The final Boost Your Knitting design comes to us from Ella Austin. Ella’s design, Brunny the Bunny, showcases how to properly finish knitted toys. Ella has numerous gorgeous toy designs under her belt, as well as a wider portfolio that celebrates color and texture — her book, the Beginner’s Guide to Colourwork Knitting, was released last spring. A few months ago, Ella was kind enough to answer a few questions about her design process and share some great tips for finishing knitted toys (hint: even she has to occasionally try, try again!)
Brunny the Bunny, the final Boost Your Knitting design. Image © Jesse Wild.
KR: Your design for A Year of Techniques, Alex the Mouse, was such a hit with knitters, and Brunny the Bunny is an adorable follow up! Can you tell us a little bit about what you love about designing stuffed toys and where you get your inspiration for colourful characters like Alex and Brunny?
EA: Thank you, I’m was delighted that Alex the Mouse was so well received and I hope that Brunny is just as popular! Watching people make their own versions of my toy designs is such a joy. I love seeing how knitters make their little characters in their own unique styles and I always hope that they feel the same magic that I do as they watch their creations emerge.
I love making toys because they are just so much fun! Traditional toys are my main inspiration as a starting point but I like looking for unusual details, often inspired by folk art or traditional patterns and motifs. Toys are often considered ‘cute’ and baby-focused but I like to aim for something more decorative, and to appeal to all ages. Sometimes I think of my designs less as ‘toys’ and more as friendly ornament-companions! But I’m totally fine with calling them toys!
Ella Austin’s Fancy Hen design. Image © Joelle Trousdale.
I usually sketch my toy ideas before casting on, with a clear idea of the form I’m aiming for. I enjoy the feeling of sculpting, first with my pencil and then with my knitting. I knit in the round, refining the shape as I design. It’s a slow process with lots of unpicking and restarting. The trouble with toy deigns is that you can’t really tell how they look until you’ve stuffed them, so I often complete multiple versions of a design before settling on the final design that works.
Image © Jesse Wild.
The colour ideas are usually influenced by the palette available in my chosen yarn. For Brunny I was inspired by the beautiful, dark purple/blue colour of Something to Knit With, Twilight. I pared it with the pale pink, Cherry Blossom, for her dress and then added the bright colour, Strawberry, to add a flash of vibrant colour.
KR: This month, we’re of course focusing on finishing techniques for knitted toys, something that can be a bit fiddly but really makes or breaks a knitted toy! Are there parts of the finishing process you particularly enjoy? Any you always leave for last or like a bit less?
EA: I can understand why people think toys are a little fiddly to knit and finish, they are often made of small parts, and knit on a tight gauge. On the other hand I like being liberated from having to make the item fit or suit anyone! They can be as bright, bold, big (just use thicker yarn and needles), or small as you like. Even wonky toys will end up with an endearing character, so you can’t go wrong really. Unfortunately there’s no getting round the tight gauge, my pet hate is seeing handknit toys with the stuffing visible between the stitches! Stuffing is a surprisingly tricky part of finishing. It’s easy for stuffing to go lumpy, and if it does I just pull it out and start again. The fun part of stuffing is seeing your toy really take shape, it can feel like you’re bringing them to life!
As my toys are knit in the round, the seaming is minimal and almost always done in a straight line. I like to knit in one piece as much as possible, so for Brunny her body and head are knit in one piece. However, I like to knit some parts separately and sew them on to make them flexible, like the arms and legs. The positioning of these parts is usually quite straight forward and I think that symmetry is the important thing to focus on for these parts. If anything goes wrong, just remove and restitch. The number one most important advice I have for all aspects of toy finishing is to keep trying. Have a break if needed, but keep trying. I never, ever get every part right the first time but with persistence I eventually achieve the result I want.
My favourite part of toy finishing is sewing on the face, and I always save it for last! I like to finish my toys with button eyes and minimal embroidered details. Brunny has a traditional embroidered nose/mouth that is reminiscent of Miffy the children’s book character. Miffy’s design was not a direct influence on Brunny but when I read about her creator Bruna’s artistic approach in drawing his character she seems like a very suitable likeness! Apparently Bruna would draw and redraw her seemingly-simple features until he got them exactly right for each individual illustration. This is the approach I take when finishing toys, repeatedly sewing, removing and restitching, until I have just the right finish. I believe that this is even more important when the design is so minimal.
KR: In addition to toys, you’ve got loads of bright and beautiful designs – and you’ve recently brought out the fantastic Beginner’s Guide to Colourwork. Does your design process look different when you’re writing patterns that are focused on teaching particular techniques? How did you find writing a book aimed at beginners?
The Monochrome Mitts, from the Beginner’s Guide to Colourwork Knitting. Image © Ella Austin.
EA: Thank you! I absolutely loved writing the book. It was a challenge because I never thought of myself as a teacher of new techniques but once I got started everything fell into place. I really enjoyed working out the complete colourwork course, ensuring that it covers a range of techniques and gently progresses in difficulty. A lot of the time I felt like I was aiming for balance, between making it easy and accessible, but not too boring, and between making the technique the focus of the project but also getting a lovely finished item. The design process when focussing on techniques was very different than general pattern designing. I had to research the main colourwork techniques that people might want to learn, think of every lesson within those main techniques and then choose patterns that would showcase them. For example, in the Stranded Colourwork section the first design, a pair of mitts, covers joining a new colour, yarn management, yarn dominance, and keeping an even tension.
The Marled Scarf from Beginner’s Guide to Colourwork Knitting. Image © Ella Austin.
Some of the designs were a lot simpler than I’m used to writing up, I had to keep reminding myself that the book should be inclusive of absolute beginners who might find these patterns really encouraging. Even as an experienced knitter I found that I enjoyed the opportunity to play with colour and explore colour combinations for the simpler designs. The first pattern in the book is for a striped garter stitch scarf that uses a marled technique holding two yarns together. So the knitter can play with combining two strands of different colours as well as different stripe colours alongside each other. Overall I was delighted with the finished collection, and I really love all of the designs.
KR: For a laugh, I’ve been asking all the Boost Your Knitting designers what they would take along if they were to be stranded on a real life sleeve island. Care to share what yarn, knitting book, and piece of music would come along with you?
EA: This is sooooo hard! My instinct is to say Jamieson and Smith 2ply jumper weight because I love colourwork and this yarn is just perfect for colourwork. However I think I would crave a bit of smooth multi-tonal luxury so I would probably go with Fyberspates Vivacious 4ply. For a knitting book I think I’d take a stitch directory, the biggest one going with colourful slipped stitch patterns as well as textured stitches. Choosing one piece of music is hard too! Right now I’ve been enjoy Alice Cooper’s Love it to Death album. It’s one of those albums that works so well with the songs all played in order, it has a lot versatility but is still cohesive.
KR: Finally, want to share what’s on your needles on the moment or any exciting projects you have coming up?
EA: At the moment I’m not working on any big projects. I feel like I’m still settling down after working like crazy on my colourwork book! I’ve been unwinding by finishing off projects for my kids that got completely abandoned while I was knitting the colourwork samples. I’m also playing with ideas just for pleasure. I’d love to work on another book some time, and I’d also like to sell knitting kits again, but for now I’m just taking it slow and mulling things over!
Image © Jesse Wild.
Thanks Ella for taking the time to chat with us! You can find Ella’s beautiful designs on Ravelry and find her on Instagram as Bombellaella. Her book The Beginner’s Guide to Colourwork Knitting is available online and from local yarn shops. And if you’d like to knit your very own Brunny, it’s never to late to join in the fun. You can find Boost Your Knitting in the online shop, as well as Something to Knit With 4ply (you’ll need one skein each of three shades) and Boost Your Knitting Winter Kits, which include yarn for the last three projects from Boost Your Knitting.