Knit Critters: Lucky Elephants

I said there were elephants, didn't I?

And they're not pink elephants or anything, but real gray elephants.  I'm calling them Lucky Elephants.  Because.

These came about when our housemate brought home a charcoal gray knit shawl / wrap that she'd found.  It was a lovely color, a good weight, and had a few moth holes.  Those disappeared after a proper washing and shrinking, which I was very pleased to see.

The shawl was pretty large, so it came out to be 5 elephants.  I used the same pattern as for the other Knit Critters, but tweaked the head until I had an elephant trunk that I liked.  I tried it both ways in muslin, and the end result is 3 elephants with up trunks and 2 with down.

They also went out to the back yard for their photo shoot, and they're seen meandering up the gravel path and through a bed of coral bells.  It's not the jungle, but you take what you can get as a backyard photographer.  It was better than the tomato plants!


These little guys also got the iron-on felt eyes (I'm loving these, I have to tell you -- so much easier than embroidery and they have exactly the look I want.  I get them from Flying Felt on Etsy).   I also gave them each a neck ribbon, going by direction -- pink for up, green for down.  Mainly because I had more pink ribbon than green in my dwindling ribbon stash.

Must find a good sidewalk sale soon with some ribbon.  I hit one this past Saturday with great crafting deals.  I love it when people price things at "I don't want to take this back upstairs."  I got a 2 yard piece of batting for a quarter, and a few packs of rickrack (which I use all the time on the baby dresses) for 10 cents each.

Okay, and a few pieces of fabric, but I'm trying not to think about that.  Fabric is the one thing I probably don't need any more of -- at least until I find some.

Knit Critters - Adventure Puppies

So I have a few new members to my Knit Critter family. These little guys, who I'm calling Adventure Puppies for no better reason than they look pretty adventurous up there in my lilac tree, are made from a felted navy blue argyle sweater.

It started out life, according to the tag, as an XL.  By the time someone had put it in the dryer and forgotten it, it might have fit an XL child.  This was not the intended wearer.

So it ended up with me, and I took a feel of the lovely texture of the wool and I cut it to pieces.

The pattern is the same as what I used for the gray Knit Critters, just slightly different ears this time -- and I gave them each a tail, since I remembered it while the butt seam was still open.

Using found clothing is always a challenge.  You'll note that one puppy is fully argyle on his back and head, while the other merely has argyle "cow spots" and a tail.  That would be because the sweater was only argyle on the front.  I debated making them identical, each with an argyle side and a spotted side, but that didn't work for me.  There'll be someone who likes each of these little guys as they are.

I didn't bother with noses this time around; I thought that red would just be a little too much with the blue and ivory, and I don't tend to have a lot of felt around the house.  I think these guys work fine with just their ironed-on felt eyes and an ivory grosgrain neck ribbon.

In addition to puppies, there are now . . .  elephants.  Coming soon.

Knit Critters

So, a safer stuffed animal.  It took a little while, because most of my ideas grow in complexity as they evolve, and this one had to go in reverse.  Simple shape, no moving parts, nothing small that could be pulled off.  Soft, squishy, friendly-feeling.  Washable -- very important.

As I've said before, I've become the way station between several friends and the thrift store, and a good friend recently called and asked if I wanted to go through her things before she donated.  One of the many pieces I came home with that day was a long, clingy dress in gray sweater knit.  It sounds a little strange, but I'm sure it looked fabulous on her.  On me, I'd have looked pretty much like what I turned that gray dress into -- a knit critter.

Critters are 7" high, 10" in total length, 6" across.  Poly/rayon sweater knit, stuffed with new polyfill stuffing.  Eyes and noses are made from felt, fused on.  Okay, the ears are separate and sewed on, but I did them by hand and I think the head would separate from the body before a baby could get those ears off.  Ribbon collars are made from my own childhood hair ribbons.  Please don't ask how or why I still had them; I can't answer that myself.  I think it goes along with the "can't get rid of anything" problem.

Anyways, Knit Critters.  Soon to be available in more colors as I unearth the others sweaters I had tucked away.  I figure I'll do them in both wool and non-wool fabrics because of wool sensitivities in both babies and their parents.

Available here.