Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Snowbuddies!



I have been dyeing (ha!) to knit some tiny little snow buddies for my Christmas Tree. I finally could no longer withstand the temptation and whipped up one tall snowman and one skiier penguin (minus the skis).

I used KnitPicks palette yarn or the bare peruvian highland wool that I dyed myself for accessories. I had dyed the yarn in batches of ~8 yards each, and even this is MORE than enough for the accessories shown here. If it is not black or white, then I dyed it myself!

Some notes on the Snowman:
  • The snowman knit up really easily. I used size 2 (3.00 mm) needles, rather than the recommended (3 - 3.25 mm) from the pattern. I made the I-cord scarf with size 1 (2.25 mm) needles.
  • White wool does not felt as well as other colors, maybe because it has been bleached (?) to make it so white. I was still able to decrease the height of my snowman from ~4 to ~3 inches.
  • The top hat knit up smaller relative to the snowman than I expected (pre-felting). Light felting was enough to help it keep it's shape.


Some notes on the Penguin:
  • After seeing my gauge from the snowman, I decided to knit the penguins on size 1 (2.5 mm) needles.
  • I was surprised that the penguin was knit entirely flat, not in the round. It would be very easy to adapt the pattern into the round. At first, when you make the body, the shape seems too tall and thin, to much contour. However, once you add the breastplate, wings and other accessories, the dimensions are appropriate for a penguin.
  • Make sure you have plenty of sewing thread to attach the feet, beak etc onto your penguin. As the pattern correctly notes, this would be difficult with the yarn.
  • My final penguin was ~3 inches high, which was my goal with using smaller yarn.
  • I had to block the cap to get it to flop as you see in the photo. Before it was wet the fabric was too stiff to flop over on its own.
  • The wings stick out on their own. You could make them stay closer to the body depending on how you sew them on, or else you can add a bit of wire to the insides to make them flexible.


With many more outfits I could create for these snowbuddies, I could make such a variety of little frozen creatures. How many I make will depend on my desire to move on to a different project.



--------------------
I am knitting for the 3rd annual Pine Street Inn Knit-a-Thon on November 8, 2009. Please show your support with a donation.