and check how close to a tonne he is!

Appaloosa Ponies

Original Appaloosa Pony

Months ago I made a pony using various contrasting yarns so that it had the effect of a wild pony. What kind of wild pony was it? I googled and discovered that the beautiful ponies who have large patches of bold color similar to the one I made (above) were called Appaloosa – I love that word! What a name! Since the original Appaloosa Pony I have made several that are loosely based on the idea of being bi- or tri-colored in bold patterns.

Tufted ribbon and boucle appaloosa pony

Here is my latest ‘appaloosa’ style pony knit in most green and then the addition of a fancy yarn that has the tiniest tufts of ribbon thread in various colors from blue to pink. We will keep this little one, he sings to us!

Fantasia

Wasabi Slugs

Yes, I think I shall launch a new section in my shop called “Fantasia” or maybe “Luxe”. I am all fired up after months of thinking about it to create some more unusual darlings – for example, sewing felt flowers onto some darlings or using colored stuffing which might puff out here and there through my stitches.

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my natural creamy stuffing, it is so soft and gorgeous. But when I consider the possiblities of pink stuffing inside a pale, pale pink pig or blue stuffing peeping out from inside a blue glitter pony (which I am creating right now)  — or let’s just go completely mad: contrast wildly; orange stuffing with lilac yarn etc etc – well it just makes me kinda shivery.

beautiful plant dyed wool

Hello handmadepresents and your divine range of colored wools.

Knit toy mojo no. 1

Painted Pony

Dichotomy. And an excuse to use that lovely word. My first in a possible series of tips on making knit toys – or knit toy maker mojo – is all to do with dichotomy. In the knit toy we have an inherent division between two mutually exclusive, opposed parts. These two parts are:

+ the careful knitting (every stitch perfect)

+ the rough stuffing (knead, push, prod and sculpt with all your might)

Being a Libran, I experience the joys of indecision (will I publish this or not, will people think me silly, does that matter, will I publish or not, just do a preview etc etc ad infinitum … oh, if you’re reading I must have decided at last)  and, relative to this article, the inherent drive to balance everything out. So perhaps this is why I love the practical application of balancing opposing forces in the creation of knit toys; bringing together two disciplines in one lovely form.

When I made my first knit toy I was afraid to put too much stuffing in for fear of ‘ruining’ the knitting; busting stitches, creating so much tension that stuffing would poke out a nostril etc. That little donkey is still a little droopy. (But he still gets played with.) It was while being taught how to make a Waldorf doll head that I learned about treating your work real rough. By golly you really need to pull tight on that upholstery thread! What liberation! Using muscle in a gentle art, how rebellious.

Of course it’s the same with other things like baking as my muscly right-armed sponge-cake making ancestors would attest. It’s about getting in there, not being afraid, laughing at the devil of creativity whispering “but you’ll ruin it and all your lovely knitting will be for naught, careful! careful! what if you mess it up…” in your ear, trusting the process and feeling confident about what you’re doing. And deciding that even if it looks rubbish, you’ll treasure it anyway (or turn it into something else).

So when you have finished your beautiful knitted piece and have lovingly sewn it together, shove that stuffing (preferably pure wool, I get my roving from www.handmadepresents.co.uk) in by the handful. Forget about your knitted stitches being straight for the moment (sort that out later) and pay attention to the shape of your toy.

Guage how much stuffing you’ll need for the head, put the whole lot in at once and push and cramp it down firmly. Remember the neck holds the head up so puts lots in there too. Go for big loads of stuffing, not little bead sizes because you can’t sculpt so well with smaller bits. And for dolls or animals with tummies, do make the tummy very firm because this is where a child will hold them most often and if you’ve ever had your fingers in a baby-finger-vice you know how strong their grip can be so you must have lots of stuffing in there.

Instead of thinking you’re stuffing your knitting, think about sculpting your toy. I find that after paying so much attention to the stuffing, my knitting sometimes feels a bit pressurised at the sewing between the legs. So I darn there. Yes, I DARN there, it’s ALLOWED.

The stuffing and finishing process is your quality control. It is here you will see where your knit toy needs extra attention – better you see it than a child. When you treat the toy rough, you are not treating it any more roughly than a four or five year old might. So get in there with the rough stuff after your careful knitting. Bring harmony to dichotomy. Ah, balance, Libra is happy.

bird whimsy

ah little bird of calm

So, *wistful sigh* I feel the need to share one of my latest birds. Am so in love with them.

Knit birds, dove