Jelly Bums Bat

Hey all, I can't believe its getting into autumn of the year already! As promised in the last post I'm concentrating on the holiday season, so I've added a little Halloween bat to the Jelly Bum gang. You can't really see it in the photo but his wings have a nice little ridge detail and little points to the bottom rather than just a straight edge. I love how they eventually turned out after many trial and error test knits. I can see these little guys being knit with the dangly legs and hanging upside down as a little Halloween display, how adorable.

As you probably know I usually keep the next pattern a secret, however I have promised to make a turkey for all those knitters out there who like to celebrate Thanksgiving, or even those who would like a like little Xmas turkey. I might try and squeeze a little Halloween dress up costume or two in before then.

In other knitting news some of you may have seen that I was featured in 'Let's Knit' inspiration station this month, which is very exciting. I was quite pleased my photography skills lived up to publishing standards!

In the non-knitting news It's been really hectic here recently as I try to settle into the routine of being at university and meeting lots of new people, lots of fun though. The girlies are also still settling into nursery but taking to it quite well, independent little madams, making me feel rather redundant now.

OK I'll be off for now, and as usual will be back with any updates, in the meantime feel free to get in tough if you have any questions or queries I'm always happy to hear form my fellow toy knitters.

Happy knitting

Raynor x

Jelly Bums Meerkat

Happy September everyone, can you even believe it's got this far into the year already?

Just popping on to formally introduce the Jelly Bums meerkat pattern, even though he has been available for a while now, I though it would be rather rude not to give him a shout out like the others. If your in the UK you may know where my inspiration has come from for this little fellow. If not then I'll let you know my inspiration was from a little meerkat by the name of Aleksandr Orlov who is founder of Comparethemeerkat.com , and face of the TV ad campaign for Compare the Market.com Try not to get the two confused it get Aleksandr very cross! He is an adorable little Meerkat who has the catchphrase 'simples'. I'm even thinking of making a little smoking jacket outfit complete with cravat to accompany him, a little bit of Hugh Hefner style for the Jelly Bums, don't worry I won't accompany it with any buxom blonde dress up.

My thoughts at the moment are turning to the holiday seasons, first Halloween so perhaps a few spooky outfits and then thanksgiving and Christmas, so will definitely try and get some more themed outfits and perhaps animals out by then.

Also it is 1st anniversary of the very first Jelly Bum pattern being released on 23rd September so I'm hoping to perhaps have some sort of special celebration for that, so keep your eyes peeled.

Happy Knitting

Raynor x

More dress up

It seems the Jelly Bums have been raiding the dress up box again! This time we're in the kitchen with the chef dress up. There was a suggestion on the Ravlery group posts to make a little mitt to go with the outfit so I tried it out and it looks adorable. I hope you all like it, I think he looks great on the pig, but the outfit will fit any of the Jelly Bum animals made with the animal or big foot legs. The outfit comes with instructions to make the jacket, trousers, scarf, hat and oven mitt.

I'm starting work on a little girly baker outfit now, still in the process of designing the apron as I have a few idea of how I would like it to look.

I just thought I'd write a little bit about the ballerina costume that is also available from the etsy shop or from the website. It has been available for a while now but I completely forgot to blog about it. The costume comes with instructions to make the body suit, tutu, wrap top and pumps. If you have knit up any of the animals for a little girl they will love this dress up outfit, it's perfect for those who loves things sugary sweet and pink, pink, pink!

In other non knitting news, I apologies for being such a slacker with the blog recently it seems that my husband is just a big distraction when he is on holiday from work, and I've got nothing done over the past few weeks. That rolled in with the fact we have been trying to the girls settled into a nursery (first day on Monday, oh no) and I'm starting university in 8 days, eek!
I'll keep you all updated with how things are going with any new designs and hope to get my fingers working on a new animal pattern soon.
Happy weekend knitting everyone
Raynor x

Quick knits

Hi everyone,
I hope you all having a lovely weekend. The weather has been lovely in Dundee today, makes a nice change from the rain and thunderstorms we've had for the past few weeks. It's been great to have the girls running around in the garden whilst I'm getting on with a few more designs.

My darling husband had informed me today that he seen the magazine I was speaking about in my previous post on sale yesterday so I guess it ok to post about it now.



This is the very first pattern I have ever made for a printed publication. It's called cute couple and is was for a magazine called Let's get crafting! issue 15 Quick Knits. It was extremely interesting to see how the whole process works, and I'm very pleased with the end results.
I really enjoyed working on this project and would love to do more magazine work so if there are any magazine editors out there reading then I'd love to hear from you.
The magazine is aimed at crafters who would like to have a taster of different crafts and so the issue come with four balls of 35g yarn in blue, pink, orange and green, plus a pair of 4mm needles. Perfect if your a beginner knitter and loads of other really quick and easy projects in the magazine too. I've been looking through all the articles drooling over the gorgeous yarns they have featured, and trying to resit logging onto all the great adverts for knitting shops.
I've added the pattern to the ravelry library so if you knit this little pair up please add them to your ravelry projects I'd love to see everyone finished toys.
Happy knitting everyone
Raynor x

Playing dress up

Hey all,
I've been slacking lately with the blog, as I've been busy making more of my lists! This time I've created a huge list of dress up clothes for the animals to wear. I've already released the superhero and supergirl costumes.





I'm currently working on a ballerina which is almost compete, just needing photographs and the pattern checked over. I'm really excited about knitting these up as I love the idea that child can play dress up with the animals or they can be giving as a themed gift.

Also if your a Raveller I've started up a new Jelly Bums Group so please feel free to come and join by clicking here. It will be great to have one place to answer questions and get feedback from everyone and also to make any announcements.

I 've had a really good week so far as I've just received a copy of my first ever non-self published pattern! I don't know if I can say to much about it yet as the publication won't be released for a few more days yet so I'll let you all know once it's all official.

So I'll probably be back in a few days with the new ballerina pattern so please pop back. I hope you have a lovely weekend everyone, relax, knit and enjoy life.
Raynor x

Click Click Click

Hi everyone,
Hope your all doing well and have had a lovely week. First off I wanted to let you all know how excited I was to be featured in the Lime & Violet daily chum on Tuesday. I love the little empire the guys have going on over there, I still can't believe it I felt like writing an acceptance speech!

So other than that I have about a million and one things to do before I start Uni and I only have a month to go. Will I get it done? Probably not but hey a girl can try, right? So I've decided that one of the many thing I'm adding to my 'to do' list is to photograph all the patterns with all the pieces they come with so they will have a photo of each form. I've been meaning to do it for ages but well I'm a procrastinator and putting things to one side is what I'm good at.

Ok that's all I've popped on for today I'm hoping to start a new pattern soon although I'm not too sure when but hopefully by the end of next week. In the meantime keep those needles clicking.

♥ Raynor

You know your addicted to knitting toys........

..........when you get excited by safety eyes arriving in the post!

These beautiful eyes were from enami eyes and come in 28 different colours. They will be used for some doll patterns I have in the pipeline.
♥ Raynor

Jelly Bums Badger

Hey all, just popping in to introduce the little Jelly Bum Badger pattern. This pattern seems to have taken me forever to create as it took a few attempts to get his face stripes just right (I'm such a faux perfectionist!).
This is the part where I usually say he is available from my etsy shop, however in addition to that I'd like to take the opportunity to announce the opening of the Jelly bums website. I can't believe I actually got around to doing it, my little shiny new website! So if you want to have a peek then click on the 'buy patterns' picture on the right hand side.
The website uses paypal payment so it's just the same as buying my patterns from Etsy, apart from you don't need to have any type of account to use it, just a valid working email address. Simples!
All prices are in pounds (£) sterling, however paypal will automatically convert your currency to the sterling if your outside the UK. So it's really easy to buy the single pattern and pattern deals. I will probably be using the website to add some help videos as well, so look out for that in the future! Also keep an eye out as I'm hoping to run a competition soon to officially launch the website.

At the moment I'm juggling between writing more animal patterns and creating some pattern for the Little Red Stitches shop, as I'm really enjoying creating the dolls. If only you could see the idea lists I have scribbled all over little pieces of paper in my knitting drawer, there's never enough time in the day eh?

Ok back to my knitting, as usual I'll be back with any updates, so in the meantime happy knitting.
♥ Raynor

Little Red Stitches

Hey all,
It feels like its been such a long time since I last blogged. things have been so hectic with the house move and it feels like I've got a million and one things to sort out everyday but I'm getting there slowly but surely.

just as we were starting to move I had started on a new little knitting project which was a nice change from making the animal patterns. I eventually finished the pattern last night and this is the result

It's little red riding hood accompanied by a Jelly Bum Wolf. So now I'm going to be splitting my time between creating the Jelly Bum animals and some fairy tale doll patterns for my new Etsy shop Little Red Stitches.

To be honest I've wanted to create some doll patterns for a while but finding a way to make the doll hair scared me off a bit. I prefer to knit the hair as a piece rather than having the yarn strands, so I've taken the plunge and decided to give it a go. I'm really pleased with the results and can't wait to get cracking on a few more dolls.

I'm also thinking about creating a new blog which is dedicated to helping with toy knitting. I'd add some videos to demonstrate some skills rewired for toy knitting such as mattress stitch, sewing limbs, attaching safety eyes etc. Let me know if you would be interested in this kind of thing and I'll try and get it set up.

Ok everyone have a lovely lazy Sunday, especially for my American visitors who may still be recovering from their July 4th celebrations. I'll be back soon with any updates.
Happy knitting
♥ Raynor

Jelly Bums Rhino

Hey all, apologies as this post is about 2 days too late! I've popped in with the latest little Jelly Bum buddy. I've had him half completed for a week or so now and he needed arms attached so he could pose for the camera, so he sat there patiently waiting for me. As always he's available from my etsy shop and blog shop.
The reason I've been so busy is that we are eventually moving house! I'm so excited its actually a house with stairs and a garden for the girls to run about in, perfect for the approaching summer.
We will be slowly moving over the next two weeks, but I'll still have access to the computer so please don't hesitate if you want to get in touch with me, I promise I'll reply.
Sorry this post is a bit up in the air we're rushing around today trying to get ready to go support my mum and my sister as they are doing the 'Race for Life' sponsored run for Cancer Research today at Camperdown park, looks like it will be a good day so we might have a picnic in the park.
OK I'm off for now, I'll be back with any updates but at least you'll know where I've going if I'm gone for a little while.
Happy knitting everyone
Raynor x