Pattern Notes for Stitch - Lilo's Friend

^..^

Oh, YEAH?!  Just try and MAKE me!

As requested, I'm making my pattern notes for Stitch (of Lilo and Stitch) available.
                                   (for more pics and Stitch's story, please see previous post)

This isn't a complete pattern, but most of it is there and I've spent the past few days cleaning it up and filling in some of the blanks. But it is still an incomplete and untested pattern. But it's free so I guess you're not risking much.   ;o) 

I won't be making another Stitch, so I won't be bringing this to any further level of completion, but if you find any glaring errors or come up with improvements that you'd like to share, please email or comment and I'll pass the info on.  :o)

You'll find the link to the PDF for Stitch's Pattern Notes on my patterns page.  You can click on the “Patterns and Tutorials” link at the top of this page or just click here.

Stitch is knit in the round (I used two circular needles) and his torso, 4 arms, and head are knit in one piece. Legs, ears, eyes, nose and color patches are knitted separately.  There are no seams. I would not suggest this for a beginning knitter. But determination is a wonderful thing.  :o)  I have included links for tutorials for some of the techniques I use.

I know that some of you totally enjoy these larger projects (Yesterday, I saw an etsy listing for a crocheted Mickey Mouse, and a Snoopy too, the size of a 10-year-old child!! WOW!), but since I really dislike making these larger ones, I have promised myself to make only the smaller peeps from now on. The larger ones take so much time, and I don't like to devote so much of my time to one project. There are sooooo many more peeps that I want to make, and that I have on my list as requests, So this was my last of this size.  It was a labor of love for our nephew.

Back to the wee peeps! Yay!

Oh, my fingers are itching to knit another Hello Kitty ...
I'm just dying to make one after seeing a totally adorable crocheted one that K and J Dolls has available! But I have too many other peeps that I need to get to, so I don't know when I can squeeze her in. Drat!

Here's my one and only Hello Kitty, made in my early days of toy knitting (made for an adult - thus the bead bling).

The one by K and J is just wonderful! I love their designs! If you crochet your creations (I don't, because of hand issues), and if you work from patterns (I don't do that either), you should definitely check them out!

A last note... I'm just finishing up a new pattern for Elmo (it will be for Cookie also), using a more standard toy knitting approach than my original doubleknit pattern. Though the original was easy to do, and it was fun to use the doubleknitting, I really prefer the results of doing it this way. It's neater all around. The stitches are tighter and you have better control over the increases and decreases. (doubleknitting by nature is looser because of the slipping of stitches) I'm just finishing making one more Elmo using the pattern (another request, but a good opportunity to test the pattern again) and then I'll post it.

Okay, I know you want to know where to find that giant crocheted Mickey Mouse pattern! Heh heh.
He's here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Chonticha
along with a bunch of other wonderful designs! Including a super adorable crocheted Lilo AND Stitch pattern! This designer is so talented!

And here's the link for K and J Dolls' Hello Kitty,
http://kandjdolls.blogspot.com/2010/09/kimono-kitty-by-theresa.html
and to the rest of their patterns. I just love everything they do!
http://kandjdolls.blogspot.com
http://kandjdolls.etsy.com/

Oh, pfui! In getting the links, I just read that they’ve had to take down their HK patterns due to a complaint by Sanrio. :o/ Well, you can still use the photos as inspiration, anyway. That’s what I do.   ;o)  It’s certainly reasonable for Sanrio to stop people from profiting from their property, but wouldn’t it be nicer to ask the transgressors for a percentage of their profit instead of robbing the world of such cuteness? *sigh* She did such a great job of designing those HK’s!  :o/

Hope you're all having a great week! It's raining here, and in Sunny Southern California, it's a welcome relief! I love the rain.  :o)  Especially after that scorching week of Indian Summer we just had.

Wishing you all the Best!

What comes between Easter and Mother's Day?

Please check out www.flickr.com/knittycat for larger photos and all of the peeps.

What comes between Easter and Mother's Day?
This post, apparently.  ;o)

This blog is becoming a holiday affair... Quite unintentionally, I assure you.   But since I make a lot of peeps as holiday gifts, it's just been happening that way.
I'm busting out of that mold today, though.  

Belated Easter for Kristina & Mia:
Last Sunday, we had a happy family gathering, celebrating 3 birthdays, and belated Easter for our two younger nieces, whom we hadn't seen since Christmas.


  Mia and Kristina got their Eggy/Bunnies, Eggletina and Eggalia:

Eggletina, Kristina's eggy/bunny for Easter

Eggalia, Mia's eggy/bunny for Easter

(Made with Softee Baby "Rocking Horse" and RH Baby Teri "Baby Print")










Their fuzzy lambies, Lambie Pinkletoes and Lambie Meringue:

wee Lambie Meringue for Mia's Easter

Lambie Pinkletoes for Kristina's Easter

(made with  TLC Baby Amore and Paton's Be Mine*, respectively)





(Patterns for the Eggy/Bunnies and Wee Lambie Peeps will be coming in the next post.)

* I am not recommending knitting peeps with Paton's Be Mine though, because it's so hard to work with, even though it does make a yummy soft and fuzzy fabric. *

And we (finally) gave Kristina her Christmas Cookie Monster!  

Made after Christmas, to replace the one that Kristina didn't get at Christmas.

Christmas Cookie Monster for Kristina

When we gave an Elmo to Mia and a Cookie to Kristina for Christmas, wee Mia "adopted" Cookie with such fervor that no one had the heart to take him away from her, least of all, sweet Kristina.  So I promised to make Kristina a replacement.  And finally, she has him! And she was delighted with him!  Hurray! 

(Cookie Monster Pattern is available free!  See patterns and tutorials.)

Cookie Monsters for Mia, Kristina, and D

Here are all three Cookie Monsters, D's - the original - and Mia's and Kristina's.  You might notice that D's felt that he should have a Christmas scarf as well!  :o)


Tony's birthday goodies:
The main purpose of our gathering, was to celebrate Tony's birthday.  For the occasion I made some goodies for him.

Tony's sunset washcloth

He LOVES hot bright colors, especially orange, red, and yellow, so I made a simple cotton washcloth with a very bright colorway of Sugar and Cream.  Just a plain garter stitch. But it made a wonderful zigzag pattern, and the garter st made it nice and cushy.  :o)
Don't you love multicolor yarn? You never know what you're going to get.

Moneybag for Tony's Birthday

Next - a money bag, stockinette st, in the round, bright yellow, lion brand soft baby, with a big red dollar sign on one side and a big red t on the other.  Filled with money of course.  :o) a teen boy's fave gift. 

An interesting feature is the closure: I felt that tying the drawstrings or using a bead would be too bulky, but it needed to close pretty securely so the money wouldn't fall out, so I knitted a strip and wrapped it around the drawstrings, snugly, and sewed it closed, making sure it still would slide.  It worked just great!
 

Maxie - Maximilian Monkey for Tony's Birthday

And last - but of course not least to a peep or amigurumi lover - a skateboarding monkey peep, Maximillion, with a backpack full of bananas! 

He prefers being called Maxie, by the way.
 

Maxie's backpack in my hand

Making the teensy backpack was such fun!  I felt like Gulliver in the land of Lilliput.  :o)





We owe the skateboard to chez michelle... I'd considered making one, since Tony loves skateboarding, but I wasn't sure how a knitted skateboard would come out, so I hesitated to make it.  But then I saw this wonderful ami [here] by chez michelle and saw how feasible the skateboard was.
 

Maxie - Maximilian Monkey for Tony's Birthday back

Construction  comments:
Maxie was made with Bernat Microspun Mango, and bright yellow, Lion Brand Soft Baby, using my Wee Lambie Peep Pattern (free pattern for the Lambies coming in my next post, along with the pattern for the Eggy/Bunnies).  I made him with longer legs and arms (appropriate for a monkey), and slight modifications for the ear shape.  And, of course I did some simple colorwork (which I don't like doing), for the face.  The face and head were made the same way as the lambies, but after stuffing and closing his head, I needle-sculpted his face to give him a more monkey-shaped muzzle.

Maxie with his accessories

His skateboard was made with two strands of size 10 crochet cotton, and size 1 needles.  Knit in the round, a simple tapered tube, then slipped a piece of cardboard in (cut to fit) and closed up.  Added seed beads for wheels and a piece of yellow beading elastic for a carrying strap.
My DH and I were really happy with him!  :o)  and so was Tony, which is what counts, of course. :o)







Marvel Comics' The Human Torch for Matthew:
I couldn't have peeps for the other nieces and nephews and not have something for Matt, of course, so we took the opportunity to give him the "Human Torch" I'd finished a few weeks ago.

Marvel Comics' the Human Torch for Matt

Unlike the Thing, the Torch peep is much more impressionistic.  He rather reminds me of a fire elemental.  He's quite small, doubleknitted in my "classic peep" style, with sz 3 crochet cotton (Senso) and size 2 needles.  The flames were crocheted in long strips (I've forgotten the hook size), and sewn on. 

back of Marvel Comics' the Human Torch for Matt in my hand

The moment I saw that yarn, I immediately thought "The Torch!"

Matt seemed quite happy with him.  :o)




I'll be posting the Lambie and Eggy/Bunny patterns with the next post, and I hope that won't be tooooo long from now.

Kermit THE Frog with borders

Also.... I'm actually working on a Kermit the Frog pattern (as I've received MANY requests!).  Making a Kermie for Kristina's June birthday, but it's a challenge, trying to remember how I made the original!  :o) 

Wish me luck!








Many thanks to all of you kind folks who have been so supportive, and so willing to comment so positively on my flickr.com pages, and elsewhere.  I appreciate it more than I can say.  It gives me strength to do the arduous work of pattern writing. It's arduous for me, anyway.  I like to just grab my needles and some nice yarn and just CREATE!!  Stopping and thinking about what I'm actually doing is quite a stretch.  ;o)


Cheers!

Nearly a pattern for the Thing, and other Peep patterns!

Please check out www.flickr.com/knittycat for larger photos and all of the peeps.

A pattern for the Thing?!  Is it possible that she's FINALLY finished it??

Well, It is possible... 

The Thing pondering life and creation

Yes!  I've finally finished writing the pattern!  Whew!  No wonder it took me so long to MAKE him!  I had no idea how much work he was till I wrote it all down.  Being quite a lazy knitter, I would never have tackled such an ambitious project if I'd known in advance how much work it would be.  ;o)  And writing his pattern was even HARDER than MAKING him!!  Sheesh!  All of you pattern designers out there, I take my hat off to you.... or I would if I were wearing one.

But don't let me put you off of making a Thing of your very own.  Although the pattern is pretty long (at least for MY standards ...  I like things I can make in a day or three!), each part of it is fairly simple to do.  I do recommend that you are an experienced knitter, or at least a very adventuresome beginner!  I knit him in the round on two circular needles, but you could use dpns if you are more comfortable with them (they always make me feel that I need two extra hands), and there are no seams to sew, but the head and arms, and brow ridge, are knit separately and sewn on.  Other than knitting and purling, I use k2tog for decreases, and two types of increase stitches, the kfb and the kinc.  Video help for the kinc here
http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/increases 
scroll about halfway down the page for increasing in the right side of the stitch, where she calls it a KRL (“Knit Right Loop”, and  KLL for the left side of the stitch).  Then it's just knit purl knit purl.... and so on and so on.... till you have a big orange Thing!  :o)

I will be posting the pattern in pdf format very soon (I just need to add photos to it first).  It's my Christmas gift to Marvel fans and the knitters who love them!  :o)

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  A slightly belated Happy Thanksgiving to all!

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More Patterns Coming?
 

Nellie the Musical Elephant

In other peep news - I've nearly completed a pattern for Nellie the Musical Elephant (because our niece wanted one like her - so I took notes while I made hers - Hurray!).

Unbroken Heart

Also, I'll be posting a pattern for the Unbroken Heart soon as well.







Christmas is nearly upon us and I have LOTS of tasks (as I'm sure you all do), so I don't know how much I'll be able to get to, peep-wise, for the next month, but since I've been so bad at adding posts here, you probably won't notice.  ;o) 

Elmo & Goldy

The good news (for some folks) is that I'm planning on making an Elmo and a Cookie Monster for Christmas gifts and I'll be making notes on their

Cookie Monster

construction as I make them, so apres Christmas, there may be patterns for them soon. 

We wish all of you  
Very Happy Holidays!  
And we hope that you have lots of fun preparing for them.  :o)