Jean Greenhowe Designs Official Website - Playful Puppies knitting patterns, knitted dolls, toys

Knitters who are familiar with Jean’s work are aware that she rarely designs animal creatures as they are in the real world. And here are her latest creations – Playful Puppies. Ten adorable puppy knits, five for the boys, five for the girls. All dressed in fanciful costumes - not realistic, but lots of fun! The basic puppy measures 21cm [8¼ in] in height from the soles of the shoes to top of the head, not including the headwear.

We have often been asked for famous heroes – Batman, Spiderman etc but Jean has designed her own Hero and Heroine puppies, Superboy and Supergirl. They venture boldly where no puppies have gone before, ready to amuse knitters and children around the world. They are dressed in colourful outfits and both have capes. Here is Supergirl soaring off the mountain, flying to the rescue!

Jean enjoys making wintry scenes and she produced a lovely snowy set for the Christmas Boy and Girl. These puppies will be wonderful presents for the children’s Christmas stockings as well as seasonal decorations to display each year as family favourites. Why not make your own small scene to display the puppy pair? Jean used cotton wool for the snow and the ‘trees’ are twigs from the garden touched up with white paint for the snow effect. The fallen branches are also painted the same way.

Now for the Jester puppy, entertaining at the Medieval Court where everything in Jean’s splendid set creates the atmosphere. Traditionally, Jester costumes are constructed with quartered colours. For example, the left side of a tunic is red, the right side yellow and so on. To knit such a quartered outfit would either require numerous separate pieces and a lot of sewing, or the use of the intarsia knitting technique. Not wishing to introduce such complications, Jean designed the costume so that anyone can make the Jester. It’s easy to knit and very effective.

There is no doubt that the Fairy puppy will be loved by little girls. Her soft wings can be moved to be close to her shoulders or spread out as if to fly! Jean chose pastel colours for the costume then placed her in a magical Fairyland Garden, with floral toadstools and delicate flowers in matching shades. The Fairy can also be displayed on top of the tree at Christmas, not only a fairy - a little puppy for the children as well!

The Country Boy and Girl puppies are enjoying the great outdoors. The boy is wearing dungarees and a comfy hat, for a day’s work in the field. The girl wears a pretty mob cap and a white apron, ready to bake delicious apple pies for supper. Jean couldn’t resist making a wooden cabin as one of the background scenes for photography. The cabin is just a piece of brown corrugated cardboard and the ‘plank’ effect is simply made by pressing along the ‘grooves’ on one side of the cardboard, with the pointed end of a very large size knitting needle! We wonder how Jean comes up with these amazing inventions. And of course she had to knit a scarf for ‘drying’ on the clothes line.

The Little Girl puppy is irresistibly cuddlesome and just like the Fairy she will no doubt become a special friend. Jean has collected all the items in the photograph over many years and they came together beautifully for this puppy scene. Miniature storybooks, a small basket chair, a box turned into a chest and two tiny teddy bears. Bits of fabric with an olde-worlde look were also perfect for the wallpaper and carpet.

The Clown is a lovely friendly character for children, with a sweet expression. He certainly looks as though he’s about to turn somersaults on his ‘stage’ of stripy and spotted material which suggests circus and fun of the fair.
Mummy and Baby Ladybirds

And aren’t Jean’s balloons amazing? They are just cut out paper shapes and painted, then just a bit of white paint to suggest a ‘shine’. Yet they look very balloon-y indeed!

Only 40 grams [1 1/2 ounces] of yarn oddments are required for each puppy and the same amount of stuffing. The heads, hands and ears are knitted in light cream or fawn shades, which compliment their colourful outfits perfectly.
All the puppies are constructed in the same basic way. The legs, body and head are knitted in one piece. The shoes and arms are made next then the individual details are added for each character.