photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Yesterday,

I cut the body length

tube of knitting

from the original

mile or so of knitted tube.

I gathered the ends and

stuffed it,

tied off the neck,

stitched the ears

and legs, and

made the arms.

Sew on the arms,

stitching them really securely to the body.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

And, now to

embroider the features:

I did 2 versions of the face-

one with an ‘x’ mouth/nose,

and one with a ‘u’ or ‘v’

smile.

Start by bringing

the needle with

black yarn

through the head,

and out  at the

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

first eye. (half way down the face).

Stitch over one

horizontal bar

of the face

4 or 5 times,

leaving the

yarn end

inside the head.

Then,

take the needle back

inside the head.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

To make the ‘v’ mouth:

Bring it out at the corner of

the mouth.

Then, take it back inside the

head,  at the

other corner of the

mouth.

Bring it  out

at the center of the

mouth and take a couple of tiny

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

stitches to anchor it.

To make the ‘x’

nose/mouth,

bring the needle

out at the upper

right hand side

of the ‘x’.

Go back in at

the lower left.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Bring it out at the

upper left and

go back in at the lower

right hand side

of the ‘x’.

Take the needle

out at the

left eye,

and stitch in place

5 times, then

take the needle

inside the head.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Take the needle back

through the head,

and come out

at the back of the neck.

Trim the end close

to the body.

This photo shows

both versions of the

‘v’ and the ‘x’ mouth.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

To finish:

Thread any loose

yarn ends into the

teddy’s body.

Tug hard on the

arms to make sure

that they are sewn

on really sturdily.

And, there you

have it-  a terribly sweet

little amigurumi teddy

designed by me for the love of children everywhere.

Please feel free to make them for your favorite charities and to give as gifts, but please don’t sell them.

That is not what they are intended for.

And, may you feel joy in the making and in the giving- I hope that they will bring delight those that craft them and comfort and feelings of being loved to those who receive them!

(Please remember that this tutorial was a HUGE amount of work to create, so please DO NOT copy or post it to another blog or website, but please do feel free to share the link far and wide! Thanks so much!

Original design by Noreen Crone-Findlay, copyright)

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

This year,

I decided

to have fun

with my

vintage Mattel knitter.

I love this funky

old gadget!

It’s a little finicky,

but still, oh, so much fun!

I wanted to design an

amigurumi pocket teddy bear

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

that  I could make

using the knitted tube made

with sport weight yarn

and the Mattel knitter.

(Note: It has 16 pegs, and

makes a tube that’s a couple of

inches wide, so any spool knitter

that has 15 to 20 pegs would work,

if you don’t have a Mattel knitter.)

If you have a Mattel Knitter, or

a similar round crank style knitter,

knit up a few feet of  cord with it,

to be able to make a bunch of bears.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

BODY AND HEAD:

You will need to separate a section of

knitted tube that is 5 inches/12.5 cm long.

To cut off a length from the

cord, snip a stitch from a row or 2

above the desired length.

If you want a taller bear,

cut a longer piece.

Pull up hard on one end of the cut yarn.

Keep pulling until the yarn

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

tightens up, and it gathers in.

Now,  look closely at the

pulled in stitches, and snip

the horizontal yarn,

close to the original

snipped stitch.

When you tug on it,

a length of yarn will be

released,

by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

and the 2 pieces of knitting

will come apart.

Thread the end

of the cut off piece

of yarn into a

craft needle,

and take it through all the

stitches on one end of the

Body/Head piece of knitting.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Pull up to gather the end,

and tie the ends in a tight knot.

Stuff with polyester stuffing &

gather the other end.

Tie it off and knot tightly.

Wrap yarn around the neck 2 times.

Tie and knot tightly.

Pinch an ear at each side of the head

and stitch across the base of

each ear, stitching in place

to anchor.

To shape the legs,

stitch vertically

half way up the body.

Mattel-knitter-teddy- photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Stitch the leg line several times

to make it really secure.

For the first few bears that

I made, I spool knitted

cords to use as the arms

and legs and ears.

I wasn’t happy with this,

as I wanted the entire bear

to be made from the tube.

So, I twigged to pinching the ears,

and doing the stitched legs.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

The arms were more of a challenge.

I solved this dilemma by

cutting short lengths of tube (approx. 5 rows)

for the  arms.

I picked up the stitches on the top

of the short length of

tube, and gathered them.

Then, I picked up the stitches on

the other end of the tube,

and gathered them, too.

This makes a poofy little piece,

which I then folded in half

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

and stitched lengthwise.

Because it is now 4 layers

of knitting,

the arm does not

need to be stuffed.

And, because this tutorial is

getting to be so long,

I am going to

finish it up tomorrow,

so come back tomorrow

for the rest of the tutorial…..

(Please remember that this tutorial was a HUGE amount of work to create, so please DO NOT copy or post it to another blog or website, but please do feel free to share the link far and wide! Thanks so much! Original design by Noreen Crone-Findlay, copyright)

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

One of my most favorite designs is for a doll I named Lily.

The pattern for Lily sold really well. I kept having to reprint her, but then a strange thing happened.  The masters for the pattern simply disappeared! pooft!

Vanished.

I ripped the studio apart…. no Lily masters.

So, sadly, I took her down off my website.

As I was working on the Elspeth and friends dolls 

and then Esperanza,  I thought: I have GOT to find the  Lily masters!

Well! I tore the studio apart looking for the masters.

No joy.

I looked for the Lily doll.  Couldn’t find her.

I gave up.

Then, all of a sudden, when I was working on Esperanza, I discovered that I still had the ‘pre-masters’ for Lily!

I was THRILLED!

AND then! Even better… I found the Lily Doll!

BUT! poor baby! She’s had an adventure.

Actually…. it looks like more of a mis-adventure! Boy, talk about indigestion~!

Something has eaten her tummy! Poor Lily!

I’ll need to knit a new patch of tummy and applique it over her frazzlie bits.

Ah, frazzlies. It happens to all of us….. now and then.

I think I’ll park a teddy  over the boo boo for now, and let him do his comfort work. ……

I’m working on the new pdf for Lily, so people who’ve been wanting to order the pattern will be able to, really soon…..   )

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

Yay! I have finally finished the PDF for the Knitted Esperanza Doll. I’m doing the happy dance. )

I’ve been working on this PDF for ages. But, you know how it goes….. deadlines and a million other things come up, and things get pushed to the edges until they fall off the radar screen.

Last night, a note popped up in my email, saying that a lady wanted to order the pdf. Yoicks!

I pulled up the file and realized that it was no where near ready to go!

I looked at the charts and went: Phooey! NOT GOOD ENOUGH! So, I started over from scratch and now the charts are oh so much better. Not poifeck, of course, but I’m not complaining.

Lots of designers have software that they use to make their charts. ahem. Not me.
♥I ♥ am my software! LOL! Me and my bottle of white out and favorite felt tip pens.

So, I spent last evening, completely re-doing the charts and pdf and discovering new things in the process.

All in all, it was a very satisfying way to spend 5 or 6 hours!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn