Twenty years, now and then, KnitOwl Toys

 

  

 

Someone whose mom bought a KnitOwl handsewn toy twenty years ago contacted me today with a picture of the much-loved kangaroo and it's tiny joey, intact after many washings and adventures.  It was heartwarming - and I remember many times when our own daughter E lost her own kangaroo's baby joey and we had to go looking for it among all the toys before she could sleep at night.   The fabric had originally come from a men's cotton shirt - and I had chosen it at a thrift store to make some quilts with.  The entire toy except for one seam was made with tiny stitches with a hand sewing needle and hand quilting thread, from my original hand drafted pattern.  The joey stood only 2.5 inches tall.

 

I think sometimes about making some more toys - and putting them up, but as I told her, life gets in the way and I am always off to do something else.  Even last week, I was wondering about making another one of the dinosaur world type toys I had sent to another friend's daughter - or the forest rabbit log toy that E had (and we spent some time with that bunny getting lost, as well, as it was supposed to live in the log *ha* and it had some leaves for food etc.)

 

 

Most of all, it was nice to hear that it had been loved, and brought joy to a child - which was the entire point of making them in the first place.  I tried to - through some sort of Velveteen Rabbit magic - put some sort of personality and happy feeling into every one hoping it would carry through in some way.

 

Thank you for sharing your memories with me, and letting me see that the craftsmanship really did hold up very well over the years.

 

Marie at KnitOwl Toys (formerly MarieMeyer.etsy.com) 

  

Red love bird

 Esme's drawing

Mom's handmade toy, with some bits modeled after a red ibis (scarlet ibis)

He has a lot of personality :)

Monday Tuesday and blue octopus

 I'm at work this week.  Esme got up very early this morning and showed great attitude getting her things ready to go to town.  We are reading Charlotte's Web, and will do another chapter or two tonight after a bit.  Last night after I got home I got into my sewing and reduced the octopus pattern to see how long a smaller one.

 6 inch diameter head and 9 inch original

The blue one is for sale at at the KnitOwl Workshop

Esme and I also tried to make enchiladas tonight.  I know it will take work to 'get it right', but it was very edible.  She ate some - it is like ravioli, but with chicken in it.  I put jalapeno sauce and sour cream on mine and even just one (and a half, because of the edges of Esme's - I made four tortillas worth) was too much food!  I put the other two away for lunch at work.

2015-1-6

7.30a    - Town, shopping price comparisons, observing trains
8a    - break
9.30a    - PE (30x 10lb squats, 30x 5lb leg lifts, 20x 5lb R&L curls,
      30x sit ups, 50x jumping jacks)

10a    - vocabulary words
10.30a    - Liberty's Kids (ep 23, 24, 25)
11.30a    - break

1.20p    - vocabulary words discussion
1.45p    - english grammar test app
2p    - Tynker app
2.30p    - break

Charlotte's Web: 'Summer Days' chapter 6 and on..   Listening, recounting story, discussion

---------------------------------------------
2015-1-5

9.30a    - Paper Doll construction
10a    - PE (50x 10lb bench, 50x jumping jacks, 30x 10lb squats,
      40x sit ups, 60x 10lb bicurls)
10.30a    - Tynker app
11a    - break

11.15a    - pbskids.org

12.30p    - Liberty's Kids (ep 21 &22)
1.15p    - pbskids.org
1.45p    - Toca Pet Doctor
2.15p    - done

honeybee pattern

I was asked to work this up a few weeks ago, made design drawings, but had not begun the construction phase until yesterday.  I was feeling physically better from the flu that hit us over the weekend... and needed to take my mind off Sunday's other events and the echoing thoughts about not going to the funeral tomorrow on Thursday.

I think it turned out quite cute.

Changes would be to narrow the neck, enlarge the wings, and Esme says the legs are in the wrong order but that will be a difficult thing to change.

Handy Robot toy for baby (custom order) at KnitOwl Toys and bits

 A soft washable robot toy for a yet to be born baby boy.  He has a little wrench and remote control that will entertain little  hands until they are big enough to toss all of him around.

He is 20 inches tall from toe to head and 9 inches wide in the chest.

Other than that, I am preparing mentally for Esme's speech IEP coming up next week, making a few little odds and ends, knitting on the striped blanket... have another toy that is already requested but I might need to draw a bit yesterday before making that plan.

I spent a midnight hour last night making a little washcloth for the bath, it looks like a sand dollar and I hoped it would be good for scrubbing.  If it is, I'll make a few more and post some pictures.

Puppet prototype

This morning I sat down with a notebook, tape, scissors and a pen, then progressed to cutting and sewing scraps out of my bag over the course of several hours.  About three reworks later, attended to by Esme, this puppet was finally something that worked like a puppet should.

It was supposed to be a unicorn, but it turned out to be a dragon.

She said this one was a hug, and I had to include it.

There will have to be reworks in order to get the actual pattern 'right', but she likes this dragon as a finished product.  She thought his ears could have been better - and I didn't take much time on them because they were 'could be anything' type of thing - not needing as much work as the shape of a head or arm etc etc..  She said it is an ice AND fire dragon that eats sunlight.  His family is away on a picnic, and we are looking after him until they get back. 

Felt airplanes ready to zoom off

An order for the toy shop, ready to zoom off in the mail tomorrow

Esme quotes:

So, you are working for the toy aisles at the (WM) now, instead of for the (store)?

Are you making the toys for children, like Santa does for Christmas?

They have two children, not one, right?

I don't like the boring over there (at the sewing table)...(after seeing them packed away and she didn't get to play with them).

List of new toys she would like.. and I might get time for them...

A set of three baby ducklings for her duck, preferredly green and yellow.

A pink unicorn hand puppet with a white belly and horn (she was specific.. apparently she has seen one)

One of these planes in pink and purple, but mostly the purple.

The list may sound a little demanding, but I get really good ideas from her.. she endeared me to the thought of the ducklings by saying they should be just the right size to tuck under the mama duck's wings.  And all this time making him I was thinking him the bachelor.. even the tailor sometimes is unawares, huh?  (Too much Pratchett)

I have been having a completely unfounded hankering to make an 'old style' rag doll again with old fashioned embroidered hair and face... I remember the one I made when I worked at Michaels and embroidered my name across the back and the date - and then gave it to a little girl of a lady who worked there who fell in love with it.

She was home today and was a ball of wax, as usual... Kindergarten has really changed her attitudes to nearly everything, and some of it not for the better.  But, she turned around pretty well at least by noon - and stopped being such a drama queen.  She brought me my glasses when I was sewing and made several comments... played Minecraft and tried to build a zoo (when she was still in her cranky stage) and even told me at one point that she loved green beans (by which I wondered if I had a changeling!) which precluded her walking dinner drinks upstairs for us and being quite lovely most of the rest of the night...  She read her Spiders book Grandma gave her for her birthday and did extremely well.  It is Lexile 380, and she only had a word or two she didn't know.

Just ducky

 It was my first day of vacation - and Esme asked to make a bird.  I told her she would have to find a bird and draw it first - which she did, and it turned out to be a duck.

Then about two hours later, Ducky was here and she was giving him aerodynamic tests.

I used scraps in my table in the colors she had used and she popped back and forth from the tv to the sewing area to check on my progress and ask questions.

Daddy getting an action shot :)

It passed the 'sniff' test, too for the calico coonhounds, Sweetie (back) and Spud (front) who are both growing up!

A Green Goat

I drew out the pattern for this soft toy today. I did it all freehand, intending it to be a donkey. Then instead of using my gray fabric (of which there is little) I grabbed this green and came out with .. well, not a donkey!



She is a goat, or a lamb.
She is for Esme.
Maybe we'll call her Gertie, or Mabel.

And I think I will develop the pattern some bit further, to put up in the Etsy shop. It is all patterns there now, no toys. I no longer have the time or storage solutions to make items up for sale there - but I can make things for Esme and develop patterns and maybe one day put it all together in a book.



Maybe I'll be able to change the shape into a donkey still... but there may be no need as it is all smiles for this 'green lamb with a dress.'



Well, after I posted she now insists it is a green kangaroo, with a big tail, and a dress. I wonder what someone else would call it!

This zig zag quilt tutorial is amazing. I want to do it, in grey and yellow and white? In orange and grey and white? I am thinking. These Joel Dewberry Aviary fabrics in yellow and grey inspire me... but I'm not hot on the fabric itself. I see those same colors in grey with polka dots, plain yellow or honeycomb pattern and soft washed muslin. Oh wait... like Esme's Shirt de buzz buzz! Exactly. Hmm..

This quilt inspired me to look for the pattern : Namoo Orange Wave quilt. Beautiful. Nice shop description as well. I wish them happiness :)

// found a knit zigzag blanket tutorial that goes knit row, purl row, (k2tog)*3, (yo,k1)*6, (k2tog)*6, (yo, k1)*6, (k2tog)*3 on a multiple of 36 stitches. It actually looks like a lot of medallion-like shells, but does zigzag nicely. Also found a harder to remember but more zigzaggy style one, also on 36 stitches, knit row, purl row, k1, k2tog, k6, yo, k1, yo, k6, (k2tog)*2, k6, yo, k1, yo, k6, k2tog, k1, purl, knit, repeat. Have not tried that one yet. similar

It Came from Outer Space

Alien Monster Doll by KnitOwl Toys

So many aliens! Just a note that we have nearly reached max capacity for holiday orders. The desk is a virtual cloning lab full of eyes, mouths and stuffed aliens.

CHRISTMAS ORDERS (custom make to order) will be halted on December 10th at midnight. We are also out of Turquoise color. Thank you to everyone and have a wonderful Christmas holiday!

Note: Ready-to-ship items in the store will still be available for Christmas shipping until December 15th.

PDF pattern for Horse or Zebra softie now available

PDF pattern for Horse or Zebra softie (soft stuffed toy) is now available at KnitOwl toys with electronic delivery. Great for making Christmas gifts for your friends and family :)

Arrr! Pirate LOLrus says Where's Me Bucket?

Pirate LOLrus says: Arrr! Where's Me Bucket? I'll keelhaul the blighter who stole me bucket!

Another Farkism collaboration from Mark and I ;)

Complete with hat, eyepatch and parrot

Don't worry Pirate LOLrus!


Nobody stole yer bukket silly lolrus - here it is ;)

This guy will be at KnitOwl custom toys shop!

Lolrus the Sock Walrus and his bucket

In the grand Farkism tradition of lolrus comes this sock walrus, made from a lonely singleton argyle knee sock. He has a bucket, so he is a pretty happy walrus compared to the ones in most of the Lolrus pictures. He even has a few fish to munch on.

I was halfway through making this guy's body when Mark suggested what he would be - and here he is, our very first sock walrus. Quite the endangered species, you think?

Check for more handmade LOLrus toys in our shop!




SOLD

I'm A Toy Artist at Heart:
I really love to make these custom toys, the one-of-a-kinds that get such a life of their own. I'm boosting that part of my shop a bit, on Etsy, Google, Flickr etc... It is so much nicer to know that something is being made for someone, and not just wondering if anyone will like what I happened to think up that day. There is a pleasure in seeing toys I felt like making get good homes, too -- but it isn't quite the same.

Some super-cool toys I saw on Flickr today:

• Electric Rhino made from a six-year-old's drawing, this rhino packs one HUGE horn. Interesting construction as well.


• weirdbuglady's five legged frog. Her construction techniques have really become professional looking and she has some neat 'two-headed' creatures as well.
  
• girlsavage has some beautiful deer in her shop with very interesting ears. I love how she takes external seams (which are usually ugly) and makes them artful.

More KnitOwl toys and more dreams

That is a newborn size pacifier next to the tiny green kangaroo!
I still use tweezers to turn and stuff these little guys.
I've reserved the pink Mama kangaroo and joey for a lady in Canada who contacted me yesterday. Her nice comments on that toy have spurred me to make a few more baby kangaroos. I hope they would make good baby shower gifts. I'm sure another set will be in the shop soon as well.


SOLD

This black cat stuffie was made with the same pattern as the rag rabbit dolls. Alee at Stuffed made a rag rabbit from my PDF pattern and it is really cute! She did a great job on the face especially, using tiny stitches. I really appreciate her testing it out for me! I'll have the .PDF up in the Etsy shop for sale soon.

More Pregnancy Dreams: Again, my brain is working on things at night that I barely think about during the day. We were talking about how soon after Bazooka is born I'll be physically ready to do even light desk and counter type work. I don't think I'll know that until about 3 or 4 days after she is born, at the very least.

Last night I was dreaming about her already being here and taking care of her -- but my mental 'image catalog' is weird, and it kept bouncing between a lifelike doll I had as a kid and my sister's daughter when she was two. I knew I was dreaming and that none of it was like it will be - but some part of me wants to 'practice' maybe... subconscious wondering if I'll know what to do with her, etc... My dreams are always very real - like I'm actually there, doing those things, until something seems 'out of place' and because I know it's a dream then it usually breaks apart and I wake up.

Lots of New Toys and more at KnitOwl Shop

There are lots of new toys in the shop this week! There are also some new paper goods and vintage items!


Happy birds and ducks

Mama Kitty and her kittens
are black cats for Halloween!

New handheld Playtime Bunnies!
These little stuffed rabbits are ready to hop!

A fun skeleton paper doll.

Puppies eyes open and (somewhat) walking

Most of the puppies have their eyes open now and they are between crawling and walking. We took a few more pictures of them scrambling around.





Pogo and Misha cuddle up and ask 'Aren't we cute too?'

A horse of a different color
I've been encouraged to keep making these little horses and other things in my shop. I hope to keep putting up at least one item a day for a week or so. We've sold a few paintings on Ebay as well which is very exciting :)

Softie Adoptions

Click Here to See my Softie toy shop!
I have a proposal to make. If you would like to swap for any of the little creatures below, please post a comment here. Also say which creature you would like to trade for. These softies need to be adopted to good homes before I embark on a much more complicated project...


From L to R: Blue Bear, Red Rabbit, All-Pink Rabbit, Brown Rabbit, Pink Birdie Rabbit, Pink kitty, Yellow Bear

From L to R: Set of three knit rabbits, bird pincushion, white rabbit.

I've finally decided to get a sewing machine, although it might take a month or so to actually happen. I've been mostly against using sewing machines on softies. I'm very quick and detailed with a hand-sewing needle. It seems like the toys have more personality when handsewn, more care and detail put into them. Also sewing on a machine is more difficult because many of my projects are 6 inches or smaller. However, the new projects are going to be larger, and more complicated. I think it's about time to dive in and get a sewing machine that can do long straight stretches.

So, tell your other knitblog friends (if you'd like), that these stuffed animals are looking for good homes. Possible swap materials would be a bit of an interesting fabric, some felt, ribbons, buttons, a skein or two of cheap wool or cotton yarn etc...

Some of these animals are still for sale at my Etsy shop and have been reduced in price. If you don't want to swap the price on them would help towards the sewing machine. Once I arrange a swap I'll remove them from the shop.

Fiat Bunny

The Rabbit Prototype (aka Cthulu) is finished!
I'm mostly happy with him. Also happy to announce his resemblance to the demony Elder God (<--Lynn: this links for you) has diminished.


As with all prototypes, there are little places you know can be tweaked in the next one.

His legs especially, while they sit nicely, look a bit funny when held like this.

Lynn asked how much time per day I spend on things like crafting, weaving, drawing etc... That depends on the day. We are usually up near dawn here, and working on all number of things. If I had to estimate - I'd say I probably craft for about four hours a day - but that is spread out through the entire day and in-between other things (like waiting for my machine to reboot into Windows or browsing through submitted news articles for my editing job). There is always time to tie a knot in a new needle of thread - or stitch up an arm or leg while reading.

Weaving is a different matter, though. That I usually 'take time out' for, mostly because the frame is across the room from the comptuer ;o) I haven't been working too much on my dream bag - but I have started the back side of it now.

For the drawing - pattern drawing and little sketches can happen throughout the day as well. I might take a half-hour or hour out later on to listen to some music and make one of my random-line drawings, that start in random scratches on the paper, and end up as many figures with symbols between them.

Also: Sorry to hear Blogger has been so awful lately with the comment verification! *growl* I'll see what I can do about that!


Mouse blisses out while getting petted in a sunbeam.

Rabbit Prototype coming along

Getting ready...
Those back legs might be a problem... we'll see.
I have a headache started today, and there is a tornado watch this afternoon.

Rainy Day: New softie friends at KnitOwl

We're having major rain and thunderboomers today!
But that's okay - as I have lots of things to be sewing ;o) I've been staying up late and working on these in between other things. I also have a red alien half-done, and a few other things cut out to try.


6 inch pink bunny girl

9 inch sleepy blue bear

'Hopkin Green Frog' : SOLD! Thanks!