Knitting Book Review: Make your own knitted animals

Make your own Knitted Animals, by Bethany Hines

This is a book intended for children, I was given it to review as a knitter and ex-teacher and I'm going to pass it on to a genuine child next! I'm hoping her mum will pass on her own opinion, but these are my thoughts, unscripted and "mine own".

The front cover promises "Learn to knit cute little animal characters" and sure enough there are patterns for 5 little critters: lamb, monkey, panda, bird with chicks and a rabbit. 

There are short tutorials with photos to show how to knit, but this is not, in my opinion, a book to learn how to knit. If your child can already knit (or if you are keen to help) then it's fine. (The back cover does say "prior knitting experience helpful and adult supervision recommended) I would especially question the method they suggest for casting on - but it does work, though very loosely.

I like the presentation! The plastic box at the top where the materials are stored is resealable so you can continue to keep your bits and pieces safely. There are 4 pieces of felt, two sizes of sewing needle, some sewing thread and two 4mm knitting needles (they're not marked, but I checked the size on my gauge)

No knitting yarn, but it is only £5.99 though, and yarn would put the price up.

The patterns are in the form of templates which may or not be a good thing, it depends how your mind works! What disappointed me a great deal is that there are no obvious clues to orientation. In the template below, looking at the finished panda tells me the body and arms templates need to be read sideways, but the ears and feet and tail are read upwards. I think that would be very confusing for a child (it was slightly confusing for me to be honest!) The templates are VERY small. The body template below is a mere 2.5 inches (less than 6.5 cm) wide and I found those tiny squares very difficult to count.

The ear liner template is clearly a circle above...yet when we get to the instructions - not so. Of course by then I'd already cut out my pink circles, so tough. I can hear my imaginary child wailing "I've gone wrong!"

The diagram seems much longer than my knitting...but it was ok when I sewed it up. 

Skipping straight to the last page, the author encourages us to now design our very own characters or animals, and shows four examples. Strangely, they're all crochet with the exception of the tall chap's hat.

The designs themselves are cute though...and here's my panda: I tried hard to stick to the pattern to give it a fair go but couldn't bring myself not to cast on properly! If you'd like to win her, just leave me a comment below with a way to contact you. I'll randomly pick a winner on Friday. ***NB GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED***

Free range kids *warning = controversial!*

Controversy time!

While we were on the Isle of Wight last week, we ate out most evenings in pubs.

And most evenings, I did a very good impression of a "grumpy old woman"

Why?

Free range kids.



Sometimes it was children running around, shouting, playing, in between the tables while their parents carried on eating regardless.

One time it was a harassed parent marching up and down holding a screaming baby, while his partner bolted her meal.



On one evening we gave up altogether and ate fish and chips from the takeaway sitting on the beach!

20 years ago when my children were small, we'd either have left them with a babysitter or we'd have gone to a child-focused place - and if they'd become a nuisance to other diners, we'd have left.

Now it seems the child is king, and never mind the adults.

Is this a good thing, or not? Over to you ;-)

This is...Reema

from TrendieTreasures.

Favourite colour?

I love the softness of lavender, teal and peach, the depth of reds, blues and greens, the warmth of yellow, orange and brown. Every color has its own beauty, but my all time favorite is white – it’s so pure!

off-white top

Favourite smell?

As a child, I’ve always admired the smell of fresh rain specially after a hot summer day. A few of my other favorites include sandalwood, rose, jasmine, and cinnamon.

Three layered cake skirt

Favourite place?

Fiji is one of my favorite places I’ve visited so far!! Of course, my wish list of places I want to see is very long and growing… I love to travel, so hopefully will see many more soon!

Favourite sound?

OM!! I love to meditate with sound of OM, helps me be calm and composed. Yes, I practice Yoga, would love to teach yoga to kids one day

silk drapes

Favourite way to spend your time?

I love to design girls clothing, my Etsy store is an attempt to give shape to my love for creating kids clothing. It isn’t my full time job, but my passion. When I’m not creating, I would love to be close to nature - take a walk in the woods or relax in hammock with a book.

Favourite item in your shop of all time?

Usually everything new I create would become my favorite, but this dress has been very special for me as I was creating it… the colors are very cheerful, the design turned out to be better than I envisioned and my daughter loved it, she will be wearing it for mother’s day tea party where she’ll be doing a performance
Spring is in the air tutu

Favourite shop that isn’t yours?

All artists on Etsy are extremely talented and have great products to offer. It is very hard for me to decide, sorry no one shop comes to my mind as one is better than the other!!

bold and beautful!

What has been the most useful lesson you’ve learnt so far that you’d like to pass on to our readers?

I was a shy person living in my own world and enjoying the love of creating, I was under the impression a designer simply had to create and the product will sell itself if it’s worthy. When trying to find an audience online, soon I realized that customers can’t feel the product and try my dresses, they only see the pictures. The pictures are the key and should bring out the best in your product!! Not only that, the presentation has to stand out, online selling is all about social networking. A lesson learned the hard way, lately, I have been more involved in sites which are the platform for social networking…you can find me on FB and Twitter:

http://www.facebook.com/TrendieTreasures
http://twitter.com/trendietreasure
and last but not least, TrendieTreasures

Many thanks Reema - and can I just add, your model is gorgeous and shows off your lovely work beautifully!

This is ... Kim

from KimsCraftyApple

Favourite colour?

Seems like a simple question but this is quite loaded for an artist. I would say my favorite colors to work with are the deep, rich jewel tones. But used in the right context every color can be absolutely exquisite. My 2.5 year old daughter would answer for me, Purple.



Favourite smell?

Right now, apple cider donuts...ask me again in a few months after I've made hundreds of them!



Favourite place?

Anywhere by water.

Favourite sound?

my babies laughing

Favourite way to spend your time?

Creating

Favourite item in your shop of all time?

Hmmm....another difficult one. I really like my Spring Flowers Quilt.



Why? I like it because I used such bright and beautiful colors on a design I created myself. I was influenced by others items but took the influences and made it into my own. I rarely make anything twice but I was inspired to make my Spring Flower's Quilts into a series...I have four total...so far.

Favourite shop that isn’t yours? (Apart from Niftyknits, obviously!)
Why?

I'm going to have to pick a few here:
www.allthenumbers.etsy.com has some amazing dresses for baby girls. I would buy them all if I could!

I bought the coziest, fun shirt from www.revivalink.etsy.com and hope to buy more in the future.

I love to buy fabric from fabricalacarte and karolsvintageart destash section.

I love the jewelry from crowsnestmountain.

I love so many etsy shops...I'm leaving out a ton but I do A LOT of my shopping on here!



What has been the most useful lesson you’ve learnt so far that you’d like to pass on to our readers?

You can't expect to set up a store on etsy and have them do all the work for you to get customers to your shop. In my personal opinion and experienbce you have to start out by:
One, having great pictures (I'm forever working on this)
Two , JOIN TEAMS...once I joined teams it made a HUGE diference.
Three, Take some time and promote on etsy...meet some people in forums and chat rooms



Four, Take A LOT of time and promote off of etsy...twitter does a world of good, a blog (super easy to do on blogger), facebook, handmade.me, project wonderful. So many sources taht are an inexpensive way to get people to look at your site
FIVE, tell your friends and family! Have them spread the word. Give you stuff as gifts whenever possible and don't forget to wear it yourself!




So...that's my five tips to you:) I'm still learning but it seems to be getting better and better and I'm getting closer and closer to my dream...simply being able to support my habit (Crafting).

KimsCraftyApple.etsy.com

www.theapple.etsy.com

www.kimscraftyapple.blogspot.com

kimscraftyapple on twitter

just found a poem a pupil wrote for me :-)

Clearing off the bookshelves ready to redecorate and found this (click the pic to enlarge to readable proportions)

Let's meet...Kitschycoo!

Amanda, owner of Kitschycoo, designs and makes the most amazing children's clothes and writes one of the funniest blogs I've come across. It's enough to make me hunger for grandchildren!

Cats or dogs?

Dogs a million times over. My parents used to breed Himalayan cats when I was growing up and they were more or less evil. Especially in comparison to our lovely dopey golden retriever.

Star Wars or Star Trek?

Neither. I am dorky in many, many ways but not in a Star Wars or Star Trek way. I like sci-fi books though!

Fruit or chocolate?

Fruit during the day, chocolate at night. Fruit during the summer, chocolate during the winter.



Favourite colour?

Hmmm, it changes all the time! If I had to put them in order, I like bright jewel tones the most, then earth tones, and pastels the least. I'm quite into orange at the moment.

Favourite meal?

I could quite happily eat pizza every single day.



City break or weekend in the country?

I grew up in the woods (well, in a house in the woods, not wild!) so I really like city breaks now that I'm older. I'm also an American living in Europe, so your cities are unlike anything we have back home!

Soaps or documentaries?

Definitely documentaries, I can get engrossed in programmes on almost any subject. I just need to know.

Bath or shower?

Having two toddlers, I'll take what I can get! Which means very quick showers with a lot of interruptions...



Now we’ve got you warmed up…

What brought you to Etsy? Tell us about your shop (or shops) Do you sell anywhere else?

I think it was my sister in law that told me about Etsy and encouraged me to open www.kitschycookids.etsy.com. I was initially overwhelmed by the size and scale of it but I bit the bullet and started listing some of my clothes in Aug 2008. Sales started trickling in so I increased my shop size, but it didn't really take off until Jan 2009 when I started selling the patterns I had designed to make the clothes. I've been a bit shocked by how well my patterns are selling and definitely see this as the direction my business might take.

Etsy works the best for me, but I also have my own website www.kitschycoo.co.uk and a shop on Folksy www.kitschycoo.folksy.com

What’s the favourite item you’ve made so far?

Probably the orange bird print double breasted coat. It was the first one that I was ridiculously proud of!



What has been the most useful lesson you’ve learnt (about Etsy) so far?

Find a niche. Because Etsy is so big, the only way to set yourself apart and get sales is to have a differentiator. I knew from posting my coats on forums than people liked them and by researching listings on Etsy that there weren't any other independant (non-vintage) patterns available for toddler coats. So my first coat pattern filled a gap in the market and sold well, and now I have a considerable base of repeat customers buying my other patterns!

If you could start again, is there anything you’d do differently?

I don't think so. I think it was good for me personally and as a businesswoman to learn the hard / long way rather than get it 'right' from the start. All the information and knowledge I've picked up along the way will stand me in better stead going forward. I hope.

How do you see your store developing?

I'm definitely considering moving predominantly into pattern making. I need the clothes a little bit though to support my obsession for fabric!

What have you been doing today that I’ve interrupted?

Breaking up fisticuffs between my kids *sigh*.



What’s your top marketing tip for today?

Post in forums, blog, twitter, facebook, myspace...
get yourself out there!

Oh so very true Amanda - thank you for sharing your stunning clothes and even more gorgeous models with us!

Let's have another look at those all important links:

kitschycoo.blogspot.com
www.kitschycoo.co.uk
www.kitschycoo.folksy.com
www.kitschycookids.etsy.com

Bulrushes

Saw a long row of bulrushes when out walking today, and they reminded me of my favourite "When I was a teacher" story. It was my very first class, 6 year olds. Chris came runnng in clutching a picture he'd drawn me - he said it was "cos of the lesson we did yesterday miss"

I thought hard. I didn't remember any lesson that this picture might relate to, but new teachers are told never to let on you can't recognise the subject of the little artist's work.

"Tell me all about it" I asked.



"Well," he said, pointing to the two top characters, "there's the bulls"

(Aha - a clue! I thought again - we didn't do anything about farms, did we?)

"And see this bit?" (He pointed to the circle) "That's the basket"

I nodded wisely.

"And in the middle of the basket - that's Moses"

(Hurray - I knew the story now! But what about the bulls?)

"And see these little lines by the bulls feet, and by Moses? They're what you draw to show that they're rushing..."

Why do some parents...

take their kids to totally inappropriate places? We went to our local auction house today and bought a table to go under yesterday's shelves, in the hope that I leave the dining table clear. Fat chance! Annoyingly we paid more than we could have done last month, when two tables went unsold at £5...but I didn't know I wanted a table then.

To get back to the title - both last month and this month (and I suspect, every month) there has been a posh-looking young woman with a child of about 2. She's obviously not short of cash - last month she bought a garden seat at £150 and an art deco thing at over £200 - yet instead of getting a sitter she brings her poor child to the auction where he frets and yells and cries because he's bored stiff. It doesn't exactly enhance the experience for the rest of us, either.

You're probably all thinking I'm a miserable old child-hater, but I'm not (honest!) I just don't understand this modern thing of taking small kids everywhere. She can't possibly think the child will enjoy going to an auction ("Look at the nice antique, darling")

OK - rant over. And tomorrow I pick up my table woohoo!