New Free Downloads

I haven’t made any new post for ages.

To be honest, I wasn’t too sure where this blog was going. I was enjoying writing but sometimes, I did feel the pressure. I wanted someone to read it and possibly, receive a benefit from what I write.

I have decided not to worry too much and write whenever, whatever I can.

I updated the website yesterday with a little effort, and today, I would like to share the good news.

I have been working closely with Clover mfg. If you are involved in crafting, you know the company of course.
It is a Japanese craft tool manufacturer. My mother used to love their products and I grew up watching her using them. I was requested to make up some designs for the Clover website. How fantastic!

Here are some projects I have done.

For knitting, Cat in Jumper and Mouse in Dungarees

For Crochet, Frogs and Sheep.

The patterns are available here:
https://www.clover-mfg.com/project

There will be more free patterns from this site.

Clover’s products are good in quality, innovative and fun! I hope you will enjoy!

Christmas knits

The issue with these little elves came out in August while I was away in Japan, suffering from the heat!

Since I started submitting my patterns to magazines, it became my habit to knit Christmas early. I do festive knitting in June.

We had an amazingly hot weather for a week or so in June, but I was knitting Santas, snowmen, elves and reindeers. Thinking Christmas is still far away and the weather being so nice and warm, I don’t get into the spirit, however, I enjoy creating Christmas toys every year. It is one of my favourite things to do.

Magazine editors wanted Christmassy characters earlier than previous years. They said that their readers want the patterns early. I quite didn’t expect the elves to come out in September issue, even before Halloween and all, but I am quite fond of the artwork. I think they are charming. You can surely enjoy them any time of the year.

I get queries for patterns which appeared in Let’s Get Crafting. They have a fantastic website and you can download some of my patterns for free.
Here are some of my previous work.

The latest addition is this one, robins.

They are all downloadable from this page: https://www.letsgetcrafting.com/free-patterns
You will find lots of delightful projects.
They also have a sister magazine, Let’s Knit. You can get more patterns here: https://www.letsknit.co.uk/free-knitting-patterns

The projects are all worked with their covermount kit yarns. To knit my designs using commercial DK (8-ply) yarn, I recommend 3mm knitting needles.

From Knit Now magazine, this kit came out with last month’s issue. See, everyone is preparing early.

The latest issue of Knit Now should have the part 1 of my Nativity finger puppets; Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus and the three wise men. The following issue will have the part 2; three shepherds, a bull, a donkey and a sheep. I can’t wait to see them in print!

More Easter knits

I found this bottle at our wine shop in town.

It had come from Ibaragi prefecture in Japan. It must be an ale brewed by a small local brewery that uses locally sourced ingredients and water. I felt like I found my old friend. It has such a cute label and I thought I must have it.

I am not a beer drinker. I find all beers too bitter for me. Only recently, I learned the difference between ale and lager.
I tasted a little. The ale had fruity, tangerine like aroma (or should I call it bouquet?) and was very tasty. Yes, it was bitter and my husband happily finished it all, but it was good.

The one I bought is called ‘White ale’ and the shop had another kind, ‘Red rice ale’. That sounds even more interesting. I want to try it next time.

The brewer has an online shop; Hitachino Nest Beer

Oh, I was going to share the pattern of these two little guys here today.

Little chicken and chick

Abbreviations
Stst: stocking stitch
St: stitch
K: knit
P: purl
Kfb: k one through the front then through the back (same stitch)
K2tog: knit two together
P2tog: purl two together
Skpo: slip1, knit1, pass slipped stitch over

Special technique: i-cord
Using double-pointed needles cast on the required number of stitches. Do not turn. Slide stitches to the opposite end of the needle, then knit stitches again taking the yarn firmly across the back of work. Repeat to desired length. Cast off.

Chicken
Materials
• 3g white DK
• Small amounts of brown, dark brown DK (8-ply)
• Small amounts of 4-ply (fingering) red and yellow
• Stuffing

Needles
A pair of 2.75mm-3.00mm (US 2) Double pointed knitting needles (DPN)*It is to make i-cords, but there is an
alternative

Body
With white, cast on 9 sts.
Row 1 (WS): p
Row 2: (kfb) in each st to end. 18 sts
Row 3: p
Row 4: (k1, kfb) to end. 27 sts
Rows 5-11: Beg with a p row, work in Stst.
Row 12: (k1, k2tog) to end. 18 sts
Rows 13-17: Beg with a p row, work in Stst.
Row 18: (k2tog) to end. 9 sts
Break yarn, draw through sts, pull tightly and fasten off.

Wings: make two
With white, cast on 8 sts.
Rows 1-3: Beg with a p row, work in Stst.
Row 4: k2tog, (k1, k2tog) to end. 5 sts
Row 5: p
Break yarn, draw through sts, pull tightly and fasten off.

Feet: make two
With brown, cast on 5 sts.
Ro w1: cast off 4 sts p wise. 1 st
Row 2: cast on 4 sts, cast off these sts p wise. 1 st
Row 3: cast on 4 sts, cast off to end.

Legs: make two
With brown, cast on 2 sts and work 4 rows in i-cord. Break yarn, draw through sts, pull tightly and fasten off.
Alternatively, if you do not have DPNs, cast on 4 sts, cast off these sts p wise.

Wattle: make two
With 4-ply red, cast on 3 sts
Row 1: p1, p2tog.2 sts
Row 2: k2tog and fasten off.

Comb: make three
Work as Wattle

Beak
With 4-ply yellow, cast on 4 sts.
Row 1: (p2tog) twice. 2 sts
Row 2: k2tog and fasten off.

To make up
With fasten-off yarn end, sew body and stuff. Seam wings and attach them to body. Connect three claws of feet at one end neatly and attach them to leg. Attach legs to body. Attach wattle, beak and comb pieces to head. With dark brown, French knot eyes.

Chick
Materials
• Small amount of soft yellow, brown DK
• Small amounts of 4-ply dark brown and yellow
• Stuffing

Body
With soft yellow, cast on 7 sts.
Row 1 (WS): p
Row 2: (kfb) in each st to end. 14 sts
Row 3: p
Row 4: (k1, kfb) to end. 21 sts
Rows 5-7: Beg with a p row, work in Stst.
Row 8: (k1, k2tog) to end. 14 sts
Rows 9-11: Beg with a p row, work in Stst.
Row 12: (k2tog) to end. 7 sts
Break yarn, draw through sts, pull tightly and fasten off.

Wings: make two
With soft yellow, cast on 6 sts.
Rows 1-2: Beg with a p row, work in Stst.
Row 3: (p2tog) to end. 3 sts
Break yarn, draw through sts, pull tightly and fasten off.

Beak
As given for Chicken

To make up
Sew body seam and stuff. Seam wings and attach them to body. Attach beak. With 4-ply dark brown, French not eyes. For a leg, cut brown DK yarn to about 8cm and make a knot on one end. Make another knot on top of first knot to ensure knot will not be undone. Thread yarn and pierce front base of body, leaving knot and about 1cm yarn for leg. Hide yarn end in body. Repeat for other leg.

When you are knitting toys, it is a good idea to make it a habit of keeping fairy long end at cast-on and fasten-off ends for sewing. Also, seam with the right side out. Your finish will be neater.

Easter is almost here but this is a super quick project. You can make it in no time.

Happy Easter!

This was in Woman’s Weekly last week. I didn’t know it was out and even I missed it. I will try to find out how to get the pattern from editor.

Sir Elton John was on the cover.

Recent publications

While I was away in Japan, some of my patterns came out in print. Most of them feature Christmas knits. It is the time to get busy with making gifts for your loved ones (and yourself).

Simply knitting magazine UK has this one: Santa, reindeer, elf and sleigh set.

The request was to make the Santa family with miniature toys. This pattern is in the A-5 mini booklet which comes with the magazine.

Pattern is not at all complicated, but assembly may require a bit of patience. The sleigh has a cardboard inside for sturdiness. I have added the template and instruction drawings with a help of my son. If you think the sleigh is a little challenging, you may be able to find an alternative, for example, wooden toy sleigh.

This project is a lot of fun and very rewarding at the finish.
It looks like this with everyone together.

I have made many Santas. This one is easy to make and is one of my favorites.

Another project is this one: Christmas ponies in Knit Now magazine.

The pony is knitted all in one. The pattern is surprisingly simple. The blanket has a Christmassy motif, but it can be knitted without it of course. Using multi coloured sock yarn may produce an interesting effect.

And one more.
A few days ago, I received these from America: Toy knits published by Interweave.

I was invited to submit my work in January so that this magazine has come a long way. It is more like a book than a magazine. It has been carefully planned with lots of time and care.

It contains many many projects and beautifully produced. I can assure you that you will find something you would like to try. There are book reviews and interviews included, and I was very happy to find my book in it.

I have two patterns in this issue; Knitted zeppelin and bunny in a jumper

Cool, yes?

This is the very first time that my work appeared in a knitting magazine in the US. I hope readers will enjoy them.

My little gifts

To celebrate the launch of my mini book, “Tiny toys to knit” from Search Press 20 to make series, the sales team will be soon running a promotion through their Facebook and Twitter. They usually offer a chance to win a copy. This time, I suggested to add my small knitted item along with the book for the winner.

Isn’t it a nice idea?

I have lots of little knits after all, some are made as samples for patterns, some are made just for fun. It will be nice if they can find a nice home.

I decided to choose something small for easy shipping. I put them into an individual cellophane bag and tied yarn to make them look pretty. My son made transparent stickers with my web address on them.

While I was looking for items for give-away gifts, I found these koalas.

They are very simple and initially, I wasn’t too sure if I liked the design. I tried adding a string and a bell.

I think they look cuter this way.

Such a little thing makes a big difference.

Would you like to have a go at making them yourself? Here is the pattern. (or something like that. It is very simple.)

Mini Koala
Size: Mummy, 5 cm, baby 4 cm
Materials
• Small amounts of grey, white, dark brown, red brown DK (8-ply)
• Stuffing

Equipment
• A pair of 2.75mm (US 2) DPN knitting needles
• A chenille needle with fairy sharp point

Abbreviations
St/st: stocking stitch
St: stitch
K: knit
P: purl
Kf/b: k one through the front then through the back (same stitch)
K2tog: knit two together
P2tog: purl two together

Special technique: i-cord
Using double-pointed needles cast on the required number of stitches. Do not turn. Slide stitches to the opposite end of the needle, then knit stitches again taking the yarn firmly across the back of work. Repeat to desired length. Cast off.

Mummy
Body
Cast on 7 sts with grey
Row1 (WS): p
Row2: (kf/b) in each st (14)
Row3: p
Row4: (k1, kf/b) to end (21)
Row5: p7 (grey), p7 (white), p7 (grey)
Rows6-10: keeping the colour correct, st/st
Row11: (p1, p2tog) to end (14)
Break white and work with grey only
Row12: shape neck; (k2tog) to end (7)
Row13: p
Row14: (kf/b) in each st (14)
Row15-22: st/st
Row23: (p2, p2tog) to end (11)
Break yarn, draw through sts, pull tightly and fasten off.

Ears: make two
Cast on 10 sts with grey, break yarn. Join white and k1 row. Break yarn, draw through sts, pull tightly and fasten off.

Arms: make two
Cast on 2 sts with grey and work 3 rows in i-cord. Fasten off.

Nose
With 2 strands taken from red brown DK, cast on 4 sts.
Row1 (WS): p1, p2tog, p1 (3)
Row2: sl 1, k2tog, pass the first st over the second and fasten off.

To make up
With fasten-off yarn end, sew head and body, stuff, avoiding the neck area. Work a gathering thread along the cast-on edge and draw tightly to close the body. Work a gathering thread along the neck and pull tightly to shape. Attach nose, ears and arms. With dark brown, French knot the eyes.

Baby koala
Body
Cast on 6 sts with grey
Row1 (WS): p
Row2: (kf/b) in each st (12)
Row3: p
Row4: (k1, kf/b) to end (18)
Row5: p6 (grey), p6 (white), p6 (grey)
Rows6-9: st/st, keeping the colour correct
Row10: (k1, k2tog) to end (12)
Break white and work with grey only

Row11: shape neck; (p2tog) to end (6)
Row12: (kf/b) in each st (12)
Rows13-19: st/st
Row20: (k2, k2tog) to end (9)
Break yarn, draw through sts, pull tightly and fasten off.

Ears: make two
Cast on 8 sts with grey, break yarn, Join white and k 1 row. Break yarn, draw through sts, pull tightly and fasten off.

Nose
Cast on 3 sts with 2 strands from DK
Row1: p2tog, p1 (2)
Pass the first st over the second and fasten off.

Arms: make two
Cast on 2 sts with grey and work 2 rows in i-cord. Fasten off.

To make up
As given for mummy

I heard that koalas sleep 22 hours a day? Amazing. They sleep longer than my teenage boys.
Wow!

Macaroons!

I am loving the BBC’s “Great British Bake Off”.

It is such a fantastic program. I enjoy watching it every year and I know I am not the only one.

I guess we like seeing baking disasters as much as great achievements. I am not being mean. We all like to know things go wrong for not only you but for everyone.

So, what is your baking disaster?

Mine is Macaroons. A few years ago, I had a go at Macaroons first time in my life. Macaroons are so pretty and I had always wanted to try.

I had my mixture perfect. I had two colours, pink and cocoa brown. My younger son, still in primary school then, helped me draw circles on baking sheets. I followed carefully every step in the recipe and voila, my Macaroons looked textbook perfect when they came out of the oven.

But you know what? They were stuck to the paper.
Apparently, I had used wrong kind of paper to line the baking tray. I was shattered. My son cried.

I haven’t tried Macaroons ever since. It became my trauma and they make me nervous.

But recently, I decided to knit them. Knitting Macaroons is so much easier than baking them!

And here is the recipe.

Size: 4cm diameter
Materials
• Small amounts of DK colour of your choice
• Small amount of white DK
• stuffing

Abbreviations
St/st: stocking stitch
St: stitch
K: knit
P: purl
Kf/b: k one through the front then through the back (same stitch)
K2tog: knit two together
P2tog: purl two together
Skpo: slip1, knit1, pass slipped stitch over

Top and bottom piece: make one each
With the colour of your choice DK, cast on 10 sts loosely.
Row1: (kf/b) to end (20)
Row2: p
Row3: (k1, kf/b) to end (30)
Rows4-10: st/st
Row11: (k1, k2tog) to end (20)
Row12: p
Row13: (k2tog) to end (10)
Break yarn, draw through sts, pull tightly and fasten off.

With fasten-off yarn end, sew the seam. Stuff lightly. Work a gathering thread along the cast-on edge and pull tightly.

Centre cream
Worked with two strands of DK together, alternatively, use Aran or chunky yarn
With two strands of white DK together, cast on 8 sts.
Row1: (kf/b) to end (16)
Row2: p
Row3: (k1, kf/b) to end (24)
Cast off.

To make up
Attach all three pieces together with the cream piece in the centre. Secure with a few stitches.

So, what do you think? They can be pin cushions, too.

Little knitted dangler charms

I hope many had a nice Valentine’s Day. It is nice to tell your loved one how much you care. We don’t say the word often enough.

Since I made the little heart’s pattern, (see the post “Valentine Hearts” I think I am addicted to making little knitted dangler charms.

I tried with mushrooms first. These are knitted with DK yarn, but if you have my “Mini Knitted Woodland” book, you can use the toadstool pattern from the book. To make it small, you may want to use 4-ply yarn instead of DK.

I now find that 4-ply yarn is perfect for these tiny projects.

I use Double Knit yarn (8-ply) for most of my toy projects because it gives the knitted toys firmness without getting too bulky. 4-ply is a bit too delicate and my animals from the Mini knitted series will not stand up too well. I guess you would need super fine needles to knit bodies, too.

But I do have some 4-ply stash and I always wanted make a use of it. I tried the medium sized heart from my pattern and I think it worked well. I made a dangler, adding a tiny bell on the string.

And I quite like using 4-ply now.

These are super quick projects. You can make one in 15 to 30 minutes.

This is one of my favorite; my quirky chick.

It is so simple, and I can hardly call it a pattern, but here is how I made it.

Materials
You will need

* Small amounts of 4-ply soft yellow, yellow, dark brown yarn
* Stuffing
* A bell
* a string

Equipment

A pair of 2.5mm-2.75mm (US 1-2) knitting needles
A sewing needle with a large eye

Pattern

Body

With soft yellow, cast on 15 sts and st/st 10 rows, starting with p row.
Break yarn, draw through sts, pull tightly and fasten off. .

Beak
With darker yellow, cast on 5 sts. Cast off.

To make up
Sew the body, using the fasten-off end yarn. Work a gathering thread along the cast-on edge. Stuff the body.
To flatten the base, pierce from the centre of the head, with a threaded needle, leaving the yarn end out and take it out from the centre of the base and repeat. Pull gently to shape. Using the same yarn, make a few back stitches on the head, leaving small loops every other stitch. Cut the loops and fluff the yarn. Attach the beak. With dark brown yarn, French knot the eyes. Thread the bell and attach the string to the chick.

The trickiest part of this project is threading the tiny bell! I wet the tip of the string with liquid glue and harden the tip and thread the bell. That works well. If you know the better way, please use it.

I am making lots of different designs. I can’t stop!

I will be sharing more patterns of these tiny items if you would like. You can also make pins and enjoy with your knitted garments and hats.

Year of sheep

2015 is the year of sheep according to Chinese Zodiac.

In Japan, when the current year matches up with the same Chinese Zodiac sign you were born under, as a female you get the title “toshi onnna”, literally meaning ‘year’s lady’.

it’s my year. I am going to be the “Year’s lady”. I am feeling lucky already.

The Sheep (Goat) is a Yin energy, a symbol of Peace, Harmonious co-existence and Tranquility. It is also the symbol of the Arts. Perfect!

Some say it is a good time to be ambitious and start something new when your Zodiac sign comes up. I haven’t made New Year’s resolution as such, but I should give a good thought on what I would like to achieve in next 12 year cycle.

For now, I am just innocently celebrating the New Year.

I asked my mum to send me something related to sheep. You get to see a lot of items with sheep motif in shops in Japan now.

She sent me these.

and this.

It is a coin case.

You see, she didn’t go expensive or posh. I think she thinks I am still a little girl.
But they are lovely.

I just made a set of sheep, too. And this time, I managed to write up the pattern and publish it online!

My mummy sheep and baby lamb.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/216522036/mummy-sheep-and-baby-lamb-knitting?

The mummy sheep is about 7cm long, 6cm high, and the baby is 5cm long and 5cm high. It is very very simply knitting of garter stitches, knit and purl and i-cord.

Happy New Year! I hope this year will bring you a lot of happiness.

Mini Santa puppet

Many of us are getting super busy with last minute shopping and preparing for the big day feast.

But if you have one hour that you can relax, you can make this little finger puppet.
I just came up with the design a couple days ago.

Size: 5cm
Materials
• Small amount of red DK
• Small amounts of fair skin colour, dark brown, white fleecy chunky yarn
• Stuffing

Equipment
a pair of 2.75mm (US 2) knitting needles

Body and head
With white fleecy yarn, cast on 18 sts, break yarn.
Rows1-8:join red and st/st
Row9: (k1, k2tog) to end (12 sts)
Row10: change to skin colour and p
Row11: k3, (kf/b) six times, k3 (18)
Rows12-14: st/st
Row15: shape eye line; k3, (k2tog, k1) four times, k3 (14)
Rows16-18: st/st
Row19: (k2, k2tog) to end (11)
Break yarn, draw through sts, pull tightly and fasten off.

Hat
Cast on 16 sts with white fleecy yarn. Break yarn.
Row1-5:join red and st/st.
Row16: p1, (p2tog, p1) to end (12)
Rows17-20: st/st
Break yarn, draw through sts, pull tightly and fasten off.

Beard
With white fleecy yarn, cast on 6 sts.
Row1: skpo, k to end (5)
Repeat row1 until there are 2 sts remain. Fasten off.

*skpo: slip1, k next st, pass the right st over

To make up
Sew the head seam, using the fasten-off end yarn. Stop at the neck. Stuff the head and work a gathering thread along the neck line. Pull tightly to shape. Do not stuff the body since this is a finger puppet. Work a gathering thread along the row15 of the head for eye dent if desired. Sew the rest of the body and hide the yarn ends.
With dark brown DK (8-ply) yarn, French knot the eyes. To create the nose, make short backstitches the same spot two to three times.

That is all.
I hope you will enjoy.

Just a little more fun shots

In the “Mini knitted woodland” book, I wanted to suggest the readers the way to enjoy the animals in some different ways..
My favourite is the tic-tac-toe game. I have submitted Knit Now magazine the hare and tortoise game before. This book has different animals for the players.
I didn’t want to photograph the knitted board, because if I did, I had to include its pattern. There is a rule to include patterns of all knitted items. I also thought the board will not suit the book very much.
Originally, I wanted to use a wooden game board but unfortunately, I couldn’t find any in the studio. But then, I had an idea. I decided to use twigs.
I brought in the willow twigs from our garden. We have this large, rather annoying willow tree in our back garden. Finally I get to make a good use of it. My idea was to place some twigs on a wooden table and place the animals.
But when I came back to the studio from making coffee in the adjoining kitchen, I realized my designer and photographer was enjoying arranging many animals with background fabric and trees. It became another lively and fun woodland scene!

I recently received the draft from my editor and have been very busy checking each pattern.

I make notes first and type up for my editor. Some of my writings are unreadable.

For the safari book, I did all the drawings for the embroideries. I am doing the same for this book.

I hope my drawings work all right.

I haven’t received all the text yet, so I do not know how these fun shots are going to be arranged in the book. I cannot wait to find out.