From novice to not-quite-know-it-all!

Thought you might enjoy my latest craft book find ...

THE KNITTING BOOK
 by Frederica Patmore & Vikki Haffenden

Published by Dorling Kindersley

I bought this book as a gift for my niece, who has recently been teaching herself to knit, but on closer inspection, couldn't resist buying myself a copy too.  I've been knitting for over thirty years, so as you will see, between novice niece and not-quite-know-it-all, this book has plenty to offer!  It covers everything from yarn choices, tools & materials, techniques, a great stitch pattern gallery and a variety of fun projects to knit.  It's easy to follow, very colourful and  quite simply, a great all-round reference book for anyone with an interest in knitting!

Autumn, all stitched up.

At this time of year, as twilight falls early and flipflops make way for fluffy slippers, the tv planners have a dreadful habit of scheduling football.  In case I haven't mentioned it before, I should tell you, I hate football!  So, while Stuart and my son grunt and groan at the tv, I find myself tuning them out as I reach for my knitting needles.  There's something very reassurring about the gentle 'clack, clack' of a pair of bamboo needles, whilst sat, curtains closed, coccooned in the cosy glow of my living room.  With my 'Magical Mayhem' show (mini show!) planned for All Hallowes Eve, I now have the perfect excuse for indulging in a little knitting and am working on a snuggly orange and black 'bat' sweater for a small bear ... with a little luck it should be cute!  I even have some sweet little pumpkin buttons to detail it with.

Knitting a teddy sweater for Halloween

Rather than make too much of a fuss about the football, I'm planning to use the time to brush up my needle skills from the comfort of my armchair.  This year, I thought I would enjoy some simple embroidery as well as my knitting.  As it's been a long time since I embroidered anything more complicated than a bear's nose, I hunted online and found a great 'doodle' book to get me get started with a little free form stitchery - I've also ordered an embroidery stitches encyclopaedia, which is on its way to me.  I think they may ultimately help give me an added dimension to my raggy dolls.  We'll see! 

'Doodle Stitching' by Aimee Ray

And when my poor old hands begin to complain about all the needle activity, I'll put my feet up and use the time to flick through a few of my favourite crafting magazines with a mug of hot chocolate ...

Soft Dolls & Animals, Teddy Bear & Friends and Australian Bear Creations magazines

Yep, I think I have these chilly Autumn evenings all stitched up!

Just an ol' fashioned gal ...

Do you remember me reminiscing about crocheted granny squares in an earlier blog post? Knitting Bernard's waistcoat tweaked my memory, transporting me back through the mists of time to schooldays, when me and my girlfriends would plonk our bums in a chatty circle, happily crocheting granny squares as we gossipped and giggled in a far flung corner of the school field. Well, as these things are apt to do, that dusty thought process set me off on a hunt for a new craft book ... thirty plus years was way too long for my poor ol' lady head to remember the finer details of how to crochet!

After many years of knitting, I have more oddments of wool than I know what to do with, so thought it would be nice to twiddle some of them into squares for a throw (or perhaps cushion covers - undoubtedly far from trendy, but I guess that's acceptable now that I'm in my forties!) This book by Jan Eaton seems perfect for the job - it shares plenty of suggestions for creating a multitude of colourful crochet squares and as you can see, I've already mastered three of the simple ones!

For those of us who like to knit too, Jan Eaton has also published a similar book for knitted squares and needless to say, I was compelled to order that book too! So now there's no excuse for couch potato-ing in an armchair with nothing creative to do ... unless that is, I happen to have a lovely glass of chilled white wine in my hand at the time!

Research, relaxation and reading

The latest issue of Australian Bear Creations dropped through my letterbox a few days ago and naturally, I flicked through to find my advertisement first! Once I'd satisfied myself it was in print, I put the kettle on for a coffee and then settled down to more serious study ... there's a lovely pattern for Sandi Smith's 15" panda 'Chun Chen' in this issue, a pretty bear and bunny pattern from Linda Benson, a tiny bear from Jenny Lee and for those who like to crochet, there's also a cute panda pattern designed by Christine Healey and a beary mobile phone strap designed by Berta Hesen-Minten ... all that and articles galore! It's a great magazine for collectors and makers alike.

A little light reading!

The most important focus for the current issue is of course the 'Australian Bear Creation Awards' and believe me, there are some terrific entries this year. I wish I'd been able to join in the fun and send an entry - ah well, there's always next year! The nominees are waiting anxiously for the final public vote, so please support their efforts to create aspirational teddy bear art by purchasing your copy (Vol 15/No 1) and sending in your choices. Susan at Bear Basics has several copies of the current issue available from www.bearbasics.co.uk and if you would like a subscription to Australian Bear Creations, please visit http://www.woodlandspublishing.com.au/abc/ for further information.

Advertising in Oz ... All Bear's latest quarter page ad

After the perfect sunny weekend, typically we had quite a bit of rain and grey skies this week, so between bouts of sewing, I've been quietly relishing a dip into a couple of novels and a little dollcrafting delight, while the rain beat against the conseratory windows. I thoroughly enjoyed 'The 19th Wife' by David Ebershoff' and even found myself reaching to read another chapter or two on the mornings I woke early. I have now moved on to another of 'Richard and Judy's Bookclub' recommendations, 'The luminous life of Lilly Aphrodite' by Beatrice Collin and I'm happy to admit the first hundred or so pages have hooked me into 'Tiny Lil's' life beautifully!

'The Complete Book of Doll Making' by Pamela Peake

Escapism aside, I found Pamela Peake's 'Complete book of doll making' online for only a few pounds (the wonders of the internet - I do love a bargain book!) and it arrived a few days ago. For a novice doll maker like me, this manual contains an absolute wealth of information, most of which would take me forever to unravel for myself, so all in all it was a very good buy as far as I'm concerned. On the subject of dollcraft, my subscription copy of 'Soft Dolls and Animals' also arrived earlier this week (yes, postie has been a busy bee here in Allington!) ... another useful read for anyone with an interest in dollmaking.

20" Florentine

I also finished a couple of lovely bears this week. 'Florentine' above was created as a commission order for a collector and I have another bear waiting for me in my sewing room ... I'm toying with the idea of holding a small online gallery show on my website later this month, but as you know, I love to show the new bears as soon as they are finished, so am not convinced I'll be able to keep schtum for long enough to prepare a spring show collection! I'll definitely have to give this plan more thought ...

Odds 'n ends

It's days like today when I am more than happy to be self-employed - what a relief it is when there's no need to battle snow and ice simply to get to work. Believe me, there's a great deal to be said for being poor but happy in your work! I don't envy anyone who has to set foot outdoors in sub zero temperatures just to earn a crust, especially today when heavy snow has caused most of the UK to grind to a chilly halt.

The view from my kitchen window this morning - brrrr!

Sunday wasn't much better weatherwise; we nipped out for our usual supermarket trolley dash in the morning and by the time we were driving home, the snow was falling thick and fast around us. We spent Sunday afternoon indoors with the fire toasting us - lovely! I twiddled with my knitting, while Stuart battled the crossword and read his newspapers ... we're practising hard for full Darby and Joan status and if the weather doesn't improve soon, will qualify much earlier than anticipated!

My stash!

My plan for yesterday had been to finish the little jacket I've been knitting for a show bear, but I did a silly thing when I bought the wool in a sale and underestimated my needs, so halfway through the final sleeve, the inevitable happened and I ran out of wool. Needless to say the wool has since been discontinued and my local Hobbycraft store didn't have a handy spare ball for me. Undaunted, I put in a Google search on the computer and managed to find a matching ball in Edinburgh. I reckon if you are online you can find almost anything with a bit of determination!

Fingers crossed the extra wool I need to finish this jacket arrives from Scotland soon!

As you may already know, I've been knitting since I first worked out how to cast on almost twenty seven years ago and although I have a clearout from time to time, I always seem to have a considerable stash of odd balls. Now and again I put them to good use for knitting projects such as the knitted dollies I recently gave to my nieces for their birthdays, but even so, my stash rarely seems to diminish! I hauled it out yesterday because I wanted to twiddle with some intarsia knitting from a gorgeous book by Debbie Abrahams. (In fact I treated myself to two of her books recently, one full of lovely modern cushion designs and the other wonderful throws, which would make fabulous gifts for special occasions.) The books recommend using Rowan wool, which I agree would be perfect to work with for a special item, but pretty expensive otherwise - in fact I worked out it would cost about £100 to knit one of the throws using the specified wool, so instead of bankrupting myself this month, I decided to put my stash of spare wool to good use.

'25 Cushions to knit' and 'Blankets and throws to knit' - I love these books by Debbie Abrahams!

Practising intarsia knitting ... these three flowers took me all Sunday afternoon to complete!

I had forgotten how fiddly intarsia knitting is - I haven't knitted intarsia since I used to make picture sweaters for my children when they were toddlers; I usually prefer to knit texture, either lace, aran or other textured pattern - techniques which don't have nearly so many loose ends to deal with! I had to make a special trip to my local Hobbycraft to buy bobbins (entirely necessary to avoid creating a nasty tangly mess - the bobbins keep the colours neatly ready for use on the back of the work, so you don't need to use unruly balls of wool). After several hours' work, I had managed to knit two thirds of the first cushion panel (I need to make three more panels of four flowers if I'm to finish the front of the cushion, then bind them all together to create the overall design) and was congratulated by Stuart for managing to keep quiet all afternoon ... cheeky blighter! I'm not convinced I actually enjoy the process of intarsia work (or keeping quiet all afternoon! Ha!) so this panel may be the only one I finish. It did set me thinking though ... I do remember very much enjoying fairisle knitting years ago, so maybe I'll use my stash to play around with that next time I'm faced with a 'curl up in front of the fire' Sunday afternoon!

Wey hey, those little white blobs are real snowflakes captured on 'film' ... er, memory card!

Monday afternoon snow update: it's now early afternoon and both my kids are home from work ... Fay has updated her facebook status to advise family and friends of the 'Fay shaped bum print' that can now be found in the snow outside our house (she's going to have a cheeky bruise!) and I'm delighted to have recorded the falling snowflakes on my point n' shoot camera simply by using a little flash! Yes, I do realise I need to put in a little more effort and perhaps venture outside if I'm ever going to become any good with my camera, but in the absence of any commitment to getting cold and wet, these are my Monday afternoon snow pics!

Our road, turning whiter by the hour ...

Work abandoned for the afternoon as the neighbours come home early. It's estimated that only one in every five workers are in work in the UK today!

And finally, my Puddle cat - she couldn't resist going out to play in the snow, but only stayed out long enough to leave a trail of tiny cat prints. Here she is, pleading to come back into the warm lounge - ahhh!

Birthday Girl

Yes, of course I know I have another two whole weeks until my real birthday, but I couldn't wait until then to treat myself to a little present. Not for me shoes and handbags, oh no! I craved a dolly ... now how daft is that at my age?! I've been fascinated by rag dollies for a long time and when I saw this handcrafted little lady, I knew the time had come to go ahead and indulge myself; after all, if you can't be a little daft in your forties, when on earth can you be?! Raggy Doll had a long journey from the US, but arrived safely this morning and I don't mind confessing to feeling like a kid at Christmas when postie handed over her box! Raggy Doll is now sitting on a chair in my workroom, making me smile every time I peek at her!

My birthday raggy doll

Me being me, of course I couldn't leave it at the dolly could I?! I also discovered this great book about recreating the earliest rag dolls, written by Shannon McConnnachie of Sweet Liberty Homestead and as I am fascinated by the historical development of crafting toys, I snapped it up. I was delighted when that too came in today's post! This book has only just been published, so I'm thrilled to have my very own copy and am really looking to snuggling up in my armchair later today and burying my nose in it; the photographs inside look fantastic - I really think this book is going to be a great read.

'Stitches in time' ... by Shannon McConnachie of Sweet Liberty Homestead

So rather than concern myself about becoming yet another year older in a fortnight, instead I'm having fun doing exactly as I please without feeling the need to act my age; now that's how an impending birthday should make you feel, don't you think?!

Simple pleasures

After publishing my weekend post, I received some lovely emails asking me if I could suggest a 'learning to knit' book and as it happens, I'm happy to recommend the book I bought to help my daughter master her knitting needles. It's a straightforward book, with great photographs, clear instructions and isn't too unwieldy; I found it in my local Hobbycraft store, but I'm sure Amazon or Ebay would also be able to locate it for you. The book is titled 'Beginner's guide to knitting' and it's written by Alison Dupernex, so if you fancy teaching yourself to knit, I think you'll find this a useful aid to learning the craft. Go on, be a devil! Buy a book, a pair of needles (4mm, short and bamboo would be perfect, but any needles will do to get you underway!) a ball of wool (double knit makes a great starter wool) and perhaps a row counter (to make life easy) ... before you know it I bet you'll be clacking away merrily!

Learning to knit - a few basics

Lately I've been making some very simple scarfs for my 20" bears - they'd make a perfect starter project for a new knitter, so once you've mastered cast on, garter stitch and cast off, why not make your favourite bear a scarf? This scarf should fit a 20" bear comfortably:

The finished 20" bear's scarf

Using double knit wool and a pair of 4.5mm needles, cast on 25 stitches.

Knit in garter stitch throughout and continue until your scarf measures 30 inches in length. Then cast off - hey presto, you have now completed your first knitted garment!

If you fancy taking things a little further, why not stitch a pom-pom to either end of your scarf (gather the ends of the scarf first), or add some simple tassles? I use a kiddies pom-pom making kit (see pic), but you can just as easily wind the wool tightly around two circles of reasonably thick card (the same applies for tassles only use rectangles instead of circles) and then cut carefully through the wool, between the outside edges the two pieces of card, then tie the wool tightly through the middle of the wool pieces before removing the card and attaching the pom-poms to your lovely scarf. Simple pleasures eh?!

Snowy Sunday Sprinklings

Sunday Snow Scene!

A pretty dusting of snow greeted me when I pulled the curtains this morning, so I took a swift snap for posterity (and also to prove to Stuart who is currently on business in China, that I was right, the weather forecasters DID say 'snow in the South East on Sunday'!' Ha! Sadly though, as fast as I type, my pretty snow scene is melting away, leaving me with heavily laden rain clouds, so it looks as though this dark day will best spent warm and toasty indoors. Brrrrrr!

A frosty work in progress!

Never mind, I have a few ideas for whiling away my dark Sunday, all of which involve unfinished craft projects. With any luck, after a few hours' spent in my workroom today, my disjointed snowy bear will be ready to hop into Santa's Sack and the knitted Jean Greenhowe dolly I'm busy making as a gift (Sssshhh!!!! That's a secret!) will soon look just like the one in the picture below (fingers crossed!) By the way, these Jean Greenhowe knitted toys make perfect gifts for kiddies (actually my son's 24 year old girlfriend just asked could she have one of the dollies for Christmas too!) They make great use of all your odds 'n ends of knitting wool and in these gloomy credit crunch days, what could possibly make a better Christmas or birthday gift for your special little person than a hand crafted toy? Knitting my current dolly gift has transported me down memory lane, back to when I first made one of the Jean Greenhowe dollies many, many years ago when my own kids were little!

My knitted dolly gift will wear a lilac dress and white sparkly knickerbockers.

'Miss Emily', a lovely traditional knitted dolly by Jean Greenhowe

Jean Greenhowe, a super collection of special toys to knit

Finally, a picture of my latest bag of sparkly magpie goodies ... aren't those fantasy films, fibres and threads pretty?! Just for now, I'll leave it to your imagine to guess what I plan to do with them!

New craft materials for me to play with!

Oh Grasshopper ...

I'm definitely having a grasshopper week, you know the kind where you flit from one thing to another, settling nowhere for very long?! That's definitely been me. I suppose it's something to do with having to pick up my usual routine after such a wonderful holiday. My head is still drifting with the warm Spanish breeze! Still, I suppose in one way it means that almost without noticing, I have just about cleared my 'to do' list and now have no more excuses not to take myself back to my sewing room.

Pretty pale pink vintage Nottingham Lace collar

I returned from Majorca to a substantial pile of less than interesting mail and thankfully, to several far more interesting brown packages which had arrived in my absence. These gorgeous bits and pieces will be added to my magpie stash for future inspiration!

Handy pattern book 'Collars to knit and crochet', by The Staff of the Workbasket Magazine.
Published 1989

... I think the vintage collars will be perfect for my 'Timeless Teds' and I'm looking forward to having a go at one of the dainty knitted collars from the handy little book I found at http://www.abebooks.com/ What a treasure trove that website that is! This book will give me the perfect excuse for an afternoon's knitting in the conservatory!

Lovely vintage crochet collar

Another super vintage crochet collar

Such skilled workmanship! Close up of vintage crochet flower collar

I like to keep my eyes open for possible beary bits whenever I'm online and as well as the beautiful collars which are an absolute delight in terms of hand crafting skill, I was so pleased to find some gorgeous sky blue and lilac cotton velvet for my bears' paws just before my holiday - such pretty colours!

Beautiful cotton velvets for paw pads

After opening my post and dealing with the inevitable housework and endless laundry throughout the week, my 'to-do list' also dictated I had accounts to reconcile, supplies to purchase, advertisements to create, website and blog updates to produce and a list of emails as long as my arm, to respond to. Despite all that, I still managed to make a start on a new bear! I have one more fabric yet to sample for Intercal and so this little cub is currently being created in their new 3/8" dense straight pile mohair, he will be white by the way. I have give him pure wool felt paw pads and inner ears airbrushed in a nice olive shade (a tiny nod to my week in Spain!) ... I think he's going to be lovely! He should be making his debut on my website in the next day or so.

Well, that's me done here for today, it's about time I put the kettle on, poured a nice mug of coffee and then set to work completing my little white, olive paw'ed bear cub!

Dusty jackets

'Bears and how to make them' by Margaret Hutchings - first published 1964

I saw this book on Ebay recently and thought it would make a great addition to my workroom book shelf. 'Bears and how to make them' by Margaret Hutchings was published in 1964 and as a child of the sixties, of course I couldn't resist the opportunity to discover what was being taught about bear-making back then! The term 'teddy bear artist' wasn't coined until the mid 1970's and yet, this book proves the art of teddy bear making was being referenced in detailed publication more than forty years ago! It really is a fascinating book and is still completely relevant today. In fact, if you look at the examples of trapunto feet for realistic bears in the picture below, it would seem that little should ever be classed as completely new in terms of teddy bear design!

I also found another of Margaret Hutching's wonderful books for a few pounds while I was auction shopping and it arrived in the post a couple of days ago. 'Modern Soft Toy Making' was first published in 1959 and is a veritible goldmine of soft toy making information.

'Modern Soft Toy Making' by Margaret Hutchings - first published 1959

Don't be put off by the term 'soft toy making' by the way, many of the techniques featured in this vintage book are still used in modern bear artistry today. In fact, if you have an urge to begin designing your own teddy bears, I think it's entirely useful to study as many toy making and crafting books, past and present, as possible, in order to fully understand how best to develop your potential. I've been designing my own range of bears for about fifteen years and I am still discovering new skills, which for me, is a major part of keeping the process fresh and exciting.

'The Splendid Soft Toy Book' - first published 1981

I remember reading a recommendation for 'The complete book of stuffed work' by Toni Scott on a forum several years ago, so I hunted for a copy and eventually tracked one down in the US. I had it shipped over and although it doesn't have much to say about bear making specifically, it does contain a wealth of information relating to all things soft sculpture, much of which can be interpreted in terms of bear design, by a creative mind.

'Complete book of stuffed work' by Toni Scott - first published 1978

And then of course, there are recent bear-making manuals aplenty; these are the three I would class as teddy bear artist bibles and no self-respecting bear art shelf should be without them!

'101 bears to make' by Nancy Tillberg, 'Constructing teddy and his friends' by Jennifer Laing and 'A bear of my own' by Rotraud Illisch

Aside from crafting publications, you can also enhance your bear design knowledge greatly by studying many other teddy bear related books. I'm thinking of reference books featuring vintage/antique bears, auction house catalogues, specialist collectors'magazines etc ... I'll share some of my favourites with you another day!

In the meantime, do keep your eyes peeled for some of the rarer vintage gems - they can often be found in second hand bookstores, or on internet sites. Don't be put off by tatty dust covers, because often you'll find a treasure trove of relevant bear-making information inside those faded covers and all for only a few pounds!

Online organisation

Last year Tina, my photographer sister, introduced me to the wonders of online printing services and subsequently I produced two beautiful portfolio books for display at the shows I attend. I was so pleased with the outcome, I have now decided to create a new portfolio of work two or three times each year. This a great way for me to keep tabs on my design progress and it's also very satisfying for me to be able to take a peek at my adopted bears, back through the mists of time.

My latest portfolio arrived in the post yester,day and I'm delighted with it. If you are able to visit the Winter Bearfest in Kensington Town Hall on the 24th February, please do spare a moment to flick through the pages of my new portfolio - I'd love you to see it!

Paula's porfolio 2007/08

As you can imagine, with a show on the horizon, I've not had much spare time to get out and about lately, but needless to say, I've still had to make purchases, so thank heavens for the internet - I rely on it heavily these days! Recently I even managed to have wallpaper samples sent to me, so that I could choose my wallpaper for the living room and then buy it online, simply because I just haven't had time time to visit any DIY stores to hunt for nice wallpaper. We haven't decorated the living room since moving into our new house a year ago, so I am really looking forward to putting our 'stamp' on it and if I want to have the living room decorated over the Easter break as Stuart has promised me, I really need to get the materials organised. After all, I don't want to give him any opportunity to delay work now that he's offered, do I?!

I think I like this one best - pretty eh?

The internet is always invaluable to me for bear making supplies and Susan at Bear Basics has been a great help in this respect; in fact she has just sent me these sample cards of the beautiful new Schulte fabrics which will debut at the show next week ... I couldn't resist putting in an early order for one of these fabulous fabrics, in the hope that I can squeeze enough time to work on 'just one more,' in time for the show. I wonder if you can you guess which I've chosen?

Susan's Schulte sample cards

And for when life quietens down, (if it ever does!) I have purchased an intriguing new book, 'Wire Knits'. I'm keen to give this unusual knitting a try, the dainty wire and bead projects look so pretty.

'Wire Knits' by Heather Kingsley-Heath

I just need to find a few more hours in every day and then with luck, maybe I'll be able to dedicate a few hours to finding out a bit more about this technique ... mind you, I think I'll have to make an appointment to see the optician too, I noticed the author of this book makes reference to health tips for close work in the closing pages and in my case, she definitely has a point!

Note to self: Stop squinting and get that optician's appointment made Paula Jean!

Festive findings

Well that was quick! Snowdrop was snapped up from Santa's Sack within no time at all yesterday, so today I packaged her carefully in preparation for her long journey, destination 'Downunder'!

Naturally, with all things festive filling my head this week, I couldn't resist popping to my favourite haberdashery after I'd visited the Post Office. I spent a very pleasant half hour browsing and came home with an assortment of pretty bits 'n pieces for my planned Santa's Sack bears. It's times like this when I wouldn't swap my job for all the tea in China!

I made my final decision this week. Here is the evidence. My 'TOBY Awards' entry is now duly submitted and on its way across the Atlantic as I type. There's no turning back now; please wish me luck!

A very special email landed in my inbox earlier today. I was thrilled to be asked to submit work to one of the UK magazines for a special double page showcase. Such a generous offer! I'm determined to do it justice by making some really special bears, after all, this will be the perfect excuse for me to indulge myself in some sumptuous fabrics and create some of my big 'uns ... I can't wait to get stuck in! I'll let you know nearer the time which magazine and when it will be published.

Thank heaven's Susan at Bear Basics in the UK is now stocking a fabulous range of luxurious Schulte mohair; I'll be like a kid in a candy store selecting my special fabrics for this project. Which reminds me, I've just received the most lush piece of mohair from them, and I am simply dying to start work on it ... watch this space!

Before I forget, I must tell you, I have another new bear for Santa's Sack tomorrow. I can't show you pics just yet though, because I've only just sewn his ears on and it's too dark to take pics now, but I promise I'll share him with you tomorrow. His name? Oh go on then! He's called 'Brandysnap' ... I hope you have time to pop back tomorrow to take a peek!