My sister (there always has to be a shout out to my biggest fan) asked me what my next blog title would be and I came up with this on a chairlift while freezing. She asked me why, and I said, "I don't know, it's kind of funny." She replied "yeah, it kind of is." I can't tell you why I think it's funny and my sister thinking it's funny is not an indication that the humour generalizes at all. I think it's a problem of genetics. More baby gifts. I am surrounded by small children. Actually I am not, I'm surrounded by women my age with small children. No complaints though, another great excuse to knit something ridiculous that I would never knit for myself, though my partner did want to keep this. I don't know what he would have done with it other than be a grown man with a knit toy elephant. He was really awesome about the whole thing though. We had to watch a lot of Netflix a few days before Christmas in order for this to be finished in time. Also, he even took photos for me while I was at work. I ended up retaking some but I was impressed that he did it. He is nothing if not obliging. The pattern is Elijah by Ysolda Teague. I have knitted a few of her garment patterns in the past and have always enjoyed them. At times her style is a little too whimsical for me to pull off but I am always charmed by it. This pattern is especially endearing and seemed perfect for a sassy (how is spell check telling me that sassy is not a word?) toddler. The pattern is well written. I like how it included line by line instructions with stitch counts at every line. It helped me know if I was on the right track at all times. The only downside to the pattern was the instructions for the body. There is no clear instruction for where the start of the row should be in orientation to the head and I didn't realize until I had knit the entire thing that it was backwards. Instead of a cute belly, my elephant had a weird butt. I didn't want to reknit the whole thing so I used a seam ripper to unpick it form the head. I ripped one row too high and ended up destroying the head in the process. This saved me no time as I had to reknit the head instead. The row starts on the side closest to the trunk in the centre. Ravelry link here. I used some worsted weight wool yarn from that same animal-filled mill in the Maritimes. It was fairly easy to work with but broke when pulling hard with multiple needles when attaching limbs. It was nice and squishy and soft though. The sweater is inspired by others on ravelry and was knit using scraps of Rowan cotton rope. This yarn has been discontinued, likely because it is the worst yarn in the world. It is so hard and tough it's brutal on your hands and splits constantly. The colours are cute though. I stuffed it with scrap ends of yarn that I've accumulated and some cotton balls as I didn't have time to buy proper polyfill. Overall, this was a great knit but I found the picking up stitches to knit the appendages really fiddly and awkward. It took a lot longer than I predicted and was hard on my hands which was partly poor yarn choice. In the end it looks super charming and was well received so it was worth it.
1 Comment
Kerri
12/30/2013 11:21:40 pm
No, I think the title is universally funny! Also, I didn't know that the elephant had a booty, but that makes the elephant better in my books. Yay for sneaky laundry!
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AboutA blog to document my attempts to create a well-fitting wardrobe for myself and my family through sewing and knitting. Archives
August 2018
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