Spine envy

Now, back to our regular programming...


May I introduce Spinosaurus.


This is yet another dinosaur from Patons Dinosaur book. Again I took liberties with the pattern where I could (mostly converting flat pieces to round ones).

Observations:
-This is likely the most complex of the dinosaurs I've knitted thus far. Maybe that's why it took me so long.
-Making him incorporated many of the skills learned from the other dinos. Like what? Well, the fin is felted, this guy needed claws and I had to make teeth.
-The spine? Let me tell you about the spine. I actually knit 3 of them?! The first was a prototype to see if it could be done, then another that should have fit the dino (but it was way too small), and then finally a third much larger one. I did not want spino to have a wimpy small fin and have his dino friends mock him.
Specs:
yarn: acrylic of various colors and Patons merino for spine
needles: US3 for everything except for the fin. US9 for spine
started: September, 2007
finished October 26, 2007
fiddly pieces sewn together: 23


fin: The fin was knitted flat to achieve an oval shape. CO12 stitches, changed color every 2 rows, increased every row 1st and last stitch w/ M1 until 4 rows, then increase every 2 rows until 11th row, then no increase for 8 rows, then decrease (to match increase). The piece was folded over, seamed and then felted.


Okay, one final shot. Yes, Spino's a carnivore, but this cedar tree looks pretty good...

Stega

After I stopped on my doily (haven't made it back up to Lacis), after I stopped working on Forest Path, and after I ...oh, wait, haven't started another project, have I?!

I decided on Friday to just do it. Finish Steg. If you remember back to July, I was working on Stegasaurus from Patons (another shout out and thanks to chemgrrl), I stopped because I didn't have any white feltable yarn for the spikes. How lame?! I then did a swap for the yarn and it's been sitting there while I worked on other projects. So, without further ado, heeeeerrreee'sss Ssssstegggg!


Specs:
finished dimensions: 25in long and 12in tall
yarn: acrylic for body, Patons wool for plates, and ecowool for spikes
time start: July 2007
time finished: September 1, 2007
needles: US3 for body
needles US9 for plates, spike (then felted)
stuffing: 1.5 bags!

Observations:
I did not knit this as written, the body was in the round, then I left spots under the neck/body area for stuffing, and the head was done flat and gusset sewn on. the legs were also knit in the round --okay, only the back legs, because I couldn't decide whether I detested seaming more or having to keep track of the rounds more (since flat legs can both be knitted simultaneously). I still can't decide which is worse, actually having to think about knitting, or seaming.

The plates and spikes were felted. I had to make alterations because the largest size would have been huge. I also had to look at one of Z's stegs to check how the plates went. btw, they're staggered with the largest plates over the back legs. The eyes are french knots and I didn't do claws.

Dino II - the Rise of Steg

You might remember a bit back when z asked for a steg 'just like the one on the computer'. Well, that would be chemgrrl's awesome stegosaurus for her nephew. Anyway, I was all going wild on the color combinations...blue steg with yellow plates ala UC colors, purple steg with black plates (UW?), green body with yellow (UO) etc. He wanted a green steg...good thing I have been stockpiling yarn (green especially). Then I asked what color for plates. I wanted pink (very retro 80's preppy) and was told that it was 'too girlish'. What about yellow? nope.

Anyway, ends up he wants green with red plates. So that's what he'll get ( I warned him it might look Christmassy, but that's what he wants. chemgrrl has a great technique for getting the plates to stand up and that's what I'll do too.

Here's a picture of the progress thus far. Not looking too cool right now, is it? The yarn is a surprisingly soft (for acrylic) vintage Spunkist yarn in 'avocado'. On the new Options US3 needles. Why, that would be two back legs, modified to knit in the round with magic loop two at a time (the same way you'd do socks). But I think I'll do the front legs flat because I'm not saving that much time by knitting in this manner.

started July 11, 2007

Walking with Bronto

Specs:
start: June 10, 2007
end: June 21 (embroidering the eyes)
yarn: less than 2 skeins of green acrylic yarn and a bit of the darker green for soles and white and black for claws and eyes
stuffing: more than 1 bag of polyfill. This thing just ate polyfill -- I'd stuff and stuff and it would look all lumpy, I would pull it all out, and then refluff (and do what I think spinners do, I think) and connect more fill with that so that it's one continuous stuffing process and more stuffing would go in. This seemed to do the trick and definitely less lumps.
final size: 27 inches (head to tail), 9 inches (back to feet) and 12 inches (at his widest point)

modifications/comments: Loads! As I said in previous posts, I made Bronto less long, and in the round when I could. These patterns are chock full of errors, but my goodness, it's a darn stuffed toy! I didn't stress, and when numbers didn't match up, I said, oh well.

The seaming of the body was pretty easy, since the body was done in the round. I just had to seam the head gusset and the back of the neck when I was done doing the face. The pain was doing the feet, and 'catching the claws' as you seam...yeah, right. I had crazy Howard Hughes nails on a bronto originally. I had to take it apart and move the claws in (since this is a herbivore) several times until I was happy with them. But once that was done, it was okay. Yes, I know, they're still crazy claws, but what the hey. There were no pointers as to where to place legs on the bronto, so again, I just winged it. It does seem to me that the back legs are way longer than the front legs ---hmm, I hope I didn't skip a line in the pattern that said 'knit 7 rows' or something...

Final thoughts? I did enjoy knitting this guy, and I enjoyed it lots more when I could knit in the round. It's pretty mindless knitting. Would I knit him again? Why yes I would. But this time, I'd do more of him in the round!

The best part? Z loves him. He was very happy to get his bronto.

My only hint to folks contemplating this knit is to make sure you've got a good project bag where all the little fiddly pieces can go in when completed. I used a lovely grocery bag, and I did regret it when I realized I lost a completely knitted foot. Ask z. I was so bummed I almost didn't finish bronto. Apparently, this foot piece jumped from my bag to the clean laundry that had been put away. Whew! Good thing I found it.

Another Dino progress post

Well, darn it. This thing has how many different pieces? So, yes. I'm going to post yet another in progress post.

Actually, I'm done knitting, now comes the part of sewing, stuffing assembling, embellishing. I've already decided that bronto will not have spots (as per original pattern). Who decided that anyway? Spots? on a very large dinosaur?! Like yeah, he's going to be hiding from predators using his camouflage spots...so long as he's in a jungle or such, carnivores aren't going to be able to spot a 80 feet dinosaur!?

The feet. The four feet were kind of a pain. For the back feet, they ask you to make two feet. You knit the main part, then knit toes individually. THEN...they say, knit the soles in a different color, EXACTLY as the top of the feet. Argh! (okay, it's my own darn fault for not reading the instructions all the way through, but hey). So, for the front feet (same construction but smaller), I did all 4 of them on straight needles at the same time -- ala 2 sweater sleeves or 2 socks, except I had 4 items on the same needle. This way, if I screwed up on one foot, they'd all match. See! Am I brilliant or what?! okay, or what.

As for the 16 claws, I knitted them originally as per instructions, but a foot's worth later, I decided that since I have to knit little triangles, then fold them and seam them, I might as well...yep, you guessed it...knit them in the round. I actually knit them as I-cords, decreased to claws. So, at the knitting group I attend, I managed to finish up the 16 claws.

Anyway, here's a picture of the parts. As I said, I had to stuff as I went on the main body. The legs and feet were knitted flat and the claws in the round. If I could figure out a way to make the feet in the round, I would. But if I did that, I'd have to make itty bitty 'gloves' and they would be the same color. If that weren't more painful than knitting them flat, I'd probably forgo the color switch.

Dino Progess, with a picture

Okay. I am cranking. Okay, not so much. But look at this:

Does it look like a brontosaurus --which is the incorrect name, btw. It's apatosaurus, and there is no such thing as a 'thunder lizard'.

Anyway, I've altered the body drastically. And there seems to be a slight hump, but I'm thinking it'll squish down. I knit the body in the round, but I realized I had to stuff the body before I knit the neck 'cause otherwise, I would get a lumpasaurus.

So, I knit the tail, then body, then stuffed, then knit the neck, then stuffed. The head I did not knit in the round. I have not sewn the last bit in case I need to do something in the head region (like sewing in eyes).

The legs I'm having issues conceptualizing. There were random (to me anyways) decreases and increases. So to be on the safe side, I'm knitting the back legs (so far) flat, like the pattern. But oh, like sweater sleeves, I'm doing both at the same time. As I'm knitting the legs, I'm super glad I didn't knit the body in pieces. I'll post finished pictures when I'm done.

Then the next request is for spinosaurus -- at least on the dino knitting front.

Did you KIP?

No, I didn't either.

No, I take that back. I took Z to soccer practice and managed to cast on and knit one row of a bib for A. That counts, doesn't it?

I meant to do more. There was no way that I was going to make it up to Berkeley for their event. I would have loved to, but I'm playing single mom this weekend whilst z&a's dad is off doing some guy time w/ his buddies. Next year. I'll try harder next year.

Besides soccer, we had a nice lunch w/ grandma at our favorite dim sum place. And then we had a relaxing afternoon (okay, it was relaxing for me because Z took a nap!). So, of the 5 items planned for Saturday, we managed to do more than half. That's not too bad. The 2 things we didn't do? Go check out the Sand Castle building contest and go to a picnic at the park.

However, this morning...woken up at 4am by A, who woke up Z. And yes, they're still up...

On the knitting front, I got the very cool Patons Dino pattern (thanks so much to the wonderful chemgrrl) and have started brontosaurus. I've managed to completely change the pattern to knit it in the round and I 'm hoping this will work. Maybe I should have read all the directions first, but I thought I'd wing it. The finished dino is huge, so I sort of am making him shorter. I'm using my Crystal Palace US2 dpn with a green acrylic worsted weight yarn (speckles) . When I find the tag, I'll let you know. As this is a toy, I stash bust some acrylics. (did I mention that the cotton knitting so traumatized me that even acrylics are feeling pretty okay?!).

I believe that for at least one of the dinosaurs, I will make as per instructions...and if bronto turns out wonky, well, I'll be remaking it in the flat (but I'd rather not).

btw- I was bummed when I got these dpns because they were longer than other dpns I normally use, but this has totally worked out for toy making in the round because you've got to increase to large number of stitches from small number, and while magic loop rocks, it's kind of a pain to do unless you've got a fair number of stitches to work with.

So, for example, the pattern goes from tail to head, so I decided to use dpn's for an I-cord that I increased to knit in the round...

So, how many WIPs?
stalled out yoga bag
market bag in cotton
luna moth shawl
bib
dino

*these are just the 'active' ones. There's a serious bunch of WIPs that need to be worked on.
Have a good Sunday!