Jelly Bum Squirrel

First of all I want to thank you all for being so patient with me during my huge absence from posting. I have been around juts lurking in the background really as I've not had much time over the last few months only to send patterns and answer my emails. I hadn't lost the knitting bug just that i barely had any time to dedicate to my family etc with all my uni stuff going on and so something had to give. I came of on holiday juts before Christmas and picked up my needles as soon as. It felt like being reacquainted with a long lost friend!

So now that i have a little time to myself I've been creating again and this time I get to announce the arrival of the Jelly Bum Squirrel. Naturally with me being a redhead he had to be a red squirrel. Adorable as ever I really enjoyed knitting him up since he was my first project in as many months. So if you want to knit him up as always he is available from my Etsy shop and website.

In other knitting news I have went and purchased a little drop spindle, and some nice Shetland tops. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then I'm planning to start hand spinning some yarn for myself. The whole reason behind this was that I'm starting up a new little venture called Little Hobos. These will be little toys knit by myself in my own hand spun wool. You never know I might even give dyeing the wool a bash as well. So if you would like to keep updated with that new venture you can follow my progress at http://www.littlehobos.blogspot.com/.

OK I'm off for now, I'm still knitting away so please check back for any updates and I'll see you all on the other side in 2010!

Happy new year all

Raynor x

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

Jelly Bums Goat

Hey all, dropping by today to show you the latest Jelly Bum member, a little billy goat. I had been meaning to make this pattern for ages because a lady by the name of Leslie had requested a goat ages ago as her sister has a sweet little Goat named Lexie. Also another great lady, Margaret had requested one to help her sister demonstrate 'The three Billy Goats Gruff' Story for the kids at her school. So I got the needles out and this little guy hopped off the end of them! I'm not sure if you can make it out in the photo but he has a fluffy little beard. I just love how grumpy he looks, it really gives him character.

When I'm creating the animal I like to look at lots of different pictures of them as research to how I want the finished toy to look. I never realised there was so many different types of goats with distinctive looks, so it was back to the drawing board and imaging how I remember them from my childhood, so I hope you all like him.

Also just wanted to make a quick little note about the clothes patterns. I've been wanting to make more pattern but I don't just want to do a dress or a t-shirt etc I would like to make them little themes so that people can pick and choose clothes to individualise their toys. It means I'll take longer to get the pattern out but also that there will be a few bits of clothing at a time. So hope you can bear with me whilst I brainstorm for a while over the themes.

In non-knitting news, what a glorious week its been here. The sun is shining brightly which is a rarity in Scotland so we've been on plenty of long walks with the girls to make the most of it. We're still house hunting at the moment, it's getting really daunting as time is drawing closer for me going to university, so fingers crossed something will crop up soon.

Ok as always I'll be back soon with any Jelly updates

♥Raynor

Jelly Bums Mouse

Hey all, just dropping by to show off the latest Jelly Bum Pattern, a sweet little mouse.
I had this pattern ready for a few days but somehow just could not get good pictures of the finished toy. I love how she looks a little bit chubby because I doubled up the white yarn because it was so thin, reminds me of the greedy little mouse from Cinderella.
I also wanted to say a huge thank you for your kind word about the dino suit I'm so pleased it was received so well. I'm in the process of working on a dress pattern but i'm still tweaking to get it perfect, and then I'll get photos and get it up for you all to use.
Apologies at the moment if I'm a bit absent I'm trying to get on to update as much as possible but we are in the middle of house hunting before I start university so it seems my spare time is filled with searching for the perfect house and then going to viewings. That and the fact that we have to start looking for a nursery for the girls soon, so hopefully you could all forgive me if I'm a bit quiet with things for a few days at a time. However do remember I'm always available to help or answer any questions and I'll always answer any emails within 24hours so please don't be afraid to write to me I'm always happy to hear from my fellow toy knitters.
OK I'm off for now to bask in the last of the rare afternoon sun, so drop by soon for any more Jelly updates
♥ Raynor

Free Patterns: Dino Suit

Hey all, just popping by to let you all know that I've finished another free pattern to dress up the Jelly Bums. It's an awesome little dino suit!

Click here for pattern

I got the idea from the show 'Peppa Pig' (which my 2 year old is obsessed with) as Peppas' little brother George answers everything with 'dinosaur'. So I thought it would be really cool to be able to dress the animals up as a dinosaur. I hope you all enjoy the pattern, I'd love to see if anyone makes one, I can picture them now in a whole variety of colours so let your imagination run wild.
The pattern was designed to use with the oval body pattern and either the animal legs or the big foot legs, I've modelled the suit on a little lamb with the animal legs.
I really enjoyed creating this pattern so you'll be happy to know that I'm already jotting down lots of ideas for more dress up patterns and hopefully you can soon have a whole little wardrobe for your Jelly Bums. The biggest problem is deciding between making more outfits or more animals now, so I'll hopefully find a happy medium soon maybe alternate between the two.
Hope you all had a lovely weekend and I'll hopefully be back with any updates soon.
♥ Raynor

Jelly Bums Beaver

Hey all just popping in to introduce the latest Jelly Bum animal, don't you just love that little buck tooth? As with all the other patterns he is available to buy on his own or as part of any of the pattern deals. Can you believe that's the 20th Jelly Bum pattern already, it seems like so many now, but I've still got a big list to get through so I'm not hanging up my needles just yet!
I apologise for my lack of blogging lately, I seem to be trying to have my finger in to many knitting pies. I've been working on a little pattern for The Knitted Toy box, and also trying to clear out a lot of the knitted toys I've had stored away in a box for ages, hopefully I'll be able to find them a home where they will get lots of love and hugs.
I've also been looking into lots of ideas for more free clothes patterns for the toys, but can't seem to make up my mind on something yet. I was thinking perhaps a ballerina outfit or a superhero outfit, but I'm still researching lots of ideas so if anyone has any suggestions of what they would like to see please feel free to leave a comment, as I'd love your feedback.
Ok I'm off just now but promise I'll be back soon with any updates.
♥ Raynor

Jelly Bums Moose

 
There's a moose loose aboot the hoose!

Hey all, I'm back to introduce the latest addition to the Jelly Bums an adorable moose. He's been available to purchase since Tuesday however blogger has been playing up and I've been unable to post about him. His horns were a bit of a nightmare to design, but I got there in the end and I love the way they turned out, plus its always great to have a design challenge with a pattern, it makes the whole process more exciting.

Nothing much to report from this side of the pond as I'm pretty under the weather with some sort of virus as the moment so not feeling to great. However I'm not going to let that get me down as I really want to get cracking with some more patterns as I've got a lot of ideas running through my head at the moment, so I can't wait to get them down on paper (or should that be computer?).

The next pattern will be the 20th pattern still can't believe how quickly it seems to have gone and doesn't feel that long ago that I was creating the very first little doggy pattern. The only problem now is deciding what animal to design next!

Raynor x

Just popping my head in

I'm back again!
Apologies for my long unexplained absence, the last month has just gone a bit haywire. At the start of the month we had a big scare when Evie pulled down a cup of coffee from the counter and scolded herself, resulting in a 5 day stay in the hospital. We were so happy once Evie was allowed home and then it turned out that Lois had caught a viral infection which meant lots of projectile vomiting etc... mmm not nice but you get the idea. It was an awful time and unfortunately has taken the whole family a good whilst to recover and get back into routines etc. I just wanted to say a huge thank you to all of those who sent the girls their get well thoughts and also thank you all for being so patient with me sending out patterns and answering questions.
Obviously the knitting went on the back burner the last few weeks, however now that the girls are all better now I've got back on to it. The next pattern should be out by Tuesday at the latest as I'm still making final touches to everything. I can't believe it will be the 19th pattern, I'm really in the knitting 'zone' at the moment so I'll have to get cracking with more patterns whilst I'm there.
Also thought I'd let you know that I've eventually plucked up the courage to start crocheting! Its actually a lot easier than I thought but I'm still learning, you never know there might even be some Jelly Bum crochet patterns in the pipeline!
Hope your all having a lovely weekend and pop back to see the latest pattern soon.
♥Raynor

Jelly Bums Cow

How now brown cow, look what I've eventually got around to finishing!


 
Finally managed to get things sorted out with the light box and managed to get a new one which was luckily delivered very quickly. I hope this little fellow was worth the wait.
In knitting news this week, I was so touched to learn that a lovely lady named Kate had purchased her pattern to knit for her friends newly adopted son who was making a long trip from Kazakhstan. His birth name means 'leader of the snow leopards' so she was going to knit him up a white Jelly Bum tiger and give it to him for him to cuddle on his long journey home. It never ceases to amaze me how kind-hearted some people can be, and I hope little Bekbaris is now settling into his lovely new home with his little snow leopard.
Things will be a bit hectic in out house this next week as my little princesses celebrate their birthdays. Evie will turn 2 on Monday and Lois will have her first birthday on the following Sunday, oh how time flies. I will be attempting to make a cake for Evies birthday but we'll see how that goes as my baking skills are a little rusty!
I will try and get started on the next pattern during middle of next week so hopefully I will be back on track again with getting the patterns out more regularly. Ok I'm off to purchase some baking ingredients, do you think guests would mind eating knitted cupcakes if it all goes pear-shaped?
♥ Raynor

Look what the cat dragged in!

Hello there everyone,
Apologies for my long unexplained absence. things got a bit hectic here for a few weeks and the knitting had to be put on hold for a while. Firstly I've had the 18th pattern completed to be photographed for over a month now, however I tried to purchase a light box to help with the pattern photography and it basically never arrived, so I've been waiting a long time to get my refund and will then be looking for a replacement.
Also had my interview to go back to university in September and I've got in, yippee!!! I'm so happy there was only 12 places left out of 70 interviews. As I said before I'll still be trying to create the patterns when I'm back there it juts may be a little slower, plus I'll always be selling and be on hand to help when anyone needs me.
I'm hoping things will resume to normal over the next fortnight once I get my new light box and the excitement of the little ones birthdays are out of the way. Can you believe my little babies are going to be one and two?!! They grow so fast.
Anyways enough of my rabbiting on, hope your all having fun knitting the patterns. Remember to keep posting your finished toys on the Jelly Bums flickr group and/or Ravelry, I'm loving the pictures that are being posted so keep up the good work everyone.
♥ Raynor

Jelly Bums Raccoon

Hi everyone, I've bounded on hear very excited today to show the latest Jelly Bum pattern. I think to date this must be the finished I adore the most out of them all, although I'm torn between him and the lion.
This little fellow was inspired by my (almost!) 2 year old daughter. A few weeks ago she started to go through a peculiar phase when eating her meals. She would often take her juice beaker and start pouring it all over her food and then eating it, especially with things like bread. It reminded me of a nature program I had seen on raccoons who also carry out this 'dousing' behaviour with their food. So I started to call her a little raccoon and though I should whip up a little pattern in honour of her animalistic ways!

I've had a pretty rough week as I've developed some sort of cold and chest infection combo, leaving me feeling extremely tired, however I really need to start getting a move on with making more patterns.
I think I may have mentioned it a few posts back about wanting to go back to university to become a midwife, and after a long long 7 month wait I eventually got word of an interview for 23rd February. So hopefully if everything goes according to plan then I'll be back at university by September. So I'm hoping to reach my target of 50 patterns by September otherwise the time frame in which they will be released will slow considerably. I'll take it month by month but I'm hoping to make real progress.
Just thought I would mention that if I am returning to university then I will still be selling the patterns and I will still be around to answer all your questions and queries.
As usual I'll be back hopefully within the week to show of the latest pattern.
Happy knitting everyone
♥ Raynor

Jelly Bums Tiger

 
Hello everyone, just popping in to debut the newest Jelly Bum member, he's a cute little tiger.

After many attempts to get his stripes right I eventually managed to get them just how I pictured. He's now available to buy as a single pattern and in any of the pattern deals.

Thank you all for your kind emails congratulating me on my first Etsy year, your words mean so much and to know that when I write these little messages that I'm not just talking to myself in cyber space.

I've seen a few new pictures of the new leg patterns on Ravelry and the Jelly Bum Flickr group, and they look fantastic, so I'm glad you all like them. So remember if your knitting them, take photos and pop them on the Flickr group so I can see what everyone's creating.

I just realised the last few days that I'm slowing sown a lot more with the pattern creating again so it's all system go here. Tomorrow I'll be back on the ball getting started with the next pattern, I'm still in the process of perfecting the design. This time the pattern will be a little bit more unusual as there are very few patterns out there for this animal, so pop back soon to see what the needles have been stitching.

♥ Raynor

1st Etsy-versary

Hey everyone,
Thank you all for all your lovely emails regarding the new leg patterns, I'm glad you all liked them, and hope they are keeping your needle clicking away creating for for all the kiddies and the adults who are just kiddies at heart!.
So today is the first 'birthday' of my etsy shop, and it's all gone so quickly. I've learned so much from running my little online shop and it has been a saviour for me whilst being a stay at home mum and allowing me a little bit of creative freedom to break the monotony. I love creating the little animals, but most of all I love getting to know the people who knit them, I've met some truly amazing people through starting up Jelly Bums so I wanted to thank each and everyone of you out there have supported me in some way, through buying patterns or even just a kind comment it's all greatly appreciated.
I wanted to have a little special give-back to all my customers, so for the whole of the 9th February I will be giving a 20% discount on all orders I get from my Etsy and Blog shops. So simply purchase the patterns from either shop and I will refund the discount to your paypal (unfortunately there is no discount options on etsy).
I will keep the discount open until 8am GMT so that gives everyone outside the UK the chance to buy during the 9th.
Thanks so much for dropping in and I'll be back in a fews days to show off the latest pattern I'm starting on tomorrow.
Happy knitting
♥ Raynor

Patterns updated- Legs

Hi everyone, thank you all for being so patient with me while I got all the revised patterns sent out to my customers. I think I've managed to get everyone, however if you haven't received you copies yet just pop me an email and I'll send them on.

It took me a bit longer than expected as my computer went AWOL on Wednesday. It kept overheating and crashing, so I couldn't get on for longer than a few minutes at a time, but it's all better now so I'm back on track.
I thought I'd show some photos of how the new legs look and explain a little bit about them.


This little lamb is modelling the 'animal' legs, these legs are designed to give a similar look to how the animals natural legs would look. They are stuffed and should be used with the newly added oval body pattern. The toys will measure roughly 6.5" -7.5" tall with these legs added.


The lion is modelling the dangly legs. These legs have been designed to use with the original 'flat bottom' body, the idea is that it can be used as a shelf toy with it's body on the shelf and its legs dangling over the edge. Only the foot part is stuffed and the leg is an i-cord. With these legs the finished toys measure approx. 7"-8" tall.

This cheeky little monkey is showing off the big foot leg pattern. I had loads of requests for this type of foot and I love how it turned out. The leg is fully stuffed, however unlike the animal leg it gives a more classic plushie look to the toy. This leg type should be used with the oval body pattern. The finished toys will measure approx. 6.5"-7.5" tall when these legs are added.

I'm really pleased with how these little patterns are evolving due to customer feedback. There are options for 6 different types of animal to be created from a single pattern so hopefully it should be enough to keep your needles clicking for a while.

I'll be back on Monday with a special anniversary post, so check back to see what offers I have.
Happy knitting
♥ Raynor

Missing in action

Well I spent all day making up a new toy to demonstrate how the new legs pattern will look, and I'm just finishing up stuffing and seaming today. however I might be missing for a few days while I re-organise my pattern layout.
I was originally going to make the leg patterns a free download, however I realised that I would have to generalise it for all the animals, which becomes a bit trickier when we have to bodies with intarsia or fair-isle patterns. So I'm going to add the leg patterns to the original pattern, and then email out the revised patterns to everyone who has already purchased the patterns. This may take me a few days to work my way through my previous orders, hence why I won't be around for a bit.
I'll try and get everything organised as quickly as possible, but it means the next animal pattern will be put on hold for a bit.
I'll put up a post with a picture of the leg patterns soon so you can see how they look.
In the mean time happy knitting.
♥ Raynor

Free Patterns: Waistcoat & Baseball Cap

This little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed at home, but the Jelly Bum piggy got new clothes, and the big bad wolf got none!

Today I come bearing freebies!

So to go with the 'Three little pigs' theme I made a pattern for a little waistcoat and baseball cap so they can be made in all different colours so each pig can be dressed different.

They will also fit on any other of the Jelly Bum patterns so feel free to accessorise your toys. Just as a note the waistcoat will probably be too large to fit the finger puppet bodies, however the hat will still fit.

The pattern is available as a PDF download by clicking here.

I hope you you enjoy the patterns, I will work on some more clothes patterns for the animals in the future as they look adorable with little outfits on. Perhaps I could go with some dress up themes. Remember and add your photos to the flickr group if you make the waistcoat or the baseball cap.

Today I'm going to start on the leg pattern for stuffed toy, but I've decided to give two different options so it may take me a few days to get them up. So pop back soon and see the results.

♥ Raynor

Jelly Bums Wolf

Whose afraid of the big bad wolf?

Well this latest pattern took a little long than expected to get released, after getting off to a flying start, general life got in the way and he had to be put on the back burner for a few days.

This pattern was made as a request from a customer of mine who used my pattern for her shamanic work, it's great when people tell me their purpose for knitting the patterns.

I also had a lovely lady write to me a few weeks back letting me know that she uses the animals to illustrate her own homemade stories for her grandchildren, which I thought was a fantastic idea, to get a kids imagination flowing. So along those line I thought perhaps this wolf could be used alongside the Jelly Bums pig pattern to make little toys or finger puppets to go with 'The three little pigs' children's story. I'll add a little free pattern to the blog this week to help 'accessorise' the story a little.

Another request I've had from a few people lately is about legs for stuffed toys. The toys sort of just took on a look of their own when I started creating the jelly bums and the flat bottom of the toy just seemed to have its own unique 'look'. However I'll work on a little leg pattern for the toys this week and I'll pop it on the blog for free so it's accessible to everyone who has previously purchased a pattern.

So with my little blog patterns on my 'to do' list this week, the next pattern won't be available until the start of February. So please come back again and see what goodies the Jelly Bums have in store over the next few weeks.

♥ Raynor

Jelly Bums Fox

Here is the newest little member of the Jelly Bum posse and the pattern is now available from my blog and Etsy shops. I love his colour, but the original yarn colour doesn't show too well in the photo. I must have a natural affinity to foxes as I'm a redhead too.

I'm getting really frustrated with taking photos for the animals as they are often finished and waiting to be photographed, but I'm having to wait until certain times of day to get the perfect lighting, I really need to find a good light box kit.

Right, enough of my moaning! One thing that has made me a very happy bunny is the fact that Julie Williams from Little Cotton Rabbits has linked to here from her blog. Julie is an amazingly talented knitter with a huge following plus she has fantastic writing skills, the combination makes her blog so lovable. It's an great honour to be mentioned on the blog so I wanted to say a huge thank you to Julie. If you haven't ventured over to see her amazing little bunnies (amongst other animals and cupcakes) then take a peek, you'll be sure to get hooked on her latest cotton creations. Also a big hello to anyone who arrived here from the little cotton rabbits site, I'm glad you came.
I've already started another new pattern which was requested from one of my Etsy customers, and I really needed to start it while I still had the design in my head. It should be available by next week, so keep your peepers open for any updates.
♥ Raynor

Jelly Bums Rabbit

This is the first Jelly Bum pattern of 2009, a cute little bunny rabbit. Very easy to knit up, he was requested by a few of my customers so that they could knit up a storm before Easter time. I'm glad it's not just me who barely gets one holiday season out of the way but is starting up their knitting projects for the next! So if you knit him up you can hide all you Cadburys cream eggs under the tea cosy body and he'll keep them safe for you.

Each time I knit an animal I always like to imagine what people would use them for. Some of my customers have used them for all different things such as animated stories and even shamanic work. The safari animals are always a popular choice to knit up for kids nursery rooms. I love knowing how people use the patterns, so if you've knit up one (or more) of my patterns send, add your pictures of you work to the Jelly Bums Flickr group, I'd love to see the secret lives of the Jelly Bums.

I'm going to get started on the next pattern tomorrow, as I want to make up for lost time over the holiday season and get cracking on that target of 50 animals.

So check back soon to see what my needles have been creating.

♥ Raynor

Happy 2009

Hello everyone, I thought I would wearily dip my head back in here after what seems like a little hibernating period. Well first of all I just wanted to say a little belated Happy New Year to everyone and I hope you had a lovely holiday season. For those who have been waiting ever so patiently you'll be glad to know that my knitting needles have been warmed up again today and are now back in action, clicking away creating the latest animal pattern. I was informed by my husband that I 'hadn't made a pattern in ages', I think he missed getting to choose the animals! Now the winter may be a little cold for the little fellow being created but I've had a few requests to have his pattern ready before spring time. I'm hoping to have him ready before the start of the weekend, so remember and pop back to meet the newest furry friends.
Take care
♥ Raynor