The Shepherd's Dog

The dog is from the Jan Messent Book, Knit A Fantasy Story.
I did make a few changes. I did not use a frame to build the dog on. (This will make sense if you have the book)
I also changed the legs. For the front legs I cast on twelve stitches and knit twelve rows of garter stitch and cast off. I rolled the legs tightly with the cast on and cast off edges being the top and bottom of the leg. Then I stitched the roll edge to the rest of the leg and then stitched it to the body.
For the back legs I cast on twelve stitches and knit six rows. On the seventh row I k2, kfb across, then knit five more rows and cast off. Finish like the front leg and the thicker end is the top of the leg.
I don't know if I just missed them but I could not find directions for a tail. I made mine by casting on four stitches and knitting I-cord for three rows. Then I k2tog, k2 on the fourth row. I knit the three stitches in I-cord for three more rows, then k2tog, k1 on row eight. I knit the two stitches in I-cord for three more rows, the k2tog and cut the yarn and pulled the end through the loop and wove it in. It made a pretty good tail.
So far the chickens and dog have been pretty close to the scale of the Jean Greenhowe figures for the Nativity. I may manage to finish the horse tomorrow.

Wise Man

I have finished a Wise man. My Wise Men will be different nationalities.
Again a clever, easy to knit, takes forever to sew it together pattern. All the little details make it cute.
I did deviate from the standard Wise Man pattern and made the coat more like the other figures. I also put a little stuffing up his sleeves.

I solved the problem with the bases. I am using sheet styrofoam with a layer of craft foam on the side that is seen. I am using the lid from the Pam kitchen spray like a cookie cutter. Lay two strands of thin yarn in the shape of an X on the section of foam you want to cut. Center the Pam lid over the X and push down, twisting the lid back and forth a little as you go. You may need to pick up the sheet and work from the bottom as well to make sure it cuts all the way through. To get the styrofoam out of the lid, hold all four yarn emds and pull straight down and it should pop right out. Much easier than cutting cardboard circles, but the little styrofoam bits are annoying so have the vacuum cleaner handy.

Little Gray Donkey

Now the donkey is finished, although not exactly like the pattern. It looked so plain with just the gray so I decided to add in the cross on the donkey's back. Legend has it that the donkey did not have this cross till the crucifixation.
I also did just the first 11 rows of the tail and then tied on a black tassel for the tail.
I did not use any support inside the legs and the donkey is able to stand just fine. I made a mistake sewing on the legs. I sewed the front legs on first, but discovered as I was weaving in the last end on the second one that I had actually sewed the back legs on the front. To make them proportionately the same as the pattern I cast on 16 stitches and knit 14 rows instead of 12. For the rest of the increases and descreases I followed the same formula as the original back leg. I also attached the a bit differently. I stuffed the leg almost to the top and then flattened the top and sewed it against the side of the donkey instead of directly to the bottom.
He was a fun knit although LOTS of sewing.

Mother and Child

I finished one of my figures of Mary. I used a plastic lid from a jar of peanut butter for the base.
I am doing the necks of my figures a little differently than the directions. The directions say to wrap yarn around and around to cover the neck. I do a gather at both ends of the neck and tighten. The necks are too big if something is not done.
I also stuff the upper arms of the figures from shoulder to elbow.
I sewed Mary's hands to each other at the tips instead of stitching them to the skirt. This makes it easier for the baby to be inserted or removed from her arms. The baby can either be held by her or removed and placed in the manger.
I have gone with unconventional colors for the eyes and hair and have made them blue and red.
Again there was a LOT of sewing in the finishing of the piece, but it was so worth it!

A Shepherd Watched

This is a shepherd from Jean Greenhowe's Christmas Special. I am so pleased with the way he turned out :)
I have posted the sheep before, from the same book.
The figures require a flat base to go in the bottom. The suggested base is cardboard circles cut out, stacked and glued. While searching for a circle of the right size to trace I discovered that the cap from my non-stick spray, (think Pam, except for a generic brand), was the exact right size and I used the whole cap inside the figure. I did cut a circle of craft foam to hide the plastic cap. It worked very well. Now I have to use up more spray as there are still a lot of figures to make.
I did not make his staff yet as the book calls for a drinking straw 1/8" in diameter. I don't have any that thin and need to come up with something else to use. Maybe I can stick a couple of coffee stirrers together. One would not be long enough.
I thoroughly enjoyed making this project although there is a lot of sewing. The seams don't show from the front and later ones should be better as I am getting a lot of practice.

2 Babies

These are mostly from the Jean Greenhowe pattern. I did make some changes. For the baby with hair I knit the hair on the last two rows of the head instead of stitching it on after. I also threaded the ends to the outside after weaving them in on the inside and cut them off sticking out to give a more three dimensional look to the hair. The second baby has no hair. I added arms also. The baby on the left has arms made by casting on ten stitches, knitting stockinette for five rows then binding off. I rolled the resulting piece and stitched along the edge and sewed it on. Baby two has arms made by casting on eight stitches for four rows and then the same way. Baby one also has the hint of legs in his bunting made by stitching loosely front to back through all layers of the piece for three stitches.
I used Jean's manger pattern, but did not like the way my babies looked in it so I rolled the edge to the outside and stitched it in place about halway down the side on the outside. I also wanted hairier hay so used fun fur in champagne color. I cast on fifteen stitches for thirty rows. For baby one I knit the fun fur together with Yellow Simply Soft and for baby two with Bone Simply Soft. For baby one i knit the manger with two strands of Brown Simply Soft and for baby two I used a Strand of Brown and a strand of Bone together.
This is a fun knit and I have a LOT of pieces waiting to be put together.

Baa Baa Black Sheep

I purchased some Paton's Allure at half price and decided to see what a sheep made of it would look like. As you can see it is not as nice as the other one made earlier of TLC Amore. I will still keep him as a decoration. The Allure is a small ball and I am not sure I can squeeze a second sheep out of it. I used size 8 needles and the face and lower legs were knit with a doubled strand of Caron Simply Soft.

Feeling Sheepish

I did it! I knit two of the Jean Greenhowe sheep from Christmas Special.

http://www.jeangreenhowe.com/christmas.html

The first was knit in TLC Baby Amore white on size 4 needles. The second one also used Caron Simply Soft black. I tweaked the pattern a little as I wanted a black face and hooves. For the hooves I cast on with black, then cut it and knit the rest of the leg with white. I wove the ends in under the black stitches and that also helps hide the white.
The face I am not completely happy with. I started it at the first single strand row after finishing with the double strand. This will not make sense if you do not have the pattern.
On the white sheep I stuffed it's head too full. The directions were fairly clear and easy to follow. Once I made one the second was a cinch. I did not put a face on the black and white sheep as it would be very difficult to see it.
The Nativity set with them was given to me by my father after a trip to Israel. It is made from olive wood.

Jean Greenhowe Christmas Special

This is the second book I got. It actually has the Nativity scene I am going to knit. Christmas Treasures has a donkey to add to the set. I am going to try to change the sheep to have a black face and hooves. Tomorrow!