How I made my figures.
I found lots of knitting patterns for dolls and baby clothes and altered them to suit my purpose. I used double knitting wool for most of the project but the man's collar was much finer wool. All were scraps and left overs except I really needed a dark colour for the man's shoes and had nothing suitable so I found some tapestry wool was perfect as you can buy tiny amounts cheaply.
The glasses are made with craft wire
Thought I would share how i made the glasses to save anyone else the many attempts it took me.
Take one piece of thin craft wire (the sort that you can knit with is great) you need about 1/2 meter
Fold in half and twist tightly together the first few centimetres, this is the left arm.
Now insert a cylinder I used a 7.5 mm knitting needle a pen or round cutlery handle would also work. Bring the two pieces of wire into a circle one either side of the needle ( the left eye)
Let the two pieces meet and twist the wire together for a few millimetres (the bridge)
Then insert the needle again to make the right eye and finally twist together to form the left eye and twist the two together down the right arm. finally trim off excess.
Then stitich to head with wool same colour as hair.
How I did the hair
Mrs. has long hair which gives the appearance of untidy curls. I used very fine merino wool 1 ply (available mainly online) I bought it years ago and found it far too fiddly to use for knitting luckily I kept it.
Simply cut very long lengths and fold over so you have 8 or more strands threaded on a large needle. Don't knot the end.
make a small stitch in to the top of the head leaving the length you wish lose. then make another small stitch close to the first one but don't pull tight just pull till the hair loops up at the desired length. Continue making loops like this.
You will need to thread the needle many times you cant have too much hair try to work round in a circular manner. Add shorter loops near the face for a fringe. keep adding more till it looks right.
Beware don't pull the hair or give to a child it is not firmly secured. Don't be tempted to give her a hair cut or she will loose her curls and probably most of her hair too. You can cut an odd unruly piece if necessary.
Mr. simply thread wool as for Mrs. and work small straight stitches no loop this time just stitch each length to the head at top and bottom. lots of shorter pieces works best. I started with a ring around the crown to create the impression of a man with a semi bald head but this looked odd the i added more to fill the crown in an brought it further down at the back. Avoid the temptation to do longer stitches they need to be short or he will look like he has long hair.
The trousers.
I created the impression of a crease by stitching a row of top stitching with matching thread down the centre front of each leg.
Hands
I invented this pattern after much effort it is based on how you make a pair of mittens except each hand is worked in one piece. from wrist to fingers to wrist.
Cast on 6 stitches. this is the top of the wrist
knit 1 row
purl 1 row
knit 2 stitches make one and knit to end (7 stitches)
Purl one more row
repeat increase row (8 stitches)
purl 1 row
knit 3 stitches turn purl3 turn knit 3 turn purl 3 turn knit3 this is the back and front of the thumb
You could now cut off the yarn and rejoin at base of thumb but there is no need simply carry the yarn to the base of the tumb.
Now work on just the 5 stitches which are the hand.
knit, purl knit purl knit purl knit purl This is the hand so is 2 rows longer than the fingers.
Now continue across the thumb all 8 stitches you are now working the back of the hand.
work the 2 decreases to create opposite effect to increase.
work the last 2 rows with the 6 stitches. cast off
You should have a peice of knitting which widens then divides then joins up then narrows again.
Fold in half wrong sides out to create hand shape stitch round not too near the edge.
use your stitching to create shape taper round the top of the hand for fingers.
The edge bulk will be just the right amount of stuffing for the hand
Then turn right way round use a needle to gently turn the thumb out. and stitch in place.
Head
I started near the neck with a lot of stitches decreased rapidly to make the neck a row of knit2 together troughout. next row knit and increase into every stitch. then made an egg shape which the final few stitches are bound off tightly at the top and stitch a central back seam.
Stuff head.
The lower neck is then stuffed into the jumper and stitched in place
Collar
Cast on a lot of stitches decrease rapidly at both ends to create points of collar deacrese about 1/4 of stitches evenly and increase them again evenly next row to give colar shape when it is folded in half. increase again evenly to even more stiches than you started with this is the part of the colar that will disapear into the jumper depending on style work as long as necessary.
General advice
Start with feet and work up stuffing as you go
Mrs.
I did feet then tights then underwear and stopped at waist to stuff.
worked jumper then hands and head
Mr. similar but he has legs under his trousers to add shape and bulk.
I don't want to give too precise instructions as i had great fun working it all out
If you are use to knitting jumpers n skirts just scale the pattern down for every 10 stitches knit 1 for example and measure regularly for how many rows you need.
Dont be afraid to go wrong as its not like it takes hours to knit something on this scale.
When you realize its not right take it off the needles measure accurately what you have done and learn from the mistake or salvage some of the work!
Have fun I certainly did...
