A Young Designer

A young blogger, Emily,, from the Westcountry of England, wrote to me this week with pictures of her own designs. She told me, "I didn't know someone shared such an interest like I do! I have been knitting clothes for my sylvanians such as Christmas jumpers and so, I have attached an image for you to look. ( im not a pro ;) ) I have added your patterns to my christmas list- so fingers crossed!
Emily xx"

Emily, who has just finished her GCSEs, shared her stories with me.
Emily, how lovely to hear from you - I am delighted to read your letter. Your little clothes are delightful and I see you also, like me, have a Santa!
I sent Emily a copy of  one of my patterns, so she doesn't have to wait for Christmas.
Emily's blog is emilys-sylvanian-families.blogspot.co.uk/
Her stories are well illustrated with lots of  photos of her Sylvanian town and their inhabitants, who are all well dressed and leading very busy lives. Thanks Emily for sharing your blog with me and telling me about your designs.

Pink

A couple of weeks ago, I received a commission through Etsy to make a set of pink socks and a matching cardigan. I sent them to my buyer a few days ago and received the following story:

"They are for my sister - she had a little sylvanian rabbit that she always carried in her handbag since being tiny. She was very badly mugged in L... a few weeks ago and was badly beaten up - they stole her bag and so she lost her little rabbit. I decided to replace it but to also get it some clothes and you will have really really made her day- they are absolutely gorgeous and I'm so grateful to you."

That letter gave me a very warm feeling.

I used size 1.25mm needles for the socks (from my Boots and Socks designs) and 1.5mm needles for the cardigan; the thread was a soft crochet cotton. The cardigan is to be found in my Rustic pattern leaflet, but I added a couple of rows of moss stitch, a plain knit row and a reverse stocking stitch row at the hem to create a little more interest.
The needles are very thin, and would not be found in your average wool shop. I stock them on my website www.woollywoodlanders.co.uk and sell them in pairs. They are manufactured by a well-known German manufacturer.

If you would like a special outfit knitting, from any of my published designs, please enquire. I once had a commission from the USA to make one of everything for her daughter - that took a lot of knitting and I often think of the little girl playing with my outfits.

I'm on another Blog

One of my Ravelry customers, Three Bags Full, from Vancouver, purchased a couple of my patterns and just a few days later I was delighted when Francesca emailed me to say she had featured my patterns on her blog.

 Here is a picture of her little koala family wearing a jacket and trousers from my Playing in the Woods and Rustic collections.

She says,"Miniature knitting for Calico Critters - too cute!  We used Jamieson & Smith 2-Ply Shetland, 1.5mm Karbonz DPN's and Lorna Jenkin's Playing in the Woods pattern. Lorna has a delightful selection of miniature clothing in her Woolly Woodlanders collection. The knitting techniques in these miniatures are brilliant, including short-row shaping in the trousers."
Thank you, Francesca.

Three Bags Full is a yarn shop in Main Street, Vancouver, Canada and her shop also runs classes for beginners and experienced knitters and crocheters. Do visit her website http://threebagsfull.ca/blog/knitting-miniatures/