Garn Boet - The Yarn Nest

The penguins are finished. I had planned to make two for my niece, the penguin fan, but when the first one was ready, and my younger daughter saw it and fell in love with it, I couldn’t help myself, and I made a third. Already when knitting the first penguin I thought about how the pattern could be altered to make the sewing easier. But since my niece was about to get two penguins, I made no alterations on those but knitted them exactly as the pattern called for. Sofia’s penguin got the alterations, and I must admit it made assembling the penguin a lot easier and faster.

I washed and blocked the pieces for the two first penguins, making the mistake to put all the pieces in the washer to get the water away in the centrifuge. A good idea, except the fact that all the pieces had their ends free, not woven in. Look at this mess. It took me quite a while to sort it out, but I managed to get all ends saved for the sewing.

To sew the two first penguins together took a while. The back body and beak are knitted flat according to the pattern. For the third penguin I decided to start knitting the head on dpns at the stage where you increase stitches, and also to knit the beak in the round. The feet are knitted in two pieces that are supposed to be sewn together and then sewn to the body of the penguin. For the third penguin I cast on using the magic loop toe up cast on I have used for the Tiger socks and the Spindle socks. It was a bit tricky, since the pieces are so small, but not trickier in fact than knitting the feet pieces separate, and now I got the pieces knitted together at the same time. I really recommend this method. It also make the feet flatter as you can see on the picture above (the penguin to the right), and that again enables the penguin to stand better.

The wings are knitted as a flat piece. Again, in order not to have to sew the edges together, I used the magic loop method to knit them. The wings are, as you can see on the picture, much flatter, and, in my opinion, a bit more penguin like.

Project details:
Pattern: Pasha the penguin from Knitty, by Alexandra Virgiel.
Yarn: Black: Novita Seitsemän veljestä, white: Regia silk held doubled, yellow: Jamieson Spindrift held doubled.
Needles: 4 mm dpns and circular needles.
Alterations: Two without, one with, look above.

The penguin pattern is all in all an enjoyable one. The penguins are formed with short row knitting, something I like a lot (it’s only when it comes to short row toes and heels I’m more sceptical) and increases and decreases. I think they have a nice chubby body, and they are very huggable. Sofia’s penguin has already made trip to the archipelago, and been a constant bed time companion, and I’ve got reports that my niece is quite fond of her penguins too. She looked very happy when she got them, and hugged them with her whole small body. She’s a lovely child, not only because she loves my penguins. She is just so cute and huggable herself, like three and half years old only can be.

Posted by Maud at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (20) | TrackBacks (0)

First thanks to everybody for all the supportive Venezia comments! I loved reading them, and I found several interesting new blogs from following the commenters’ links.

I have been starting a couple of small projects since finishing Venezia and the spring cardi (I have buttons now; modelled pictures will be up soon). This post will be a short overview of what is on the needles now.

First up are the socks that figured in the seven facts meme. The model is Spindle socks, and the pattern is a freebie by Anna Bell. They are knitted with Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Baby, and the sharp eyed can see that the colour is the same as in the spring cardi. I thought it was a suspicious small amount of yarn stated for the cardi in pattern, and ordered two balls extra, thinking that I’ll make the socks if there is anything left. The amount of yarn, 10 balls for my size, was enough, and the two extra balls went into these socks. They are knitted on 2,5 mm needles. Anna’s pattern is knitted just the regular way, but since I wanted to use all the yarn for the socks, I decided to knit them from the toe up, using this pattern by Brooke Chenoweth Creel for the toes and the heels. The magic loop cast on for the toe she is using is made up by Judie Becker. It’s well known that I’m no fan of short row heels, and this pattern combines the toe-up style with a traditional heel. Perfect! I love this pattern. First sock close to bind off.

The second project is my penguin manufacturing. There is a cute pattern in Knitty, and I had some Novita Seitsemän veljestä yarn in black, almost a ball of Regia Silk in white and two different yellows in Jamieson’s Spindrift. Regia Silk doubled and the yellows doubled equalled almost the Novita yarn. There will be two penguins with different colours on the beaks and feet.

The third project is also a pair of socks. My youngest daughter is playing football in a team called Mimmitiikerit (a Mimmi is in Finnish a small girl, and also the name of Minnie Mouse, girlfriend of the mouse called Mickey, tiikeri is tiger). I have a 100 gram ball of Opal sock yarn in the colour way Tiger. What you see here is the beginning of a tiger coloured football sock. They are knitted from the toe up according to the same pattern as the Spindle socks, and the ribbing is the traditional football sock ribbing, 5 knit 1 purl stitch. I’m using 2,5 mm dpns, and I’m afraid the leg part will still take forever.

Posted by Maud at 02:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)