Dilys and the Ellie-bears!

 

Dilys and the Ellie-bears

I have had a soft spot for elephants ever since I was a very little girl. My uncle made my first elephant many years ago and although his ears and eyes have long since been hugged away, I still have that little pink ellie. In fact, I borrowed the simple three piece design to create a replica ellie as a gift for my new niece when she was a baby.

The next elephant I made was a funny little chap called 'Abe', back in 2008. I took the vintage design a stage further by introducing a moveable, jointed head and that was when I decided I really wanted to tackle something a little more complex, so started work afresh, using one of my previous teddy bear designs, as a starting point.

I had to redesign the bear head entirely to incorporate a trunk and floppy ears and completely changed the shape of the feet and arms - in fact, now I come to think about it, the only part of the pattern that remained the same was the body! Delilah, a shell pink ellie with striped feet and ears, was my first jointed elephant, created in 2008 and the following year, I decided to return to my jointed elephant design to see how it would work in alternative fabrics ...

I was thrilled when my 2009 white ellie 'Starlight' was featured in 'Australian Bear Creations,' as that was the first time I had ever had anything other than a teddy bear published in a magazine. 2010 was a challenging year creatively speaking, as I spent the first two thirds of the year working hard to develop my 'Careworn Collection' of teddy bears and the remaining third of the year simply trying to find motivation to work at all, after saying a sad farewell to my Dad that Autumn. Sad to say, there were no ellies whatsoever in 2010 ...

However, the ellie bug bit again in 2011! I decided to develop my ellie's personality further; I wanted give him cute low slung ears and close set eyes, to lend his personality a endearing dimension. I was so pleased with my new whimsical blue ellie design, I named him Forget-me-not, in dedication to my Dad.

Also in 2011 came Ma Cherie, a pretty pale pink ellie. I decided to create a slightly smaller elephant called Butterfly in 2013 and it wasn't until 2021, that I developed my smaller jointed elephant design to create Buttercup, the sweetest little elephant, part of my 'Springtime Pals' trio, which also included a bunny and a bear, all wearing knitted jackets.

And that was it. The ellies really were almost as rare as hen's teeth! Until today. I found the very piece of mohair I needed to complete an ellie-bear I started this summer, then had to discard because frustratingly, I misremembered how much mohair to buy and ran out of the denim coloured fabric, as did my supplier. However, all was not lost, I finally finished my 2025 Dilys ellie-bear yesterday and can at last share her with you ... and add her name to my catalogue of elephant designs!  

The Mists of Childhood

 

The original 'Ellie' wasn't made by me, it was in fact given to me by an uncle in 1963, the year of my birth. Back in those distant days, my little pink ellie had floppy ears and felt eyes, but as is the way of much loved childhood toys, they were worn away with many hugs, over the passage of time.

Ellie was one of a select group of soft toys gifted to me as a baby... Big Ted, my first Chiltern Hugmee teddy bear, given to me on my first birthday by my parents, Scotty, a handmade black dog made by my Nana's boarding house lodger, Sooty, a Chiltern mohair glove puppet given to me by an auntie, a knitted dolly wearing a striped skirt who came from a school jumble sale and my now earless ellie, who somehow managed to survive six long decades and although a little more careworn perhaps, is still much loved today. Which brings me to the other pink ellie in the photograph (left) created by me in 2007, in an attempt to replicate my childhood elephant toy.

I had the ideal piece of pink wool fabric which was tucked away in the bottom of my fabric box. Using memory to help me, I created new ears lined with beige velvet and rather than the felt eyes of my original elephant, I inserted tiny glass eyes, as this little elephant was to be given as a keepsake, rather than a child's toy and I preferred the look of the traditional glass eyes.

To achieve the simplistic style of the original design was a little more tricky than I initially anticipated - we live and learn don't we?! Despite my teddy bear design skills, it took several attempts to figure out the body gusset pattern so that my wee elephant could sit comfortably, maintaining the shape of the 1960's original and embodying all of its naive charm.

When I was a child, it wasn't unusual for special gifts to be handmade, so decades later, I was delighted to be able to continue this tradition for my sister and her new baby (who by the way, is now sixteen years of age!)

The next elephant I made was a funny little chap called 'Abe', created from vintage style mohair in 2008. I developed the original softie elephant pattern a tiny bit, to include a jointed head and a head gusset in what was a simple two piece head, to give the head more definition. I also took a little more artistic licence with his trunk shaping, but other than those minor adjustments, kept little 'Abe' ellie, pretty true to my original 1960's elephant.

After Abe, I wanted to tackle something a little more complex, so began work afresh in 2008, using one of my previous teddy bear designs as a starting point for a 16" jointed elephant, created in sparse vintage pink mohair. I was so thrilled with the result I sent a photograph of 'Delilah' to 'Australian Bear Creations' and they were kind enough to print it in their magazine.

I returned to my jointed elephant design in 2009, curious to see how it would work in alternative fabrics ... and in 2009, my white standing circus elephant 'Starlight', was also featured in 'Australian Bear Creations' magazine!  

2010 was a challenging year creatively speaking, as I spent the first two thirds of the year working hard to develop my 'Careworn Collection' of teddy bears and the remaining third of the year simply trying to find motivation to work at all, after saying a sad farewell to my Dad that Autumn. Sad to say, there were no elephants in 2010 ...

My Dad would never have wanted me to lose my creativity, he always enjoyed my work and was proud of me; so in 2011, I picked myself up and dusted myself down and set to work. I wanted to develop my elephants' personalities further, so this time, designed two lovely new elephants with cute low slung ears and close set eyes, giving the ellies more character than ever before. 'Ma Cherie' and 'Forget-me-not' elephant worked their magic and soon had me smiling, inspired again, just as Dad would have wanted.

In 2013, I decided to make a Summer themed collection and came up with 'The Picnic Gang', a five piece group of friends including two bears, one rabbit, a clown and ... an elephant. This smaller design bridged the sweet naivety of my very first vintage style ellie design and the more sophisticated styling and personality of my later jointed elephants. 'Butterfly' elephant had a fun downturned trunk and nostalgic look, thanks to the vintage cotton print lining her ears and paws I used, together with her straw hat. I thought she was lovely, so in 2013, decided to take the design and use it to create Bluebell Ellie-Bear, part of my pastel 'Springtime Pals' trio, along with pals Hyacinth Bunny and Buttercup Bear. I knitted this pretty trio of friends sweet little jackets to complement their colouring.

It was ten years before another elephant came to life in my workroom. Last year, I made 'Jellybean' in the style of Ma Cherie and Forget-me-not, with large flappy cheerful downward ears, shaped arms and long, upward pointing trunk. This time, I wanted to introduce a new 'clown' element, by combining both pink and yellow mohair, contrasted with a cheerful Liberty print cotton fabric to line the ears and feet, giving Jellybean a bright, bold and cheerful personality.

In the sixteen years since my Great Niece Erin was born, I have created nine elephants, the threads of which are woven through the mists of my childhood and hers, inspired by a small straw-filled pink elephant, with felt eyes and loved away ears.

Teddy Bear Pals, where it began..

 

You may have spotted 'Jellybean' on my website yesterday, a bubblegum pink and yellow elephant-teddy I created earlier this week. I occasionally make a teddy bear pal and usually their design stems from somewhere deep in the mists of my childhood...

The original 'ellie' wasn't made by me, it was in fact given to me by an uncle in 1963, the year of my birth. Back in those distant days, my little pink ellie had floppy ears and felt eyes, but as is the way of much loved childhood toys, those were worn away with many hugs, over the passage of time.

Ellie was one of a select group of soft toys gifted to me as a baby... Big Ted, my first Chiltern Hugmee teddy bear, was given to me on my first birthday by my parents, Scotty was a handmade black dog made by my Nana's boarding house lodger, Sooty, a mohair glove puppet given to me by an auntie and my now earless ellie, managed to survive six long decades and are with me today... a little more careworn perhaps, but still much loved and importantly, still together.

Which brings me to the other pink ellie in the photograph created in 2007, an attempt to replicate my childhood elephant toy and my first ever elephant design. Since 2007, there have been other elephant designs along the way, Abe, Delilah, Starlight, Forget-me-not, Ma Cherie, Butterfly, Bluebell... and now, to celebrate Summer 2023, my latest ellie-bear, Jellybean.

Ma Cherie 2011

Bluebell 2021

Delilah 2008

Forget-me-not 2011

Butterfly 2013

Starlight 2009

Jellybean 2023

I still have quite a soft spot for an ellie it transpires!

Springtime Pals

 

SPRINGTIME PALS

After creating Hyacinth Bunny and Bluebell Ellie-Bear earlier this month, I decided to make a teddy bear pal for them and Buttercup Bear came into being ... then I kept looking at the trio and thinking knitted jackets in appropriate colours might be a lovely detail to bring them together as a collection ... then last week, my poor dog Betty hurt her leg on a walk so I couldn't work upstairs in my workroom (bear with me, this does all make sense in the end ...!) as the vet forbade Betty from using stairs until after surgery (Betty always sleeps by my workroom door as I work). I took the opportunity to move my new collection of bears downstairs to keep Bets company and to cut a long and rather painful story short, knitted them sweet little jackets, with Betty sleeping peacefully at my feet.

I sometimes find that bears (and their friends) need a little time to let me know exactly how they would like to present themselves. The design process isn't always clear at the start of a new project and this sweet group of friends had clear ideas about how they wanted to look. I love the soft pastels they chose for Spring; they are so pretty!

As for my sweet Betty, she continues to put on a brave face whilst waiting to see the orthopaedic specialist. She loves to run and play, so this has been a worrying time, but I am sure that with expert care and plenty of love, she will soon be on the road to recovery.

Winding Down ...

With less than two weeks until Christmas, I am happy/relieved to say, my entire collection of 2011 bears has now been sold.  The only creation I have yet to rehome is an ellie, but truth be told, I confess to making little effort to rehome this cutie, because he makes me smile and I'm rather fond of him myself!

'Forget-me-not'

Today I'm feeling all 'beared out', so I'm going to tidy up a few admin bits and pieces and then settle down with my knitting project and a steaming hot cup of coffee.  I'm clacking away at a lovely snuggly scarf from a pattern by knitwear designer Kim Hargreaves knitted on chunky bamboo needles (8mm) in gloriously soft Rowan 'Cocoon' yarn ...

So, while the rest of the world embraces the festive frenzy, I'm content to wind down quietly with my knitting for a few more days first. 

All tinsel and sparkle madness will be duly postponed until next weekend!

Elephant Steps ..

I have had a soft spot for elephants ever since I was a very little girl.  My uncle made my first elephant many years ago and although his ears and eyes have long since been hugged away, I still have that little pink ellie.  In fact, I borrowed the simple three piece design to create a replica ellie as a gift for my new niece almost four years ago ...

My childhood ellie is on the right and my niece's new ellie, on the left.

The next elephant I made was a funny little chap called 'Abe', back in 2008.  I took the design above a stage further by introducing a moveable, jointed head ...

8" 'Abe'

That was when I decided I wanted to tackle something a little more complex, so I started work afresh, using one of my previous teddy bear designs, as a starting point.

'Peppercorn' was the starting point for my next ellie ...

I had to redesign the head entirely and completely change the shape of the feet and arms - in fact, now I come to think about it, the only part of the pattern that remained the same was the body!

'Delilah', my first jointed elephant created 2008

The following year, I decided to return to my jointed elephant design to see how it would work in alternative fabrics ...

 'Starlight' created in 2009

And I was thrilled when my 2009 ellie 'Starlight' was featured in 'Australian Bear Creations,' as that was the first time I had ever had anything other than a teddy bear published in a magazine!

2010 was a challenging year creatively speaking, as I spent the first two thirds of the year working hard to develop my 'Careworn Collection' of teddy bears and the remaining third of the year simply trying to find motivation to work at all, after saying a sad farewell to my Dad that Autumn.  Sad to say, there were no ellies whatsoever in 2010 ...

'Forget-me-not,' my 2011 ellie

But, as you can see, the ellie bug has bitten me again here in 2011!  This time I've decided to develop my ellie's personality, so  have given him cute low low slung ears and close set eyes, which I think lend his personality a whole new dimension.  I'm pleased with this whimsical blue ellie, he has been fun to make!

And that's it for my elephant steps so far.  As with all things elephant, I think it's fair to say progress has been slow, but steady!

Elephant steps ...

How pleased was I to receive the latest issue of 'Australian Bear Creations' magazine just before Christmas, only to discover my very first fully jointed elephant 'Delilah'  had been featured in the 'African Safari' article!  My first ever non-teddy bear design to be published! 

'Delilah' featured in Australian Bear Creations Vol 15 No 5

Delilah was my first attempt at a 16" ellie and I was so pleased with her when I finished her.  She found a lovely new home in the US last autumn and since then, you may recall I made 'Starlight', my second jointed elephant, created as part of my 'Magical Mayhem' 2009 collection.

'Starlight'

I have no idea if Starlight could be the kind of creation to catch the eye of a competition judge or two, but as we are now entering the international bear crafting competition season once more, I thought I'd offer this dear little elephant up for scrutiny in the 'friends' category ... so please, keep your fingers crossed for us!

Surprise!

I had such a wonderful surprise yesterday when my postman delivered a completely unexpected gift.  I have no idea what I've done to deserve such kindness, but I am so happy 'Lenny the Elephant' has been sent to live with me!  

He was created by my friend Laurie (please check out Laurie's lovely work at www.laurieloubears.com) She decided Lenny and I would be well suited as I have a fondness for ellies.  Well, as you can imagine, I'm totally bowled over and keep giving my special little ellie a cuddle ... he really makes me smile!

Thank you Laurie, thank you so very, very, much!

Elephant legs and Puddle Paws!

After claiming my mohair as her own and chasing the dressmaking scissors with every snip I made, my naughty little assistant was unceremoniously fired for her own safety!

Lending a paw ...

Ooh goody, a tail to tweak!

It's been a while since I let you know how my Puddle Cat is, so I thought I'd show you what's she's been up to lately. She's two years old now and a real bundle of affectionate feline trouble. I'm not sure how this little lady still has four dainty paws attached to her four furry legs, she came so close to having them snipped off while I was cutting out my elephant's new legs!
 

It's mine I tell you, all mine!

Elephant steps ...

As those of you who know my work will be aware, with the exception of my new raggy dolls this year, I very rarely make anything that isn't teddy bear shaped, so whilst waiting for delivery of some mohair for a customer's order, I decided to take the plunge and use my creative time to come up with something a little different ... and I designed my first fully jointed elephant! Well, that's to say, I have so far designed his head and body - hopefully he will soon have some limbs too!

So far he has an extravagant trunk, dozy eyelids and a little open mouth ...

... and BIG stripey ears!

Abe

I mentioned a little elephant in my previous post and now, through the magic of Blog Land, I can introduce him to you. As you can see, he's full of vintage charm! I've called him Abe. He was a devil to photograph, so I hope these pics have managed to capture his personality!

Abe is just under eight inches in height and as those of you who follow my blog regularly will recognise, he bears a deliberate resemblance in proportion and shape to my own hand made childhood elephant, 'Ellie'. I think Abe is a funny wee scrap of trumpeteer and I'm really not sure what you'll make of him, so please let me know if you think he's the kind of elephant only his mother could love! My instincts are that he would make a super companion for a special vintage, or vintage style bear; one thing's certain, he's definitely a great size for the job.

Left: woollen elephant 2008 - Right: my original 1960's elephant

I've developed the original softie elephant pattern a tiny bit, to include a jointed head and a head gusset in what was a simple two piece head, to give the head more definition, I've also taken a little more artistic licence with his trunk shaping, but other than those minor adjustments, I've kept Abe pretty true to my original 1960's elephant.

I last used Abe's mohair to create Walter, my recent vintage style bear and as this mohair is perfect for that aged feel, I thought it would be interesting to see how it would work with my three piece, unjointed body design ... I've combined the mohair with a lovely silk/velvet blend in an antique bronze colour for his inner ears and have given him vintage style matt boot button eyes. I didn't want to overwork this design, because I wanted him to retain a simple charm. He's been great fun to make, but tomorrow, I promise, it's back to the bears for this bear maker! Mind you, now I come to think about it, I may just have enough of this fabric leftover to make a companion bear in similar style to Abe ... now there's a thought!

New Arrival!

I have a some lovely news to share! I was made an Auntie again on Saturday! My youngest sister safely gave birth to a healthy little girl and so after a dash to Hobbycraft, I have been able at last, to begin my baby knitting.

Naturally, I didn't want to start knitting until I knew what flavour the baby was and my sister didn't want to spoil her surprise by finding out early, so it's been a guessing game for quite some time!

I selected some delicate lilac 4ply and some pretty double knit in white with a little sparkly thread running through ... oh and the buttons! They are so cute too! Dainty lilac flower buttons and for the white cardigan, little pink buttons with bumble bees in the centre! Such fun!

I haven't met my new niece yet, but I'm hoping to very soon; in the meantime, I must get back to work so that I can spend some time knitting in my armchair this evening, so that I have the cardigans ready for my visit. There's something very special about hand knitting to welcome a new baby into the family, don't you think?

For the sake of auld lang syne ...

After the traditional festive family hustle and bustle, the time has come for Christmas to slip into memory and for us to look towards the New Year. At the moment, the biggest event on my family's horizon is the imminent arrival of my youngest sister's baby, so we are waiting with baited breath for that all important call to tell us things are underway. What a wonderful symbol of hope for the start of our New Year!

Naturally, such a special event requires a special keepsake for the new baby, so just before Christmas Eve I tucked myself away in my sewing room for an afternoon and set to work creating a little woollen elephant with a tale to tell ...

Ellie Elephant 1960's

After many years living in my previous house, I finally plucked up the courage to sell and move to a new place in February of 2007. Just before Christmas, I decided to delve through the trunks I had moved from my last loft, to my new loft, so that I could decorate in readinness for our first Christmas in our new home.

Everything was hickledy pickledy and I wasn't sure which trunk to search through first, so I heaved boxes aside and unclicked the first trunk I came across. There was no Christmas sparkle inside, but tucked carefully away within layers of old tablecloths, I found one of my childhood toys ...'Ellie the Elephant' had been made for me by my uncle when I was nought but a wee baby, way back in the early 1960's.

A train line ran across the back of Gran's garden and my mother's youngest brother had quite literally taken his life in his hands one day, by playing on the track. By some miracle he survived when the train inevitably rattled over him. He spent a long time in hospital and when he was sufficiently healed to work on his co-ordination, he was given the materials to make a 7" elephant ... my little Ellie.

Ellie was one of my much loved softies and over the years, her felt eyes and floppy ears were completely loved away, but I've never quite been able to bring myself to part with her. Which leads me to part two of my tale! As soon as I saw my worn out little elephant, I knew exactly what the perfect keepsake for the new baby would be!

Ellie Elephant 2007

I had the ideal piece of wool fabric tucked away in the bottom of my fabric box and using my memory to help me, created new ears, lined with beige velvet. Rather than the felt eyes of my original elephant, I used tiny glass eyes, because this little elephant is to be given as a keepsake, rather than a toy and I prefer the look of the traditional glass eyes; my fumblings with felt looked way too clumsy, even for a softie!

To achieve the simple look of this design was a little more tricky than I initially anticipated - we live and learn don't we?! Despite my teddy bear designing skills, I confess it took me several attempts to work out the body gusset pattern so that my wee elephant could sit comfortably, maintaining the body shape of the 1960's original.

This project has been a welcome distraction from the bears for me and I am delighted with the result, which I think holds all the naive charm of the original. When I was a child it wasn't unusual for special gifts to be handmade and now, several decades later, I am delighted to be able to continue this tradition for my sister and her new baby!

And for those of you who aren't familiar with 'Auld Lang Syne' by Robert Burns, here is the English translation ...

Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?

Should old acquaintance be forgot and auld lang syne ?

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
And surely you’ll buy your pint cup!

And surely I’ll buy mine!

And we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet for auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We two have run about the slopes and picked the daisies fine;

But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,

since auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We two have paddled in the stream,

from morning sun till dine (dinner time)

But seas between us broad have roared since auld lang syne.

CHORUS

And there’s a hand my trusty friend!

And give us a hand o’ thine!

And we’ll take a right good-will draught,

for auld lang syne.

CHORUS

Here's to a peaceful and prosperous New Year for us all ... Cheers!