Bernie's Doll

 

Remember how in January of 2021 Bernie Sanders and his knitted mittens were all over the Internet? 
In a sense it feels such a long time ago, yet it's less then five months ago. 

This knitted Bernie’s doll is inspired by the images I have seen. I started to work on this doll at the end of January, see my first blog post about it here: Work in progress - Bernie's doll  Somehow to knit this doll took much longer then usually, see my March work in progress blog post with a picture of still unfinished Bernie's doll. But in the end I have finished the doll sometimes at the end of March, Work in progress blog post from the beginning of April finally have a finished Bernie's doll picture. 

It took almost equally long to type up the pattern into a PDF file from my handwritten notes. You can see that part of work in progress in the picture bellow. 

Finally, the pattern is available to all, and it's free, my gift to you. You can get it by visiting my Ravelry designer page: My designs or you can download it from Ravelry by clicking on the download now link  bellow. At some point in the next week I will add the pattern to Lovecraft website as well. 

download now

The doll is knit in worsted weight yarn and it uses several knitting techniques: knit in the round, increases, decreases, I-cord, short rows, Grafting (Kitchener stitch), Bobbles, Loop Stitch, stranded colorwork and stripes.

I have to say that my knitted dolls designs have been improving over the years as I try to get more realistic and 3D appeal to them. In the pictures bellow you can see how the dolls have changed from my first doll designs to the latest by using a variety of knitting techniques and adding the clothes as separate layers instead of knitting them as the part of the dolls.  It started with the Man with the Yellow Hat, through the Spider Man, Iron Man, Batman and Robin, Pat and Mat, Luki's doll, Baba Yaga, and now Bernie's doll.

All of the dolls, except Baba Yaga are available as free patterns. There is no pattern for Luki's doll as that was a very special design for one boy based on his drawing. 

See all the toys in the pictures bellow. 

Thank you for visiting.

My dog is a better influencer...

 

Seriously, my dog seems to be getting more Instagram collaboration requests than I have ever received as a knitwear designer. All he has to do is being himself and I just help with posting a picture of him to his Instagram T-Bone dog diary. 

I have to do more, than that. 

photo by I Like Knitting

Spotted Around Set is an e-book collection of two knitting patterns that were originally published in October issue of I Like Knitting Magazine and on their website, see the blog post from last September here: Knitwear Designer. After the exclusivity period finished I have the rights to the patterns and I can publish the patterns independently. You can buy the patterns individually or as an e-book for a discounted price.

At the moment I am working on another project for a third party publisher and my independent work is  as usually put on hold as the deadline is nonexistent unlike the contracted work for a third party.  

But once the work is finished I will return to my independent projects and continue to work on those. There are so many knitting patterns in various stages of work in progress that I hope to finish and publish during this year.  Like the pattern for this Bernie's doll. It took me about two months to knit the doll and now the pattern is taking even longer to write up into a word document from my handwritten  notes. 

Thank you for visiting and reading. 

Work in Progress

    Remember the pictures of Bernie Sanders wearing handmade mittens to inauguration in January 2021? Bernie Sander's handmade mittens inspired so many crafters as they recreated the pattern in mittens, hats, scarfs, cowls, sweaters and even dolls created to resemble Bernie Sanders with these mittens. I waited few days but then I couldn't resist and decided to knit a doll. 

   

     I looked through my yarn stash and picked the colors based on the picture. I had a sketch and ideas as what I would like to do. Under normal circumstances this kind of project would take about two weeks. Well life happens. For about a moth I couldn't really knit and then I had my submission accepted for publication by a third party. I am still working on this project for the third party, but I have also managed to finally finish the Bernie Sanders's doll, with mittens and all. It took me two months from cast on to finish. As for the knitting pattern, it will be typed up and available, I just need a bit more time.

These past few weeks whenever I could I worked on finishing my project for the third party and once this is done and patterns and samples are mailed to the  editor I will return to the Bernie Sanders' doll and type up the pattern. You can see a sneak peek photo of me sitting on a porch, while working on the finishing touches to the sample, while my dog T-Bone is practicing porch napping. 

Thank you for visiting.

10 years of work in progress

Ten years ago I have started this blog with a help from my friend. 

Here is a link to that first blog post: Welcome to Stana's Critters Etc Blog. 

The image from the first blog post is a whole bunch of knitted teddy bears and a pink polka dot dog and a yellow striped cat. All of these toys were given away either to my kid, my friend's children, my kid's friends, or variety of charitable organizations. 

When I started this blog I really didn't know what to expect and what would happen. Somehow my love for knitting has evolved into a small side business and in the process I have managed to write and publish almost three hundred knitting patterns. As of today, officially, there are 295 published knitting patterns in my Ravelry store, and my patterns were published in seventeen different knitting books, as well as variety of websites and magazines.  To have my work accepted and published by a variety of third parties I have learned the different ways to submit my ideas and inevitably also understand that the rejections happen more than the acceptance, and usually it has nothing to do with the idea itself but rather with how the different ideas from so many other talented creators fit together. 

I do not know what the future holds, but I know for sure that I will continue to knit one stitch at time.  That way I am sure that I will manage to finish this Bernie Sanders doll, my current work in progress since January 2021. 

Thank you for visiting and reading. 

Work in Progress - Bernie Doll - January 2021

 

It took me over a week. I have watched the memes and knitting patterns appearing for the Bernie Sanders' mitts. I watched the knitting patterns for hats, cowls, and even a sweater being inspired by the famous mittens Bernie Sanders wore for the Inauguration of the 46th US president.  I saw a crochet doll and the crochet patterns for the Bernie Sanders dolls being offer for sale, for free, and I watched the bidding on E-bay for the original doll created by one of the crochet designers. There are so many crochet patterns for Bernie doll on Etsy (and other platforms that sell patterns)  now that it's amazing. And I believe I have seen two different knitting patterns for Bernie Doll. Both of which are interesting, but not what I would like to actually make. Somehow the variety of knitting patterns for Bernie doll are a little bit behind on this.  

I guess, being a knitwear designer comes handy as I am able to create a knitted toy that will fit my vision as to what the doll should look like and how much it hopefully will resemble the original Bernie Sanders in the now iconic photo. 

As with every design it starts with picking up yarn. I am using stash yarn as much as possible and this doll is not an exception. I looked through my stash and narrowed it down to those yarn as they are closest to the colors, as seen in the photo. I would like the doll to be able to either sit or stand, and have the clothes removable, and I also would like to include the chair for the doll to sit on. 

I should be working on some other knitting projects that have been on my needles and have some sort of deadline attached to it, may it be for few submissions, toy mystery KAL, knitting pattern samples,  etc.  I will post another work in progress blog post next Friday as to what I actually decided to work on. 

And those who are reading and wondering if I will type up and make the pattern available for other to knit their own doll;  I will do that after the toy is finished and I am happy with the result. 

Thank you for visiting.