It's Fred!



Fred the Robot!


Fred says: don't push my buttons.



I pretty much followed the pattern from the book as written. The main differences are that Fred's mouth is duplicate stitch (which I am not so good at) instead of stem stitch, and the buttons. I added a few vintage buttons to Fred to decorate him. The large one is an odd button from one of the packets I bought in McKinney last time I was there and the smaller buttons are from a large pack of assorted "vintage" plastic buttons (I'm guessing 50s or 60s from the colors) that I bought years ago from a supply house called Best Dressed Doll. (I think they're out of business now - they used to have all kinds of interesting "warehouse finds" of stuff).

I've started Ginger the Robot (Fred's companion). I think her color combination is going to be more garish - I hope it winds up looking okay.

Fred is very nice and "squashy." When I was a kid, I didn't really have any knitted toys - most of the soft toys I had were sewn, and a lot of them were stuffed pretty firmly. I tend to think that being softly stuffed and, as I said, "squashy," makes a toy more loveable.

I also think I eventually want to make the "Squarey" pillow from this same pattern book - Fred would make a nice pillow if he were a bit bigger. I'll just have to figure out what colors would make the best "Squarey" for my living room. Possibly a warm yellow with burgundy and maybe sage-green stripes, if that doesn't look too loud a combination. Or maybe tan with burgundy and sage-green. (At any rate: it will be a little while because I AM doing "Use what you have" month, and I want to work down on some of my supplies).

I may have to violate "use what you have" though for one little thing - I think I will need to get more stuffing before I can finish Ginger. (and I don't like going the finely-shredded-fabric or cut-up pantyhose route that some people use).