click clack knit: January 2011

Monday, January 31, 2011

Dog and toys

It's not possible to pull out a stash of knitted toys without having Casper help out....

Unknown Characters

Rupert the Bear - Designer unknown

Bunny - Jean Greenhowe Design?

Ski Boy - Jean Greenhowe Design?

These characters all look like Jean Greenhowe Designs but are they? I haven't come across them in any pattern books yet...

This duck is another character from Jean's 'Knitted Animals' pattern booklet.

The Duck Family consists of mother, father and three ducklings. As the Thornbury duck has been found without a hat, it's not possible to say which family member the knitter had in mind. The colours of Thornbury Duck are a muted version of the original and not quite as cheery and chirpy as the ones in the photo. More of a sad duck really...

Lion

Jean Greenhowe stash - Lion

This lion was an early Op-shop find. The fancy looping stitch of the mane is a very nice touch and gives some retro-storybook charm.

The Lion is part of a family of knitted characters called The Super Seven. All of these toys share the same basic body design with slight alterations. This pattern appears in a hardcover Greenhowe book titled Knitted Toys, published in 1989.

Kitten

Jean Greenhowe stash - Kitten

This is the first Jean Greenhowe knitted toy that I aquired and it was given to me by a friend. At that stage I had no idea about knitting or how this kitten on a cushion was made or assembled. It looked pretty clever to me and still does. It's a lovely design.

I particularly like the styling of the Kitten photo from the Pattern Booklet - Knitted Animals. There's a picture of Sam Scarecrow framed on the wall and a very pretty miniature doily on the sofa chair.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Ken's Den

These pattern pics (crochet and canvas work) are from a crafting site called Annie's Attic.

As far as I can tell, these aren't in print at the moment but do pop up in the occasional ebay sale. Wonderful kitsch and a fantastic interpretation of manly domestic crafts.

Buttons

Jean Greenhowe stash - Buttons

Buttons appears in Jean Greenhowe's Tradional Favourites.

He is described as "a riot of rainbow colours in striped baggy pants, clown's hat and large knitted buttons. He is a versatile doll suitable for both boys or girls".

Buttons from Thornbury, Melbourne sports an combination of brights and pastels that sit uncomfortably together.

There's been an attempt to re-create the colours but it looks like stash-busting has played a part in this project. Perhaps this was the same knitter who made Melbourne Cuddle Clown? The pointy smile is similar and has the same effect of making the character look less child-like and more adult, though not as evil !

Cuddly Clown

Jean Greenhowe stash - Cuddly Clown

There's a lot of clowns in the Greenhowe repertoire. This one is known as Cuddly Clown and was printed in 1982 by the Women's Weekly as part of a 'Knit for Charity' competition.

The original character that Jean submitted was in fact Sam the Scarecrow, who was rejected on the basis that he would not have world-wide appeal to the readers.

This Cuddly Clown found in Melbourne is missing an umbrella and shows some interesting deviations from the original. There's some variation with colour and facial expression. The choice of pink hair would suggest a more girly character, however the sharp, pointy features put this into the scary male clown category!

Scotty MacScarecrow

Jean Greenhowe stash - Scotty

Ok, time to go through the stash of knitted toys and see how many Jean Greenhow designs are in there...

This character was easy to spot - it's Scotty MacScarecrow from the MacScarecrow Clan. He was found in an Op-shop toy bin in Melbourne.

Again I'm very impressed, surprised and curious about how true to the original design this knitter has been.

Sam Scarecrow

Jean Greenhowe stash - Sam

An Op-Shop find....

How can you resist this for 99 cents ! All that knitted detail - field critters, buckle and buttons. I thought I'd see if I could find out something about this character and did a bit of a google search. As I thought, he's a Jean Greenhowe character from a pattern booklet called Scarecrow Family.

This is Sam Scarecrow, and his pattern was first published in 1985 in the English Women's Weekly. The success of Sam according the magazine's readers was in the detail that was provided in the pattern and that everything was knitted. This prompted Jean to create a family of scarecrows which became the first published Jean Greenhowe Designs production.

Sam from Hobart is very well made and uncannily true to the original pattern and colourway.

Red Tshirt yarn

A red T-shirt to cut up and play with .......

Saturday, January 22, 2011

T-shirt yarn

It's so satisfying to cut up stuff and make something new out of it ! A whole lot of work T-shirts were discarded by my partner when he changed jobs. It was particularly satisfying to cut these garments into strips and make balls of T-shirt yarn.

I've seen this recycling idea in crafty sites but had no idea how to do it. I did a google search for T-shirt yarn and came across this tutorial : http://www.craftpassion.com/2009/05/recycle-tutorial-making-of-t-shirt-yarn.html

This is the best method I've come across in that it's pretty quick and because you measure it out straight away, the yarn stays a consistent width. ( Mine is 1.5cm wide)

T-shirt yarn is also know as 'tarn' and if you do a search through Ravelry at : http://www.ravelry.com , you'll come across some really good ideas for what to do with it - things like baskets, mats and bags.

I have some ideas for what I'll do with this ...