Bubble trouble (blog 5)

For several days the Flutterby flock spent a jolly time with their cousin Billy and his friend Miss Kitty in North Carolina, USA. But all too quickly the time came to move on again as they'd been invited to Still at Home which is Ann's blog in Melbourne, Australia where woolly cousins Shee-Baa and Lam-Baa live.

Ann's young son is a budding artist and loves to draw maps. His map of the world (above) was carefully studied by the Flutterby flock before they started their journey.

Carrying their belongings the threesome trudged off and searched for transport.

They stopped for a while to watch a hand making pretty rainbow coloured bubbles.

Suddenly a huge wobbly, mischievous looking bubble came drifting down to greet them ....

and in an instant swallowed them up.

The enormous bubble blew along the ground tossing the sheep around this way and that.

And then it started to rise

The three woolly friends watched in dismay as the ground quickly disappeared beneath them.

Up and up they rose into the wide blue yonder

and ever onwards into the night.

Will the bubble burst and will the captive friends ever reach Australia?

To be continued....

Following the woolly trail (blog 4)

The Flutterby flock had a really fun time with their cousin Daisy in Belgium but sadly it was soon time to say goodbye and continue their blog-trotting tour.

After collecting their belongings the woolly threesome found a colourful woolly trail and decided to follow it. On and on and on it went. They were just beginning to think the trail would never end when round the corner they were greeted by a fluffy old ram who was standing amidst a tangled heap of colourful wool.

"Greetings all. Welcome to my woolly-muddle rug shop" he said.

"Can I sell you a rug? They are very comfortable to sit on and you all look like you need a rest".

There were some lovely rugs for sale, and they did look very comfortable.

Sitting on the largest rug the three sheep showed the fluffy old ram their map and told him they were walking to North Carolina in the USA to visit their cousin Billy at Cats, Crafts and Penguins. A red woolly arrow marked the place where they were heading.
"You can't walk to America from Belgium" the ram laughed, "it's much to far. How will you cross the ocean?"
But before the sheep could answer and before any further discussion could take place, the large rug began to wobble and shake and .....

....all of a sudden the three friends, still sitting on the rug, found themselves airborne and travelling higher and higher into the night sky. They were soon flying as high as the clouds and the ground was a long way below them.

In his excitement foolish Chalky took one step too close to the edge of the rug and slipped. He held on as tightly as he could but was slowly losing his grip. His two friends rushed to help him but he was disappearing fast.

Quick thinking Rose took a woolly rope from her handbag and Charcoal hurriedly tied one end round his friend's front legs.

He heaved and heaved on the woolly rope but Chalky was a heavy sheep and Charcoal couldn't drag him back onto the rug.

Suddenly Chalky slipped further and was swinging too and fro. Charcoal edged perilously closer to the edge to take a look, he could just see his friend hanging below. Taking an enormously deep breath Charcoal gave one huge tug on the rope and.....

.... suddenly Chalky's head appeared over the edge of the rug, then his front legs and then his body. Everyone sighed a sigh of relief as a very frightened Chalky was dragged back onto the flying rug.

Very shaken from his fall he lay quietly and rested.

As the rug sped ever onward the woolly threesome sat side by side. Where was the rug taking them? Was it carrying them to see their cousin Billy in North Carolina?

Meanwhile, it's my birthday this weekend and on my doorstep this morning I found this scruffy little brown paper parcel addressed to me. I immediately recognised the chalk writing and the pink wool (from Rose's handbag). Tucked into the wool was a little rolled-up map of the USA.

This is it. The red woolly arrow points to the State of North Carolina.
I won't know what is inside the parcel until my birthday but it smells deliciously like Belgian chocolate!!

Finding Daisy (blog 3)

After several happy days spent with their woolly cousin in Tasmania the blog-trotting threesome are again on the move. This time they are heading for Cats & Quilts in Belgium where Sabine always has lots of creative craftwork to show us. Sabine's little sheep named Daisy is eagerly awaiting the arrival of her three cousins.

Daisy the sheep has placed a little flower on a map of Europe to show the woolly travellers where she lives. She says she will be waiting for them inside a big ring of daisies. I hope they can find her.

The friends measure the distance from Tasmania to Belgium with a length of yellow wool. It looks a very long way to travel. But they are not deterred and set off in search of suitable transport.

Charcoal finds a discarded plastic bottle and climbs inside, he thinks it might carry them across the ocean.

Chalky and Rose find a net bag that once held fruit in the supermarket. It might make a blanket to keep them warm inside the bottle.

The three friends consider the possibilities of travelling to Belgium using a net bag and an empty bottle.

Suddenly Chalky discovers something green and rubbery with a hole in one end. Being an inquisitive sort of animal he puts his nose into the hole and immediately the rubbery smell makes him sneeze an enormous sneeze .... and ..... well, you might be able to guess the rest!

Several more giant sneezes into the green rubbery thing and a balloon slowly takes shape. A plan is hatched. The net bag is quickly wrapped round the balloon.The bottom is cut from the bottle to make a plastic basket and pink wool ropes join net to basket. And there it is... the chums have made a perfect little hot air balloon (or should that be 'hot sneeze' balloon). Chalky wastes no time in climbing into the plastic bottle basket with everyone's luggage. There's not much room inside. 

Rose gets in beside chalky and confesses its a bit of squash and suggests that Charcoal might like to remain in Tasmania. But Charcoal disagrees and quickly squeezes in beside the others. Suddenly a gust of wind makes the balloon wobble and they're on their way.

"We're off to Belgium!" shouts Charcoal excitedly as the balloon starts its ascent.

Higher and higher it goes.

Up, up and away

 

This is the last picture I received from the intrepid blog-trotters. It shows a crumpled net bag, a burst balloon and an empty bottle basket. But as this sorry sight is nicely placed inside a ring of daisies I remain hopeful that the sheep will have arrived safely with their new friend in Belgium!
To be continued.......

More about the globe-trotting sheep (blog 2)

It seems the woolly threesome are having a great time globe-trotting from blog to blog.

Yesterday they visited America and have now headed off to another destination.

This morning's post brought a postcard from New Zealand and I guessed this was to be their next stop. But I was wrong! The sheep were heading for Little Jenny Wren in Tasmania which is a beautifully picturesque island south east of the Australian mainland. Visitors to this blog will find the sweetest dolls, all lovingly made by Jenny. The woolly sheep who lives with Jenny has made special friends with a little dolly named Beth who is soon to be travelling to her new home in Canada. How exciting!

Meanwhile, back home in England, Lilac the lamb found Tasmania on her map and immediately wondered how her friends were going to travel there from New Zealand as there was such a lot of water to cross. If only she'd known!

Foolishly the woolly threesome had rented a raft and headed off (at night) across the wide ocean. By the look of it the voyage was a rough one.
Thankfully I can tell you that they have all arrived safely at Little Jenny Wren's blog and wasted no time in meeting their new Tasmanian cousin and his pretty dolly friend Beth who gave each little sheep a big cuddle.
Where will they travel to next?

The woolly blog-trotting begins (blog 1)

Great excitement here in woolly land. Three of the Flutterby flock are packing their bags and preparing to go blog-trotting.

Chalky is using a little woolly hat to carry his travelling essentials.

Charcoal has his things in a red and white knitted hankie tied to a stick, 

and Lilac is kindly lending Rose her lurex bag. Lilac isn't travelling with the others, she prefers to remain at home and guard the flowers (especially the yellow ones).

Blogland is a huge place, but the woolly threesome seem undaunted by the trip. Looking at the map most places seem to be just a hop, skip and jump away.

Their first visit will be to America where fabulous Fred with his beautiful curly coat is waiting to greet them at
Ivory Blush Roses

Rose the sheep is looking forward to seeing the lovely crazy quilting done by Fred's creator Lisa. Do take a look at these little works of art whilst you are visiting.
What fun! Where will be next?

Knitted sheep in woolly land

Far away in woolly land live two little knitted sheep.

Chalky is white with a curly coat and Charcoal is black with a grey coat.

One day a fashionable little girl sheep named Rose came to live with them. She wore a beautiful fluffy pink coat and the boys were immediately smitten.

Chalky changed his curly coat for a smart tweedy one and Charcoal sported his glitzy grey number but Rose, in her new rainbow striped poncho, was not impressed.

Charcoal changed his name to 'Bumble-baa' and Chalky changed his to 'Baa-code' but Rose in her flowery coat was not amused. Poor Chalky and Charcoal, will they ever impress the gorgeous Rose?

A bright idea

These little characters are very easy to knit and great fun to dress. Let me know if you post a picture of your sheep as Chalky and Charcoal would love to call in during their blog-trotting tour and link to your blog on one of their forthcoming posts. (They will visit just 10 blogs so please let me know ASAP if you'd like a visit)

AROUND THE WORLD IN 10 BLOGS



The friends are hoping to find 10 blogs to visit

Pattern for the sheep

I used DK yarn for the head, body, legs and ears and size 2.75 mm needles (US size 2). This finer needle gives the required tighter fabric.

Different yarns vary in the way they knit up but here is the pattern I used. Please adjust if necessary to suit your own requirements. I experimented with stocking stitch and reverse stocking stitch, both are suitable, its a matter of personal choice.

Body - Cast on 14 stitches, knit 16 rows. With a large sewing needle take the stitches off onto a length of yarn and draw up. With wrong sides facing stitch the long edges together. You should now have a tube. Turn to the right side, stuff and draw up the open end to make a fat sausage shape.

Legs (knit 4) - Cast on 6 stitches and knit 8 rows. Cast off. Roll up the knitted piece as tightly as you can to form a tiny sausage shape and stitch down the open edge (no stuffing required). Stitch the tops of the legs to the body as shown above.

Head- Cast on 9 stitches and knit 10 rows. Take stitches off onto a sewing needle and draw up. With right side facing (because head is too small to turn inside-out) neatly oversew the long edges together. Lightly stuff the head and gather the open end. To give the head a realistic curved shape push the threaded needle from the nose end through the head and out of the top. Pull until you have the required curved shape then fasten off. Decide which end is better for the nose and stitch the head to the body (see picture above).

Ears (knit 2) - Cast on 3 stitches and knit 2 or 3 rows. Remove stitches onto sewing needle and draw up, this makes the pointed end of the ear. Oversew down the ear to the base and stitch it to the top of the head (see picture above).

Now you can give the sheep a face. I used embroidery floss.

Now comes the fun part...dressing the sheep. You can create different coats from different yarns, in other words anything goes!

I used 3.75 mm (US size 5) to make a soft fabric.

Basic coat- Cast on 10 stitches and knit the required number of rows to wrap over the sheep's back from one side to the other. Cast off. Fold in half and with wrong sides facing. Stitch together the edges at one end to form the back end and a very short seam (about 1cm) at the front. This will fit under the sheep's head. You must leave an opening large enough at this end for the sheep's head to pass through. Turn right side out.

I used a curly boucle yarn for the white coat (garter stitch) and a grey DK for the other coat (moss stitch).

Needless to say there is now friendly rivalry between the boys.
Will they ever win the heart of the lovely Rose?

Have fun knitting your sheep and don't forget to let me know if you feature it on your blog then I can link to it next time I post.