Alan Dart’s diverse craft work has appeared in numerous magazines, he has written several books, and has taught knitwear design at art colleges, along with demonstrating crafts on two children’s television series. Currently his toy designs appear each month in Simply Knitting magazine.

This site provides a one-stop shop where you will find Alan’s designs, both old and new, together with news of forthcoming patterns. By visiting the toy patterns page you can easily view, select, and download original PDF files from an ever-increasing range of designs, starting at only £2.50 each.

If you’re a regular visitor you’ll notice a few changes have been made to the website to make it even easier for you to use. As the list of patterns has been steadily growing, and there are now over a hundred to choose from, they have been organised into groups so you can go straight to the pattern you want. However, if you prefer to scroll through the entire list, as before, this option is still available to you. After placing your order, you will no longer need to wait to receive an email, giving you a link address to download your patterns, and will now be immediately directed to the downloading page as soon as your order has been processed.

“The yarn shades quoted are those I used when designing each pattern and, whenever possible, I substitute any discontinued shade with a suitable alternative before adding a pattern to the website. However, yarn spinners discontinue colours on a regular basis, so you may find that some are now unavailable, and if you are unable to source a specified colour then you can simply choose a similar shade in a yarn of a matching weight. Most of my patterns are knitted in standard double knitting (DK) yarn, with just a few requiring Aran or Chunky weight yarns, and there are many spinners who produce these basic yarns. The majority of the patterns only use small amounts of each colour, so you may even have left-over yarn from other projects that you could use rather than buy full balls.

Begin your springtime revels this year by casting on and knitting my May Day Mice collection. This comprises a Maypole, complete with child dancers, the May Queen and her attendants, a Jack-in-the-Green, and a group of morris dancers, so you could knit one or all of the characters ….. and the May Queen group could also be adapted to create a mouse bride with her bridesmaids to celebrate a forthcoming wedding.

I have also designed a pattern of Percy the Pigeon, a character who appears in the children’s book, Matty-boy and the Secret Pigeon Racket by Anita Hunt, part of the proceeds of which will be donated to an anti-bullying charity. You can download the pattern for free by visiting www.areyoubeingbullied.com and clicking on ‘Knit a Percy’ in the top menu and following the instructions.

Although Haiti suffered its devastating earthquake in 2010, the country and people are still in desperate need of aid, so please look at my Haitian Ada pattern on the Toy Patterns page of this website. This pattern is free to download, but I am hoping that you will either make a donation for the pattern, or knit up the toy to sell and send the money you receive, to one of the funds that have been set up to help those who have been affected by this life-changing disaster. I know many of you will want to do something to help, and the last page of the pattern can be printed on thin card to make four tags which you can attach to your toys and provide a bit of information.

Happy toymaking!”

Another pattern released June