Happy Octopus

I've been making Hansi Singh's octopus pattern for quite some time now.  I love it, the octopi are cute and the bendable legs are so creative, but I wanted to make something a bit more cuddly.  So I made a less anatomical correct squishy octopus.  Super simple design, basically just a ball and some tubes, but the result is pretty cute.

Cabled Creature

 Been kicking around the ideas for a guy like this for a while.  You always see cables on scarves, sweaters, and mittens, but rarely on stuffed toys.  Though it was a nice twist. :)

Double Knit Adventures

I've done some double knitting in the past, but never really made an actual project out of it.  Mostly just little patches for fun.  I decided it was time to embark on a larger double knitting adventure! So I made a hat.

One thing I learned on this project that I didn't really learn on my smaller double knitting experiments is that double knitting takes twice as long.  Who would have guessed? :P  Also, I was knitting in the round orange side out, and you can tell the orange side looks a little better than the blue.  I need to work on that.  I think what happens is that I don't pull as tightly or as consistently when I purl, so the blue side looks a bit lumpy and uneven.  But it looks fine when it's on a head, so that's good.

Made another double knit hat, this one portal themed!  I had this idea since I first started experimenting with double knitting and I am glad I finally got around to it.  I also have a good idea for a double knit Super Meat Boy/Bandage Girl scarf.  That will probably happen sometime.

I plan on selling both of these at Anime Detour in Minneapolis later this month.  Speaking of which, I need to get knitting!  There is so much to do!

Jake the Dog

Jake the Dog

Materials:

Size 3 (3.25 mm) straight knitting needles

Size 4 (3.5 mm) double pointed needles

Yarn:  Two skeins of Vanna’s Choice yarn in Mustard

A small amount of black yarn

Tapestry Needle

Sewing needle

Black thread

Two circles of black felt 2” in diameter

Two circles of white felt 1.5” in diameter

Small oval of black felt (approx 1” across and .5” high)

Stuffing

Notes:

Inc: Knit/Purl front and back

Dec: Knit/Purl two together

When sewing together pieces, use the invisible horizontal/vertical seam methods.

I find that the cable cast on method works best for this project.

Body (Make 2):

CO 30 st

R1) Knit

R2) P1, inc, purl until last two st, inc, P1 (32 st)

R3) Knit

R4) P1, inc, purl until last two st, inc, P1 (34 st)

R5) Knit

R6) P1, inc, purl until last two st, inc, P1 (36 st)

R7) Knit

R8) P1, inc, purl until last two st, inc, P1 (38 st)

R9-R69) Knit odd rows, purl even rows

R70) P1, dec, purl until last three st, dec, P1 (36 st)

R71) Knit

R72) P1, dec, purl until last three st, dec, P1 (34 st)

R73) Knit

R74) P1, dec, purl until last three st, dec, P1  (32 st)

R75) Knit

R76) P1, dec, purl until last three st, dec, P1  (30 st)

R77) Knit.

Cast off.

Jowls:

Forming the lower jowls:

CO 5 st

R1) inc, purl until last stitch, inc (7 st)

R2) Knit

R3) inc, purl until last stitch, inc  (9 st)

R4-R13) Knit even rows, purl odd rows

R14) Purl all stitches, then CO 5 stitches (14 st)

Cut yarn and place all stitches on a stitch holder.  Repeat rows 1-14 again.  Cut yarn and then pick up the stitches from the stitch holder such that the five cast on stitches from each piece “meet” in the middle.  Also, arrange your stitches such that you will pick up working on the right side. (28 st)

R15) Knit

R16) Purl

R17) Knit

R18) Purl

R19) K1, dec, knit until last three st, dec, K1 (26 st)

R20) Purl

R21) K1, dec, knit until last three st, dec, K1  (24 st)

Cast off.

Putting the body together:

Start by stitching together the two sides of Jake’s body.  Begin at the bottom using an invisible stitch and work your way up the sides.  Once you have almost reached the top, take a break.  We are going to add the facial features. 

Now, since I improvise my designs, the jowls ended up being a bit difficult to work with.  There is definitely more jowl than needed.  I started sewing the jowls to the body from the top of the jowls and working my way down until I had deemed I had reached optimal Jake jowl length.  I tucked a decent amount of the jowls up into themselves since they were a little long.  But this works out fine since his jowls need to be stuffed anyways. 

Before you finish sewing the jowls up, make sure to put a little bit of stuffing in them to lift them off the face.

Next, take some of your black yarn and give your Jake a smile!

After that we want to sew on the eyes.  Cut out your circles of white and black felt.  Sew (using needle and thread) the white circles onto the black so that the tops of the circles are lined up.  Next sew the eyes onto your body.  When figuring out where to put the eyes, I like to stuff Jake to get a better idea of what he will look like filled out.  I then pin the eyes in place and take the stuffing out before sewing them on.  Try and get them as close to the jowls as you can.

Next sew on your oval of black felt for this nose.  Sew this right onto the jowls.

Go back to stitching the two sides of the Jake together, stuffing as you go. (We are going to add the legs/arms/tail/and ears onto the body after he is stuffed and sewn together).  Make sure you have stuffed him sufficiently, and then finish stitching him up, hiding the loose ends within the body.

Ears (Make one on each side of head):

With DPN, pick up 15 stitches in an oval where you want to place the ears. (I placed them directly on the side, slightly under the top of his head)

**You can choose to just knit the legs/arms/ears/tail off the body, and then sew them on afterward. I find that picking up stitches leads to a cleaner look.

R1-R6) Knit

R7) *K4, inc* three times (18 st)

R8-R12) Knit

R13) *K1, dec* six times (12 st)

R14) Knit

R15) *dec* six times  (6 st)

Thread yarn through remaining stitches and pull tight. Tie off.

Arms and Legs:

With DPN, pick up 18 stitches in an oval where you would like the legs/arms.  (I usually make it a pretty thin oval, as this allows for easy bending)

Continue in stockinet stitch until you reach the desired length.  My arms and legs are somewhere between 5 and 6 inches long.  Seeing as Jake is a magical dog, the length is up to you!

Keep track of how many rows you make on your first arm/leg so that the other will be even!

When the arms/legs are the length you want them, stuff them firmly and finish using these three rows:

R1) *K1, dec* six times (12 st)

R2)  Knit

R3) *dec* six times (6 st)

Thread yarn through stitches and pull tight.  Tie off.

Tail:

With DPN, pick up 15 stitches in an oval where you would like the tail.

R1-R5) Knit

R6) *K3, dec* three times (12 st)

R7) Knit

R8) Knit

R9) *K2, dec* three times (9 st)

R10) Knit

R11) Knit

Add a small amount of stuffing.

R12) *K1, dec* three times (6 st)

R13) *dec* three times (3 st)

Thread yarn through remaining stitches and pull tight. Tie off.

You should now have your very own Jake the Dog!

As always, writing out patterns is not one of my strengths in this process.  Please let me know if you need clarification on anything! Good luck!

Hats

Whipped up a few simple hats in December.  Nothing special.  One slouchy hat that is very fuzzy and comfortable.

And a cabled hat made from hand dyed wool.  

That's all for now! Expect a Jake the Dog pattern next week!

Calcifer

Hello again!

I don't know about you but I am a huge Hayao Miyazaki fan.  It is my goal to eventually own all of the movies he has made.  So far my collection is small, but includes my favorite (My Neighbor Totoro) and a few others.  Among these is Howl's Moving Castle.  By far my favorite character in this movie is the fire demon Calcifer.  He's just got a loveable spunk!  So I decided to knit up a Calcifer of my own.

Calcifer is made of fire and I wanted to get the colors right, so I decided to hand dye some yarn for this project.  I initially dyed the yarn yellow and then made a gradient with some red.  The result is quite flame like.  Next, I just knit him up, added some facial features, and BAM!  Cute little fire demon!

 

 

In other news, I was recently interviewed about my Finn the Human pattern! Check out the interview here!

Appologies

Hello readers!

I would like to apologize for my serious lack of posting recently.  I have been busy knitting, but busy with a lot of other things as well. I plan on posting my creations from the last few months very soon. 

And good news to all you Adventure Time fans out there! I have finally finished my Jake pattern!  Procrastination definitely won out when it came to that pattern. :/  Anyways, I PROMISE to post the pattern in the next month.  Promise.  I am right now making a note on my calendar.  Right now!

Proof!