Otter Knitting Pattern

The latest little Jelly Bum has arrived and it's an adorable little otter pattern. This little guy looks like he gets up to lots of mischief! I've has a few followers request an otter for the range and finally this little guy popped into my head, I hope you like him. He is super quick to knit up and a great project for those looking to advance their knitting skills as it has small and simple pieces of intarsia within the face.
As always he's available from the website, Etsy and Ravelry.
I wanted to show you a glimpse of how I go about working out the shaping for my toys.

This is a printout my otter notes. I start with the basic shape I keep for all my patterns but adjust to  form into the desired animal along with intarsia charts. I use this to jot things down along with any other pattern related thoughts which pop into my head (you can see my doodling of how I wanted the nose/mouth area to look). The lines and dots are my workings for increasing and decreasing along the piece, however I think it looks a bit like some sort of alien code to an outsider!

I still have two more designs drafted and ready to go to schematic stage. Plus I also found a toy I had started to knit up ages ago (possibly a year or two) which I found tucked away with a bunch of 'back burner' projects. Now if I can find the notes and colour charts I created for it then that's another pattern I can get to working on.
I'm off for now but remember that if you knit up one of these little otters then share your pics because I always love to see them. I'll see you all soon for some updates
Raynor x