Amigurumi Squid: Knit Pattern (WIP)

Since I cannot crochet anything without making a horrible knotted mess of things and I want to make a stuffed squid (I'm wierd like that), I decided to adapt this pattern for knitting. I'll be updating this entry with the complete pattern once it's written, but here's what I have so far...

This is the first time I've adapted such a pattern, so things may or may not run smoothly. Hopefully everything will work out, though.


Materials:

Worsted weight yarn
Stuffing
US Size 2 or 3 needles (something to make your stitches tight)
Buttons or second color contrasting yarn to embroider eyes
Tapestry needle
Stitch marker (optional, but very helpful!)

Abbreviations:

CO = cast on
k = knit
p = purl
s = slip stitch knit-wise
k2tog = knit two stitches together
k1fb = knit one into the front and back of each stitch (increases by 1 stitch)
sts = stitches
BO = bind off

Gauge:

Gauge isn't critical for this project. Just be sure that when you knit, your stitches are tight enough so that no stuffing shows through or can fall out.

Fins:

Make Two. Done in Garter Stitch
CO 7 stitches (I used the Old Norweigan cast on, but any cast on method is fine.)
Row 1-2: k7
Row 3: s1, k2tog, k to end
Row 4: k6
Row 5: s1, k2tog, k to end
Row 6: k5
Row 7: s1, k2tog, k to end
Row 8: k4
Row 9: s1, k2tog, k to end
Row 10: k3
Row 11: s1, k2tog, k to end
Row 12: k2
Row 13: k2tog
You now have one stitch. Pull thread through and leave about a ten-inch tail.

Body:

CO 4 stitches
Knit as I-cord: Row 1: k1fb all stitches. You now have 8 stitches total.
Divide evenly onto 3 needles and join. Be careful not to twist your stitches. The rest of this will be worked in the round.
Row 2-3: k8
Row 4: [k1, k1fb] x 4 (12 sts)
Row 5-6: k12
Row 7: [k3, k1fb] x 3 (15 sts)
Row 8: k15
Row 9: [k4, k1fb] x 3 (18 sts)
Row 10: k18
Row 11: [k5, k1fb] x 3 (21 sts)
Row 12: k21
Row 13: [k6, k1fb] x 3 (24 sts)
Row 14: k24
Row 15: [k7, k1fb] x 3 (27 sts)
Row 16-35: k27 or as long as desired.
BO in knit.
Sew on button eyes or apply duplicate stitch to make eyes according to the chart (which will be uploaded later).

Tentacles:

Make two.
CO 8 stitches on straight needles (you can also use 2 dpns)
Row 1: k7, turn
Row 2: k to end, turn
Row 3: k6, turn
Row 4: k to end, turn
Row 5: k5, turn
Row 6: k to end, turn
Row 7: k4, turn
Row 8: k to end, turn
Row 9: k3, turn
Row 10: k to end, turn
Row 11: k2, turn
Row 12: k to end, turn
Row 13: k1, turn
Row 14: k to end, turn
Row 15: k8
Row 16: s1, k2tog, k2, k2tog, s1 (6 stitches left)
Row 17: k6
Row 18: s1, k1, k2tog, k1, s1 (5 sts)
Row 19-20: k5
Row 21: k2tog, k1, k2tog (3 sts)
Knit as I-cord:
Row 22: k3
Row 23: k1, k1fb, k1 (4 sts)
Row 24: k4
Row 25: [k1, k1fb] x 2 (6 sts)
Row 26: k6
Row 27: [k2, k1fb] x 2 (8 sts)
Change to dpns and join in the round.
Row 28-??: k8
BO in knit.

We will also be making the bottom of the body and eight arms. More on that to come later.


Credits:

Original Pattern Idea: Amigurumi Squid from Crochet Me
Adapted Tentacles: Bumble Cat Toy (the wings)
Bottom of Body Adapted From: Knitting a Flat Circle at Knit Me! Amigurumi!

Feel free to use this pattern for gifts or for yourself. Please do not try to sell it or things you've made. It's alright with me if you make squids for your friends and have them pay for yarn. If you do use this pattern, please leave a comment and let me know how it works.

Projects Update

So for the HLBOES, I think I know what pattern I'm going to make for Minerva's hat. That is, if I can pull it off... it's an intermediate-level pattern with lots of cables. Fun.

Projects to Start/Finish:

• Snake for Jax! It was supposed to be done by Christmas... sorta, but I haven't quite started yet. Maybe it'll be for her birthday instead.
• Hat for my sister. It'll be a simple one, knitted in bulky weight and only one color. It's just that I have to get off my behind and start working on it.
• Mini-sock for the Reducio Mini-Sock Swap! Since I don't know what colors it'll be in, I can't exactly start that yet.
• Crocheting a squid for the Mini-Swap. Again, I have to go get the yarn or use stash yarn. Either would work, probably.
• Uhm, my socks? I fail epically at picking up along the gusset and I still haven't been able to figure it out, so I don't think they'll get done very soon.
• Tube scarf for me. This'll be my "take with me in my bag" project, as a tube scarf in stockinette stitch is very easy, just a lot of knitting.

Newly Finished Projects (Pictures Soon?):

• Fair Isle bag I made for my sister! I am most proud of this one because it took me forever to finish it, though most of it was telling myself to finish the lining.
  
• Wine cosy I made for my grandmother. This one was just a major pain because the yarn was more difficult to handle than what I'm used to.
  
• Two hats as Christmas gifts.
• Almost a plethora of washcloths... I still want one for myself, so that's what I'll be knitting while traveling today, probably.

But that's all for now! See you all later.

Hanukkah Socks

In regards to LavA's post over at the Huffle Sock KAL, I'm attempting to do my first real chart design... so hopefully it'll work out okay.

I looked around on ravelry and I found there really wasn't much there in the way of Hanukkah socks... hence verifying what LavA said.

I've never done much designing before and I'd really like to work with a dreidel motif for this project.

And no, I've never made a pair of socks before. So it'll be an adventure. I'm making a pair of green and grey House socks for me. Slytherin socks! Woot!!!

And no, I'm not Jewish, either. Nor do I celebrate Hanukkah. I just think this would be a totally awesome project to undertake.

If nothing else, it would be a good lesson in charting patterns.

As an aside, I'm happy that my little RAOK arrived safely. I got a note from Andromeda today. ^_^

Away

I haven't updated in awhile, but I've finished the Fibonacci striped bag I made and I'm going to be statrting a plethora of Christmas gifts for people... including two for a certain someone. Unfortunately, things in life are conspiring against me and I won't be able to knit much over the next week or so because of school committments and the like.

So that's where I've been. If you need to reach me, either leave a comment here or if you're on ravelry, you can contact me through there as well.

Mr. Fibonacci, I presume?

So Mr. Fibonacci is my new hero. Not really, but numbers are quite pretty and I'm now knitting a Fibonacci stripes bag for myself. It's in royal blue and light purple, worsted weight yarn and I'll post the complete pattern here when I'm finished.

Materials
-US 7 Needles
-Worsted Weight Yarn (I used Red Heart SuperSaver Acrylic) in 2 Colors - MC and CC
-4.0mm Crochet Hook
-Tapestry Thread
-Lining for Inside of Bag

Abbreviations
CO: Cast On
St st: stockinette stitch
MC: main color
CC: contrasting color

CO 48 stitches in MC.
*St st 2 rows.
Change to CC.
St st 3 rows.
MC st st 5 rows.
CC st st 2 rows.
MC st st 3 rows.
CC st st 5 rows.
Repeat from * until bag is desired length. For my bag, I repeated the pattern 3 times.
For the last time you're doing the CC stockinette stitch, do only three rows, bind off on the fourth row. Bind off loosely in pattern. Repeat.
This will be the outside of your Fibanocci bag.

For lining the bag, you will need two pieces of fabric. I like to use cotton. Wash the cotton according to the machine instructions and you'll sew the fabric onto the inside of the bag. Make sure the Vs on the stockinette stitch are pointing towards the outside.

Swaps

So while Andromeda is the HoH for swap, I'm going to be working on the Tri-Wizard Tournament, so that should be a lot of fun and I'm actually quite excited.

I'm also excited because I'll get to do HSKS7 this year and return for another term. Now I'll not only be more experienced as a swapper, but also as a knitter and so I won't have to be so inventive with my patterns for the handmade object. I'll actually be able to take a pattern (maybe from the wonderful book Dagmara gave me?) and use that.

In other news, I finished the child's size hat and I already put it in the collection bin. It turned out rather nice. I'm thinking about putting the pattern up online for anyone who wants to use it. It's a basic beanie pattern with a bit of colorwork, which is what makes it fun. The colorwork is originally done in one contrasting color, though it could easily be adapted for two.

Anyways, I should go soon. It's time to start the day and I'll get the pattern up later. It's a very fast knit.

Swap Reflection

So this whole swap has been one entire learning experience for me. Here's a quick recap of what I've learned over the past two months as I've been working on various projects.

Please don't read if you don't want spoilers about what's in the kit for Cassandra. Thanks.

Colorwork. I've never done colorwork other than those horizontal stripes before, so this was a first in many areas. Not only have I learned how to do duplicate stitch on something flat with a chart, but I've also learned how to duplicate stitch on something that's small and knitted in the round (2 dozen stitches on size 1.5 needles). I've also given a try at undeliberate fair isle-type colorwork, as demonstrated in the hat I made for SPEW.

Cabling. This was probably my favorite part of what I did for the project, but I was able to cable the handle to the bag I made. It turned out nicely, but you can see my cables get better as you go from one end to the other; it was the first thing I've ever cabled.

Hats. This was actually the first hat I made. Not only did it involve colorwork, K2P2 ribbing and decreasing in a pattern, but the hardest part of the project was transferring from the circular to the dpns. I'll keep that in mind next time I make a hat because I dropped just about every third stitch and had to pick it up again.

Any sort of blocking/finishing. This should be self-explanatory... especially with the bag.

Dreaded Kitchener Stitch. Actually, it wasn't that bad and the book I have made a lot of sense with the way it was explained. Shaping the heel and working with the gusset on the mini-sock I made was actually a lot more difficult. This was the first sock I've ever made and I got lots of pictures of it because I'm not keeping it for myself.

This isn't something new, but I've always found it difficult to come up with presents for people. I've been told I do a really good job at it, but it's not easy and I honestly don't know how I do it. This swap was one of those times and I found myself reading through correspondence to find little extras to pack away in the kit I'm sending off. It's just one of those things where I want everything to be perfect, you know.

I don't have the knitting skills of a lot of the people in the group, so my handmade object isn't going to be as good as theirs are. I've only been knitting for about a year now and it's only been in the past few months that I've even done anything other than scarves and washcloths in something other than plain garter stitch. But what one can do with a little imagination and quite a bit of determination is actually quite amazing.

Finished SPEW Hat!

So I finished the hat I'm making for SPEW... I think it's the fastest thing I've ever knit. And here are a few pictures of it. This is probably one of the best pictures out of the several I took.And this is a close-up of the colorwork. So it'll soon be going off to someone who needs a hat a whole lot more than I do. ^_^

Accidental Colorwork

So I don't know what the name of the technique I was using to do the colorwork is, but for the SPEW hat I'm making (SPEW=Society for the Production of Excellent Wearables), I did this cool design with the white on the navy blue. I think it was some variation of a Fair Isle knitting technique because I let the color A run along the back while I was knitting with B.

Of course, since it happened by accident, I didn't use proper technique by any stretch of the imagination. I was actually waiting for a meeting and I was about to begin a white stripe in a blue hat I'm making. Since I didn't have scissors with me, I decided that maybe doing every couple of stitches with white and the rest with blue would be an interesting idea to try out. I figured I could always unravel if it didn't turn out the way I wanted it to.

Fortunately, it turned out much nicer and I just made up the pattern row by row as I went along, working with multiples of five stitches (there were 80 stitches total, so that's a nice round number to play with). This turned out excellently for a first color project (besides for your basic horizontal stripes).

I'm back onto stockinette stitching in the blue yarn (my MC for this project) and I have yet to do the decreases for the hat, but it looks like my first hat will turn out nicely. I'm quite excited and I'll be sending it off to SPEW after taking lots of pictures when it's done.

I'll also post the pattern (including the colorwork pattern) here when I'm finished. It's pretty basic and out of a complexity scale from 1-10 (10 being cabled and lacework socks, 1 being your basic garter stitch scarf), I'd give it about a 3 or so.

ETA: I was actually doing a stranded Fair Isle colorwork technique, albeit a simple pattern and not doing it correctly (accidents happen, right?).

More Projects

So I've found a bunch of other places for knitting for charity. I also have a surplus of the Red Heart Supersaver Yarn, which is far too nasty feeling to use for anything that I make for myself (I've recently acquired some Cascade 220 for a few personal projects), but after I finish the scarf I'm making for the Special Olympics, I'd like to make a hat.

To-Do List

1. Finish the stuff for Cassandra C. Like the bag.

2. Finish the scarf I'm knitting for the Special Olympics.

3. Make at least one hat for charity.

4. Make Christmas gifts in time to either send them off or give them away.

5. The duel hat in burgandy and gold.

I'm going on a road trip Thursday, so I'll probably have a fair amount of time to knit in the car. Hoorah! I'll likely be taking the scarf I'm working on to keep me busy; it's a simple enough pattern I don't need to be paying complete attention to what I'm doing.

Special Olympics Scarf Project

So, I started making a scarf for the Special Olympics scarf project. It's going to be done in P2K2 ribbing with my favorite size 10 needles. A bit large for the worsted weight yarn, but it'll be nice.

The yarn they require is also fairly inexpensive; I picked mine up at Walmart. It's the Red Heart Supersaver yarn, so it's not supernice to work with, but it's functional.

The pattern is simple enough that I can knit it while I'm watching a movie or in the car (I don't have to fully concentrate on what I'm trying to do), but it's also not your everyday garter stitch all the way across for a few hundred rows. That would be boring.

What's really awesome is that they give each of the athletes a handmade scarf.

If you're interested, here's the link to the site about the scarves.

I'll be taking mine on the car ride I'm going on this Thursday and hopefully I'll get a good portion of it done. A good four hours of knitting never did anyone harm, did it?

Update

I've decided I really want to start blogging regularly, so I suppose I will just update on my knitting progress today.

Fortunately, I got the scarf tie done in time to wear it last night and it looks rather decent for a very last-minute project. I ended up knitting through math class (we were watching a movie, so it didn't really matter).

I've also been frogging Cassandra's bag because I realized I messed up on the duplicate stitch part. At least it's fixed now because I went back and ripped out what I had messed up on earlier today. Now all I need to do is get back to where I was (with it done correctly!) and finish it. Thankfully, the cabled handle is coming along rather nicely.

For the duel, I got the list of things I need to have in order to make it. Thankfully, I have everything, but I'll have to make sure that my size 8 dpns are available for use. I also have both size 7 and 9, just in case I don't make the gauge with the 8s. I'm thinking of using burgandy and gold for the two colors; Andi said she'd use green and silver for mine. :)