teddy boys

my current bout of summer cold (or is it swine flu!??) obviously has rotted my brain as i now have embarked upon the next project - making a teddy! it started pretty simply but has VERY quickly escalated to a level that really would warrant some sort of sectioning.

instead of making simple teddy - 2 bits o' cloth, stitched together, chuck on some buttons, and knock it up with some stuffing. but nooooooo. no no Ditte is TEEDY MANIAC! so now have made a hundred bits to stitch together and attach to eachother. it is so throughly overwhelming i nearly forgot to make legs! creepy.

i had to sit down and plan in my head - and drew a template, roughly guessed for ratios and have ambitiously decided that there should be bits that are protruding (belly and snout) - made out of the same towelling material i used for the rattle.

needless to say it will either be a rip-roaring success (never to be repeated due to frayed nerves) or a TOTAL failure, which will be put in the large craft box, to serve as a reminder not to attempt anything unless 100% compus mentus.

i have almost finished the head - so far so good, but am now on the worst part which is sewing the two faces together, with the stuffing in the middle. boooring! haven't the foggyest how this will turn out, i guess its a cross your digits kinda time. -d-

Knitting in the car & future projects

I was stuck in traffic on Wednesday. It took 30mins to get out of the multistorey car park at work, and I happened to have my knitting with me. So I knitted, it was the only logical thing to do. This is probably the oddest semi public space I have crafted in ... so I think the challenge this year will be to find a more unlikely place.

On other news I have found a pattern for a tea cosy that can be converted into a shaun the sheep tea cosy!! I am ridiculously excited about this as it is the perfect present for the Partridge. However, as she has two small children it has been pointed out that this could lead to small child & hot object collison. There is only one solution - I will need to make decoy shaun the sheep tea cosys and a more sensible one for the tea pot. If I start now I should be finished for Christmas ... And yes I know Kat I am still working on your shrug but it's like knitting with sewing thread and really hard on my hands!

Ditte I am jealous of your local shop of joy - I do not have one. It is depressing.

Charlotte

Future projects

I like to plan ahead. It means that I've got things to look forward to.

So I've seen a pattern for a cardigan that I rather like the look of - it's even the sort of thing I'd want to wear! It's a Paul Smith cardigan knit pattern.

http://www.harpersbazaar.co.uk/Fashion/Paul-Smith-Cardigan/99511/v1

Of course I'm not intending to do it quite the way it is described in the pattern. I do not want to use the suggested wool. I want to wear this in the winter when I go to the land of cold and snow (Norway) soI want to do this in Alpaca wool. I knitted some handwarmers and just loved the feel of the wool. I used a brand called Garnstudio - which I bought in Norway. But fret not . . . you can get the brand here (Norwegian wool in the UK!).

http://www.scandinavianknittingdesign.eu

I realise the tension is totally different, but that cannot be so difficult to figure out - can it?

Now I am not allowed to start on this (but I might buy the wool) till I am finished with the sock of doom and the blue stripey cardigan (long or short sleeves, long or short hmmmmm).

Charlotte