doll sized bears and a friend in need

February 11, 2013 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)18 Comments

We've had another snowfall here overnight, though this time it's the kind of snow which quickly turns mushy and wet, rather than the lovely powdery kind that squeaks underfoot as you tromp through it for the first time. I suspect that it will be mostly melted before the end of the day. It's nothing like as bad as the heavy snowfall experienced over the weekend in the north eastern USA and Canada – I hope all of you affected are keeping well and warm.

Not that I need the excuse of snow, but I am using it nonetheless to justify spending the day in my pyjamas, knitting by the fire. So far this morning I have finished the 4 little bears that I am sending off to be companions to the Red Nose Day Dolls.

Mini bears

And I'm about to get stuck into a big old batch of bunny finishing. I had hoped to have this batch ready by the end of January, then was aiming at Valentine's day but now I am looking realistically at the end of February. I'll post some pictures when I have made a bit more progress.

Now on to the subject of the friend in need…

If you follow crafting blogs or are a reader of Mollie Makes magazine
you will no doubt have come across the awesome and enchanting work of
Gretel Parker. Gretel original worked in 2 dimensions as an illustrator but then
branched out into three dimensional needlefelted pieces. It is clear to anyone seeing her creations that her beautiful and unique style of working, amazing attention to detail and her mastery of needlefelting skills were just meant to come together and it's not surprising that her creations are much sought after and have been featured in publications around the world.

Gretel and her partner Andy lived for many years in the Cotswolds but a few months ago they moved to Shropshire and were just beginning to settle into the process of making a new home in what they called 'Bodge Cottage'. But on January 21st of this year, just a few short weeks ago, Gretel had to face the most heart breaking tragedy. I don't feel right in writing the details because it is not my story to share but Gretel has so bravely written about it here, please go and read her words and pop back here for details of how you can help if you wish to.

There are many people around the world who admire Gretel, not just for her creativity but also for her outlook on life and her appreciation of simple living and simple pleasures. Suzanne is one such person and she and Tara have set up a page in an attempt to raise funds to help support Gretel as she tries to come to terms with her grief and to try to help her keep her home in this awful time. Her long term friend Natasha has written a post here and I'm sure there are lots of others trying to spread the word as far and as wide as possible so that people can help if they would like to. If you feel able to spread the word on any social media then please do so.

Gretel herself would never be one to go cap in hand to anyone, she is a survivor of previous tragedy having lost both her parents as a child, but strength alone will not pay her bills. If you would like to help then you can do so here…

The Gretel Parker Project

Thanks for reading x

crafts & knitting

first signs of spring

February 8, 2013 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)30 Comments

Thanks so much for all the kind comments, emails and suggestions for helping Toby get through the rest of the winter. I am hopeful that things will improve once the warmer weather and longer days of spring arrive and seeing as the first blossoms have opened on our old plum tree in the last few days this now feels a little closer!

Blossom

It's been a busy week here and I had a lovely day on tuesday at my first ever workshop 'teaching' session. I woke up really early in the morning and was feeling really nervous before we started, but I was lucky to have the nicest group of ladies turn up and we all chatted and knitted and made mini bunnies. Thanks so much to Susan, Jackie, Emma, Esther, Iolanda and Rose for coming along and making my nervousness evaporate!

To help take my mind off feeling nervous I had a play around with some yarn at the crack of dawn on tuesday and came up with a little teeny tiny dress pattern for the mini bunnies. If you'd like to make one the pattern is over here with the rest of my free patterns.

Minibun

Thanks again for all of the kind messages about Toby. He'll move on from this rocky patch when he is ready to and in the meantime I'll just do my best to keep life calm and reduce stress for him. If there is one thing I've learned in the last 11 years it is to take
each day one at a time and not assume the bad bits will last forever, so far that kind of thinking has worked anyway 🙂

Have a good weekend x

itty bitty dress free pattern

February 8, 2013October 17, 2025 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)8 Comments

This is a pattern to make a dress for a very tiny toy (see here).

It can be made from scraps of yarn, sock yarn or 4ply is best. In order to make it fit, please use the same needle size that you used to make your mini bunny. For instance, the mini bunnies above were knitted from Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran yarn on 3.25mm needles and so I’ve used 3.25mm needles for the dresses.

Abbreviations:

K: Knit

P: Purl

K2tog: Knit 2 stitches together.

YFON: Yarn forward over needle – makes a stitch. Start with the working yarn at the back of the work, bring it over the top of the right hand needle to the front and back under the right hand needle again to the back so making a loop them work the next stitch as indicated in the pattern.

SSK: Slip, Slip, Knit. Slip a stitch (as if to knit it) to the right-hand needle, slip a second stitch in the same way, slip both stitches back to the left-hand needle and knit them together through the back loops.

Pattern:

Cable cast on 28 stitches, leaving a long tail for seaming the back of the dress with later.

row 1: Knit

row 2: Knit

row 3: Knit

rows 4-8: Beginning and ending with Purl rows, work 5 rows of stocking stitch (alternate purl and knit rows)

row 9: K2, (k2tog) 12 times, K2 (16 stitches)

row 10: Purl

row 11: K4, yfon, ssk, K4, K2tog, yfon, K4

row 12: P4, purl into back of next stitch (leaving an eyelet for the arm hole), P6, purl into back of next stitch (leaving another eyelet for the arm hole), P4

row 13: Cast off knit wise

Cut the work from the ball leaving a long tail. Using a fine crochet hook (around 2mm) make a chain of 5 stitches with this tail and join it back to the start point with a slip stitch to make a small loop. Sew a tiny button on the opposite side as a fastening for the dress.

I use micro buttons like these:

Weave the remainder of the cast off end along the edge to the point of the row 9 decreases and leave the end hanging for now. Re-thread the needle with the cast on edge and use it to close the seam at the back of the dress with mattress stitch. When you reach the shaping on row 9 tie both ends together and weave along the inside of the seam before trimming off excess.

And there you have a teeny tiny dress for a bunny or a bear.