I just finished the back legs for my giraffe! Now I have 20 felted and string-jointed animals! It's been so much fun and the ideas keep pouring out of my head! If you like the old Steiff mohair toys as much as I always have, you might like my designs. They are not toys for tiny children, as they have string joints and glass eyes. I suppose you could embroider the eyes and stitch the limbs on differently, but I am really partial to the old-fashioned look.
Also, because they are felted and stuffed, they wouldn't really be washing-machine washable. Probably surface washable only. Let's face it, once you've shaped and dried your felted wool, I don' t think you'll be anxious to see it melt away and shrink more if you throw it in the washer again! YIKES!!
Now, I'm working on my pop-up puppet! I have been fascinated by these toys for some time. A few months ago, I spotted one at Target, of all places! I had to buy it, of course! I have taken it and dissected it to see just how it all fits together. It's filled with a paper cone ... which I will not need, as felted knitting is so nice and thick on its own. I have so many ideas for puppets! ... puppets for fall, puppets for winter and Christmas, puppets for spring! WOW! I can't wait to finish knitting this first one to see if it works. Ideally, I'd like to knit most of it in one piece. You will have to pick up stitches on the inside to make the pop-up part, but I'd like to knit it all, then felt it, instead of knitting the pieces separately and sewing them together after felting separately. We'll see. Experiments are always scary! And surprising!
I have been toying with the idea (pun intended!) of getting a "real" website and making all my felted toy patterns available on pdf downloads for a small fee. I wonder if there'd really be any interest??
And, yes! I am writing up my felted teapot pattern. That would be a part of this, too.
Animals so far:
Family of four hedgehogs (different sizes), lamb, blue jay, scarlet king snake, squirrel, rabbit, lion, pig, elephant, scottie dog, two kinds of fish, two sizes of chicks, duck, goose and the giraffe.
I'm also working on designing a cardinal, a horse/pony and a cat.
The panoramic egg, along with the snow globe and the gingerbread people could be there with the teapot, too. Also thought of felting dolls ... they could be fairy-like and have mushrooms, logs, etc. they could fit inside. This would be a lot of fun. I think I will experiment with both jointed dolls and also those that have more of a pedestal base so they could stand on their own.
Well, I better get going!
I have just uploaded the pdf for the Scottie Dog, as well! He, too, takes only one skein of 220-223 yards wool yarn and one 50 g./90 meter ball of eyelash for his eyebrows/mustache. He is knit on size US 8 double-pointed needles. The 8-page pattern also includes directions for making a bigger Scottie. For more information, see The Pattern Box.
