Brought to you by the letters H & M

Remember that Alphabet Project I was making for my grandchildren?   I gave them the first part last Christmas (posted about it here) - the middle part will be one of this year's Christmas pressies - from H to M.   And it was those 2 letters that I hadn't yet made the toys for.

H - what animals have names starting with H?   Hippopotamus is definitely not Australian so I settled on Horse.

An easy pattern from Sarah Gasson's Knitables and very cute.  Am not a fan of eye-lash yarn but it does make a good horse's mane and tail!


The letter M simply had to be a Marsupial Mouse - remember The Muddle Headed Wombat  by Ruth Park?   Wombat's friend Mouse was a Marsupial Mouse ... she had a pouch.  Well, marsupial mice are not nice at all - they are carnivorous marsupials related to Tasmanian Devils - they just happen to be mouse sized; the Latin family name is Dasyuridae.  We have the Antechinus and the Dunnarts - I tried to make a Dunnart because they look so cute - I think this is a White-Footed Dunnart.  And here is a Wikipedia article on the Dunnarts.

Used Marisol the Mouse pattern (link is to Ravelry) because Dunnarts have a pointy slightly up-turned nose - just like Marisol.   Adapted the limbs by making them shorter & in the pale yarn, the tail is shortish and fur-colour, the ears are larger with pink linings, nose and eyes in black and quite large (Dunnarts are nocturnal).

The body is very adapted - to give her a pale tummy and a pouch (made like a pocket) and there are babies in that pouch - 6 bobbles in pink yarn, I even stitched eyes on them …. none of which can be seen :-)


The pale mouse on the left is a Marisol Mouse unadapted … a regular Mus musculus.  They seem to be friends.

Twas the day before Christmas ...

We had an early Christmas with our grandchildren before we left Melbourne :-)
and I gave them the 1st installment of the Alphabet Project. Here it is hanging on the wall ... it works Yea!

Grandson likes the bat the best ... it is a Boo the Bat by Mochimochi, a perfect size for a little person and he loves the way the wings button up and unbutton for flying ...
Granddaughter likes the baby fish because it is "pinkie" and has "Big eyes - like moine!"

The pattern is Glubby Goldfish by Cheezombie on Etsy

She also loves the dragon a Norbetta and the pink Cockatoo - Oh - you've not seen this one.

I managed to get 3 cockatoos knitted up in time, see the previous post for the Sulphur Crested Cockie, here is a Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo - adapted from the same pattern by Barbara Lennon - the tail is a bit over-wide, cheek patches are embroidered on after -

















and a Major Mitchell Cockatoo - which gets granddaughter's vote because it is a "Pinkie"

pre Christmas Panic

As always my plans for masses of wonderful Christmas gifts have far exceeded my capacity to make them all.

Have been knitting up a flurry of snowflakes, living in Australia means that Christmas time is closely associated with snow ... NOT !!!
but they are pretty. Here is the 1st batch of snowflakes pinned out to dry :-)
Now I've talked a lot about the big Alphabet Project for my grandchildren - making (mostly knitted) toys for each letter of the alphabet and a pocket thing with the letters and names on ... This is such a mega project that I've decided to give the grandchildren just from A to G this Christmas ... with rest to follow later when I finally finish them.

I had already made an Ant for the letter A - but I simply couldn't resist making the totally traditional Apple as well ... and yes I am typing this on an Apple laptop (product placement warning folks!)

The pocket things are also quite time-consuming. Here are some progress pictures - they are A4 sized doubled felt "flags" with the letters appliqued on











Then pockets to hold the toys, made of cotton drill with the names of the toys painted on in screen-printing goop. Which has to be heat-set ... lots of ironing (oh don't we love ironing NOT!)


Photos of the finished "flags" next post

A is for Ant - plus a fuzzy Starfish

Another letter in the ongoing Alphabet project is done - only 19 more! This is another wonderful pattern from "Amigurumi Knits" by Hansi Singh, quite difficult to knit but beautifully detailed - very closely observed.


Makes a very large Ant - at your next picnic just be thankful that real ants are not this size!

Ant looks a lot better with wire in the legs but our grandchildren are too young for toys with wires - so this ant is a bit floppy!






And I couldn't resist making the Starfish from the Amigurumi book but I already have toy critters for the letter S (there are a lot of animals with names that start with S!) so this will be a late Christmas pressie for a friend's bub. Used a mohair blend yarn (I'd dyed it myself) so this is a slightly fuzzy, fluffy Starfish ... Asterias mohairii perhaps??

Alphabet Knitting - B, D and G

Am slowly knitting my way through the alphabet - for my grandchildren when it's all finished. A great excuse to knit lots of little toys :-)

SO - B is for Bat ... a "Boo the Bat" from Mochimochi Land

Very sweet and quite easy to knit - I did change the ears and used slightly thinner yarn and needles than suggested which has made this Bat just the right size to fit in my hand.





here he is with wings unfurled ...
so cute!







D is for Dragon - well originally, and in keeping with the attempt to make this alphabet as Australian as possible, D was going to be a Dingo, but I couldn't find a suitable pattern then I was thinking of a Drongo which is a bird (as well as Aussie slang for a somewhat silly person) but then I rediscovered Norberta, on knitty.com a very cute baby dragon. Again I used 8ply (DK) and so this one is smaller than pattern suggests, and I used lots of different yarns including bright metallic for her "fairy wings".

Well, I'm not knitting these in alphabetical order - so skipping right along to G for Gecko - another clever and cute pattern by Cheezombie on Etsy. Self patterning sock-yarn made for some good banded effects and I just love the goggly eyes!

Brought to You by the Letter S

Well I do love to Bite off (almost) More than I can Chew ... launching into massive projects, I usually manage to finish them.

I'm planning to make an Alphabet for our Grandchildren - A set of A4 sized 'flags' (in felt I think) one for each letter with the letter appliqued on ... each 'flag' will have a pocket and inside the pockets will live small soft toys appropriate to the letter. I want to make it as Australian as possible and to knit most of the toys (I love knitted toys).

S is for Seahorses

and for Seal



Great patterns from Cheezombie on Etsy