Regular sized to fit any of the 9 inch tall animals

(rabbits, bears, mice, foxes, monkeys, pigs, cats, elephants, sheep, deer and lions)

 

Small sized, to fit the 7 inch rabbits pattern

 

When my daughter was little she was quite good a loosing little bits of toys (sorry to tell tales on you Amy), and I spent lots of time hunting for lost things under sofas, down the back of seat cushions and poking through the contents of the vacuum cleaner cylinder. So when I designed the little cotton rabbits I chose to knit the shoes as part of the feet and so avoid having to spend time hunting down or re-knitting lost shoes. It’s become apparent though that some people who knit my animal patterns would like to have shoes that do come off and so can be changed to match an outfit, so over the last few months I’ve been working on these patterns for removable shoes.

There’s a pattern to fit the regular (9 inch sized animals) and one for the smaller 7 inch rabbits (please check you have the right one in your basket before you check out).

Both patterns contain 5 pairs of shoes: 3 pairs of Mary-Jane style with a functional buttoning strap; a pair of laced up trainers and a mules- style slipper. There are also options for knitting feet and legs with knitted on socks, either with a simple garter stitch cuff or a folded over ribbed cuff.

I’ve designed the shoes and trainers to be close fitting and to be shaped around the foot with some short-rows and decreases and the slippers, whilst easy to take on and off are held in place on the foot by a knitted on trim. Hopefully they’ll fit your animals foot well and you’ll not need to be knitting replacements for any lost shoes anytime soon 🙂

You can find the patterns in the usual places, either on Ravelry or on Etsy

If you give either pattern a go please come and share your projects over on Ravelry or on the facebook group, it gives me so much pleasure to see what you make from my patterns.

Happy knitting, J xx

 

 

Everything seems to be taking much longer than usual at the moment and since Toby went back to school it has felt like I’ve been really busy but not actually getting anything done. I have however managed to finish off the free Lions supplement pattern and have just uploaded it to the Facebook group and Ravelry:

New Lions supplement pattern

This pattern is a free one and therefore only gives basic instructions on converting the existing 9 inch bear patterns – you’ll need either of the Boy Bear or Girl bear patterns in order to knit a complete Lion or Lioness.

If I had to guess, I expect that the boy Lion is going to be the more popular make of the two and I have had fun making a few myself during the process of working out the pattern. There should be a health warning attached though – that mane really tests the patience and is not something to tackle if you’re in a hurry 😉

As always, I hope that this pattern helps spread a little pleasure and enjoyment out there, things that seem harder than ever to find and hang on to right now. Hope you’re finding a little of each in your days. I’m finding mine out in the peace and tranquility of the quiet woods and have a few pictures to share in the next post.

‘Til next time xxx

 

Hello, I hope you’re having a good week.

We’re deep in the school summer break here and Amy is back home with us at the moment so I’ve not been getting much computer time. It’s lovely having Amy back here and we’ve been enjoying walking in familiar places in the afternoons, family dinners and watching films together in the evenings. It’s so good to spend some time with her again after 21 weeks apart because of lockdown.

Well, I’m popping in very briefly today because I have a free pattern supplement to share with you. While I was working on my recent bags, baskets and backpacks pattern I had an idea for a new dress bodice (you’ll see the similarity to the bag handles). It’s taken me a while to write this up and I cannot guarantee that the pattern is error free as my brain isn’t getting much concentration time so it’s had to be worked on whenever I can fit in the time. Hopefully it will be coherent enough to follow and will give all the necessary details.

The free supplement will work with either the regular 9 inch sized animals or the newer small 7 inch size. You will need to use it in conjunction with one of the existing dress patterns – either one that is included in an animal pattern or one from the dress collection patterns (‘seasonal dresses‘, ‘textured dresses‘ or ‘small dresses‘). Work the skirt part up to and including the waist decrease from one of those patterns and then use the free bodice pattern to create a new sundress option.

Also included are brief instructions on using the bodice to make a little camisole/vest top, which makes a cute little pyjama set when combined with the shorts from one of the boy patterns. Pictures of both the sundress and the camisole in both sizes are above. The pattern is free to download from either Ravelry or from the Facebook group.

I hope you enjoy using the new free supplement and it gives you lots more options for creating outfits for your Little Cotton Rabbit animals, happy knitting, J xx