Slowly Populating The USA

 Another one of these is leaving me today for a long journey across the Atlantic.  Bye bye!

With each Clanger I knit, I'm gradually cutting the time it takes - must be due to familiarity with the pattern.  The longest part of the process is assembling it and making the waistcoat.  Worth the effort though!

Playing Catch Up...

As far as work is concerned, the New Year started well with an order for a Clanger - Tiny this time, the little girl one with a bow in her hair. I also decided to give her a set of pan pipes, in line with her character on the tv show.

I remember the first Clanger I made seemed to take forever for some reason - now I can get the main body done in a couple of evenings. 

This one is staying in the UK for a change!

I've been trying to put some hours into this painting - I have a tight deadline now and am pretty cross that all the spare time I had over the past couple of weeks has been taken up with either cooking, cleaning or sorting out our run of breakdowns.  As of yesterday the heating is fixed, the ceiling is fixed, nothing else has broken, the dog is awaiting an echocardiogram next week & ticking along on his meds quite well and my streaming cold seems to be dissipating, so hopefully I can knuckle down to it over the next few days.  I'm enjoying painting this although it has taken a great deal of thought as I am composing it from about ten different photographs.

Stacie's Chicken & A Clanger

I don't often get to see my daughter's work that she does at the art studio, but yesterday she brought home this lovely silk painting of a chicken.  I'm planning on making it into a cushion for her so that we can see it rather than have it hidden away.  Not bad for someone who has problems with fine motor skills!

Another Clanger completed and ready to go to his new home.  These are fun to make but so fiddly.

The knitting is easy enough, it;s the final assembly that's the tricky bit.

This one is going to Texas - funny how all my Clangers emigrate to the USA!

Third Clanger

This little Clanger is all done, ready for his trip across the Atlantic - funny how all the Clangers I've made have gone to the USA.  As I make each one, I learn how to do them better - the waistcoat on this one is made with double layers of felt, which gives it a bit more stability, and I have punched holes in it for the leather thonging to pass through.

The actual knitting of these takes less time than the assembly - there is a lot of fiddling around with feet, fingers and of course the waistcoat.  Fun though, and it's hard not to make the sound effects as the Clanger takes shape...boop-boop-beep-boop...

Inbetween paid work, I'm knitting myself a triangular scarf in this navy & white self-striping yarn.  I didn't read the description properly when I bought this as I was so excited at having found the striping yarn I was after, and it is actually aran weight which makes it a bit chunky - I had planned on making socks.  I know there is self-striping sock yarn in this colourway somewhere out there, I just can't find it - any suggestions would be gratefully received.

Today's challenge - a knitted barbeque & all that goes with it.  Almost there, just figuring out the twiddly bits!

Clanger!

Just finished making this Clanger, now he's ready for his long journey across the pond to Virginia.

I used the original 1972 pattern for this, which is actually a bit tricky to decipher in places - just telling me to make fingers is not very helpful!

However, I have made one of these before, plus have plenty of picture references to look at on the internet now that the BBC have made a new series.

If you'd like a Clanger knitted for you, please just ask!

Working Fast...

 This is a 45 minute watercolour of a vase & bottle that I did during my lesson with a student yesterday.  I must confess I found it as hard as he did, but I do believe that if a child sees an adult struggling with something as well, they will feel better about their own work.  It's demoralising for anyone to try their hardest and then see someone else do the same thing with little to no effort, especially children who find it hard to understand that I have been painting for nearly fifty years more than they have!  I'm pleased with my finished little painting - it gives my brain a workout too.

I'm in the middle of making a Clanger to go to the USA.  Fiddly things to assemble, the pattern is the old 1972 version and is sketchy to say the least!  This one needs some hands, feet and a tunic, then he's good to go.

Now I Know How Much My Mother Loved Me!

My mum used to make me toys on occasion - I still have the rag doll she made me when I was three, a large, very battered doll called Arriety (from The Borrowers) that still smells the same as it did when I was little and evokes such memories.

I don't remember many others, but I do remember her knitting me a Clanger.  I loved The Clangers, so did she!  I found the original knitting pattern on the net, which must be the exact same one she probably sent away for from the BBC.  It is pretty basic - there aren't any instructions for sewing together at all and I had to wing it.

I thought it wouldn't take me long as most of it was straight stocking stitch - how wrong I was!  The ears were a nightmare - it didn't say they were supposed to be folded in two, I had to work that out for myself.
The fingers are supposed to be pipecleaners but I knitted them with Icord, a much safer option.

The tunic was difficult too - it just said to cut out felt shapes, embroider them and attach them together to make the tunic.  Argh!  I had to search for images of Clangers on my Kindle and keep checking that what I was doing looked OK.

However, for all the messing around, it was definitely worth it.  This one is for sale in my Etsy shop - I do plan to make some more at some point in the future, or if you would like to place an order, feel free to do so.

Whistle-hoot-toot!
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It is one year to the day since we were in Boston on holiday and got caught in Hurricane Sandy.  This year we are at home over half term and yet there is a predicted hurricane here in the UK, due to hit us overnight.  Hmm, it's a bit windy out there but the sun is shining and my washing is drying nicely.  I don't want to tempt fate, but I suspect our 'hurricane' won't be quite on a par with Sandy....I'll let you know tomorrow if we are still here or if we have been blown away!