Zoey Zebra Melly Teddy Ragdoll

I only made it through the first two parts of the free Zoey Zebra crochet-along before life got in the way and I regrettably had to set the project aside for a few months. By the time I was able to pick it up again, the free links were gone, so I decided to endeavor to finish the project by making the remaining pieces based on the designer Melanie Grobler's photos.

It was easy enough to approximate the legs by looking at the photos, but when it came to the ears, I decided to google around to find something similar that someone else had done and shared the steps. Why reinvent the wheel if I didn't have to, right? I used the ears from Jess Huff's Heidi the Horse free amigurumi pattern, which is also available at this link.

For the rose, I used the free 3D Rose pattern by Lisa Auch, which is also available at this link.

The eyes are 12mm black buttons from this set on Amazon.

Here is a link to my Ravelry project page.

Yarn tunnel

We now interrupt your regularly-scheduled scrolling to present to you this yarn tunnel.

Who doesn't love a great yarn tunnel? 😄 This yarn tunnel comes to you courtesy of my latest WIP, which will hopefully be finished soon, so I can share it with all y'all. Stay tuned!

 

Who's got next?!? 😂

Haiku Cardi revisited

I really like how well my first Haiku Cardi turned out. (See it in the blog post prior to this one, or at my Ravelry project page here.) 

Dye lots are still a thing, y'all - sigh

I wanted to make the pattern again, but this time I utilized garter stitch to emphasize the stitch definition in the triangle section and also to alleviate some issues I had before with the front placket and sleeve edges wanting to curl. The plackets in garter stitch lie much better without any additional persuasion (i.e., aggressive blocking).

I ended up with 275 stitches across the bottom after rejoining the fronts to the back, which is a few more than the pattern called for, but a minor difference like that doesn't really matter in a project like this.

On this project, I learned the hard way that dye lots are still a thing, which is unfortunate, because the only way I had access to this Denim colorway of Red Heart Super Saver was by buying it through the mail.

Left and right fronts done

Of course, I don't know anything about how companies like Red Heart mass-produce their yarn, but it seems to me that in the 21st century, with the preponderance of all things digital, that companies ought to be able to exert better control over their color reproduction, to the point where dye lots are no longer necessary. (I'm only talking here about BIG companies; naturally I wouldn't extend the same expectation onto smaller or indie yarn producers.)

My stockinette gauge

So, anyway, I very clearly was given a skein from a different dye lot, which cuts a visibly darker line at the top of the lower portion of this cardigan. Nothing to be done about it now, so I'll just consider it a "design feature." Bah-ha-haaaa.

Oops!

I also had an "oops!" moment after rejoining the fronts to the back to start working the "skirt" of the cardigan. You can see the "oops" in the above photo, where I accidentally got one row of the garter stitch pattern wrong. Le sigh!! It's OK, though ... not terribly noticeable.

Considering my ongoing chronic pain issues, coupled with the fact that I'm not a particularly fast knitter, I'm amazed that I was actually able to finish knitting two of these in less than four months. 😊 

As I said, I really like how well this project turned out, and using the garter stitch edgings worked particularly well. I'm going to enjoy wearing this.

Meet Pierre

A while back, I bought a Woobles kit for Pierre Penguin at my local little yarn shop, and today I finally made him. 😊

Isn't he adorable? Here's a link to my Ravelry project page, which has info about the yarn colors, etc. The kit comes with everything you need to crochet your own little Pierre, and if your local LYS doesn't carry the Woobles kits you can also buy them online, but you can also buy the Woobles Easy Peasy Yarn in 13 different, bright, amigurumi-ready colors on Amazon.

Pierre kind of reminds me of the old Weebles toys. Am I the only person who remembers the Weebles?? 😆

Haiku Cardi

 

Finished cardi

It would have been helpful to me if the pattern had provided more of an overview description of the process of how the cardigan will come together, because although I do enjoy patterns with unconventional construction techniques, If I had realized before starting this that the fit of the cardigan would be closer to that of a cocoon-style cardigan with a sort of dolman-type sleeve, I might not have opted to work this pattern, because I generally don't care for cocoons or dolman sleeves.

Nevertheless, I am glad that I made this cardigan. It is a paid pattern designed by Svetlana Volkova. At about 21 inches length, measured from the top of the shoulder, I decided to add pockets of 29 stitches wide by 44 rows deep. I knitted the pocket linings in contrasting black yarn.

Some ways I deviated from the written pattern include making simple kfb increases instead of M1R/M1L increases and adding the pockets. I like the oversized fit even if the cardigan is somewhat less constructed than I had expected before starting the project. Total stitches after rejoining below armholes: 253.

This cardigan begins in the center-back and works upward from there in the shape of a triangle. When the triangle is large enough, the point of the triangle is at the back of the wearer's neck, and the wide side of the triangle wraps around the waist. The slanted sides of the triangle are then worked separately to finish the upper back on each side and wrap around the shoulder and become the upper front on each side. The front sides are then rejoined to the back to form the arm holes and stitches picked up along the bottom of the triangle. Then all stitches are knitted together to make the bottom part of the cardigan.

I do like how this project turned out, but I think if I make it again I will incorporate garter stitch instead of ribbing, because the ribbed front placket on this one wants to fold over toward the stockinette. Hopefully washing and blocking will fix that issue, but I'm thinking that using garter stitch plackets would naturally lie better than the ribbing.