pepperknit

Remember the twins? My friends’ babies are growing at what seems to me an alarming rate. (Which is why I can’t knit them baby clothes right now. I’ve tried.) Interestingly, they’ve gone from not looking too much like either of their parents into a pair where one resembles dad, and the other clearly has her mom’s eyes. It’s fascinating.

This is Violet with the dodecahedron. Here’s here sister, Charlotte, with the icosahedron. This shot shows the red “base,” which wasn’t very clear in the FO post.

I spent a lovely day with the twins and their parents last weekend, in a snowy Connecticut. This meant we nestled down on the couch, and my friend and I knit. Or, rather, we had a tutorial. I’d taught her to knit back in college, and she was eager to pick it back up again to make a blanket for each of her girls. So we went over the basics of a log cabin, knitting up a little swatch, and we discussed yarn options. I can’t wait to see her progress–and I hope she knows I’ll be finding a way to feature it on the blog.

We also got to see the dinosaurs being well loved (well, Stegs–Trice must have crawled under the couch or something, because he didn’t come when we called).

I know you can’t tell, but Violet is chewing on his tail, and it’s awesome.

After finishing the dodecahedron on Saturday I planned on starting another, but then I got to thinking about polyhedrons and how easy it would be to make pretty much any shape. So I poked around Wikipedia and decided the icosahedron, a 20-sided shape, would be the way to go. I cast on Sunday morning, and cast off tonight.

It was fun! I used three colors–though I know it looks like just orange and yellow, the cast on and first row of each pyramid is in red. I will take better photos of the pair of toys in daylight soon.

Icosahedron
Yarn: Knit Picks Crayon, in red, orange, and yellow
Needles: US size 4 (3.5 mm)
Started: Sunday, Jan 20
Finished: Tuesday, Jan 22
Notes: Each of these pyramids is built on a triangle–mine were all 7 stitches to a side. I knit 4 rounds between decrease rounds, except for the last, where I knit 3 rounds. Each pyramid took about 20 minutes to make, and were mindless but fun. The last pyramid, however, was rather unpleasant.

Took 45 minutes, and made me want to quit! But I’m very happy I persevered. This toy is so much fun!

or dodecahedronical. (But since each piece is built off a pentagon, I’ve been thinking “pentagonical” for the past week.) This is in opposition to the “hexagonical” time I had with the skirt.

Celestine
First FO of 2008!
Yarn: Knit Picks Crayon, in blue and in green
Needles: US size 4 (3.5 mm)
Started: Saturday, Jan 12
Finished: Saturday, Jan 19
Notes: The pattern would make a much larger tree topper, but I wanted it baby-ish-sized (intending to give as a gift), so the base of each point is just 25 stitches. Also, the rate of decreasing would have made a much more rounded shape, and I wanted mine to come out on the pointy side, so I knit 6 rounds between decreases–and only decreased twice (once in the middle and on the last round). I cast on with blue, knit 1 round in blue, and then switched to 2 rounds green, 2 rounds blue.

Would I knit this again? I already am! Stay tuned for a new color combo . . .

Edited to Add (on March 25): Thanks to those who’ve come here via Whipup! To see the second toy, which was not a dodecahedron at all, go here.

Because there’s another dinosaur out there. This one just looking for your approval–he’s a little insecure but ultimately a happy guy.

Pattern: Trice
Yarn: Knitpicks Crayon, orange
Needles: US 3 Knitpicks circular
Started: 3pm Saturday
Finished: 1am Sunday
Total Time: 5 hours or so, a little more
Modifications:As with Mr. Stegs, I knit this one in the round and stuffed as I went. I’m not sure if I completely forgot the numbers I used for Stegs or if I just stuffed him more full, but he ended up more chubby than Mr. Stegs. And by golly if he isn’t just even cuter as a result!

But so I don’t forget the values I used in case I want to make one again (which I’m sure I will), and if any of you opt to knit it in the round, here’s what I did for casting on and getting to the 10 stitches that the pattern calls to be cast on.

Nose: Cast on 4 stitches. Kf/b in each stitch on next row. Knit one row plain. K1, kf/b, knit to last 2 stitches, kf/b, k1. 10 stitches.
Legs: Cast on 12 stitches, knit 12 rows. (K1, k2tog) around. Knit one row plain. K2tog around. Draw through (no plain row before drawing through).

The horns actually came out ok, so I’m considering adding Mr. Stegs’s tail spikes, but I’m not sure if I want to.

Love!

Or, just because I’m insane.

Or, just because I’m a show-off.

Or, just because it started to be a game.

Or, just because there’s no possible way I’ll keep this up after tonight, but I had to at least try!

That’s right folks. FOUR finished objects in FOUR DAYS. Is this a PR? Oh yeah. I’m no marathoner like my dad, but this was a knitting marathon, of sorts.

Pattern: Mr. Stegs
Yarn: KnitPicks Crayon in green, with blue for the eyes and mouth
Needles: KnitPicks size 3 circ for the body and legs, KnitPicks size 1 circ for the plates down his back.
Started: I’m not entirely sure. A few weeks ago, soon after a friend revealed she’s pregnant with twins. Actually, right before I started the green socks, because back then I talked about knitting something else green. So . . . January 18?
Finished: February 6.
For: One of the twins referenced above.
Modifications: I am not one for seaming, so I knit the body and the legs in the round, stuffing as I went. This made it far faster and more fun; you can see it take shape as you go. I knit each leg as a simple tube that I decreased for one round and drew it through (like the top of a hat). The plates caused me some trouble, because I considered making it more “accurate” by doing two rows of plates and offsetting them, but then I came to my senses and did what the pattern called for. It’s knit as a simple piece and sewed on, and though I toyed with the idea of picking up stitches down the guy’s back, I managed to come to my senses on this point also, and sewed it on (which took no time at all). The pattern said 8 plates, but I got through 7 and measured it along its back and that was enough. (I did this on the bus; a middle-aged man standing nearby eagerly asked “is that a dinosaur!?” and I was really happy he could tell right away. He even said “I could tell right away; it really looks like one!”)

As for other modifications . . . because I used my own yarn and needles, I went by look and feel more than pattern in a few cases, including the length of the legs (not sure what they’re supposed to be, but I liked a little squatter, and it stands up on them just fine), and the height of the plates (in the pattern, 5 stitches wide at their widest, but for this yarn, I felt 6 was better. I could maybe have gone higher, but it’s fine). Oh, and I didn’t do the tail spikes because the yarn just doesn’t hold up to that.

I love him. Adorable. I’ll make a triceratops to match so each of the twins gets a dinosaur. Yay for knitting for twin babies!

And a big Yay for finishing! This is the most satisfying feeling. Thanks for all the comments and encouragement! (Tomorrow I’m going out to dinner, so there’s just no way. It’s going to be a while before anything else hits FO status.)

Oh, and this all does a lot for my stashbusting, which is another awesome feeling.

I just had to share this story with you all, because it made me so happy.

Last Thursday I stayed up past 1am to finish knitting Mr Mumbles for our friend before the boy left for a weekend with the guys. He got back Sunday night and started telling me about the trip, when I cut him off—did you remember to give Mr Mumbles to AC?

The boy assured me that he’d given AC the toy, and that AC had loved it. I asked if Mumbles got wet or anything (the East Coast had intense downpours Friday night—I even lost power!), and he quickly said, “no, no, he was fine.” I replied, “Oh, I guess he was just tossed in a car after you gave him.”

But no! Apparently Mr Mumbles became the lucky charm/mascot of the entire weekend! (Especially at their poker games.) AC had trouble remembering the name we’d come up with, always supplying a different M-word: Marbles, Muffeleta, etc. I think Muffeleta stuck, because he sent me some pictures today and called him Muffeleta. There were more shots, mostly guys hamming it up with the toy. (None of my boyfriend with him, though.) I will share with you this silly one; a friend making a new friend, I guess:

I emailed the guy in this photo to ask him what the heck he’s doing, and he claims that this is not him in the shot. Perhaps I should blur his face, but too bad—I love him posturing while clutching a knit toy! :)

I barely had time to squeeze this little toy onto my sidebar, because I realized at 7 am Thursday that I needed to knit him. My boyfriend is headed out this weekend for a trip to Cooperstown with the guys, and he leaves in about 5 hours. One of his friends, AC, has a baby on the way, and I wanted to knit a toy for the impending offspring. Hence, Mr Mumbles, the cousin of Mr Clunky.

Pattern: Kate from knitty.com
Yarn: KnitPicks’s Crayon in Project Spectrum blue, with some green
Needles: Addi Turbo US size 3 40″ circ
Method: Magic Loop
Started: Around 7 am on Thursday, June 1
Finished: 1am on Friday, June 2
Modifications: As with Mr. Clunky, I didn’t knit any arms or legs. I think it’s cuter without. I also got very distracted in my rush to get this finished and forgot to knit straight for the head/neck; I kept decreasing until I had 3 stitches between decreases. When I realized it, I decided to just increase from there back to having 5 stitches between shaping, giving the head a more rounded shape. It’s also, as a result, smaller. For the ears, I cast on only 12 stitches, rather than the pattern’s 16, since his head is so small. Oh, and I did the litle zigzag stripe, just for some fun.
Name: Back when I made Mr Clunky, the boy suggested Mr Mumbles for his name. But he’s so much more a Clunky. I pretty much set out to make this a Mr Mumbles, and I have to say, I think it’s a fitting name. There’s just something about him . . .
Time Crunch: I knit him in about 3 or 3.5 hours total, but it was hard to find the time to do so! Because of summer hours at work, I had to get in an hour earlier than during other seasons, so I knit from about 7:02 until 7:25, when I had to pack up to leave for the office. Then I knit during lunch for a little bit, but most of lunch was spent eating and doing some work. In the afternoon I took a brief break (15 minutes, maybe) from work and knit a little more. From there it was yoga, then out to dinner with the boy—when all was said and done, I was picking Mumbles back up again at row 22 at 10:45 pm. Sigh! The boy tried to convince me to just let it alone, but I was determined. I said I’d go for an hour and see where I was. Since I was at the head, I figured I had to keep going. And then it was just a question of sewing on the ears!

This pattern is so much fun as a jumping off point for dreaming up new toys. I hope the little one enjoys whispering his or her secrets into his ears; Mumbles will certainly keep them.

Last night I tooled around with a gift for my friend LK’s baby. LK is perhaps a bigger Buffy fan than I am; she owns all 6 seasons on DVD, whereas I stalled out at the first 3 (and she bought me season 3!). Now, I don’t know if the baby will be a boy or a girl, but I think she’ll like a Buffy-themed gift even if she has a boy—maybe he’ll grow up to have all the good qualities of, say, Xander (but not the dumb ones).

So I knit up a baby-sized Mr. Pointy.

I’m also giving her this Buffy toy. This package cracks me up, especially because it “Includes Rocket Launcher, and Right Arm of the Judge.” (So this is early Buffy; season 2.)

I took notes while I knit up Mr. Pointy, in case someone else wanted to make one, but honestly it’s not something that really needs a pattern. Here’s a vague pattern for what I did, which took about an hour to do:

Mr. Pointy
Yarn: Lana Gatto Wool Gatto, in brown (or pick whatever you have on hand)
Needles: US 3 circular for I-cord and magic loop (or dpns)

Stuff as you go—it’s easier.

• Cast on 3 stitches; work I-cord for 5 rows
• Start randomly increasing stitches—don’t increase evenly around. A stitch here, a stitch there, maybe 3 here, 2 there. Be erratic.
• Knit even for a few rows between increases.
• On some increase rows, increase several in one spot and decrease (k2tog) a little later in the row. (Mr. Pointy is kind of gnarled when Kendra gives it to her; this makes the effect more erratic and gnarled.)
• Continue until it’s about 4 inches long, or the length you’d like. If you make it longer, keep increasing as you go so it feels proportional.
• Increase until you have an even number of stitches.
• At the end, k2tog around
• Knit one row even
• k2tog around
• k2tog around again, if you want
• Break yarn, draw through, and hide the end inside the toy.

I’m quite happy with the result, and it continues my budding trend of giving completely weird and seemingly useless gifts to expecting friends. I originally thought I’d be making a sweater or something else for this kiddo, but I’m going to see the parents this weekend at a wedding, and I wanted to give something now. Plus this is so LK-inspired, I have to do it!

After finishing Kiri, I had a little PPD: post-project depression. I didn’t want to knit anything else. But, of course, I had a baby to knit for–our friend BK’s baby shower was Saturday, so I whipped up (if by “whipped up” I mean took an inordinately long time, compared with my speed on other projects) a Nautie for the upcoming baby girl.

BK and his wife live in Virginia, and the boy and I were already planning a brief trip to Columbia, so we went to the baby shower first. It was pouring rain the whole way down, but I happily finished up Nautie’s face in the car. I also went a little crazy with the photos. I got a bit bored being in the car for so long . . . [new glasses!]

Pattern: Nautie, from Knitty
Yarn: Knit Picks’ Crayon in Project Spectrum yellow and orange
Needles: Addi Turbo circs size 5
Started: Sunday, April 15
Finished: Saturday, April 22 (in the car, just about an hour before arriving at the party)
Recipient: Baby girl of high school friend BK, due May 20
Notes: I flubbed the pattern at first–it’s a 4-row pattern, but in my brain I made it 5, so the distance between increases on the inside of the shell are longer than they’re supposed to be. This made Nautie bigger, but that’s fine with me. He tucked into my lap/arm very nicely for the drive after he was finished. I only did 7 hanging beardlike things, because I got sick of making them (the pattern suggests 8). Oh, and I didn’t have black felt so I just embroidered on eyes using black yarn. I found the knitalong just a few days ago, but I was almost done and it seemed not worth it to join.

I find this the most delightfully creepy gift for a baby. I thing it’s impossibly cute, but in all honesty, it’s a little scary. I picked orange and yellow because I am vehemently opposed to giving girls pink things just because they’re girls, and I much prefer gender-neutral colors. The dad-to-be (a perpetually good-natured guy) good-naturedly laughed at it, the mom-to-be (who I don’t know very well) made one of those faces that are like “uh, ok, not sure what I think of that,” and that’s ok with me. The best part about it? After BK held it up for all to see, he set Nautie down on the arm of his wife’s chair, and there Nautie sat for the rest of the present-opening. So about half of their “here’s what we got!” photos have Nautie sitting in the center. Hee!

Look what I made!

Click to see him up close!

Yesterday I tried to knit and do work at the same time. Guess what eventually won that challenge. Yes, this little thing. I’m callinghim done.

Pattern: Kate from knitty.com
Yarn: KnitPicks’s Crayon in red and orange
Needles: Addi Turbo US size 3 40″ circ
Method: Magic Loop
Started: Around 2 pm on Saturday, March 4
Finished: 8:30 am on Sunday, March 5 (just had to sew on the 2nd ear)
Modifications: Obviously, I opted for no arms or legs. I sewed on the face using the orange yarn. (It’s a little off-center. Oops.) I also didn’t do the striping the pattern calls for, but instead just did a contrasting band. (I started this band 2 rows after the first color change in the pattern, but ended it where the shirt ends on the real Kate.)
Name: I’m calling him Mr. Clunky, but I recognize that it’s not a very appropriate name. My boyfriend has dubbed him Mr. Mumbles, and I know that’s a better name, but I think he’ll always be Mr. Clunky to me, now that I’ve called him that more than once.
Going to: I was thinking that this would accompany the baby sweater for my boss’s baby, but this might be perfect for the coworker I’m not very close with instead. She’s not due til July, so I’ll have plenty of time to play with it myself. I will probably make more, for other babies, but not too many for coworkers—it would look a little factory-ish, don’t you think? Actually, no. He’s all mine. I’ll never give him away!
Edited to add: I placed him next to the potted plant as some kind of a scale indicator, but I would like to point out that she stands up all on his own and is incredibly cute doing so.