Free Pattern: Alien-Bug-Critter from TI-99's "The Attack"

Here is a silly little Christmas present of sorts from me to you - a pattern I was talking about working up the other day. I realize that you might have to have been a kid of the early 80s - and even moreso, a kid of the early 80s whose family had a TI 99/4A computer system - to understand this and "get" it, but I figure there must be some other folks out here who remember this thing.



I was talking about a project that “made me laugh” yesterday. I was inspired – both by the Space Invaders knit toy pattern I linked to the other day and Jess Hutchinson’s Robot pattern – to make one of the alien-critter-bug things from the old TI 99 game called “The Attack” (some information and screenshots here)

I used a very similar technique to Ms. Hutchinson’s robots, so I e-mailed her to get permission to use a modification of that in this. She was very gracious and encouraging and I thank her.

If you want to make one of these, please do so. If you want to make them as gifts, great. If you want to make them to sell for charity (though they don't seem to me to be stereotypical church-basement crafts sale fare), go ahead. Just - please don't sell them for profit, and please don't take the pattern and claim you did it, or sell the pattern. Thanks. (If you want more info, please e-mail me.)

Here are some general, “pithy” instructions on how to do it. I will have charts at the end of the pattern, as well as pictures of the finished critter. It knits up quite fast - you could probably do it in less than a day if that was the only thing you were working on. A good last-minute gift if you have any old-skool computer gamers.

I used Paton’s Classic Wool in Pumpkin and Winter White. It takes about half a skein of the Pumpkin and just small amounts of the white. You can use any smooth worsted-weight yarn in the right colors. These alien-critter-bug things were kind of a burnt orange color (at least on the tv that we used as a monitor for the computer) and the Pumpkin is just about the right color.

I used size 6 (4 mm) straight needles for the bodies, and two size 8 (5.5 mm) dpns for the I-cord for the antennae and legs. I started at the head and worked down, and added in an intarsia panel for the “eyespot” these things had. I put the “eyespot” in the up orientation for the front, and then, when I started the back, I realized that I could make the back with the eyespot in the other, “down” orientation (in the game, the alien-critter-bugs had an eyespot that bounced up and down on its body from the belly to the head).

I’m not totally satisfied where the eyespot worked up on my prototype so I changed the back pattern and chart to post here so the “belly” eyespot will not be down so low.

Of course, you can make the front just with the eyespot in the position you prefer and make the back all plain.

Gauge is not crucial; you just want it not to be so loose the stuffing shows through. I got about 16 sts to 4" and 20 rows to 4", if you want a ballpark figure.

Directions:

Front, with eyespot in “up” position.
Head
Cast on 28 stitches.
Starting with a knit row, knit in stockinette for 6 rows.
Row 7: knit 7, change to white, knit 14, change back to pumpkin. You will be knitting this as intarsia so don’t forget to twist the yarns when you change color, so you will not have a hole.

Rows 8 through 13: Continuing in stockinette, work 7 sts pumpkin, 14 sts white, and 7 sts pumpkin. Don’t forget to twist the yarns at every color change.

Break off white after row 13 and continue in pumpkin. Do 5 more stockinette rows; you will be ending with a WS row (row 18).

Body: After knitting those 18 head rows, cast on 11 stitches at the beginning of each of the next 2 rows. Use the “e-wrap” cast on. This will form the “shoulders” of the toy

You will have 50 stitches once you have cast on all the stitches.

Once all the stitches have been cast on, knit in stockinette for 34 rows and bind off.

Back, with eyespot in “down” position:
Head:

Cast on 28 sts and, starting with a knit row, knit in stockinette for 18 rows

Body:
At the beginning of the next two rows, cast on 11 sts for each “shoulder”

You will have 50 sts total.

Starting with the first row after all the sts have been cast on (which should be a p row), knit in stockinette for 13 rows. Then, on the next row, knit 18 pumpkin, knit 14 white (don’t forget to twist the yarns to avoid holes), and knit 18 pumpkin.

Knit the next 6 rows following this pattern to make the eyespot. You will end after row 20.

Break off the white yarn and work stockinette stitch in pumpkin for 14 more rows (a total of 34 rows). Bind off.

Antennae: make two
Using size 8 dpns, work 4 ½ inches of 5 stitch I-cord. At the end of the I-cord, finish off the last row by k 2 tog, k1 k 2 tog and then in the next row bind off the three remaining stitches.

Legs: make two
Again using size 8 dpns, work 5 ½ inches of 6 stitch I-cord. At the end of the I-cord, finish off by k 2 tog 3 times and bind off the 3 sts remaining.

Working up the alien. (There is a lot of sewing here).

Start by tying off or weaving in the ends of the intarsia bits (as this will be on the inside of the toy it doesn’t have to be perfectly neat but it should be secure). Next, put the two body sides together, WS facing, and seam (as you would seam a sweater) all around the body except for the bottom. (use the pumpkin colored yarn for this).

Leave part or all of the bottom open for stuffing.

Stuff the alien-critter-bug thing with fiberfill (or wool stuffing, if you can get it). Don’t use small “wads” of stuffing; I pulled my fiberfill off into big sheets and inserted it carefully so it stayed smooth. You want the toy to be full enough but also fairly flat.

When it is sufficiently stuffed, seam up the opening. Attach the I-cord antennae to the corners of the head, and the I-cord legs to the bottom corner of the body.

The I-cord will be kind of floppy and you can move it back and forth. In the game the alien-critter-bug things’ antennae tips moved in and out, as did the bottoms of their legs. (If you have played the game you will get what I mean.)

If you wanted to, you could probably use wire or chenille stems in the antennae and legs to give them more stiffness and poseability – but I’d not use that if I were giving the toy to a young child or if I intended to use it as a pillow.

The funny thing about knitted toys – something that I remember as having been a rather ominous (perhaps even slightly frightening) video game character (from when I was a child) becomes a little bit goofy and even kind of endearing when knit into a toy.



The alien-critter-bug relaxes in one of my armchairs.


And here it is showing you its backside. Cheeky bug.

(As I said - I wasn't satisfied with the position of this "eyespot" on this, my prototype, so I moved it up a few rows in the instructions and charts I'm giving).

If you wanted to go even further to make this into a gift for someone who remembered the game, you could look at the online “screenshots” and use them as a guide to make up a little square gift bag to put the alien-critter-bug in: you could appliqué or embroider a “1” on it (the alien-critter-bug things emerged from numbered boxes that counted down – 1 was, of course, the last number before the alien-critter-bug thing hatched.)

So, here are the charts, for those who prefer a chart:

Front:


and Back: