Sunday, June 08, 2014

Complex sockyarn toy

I did make one toy over break. I re-printed out the Joris pattern (I had lost my original copy) and grabbed a skein of "unloved" sockyarn (a self-patterning one I decided I was unlikely to make socks out of ever).

The yarn is an Online "Wellness Color" yarn - one of the ones that had aloe in it (I didn't really notice it feeling much different while knitting with it.)

This project took several days during break. It's a very complex pattern, and I made it tougher on myself by choosing a fine yarn (The original Joris pattern was written for dk weight yarn, but I remembered it as being for sockyarn. Oh well, it made a smaller and more managably-sized toy).

Pointy Pete

I decided to name him Pointy Pete, because of the points. (You've heard of Party Pete? Well, this is Pointy Pete.)

Actually, even though it's a challenge to knit, it's frankly a pretty brilliant pattern. Everything is knitted on to everything else - you start doing the head points by knitting one, then picking up stitches for each successive point on the edge of that one.

head spikes

Then you pick up stitches for the face. Then for the neck. The arms and legs are done like an afterthought heel on a sock - you knit over waste yarn, and when the body is done, you remove it and knit the limbs on.

As a result, there's no sewing together at the end, the "pelt" is all in one piece, and you stuff the critter through its bottom (which then gets finished off by drawing the yarn through the last few stitches).

There's something I find very aesthetically pleasing about making the critter all in one piece. It seems more "anatomical," in a sense.

And the little feet! They have spikes on them too.

foot

I'd definitely recommend that you be comfortable with picking up stitches and knitting in the round before attempting this pattern. Even for someone who's knit a lot of weird stuff like I have, it was kind of a stretch in some points - but it was fun because it was challenging.

1 comment:

purlewe said...

he is SUPER cute. I love how well shaped he is. Good job.