Jean Greenhowe

It started off by me browsing knitted food on ebay. I was looking for stocking fillers and fell in love with peas in a pod with googly eyes. And baked beans :) But they were going for up to five pounds each, a bit pricey, so off I went to google and find a pattern, which eventually lead me to Jean Greenhowe and her delightful patterns. I bought JiffyKnits, in which she finds amusing and original things to do with garter strips. I just love the posing of the figures in those patterns, done with real humour. Matt and I chuckled over it several times. And also her Toy Patterns which includes bunnies, chicks, elephants and more. All charming.

Coming up to Christmas as it was, I started with the snowman family, all made from garter stitch, including bobble hats and bonnets. Easy, easy, easy and my confidence grew. So I tackled the free pattern her site for rainbow babies, a bit of stocking stitch and shaping and voila. I had to knit them only in the evenings to keep them secret from the kids, although they did see me a few times. I told them I was 'practising my knitting' which they seemed to accept. These little dolls really are adorable, and the rainbow 'pouches' they sit in are fun to knit and increase the cuteness. I made one for my 'Odddaughter', Kitty, who is 20months. She was a bit underwhelmed ;)

And still there was knitting time before Christmas, so I made a chick and his little sibling, cute cute cute! I ended up having Rosie and Molly give the snowmen and chicks to each other as presents, which confused them a bit but its the thought that counts, eh?

And still more time, from about the 23rd onward, I made some stripey garter stitch ball Christmas decorations. Fun and mindless to knit, the kids loved suggesting colours and they did look great on the tree. Too late for this year, I discovered knitted crackers and other decorations in another of Jean's books (Toy Bazaar or similar) so hopefully next year I can get onto those. Maybe I can even sell them on ebay ;)

Christmas Day ended with kids in bed, a warm satisfied feeling from a lovely day, and me sitting on the couch knitting an elephant. Ah bliss. And off to my mothers on Boxing Day for a few days, but disaster! I forgot my knitting!! Honestly, I felt like I had left my arm behind, it was totally weird. So a few days off, but once back home I knitted this gorgeous little girl elephant quick smart. I was going to knit her a brother, but ran out of grey. I couldnt resist photographing her knickers. Sorry.

So one raspberry coloured bunny later, I started making mice, one for each season.
Spring is finished and I was working on Summer (a bride) all the while wondering what the heck I was going to do with them, when my new Jean Greenhowe books arrived, courtesy of ebay, the Toy Bazaar and another Toy Collection. The former of which has some lovely rainbow playballs I started straight away for my forthcoming niece. And have nearly finished another one, but got sidetracked by visiting John Lewis and discovering Debbie Bliss.....