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Following up on my established nerd knitting trend, I have, once again, shown my love for a thing by knitting it. This time it’s the NBC show Hannibal, which crawled into my brain and basically took over. I started watching the show because it was on Amazon Prime and Cleolinda had been doing recaps of it (and I should really learn by now to just watch everything Cleo watches), and very quickly fell in love with it. It’s a very odd show… like, it’s probably not a good idea to shotgun it, given the general violence, cannibalism, and horribleness that is the backbone of the show and I find I need to be in the right mindset to watch it, but still. Love.
Anyway, there’s a stag that shows up a lot and Cleo designated it Dire Ravenstag (and now there’s a Twitter account cause this show is ALL OVER Twitter, let me tell you), and it looks like this:
I knitted one.
Let me tell you, I scoured the internet for an appropriate stag pattern for this. SCOURED. A pattern for a sufficiently bulky and powerful stag does not exist. Eventually, I gave up and decided to make it up as I went along, and I think that worked out pretty well. The head, neck, and body are all done in one piece using short rows. The antlers, ears, and legs were made separately and sewed on. Despite the thin legs and heavier head, Dire KnittingStag does actually stand up on his own, provided his legs are spread out a little bit. The yarn is a recycled wool. I used a hand card to brush the torso for a fuzzy look, and the eyes and nose are puff paint, just like I do for sharks.
I am super incredibly thrilled with how he came out. I kind of want to write up the pattern (it would, at least fill a stag-shaped hole in the Ravelry patterns database), but we all know how often I say that and how often I actually follow through. Maybe I’ll make one in a more live-deer appropriate color. Or maybe I’ll just knit another Dire Ravenstag. Most likely, though, is that I won’t and will instead move on to a hundred other things to knit.
Sooooo this past weekend was Katsucon, an anime convention I attended in National Harbor. It was super mega awesome fun though I completely neglected to take any pictures. I did, however, dress up in costume because that’s how I roll. I recently watched and read the anime/manga Fruits Basket, so one of the days I dressed up as Tohru Honda. There are no pictures, but I basically just wore a cute dress. But I also make a cat-form Kyo to carry around.
Pattern: none, made up as I went along
Yarn: 100purewool.com merino singles, a skein and a half almost exactly.
Needles: US 2/1.75 mm
I’m pretty pleased with the way he came out. He is super cuddly and a perfect use of yarn that’s been kicking around my stash for a while. I will have to cosplay Tohru again so I can carry him around some more. Maybe I can sew or appromimate Tohru’s school uniform for next time.
Speaking of Katsu and Fruits Basket, as a result, I’ve been on quite the anime/manga kick lately. I just watched Ouran Highschool Host Club and I got the manga from the library. I’m currently reading the Library Wars manga.
And speaking of cosplay, here is a bonus picture of me in a red wig I bought for cosplaying Amy Pond, Mara Jade, Ariel, and other redheads.
Well it turns out that thanks to all the secret knitting I’ve been doing (which has all been received) I have quite the backlog of FOs to show off. This first one was made for a Yarnies vs. Hoopers swap on Craftster. I was a yarnie (obviously) and this is one of the things I made for my partner:
Pattern: Mandrake Plant
Yarn: Recycled cotton/linen blend and various green cotton scraps.
Needles: US 2 maybe? I sort of just grabbed some dpns.
Modifications: Knit the body in the round and pretty just made up the leaves/twigs as I went.
The face details are made by sewing a ridge into the fabric of the face, which was interesting to do. You can also see in the above picture that the head is a little misshapen. For some reason I got a big, thick trunk-like protrusion, even though I (am pretty sure I) followed the directions. Ah well. It’s a convenient grip point. And also, it’s like a tree? Anyway.
I’m pretty pleased with the leaves though, even though I had to sew them all to the body of the thing and I’m sure there were about a million of them. More like 18ish BUT STILL. There were many.
I made one more thing for this swap which I will show off next time. There’s also the Doctor Who swap. And you know I’ve been knitting and casting on.
In such little time I didn’t even tell you I was working on it, I released a new pattern!
Betta Fish Amigurumi
US $3.00
These cute little ami Bettas are perfect for last minute gifts for any Betta lover (or playful kitty). They work up fast (about 45 minutes) with only about 30 yards of yarn. Add a little stuffing and a little puff paint or embroidery for eyes and you’ve got a cute little fishie you don’t have to remember to feed.
Materials:
– Set of 5 US 5/3.75 mm dpns
– US 6/4 mm straight needles
Yarn: 30 yards worsted weight/10ply yarn
Gauge: Not especially important
Finished measurements: Finished toy measures approx. 6”x5”
The pattern for this little fishie is available in my Ravelry store for $3. BUT if you buy any other pattern in my store this week, you’ll get the Betta Fish pattern for free! You don’t even need a code! Just add the patterns you want to purchase and the Betta fish pattern to your cart and the discount should be applied automatically.
Warning: If you are FiberAlchemist, my partner on the Craftster Whedonverse swap, DO NOT READ THIS POST. It contains swap spoilers.
Sooo I held a contest recently, which means we need to have a winner! For the contest, I asked you to look at this picture:
and try to guess what I was making. There weren’t many entries, but there was one that was correct! Mimi of Eskimimi Knits said “Is it a doll or toy with red hair?” And that is the correct answer, so she will be winning a kit to knit some spats! Look for my email so I can send it to you!
But who is this red-headed doll specifically?
Why, it’s Willow Rosenburg!
I am currently participating in a Whedonverse swap on Craftster.org (because such is my love of Joss Whedon and Buffy/Firefly/Dollhouse), and I made this doll as one of the items to include in the package. Specifically, it is Willow from the episode “Doppelgangland” in which Willow’s vamp alter ego from “The Wish” comes to Sunnydale and tries to eat everyone. At one point, Willow and vampire!Willow switch clothes, which means….
I also made vampire!Willow’s clothes for her to wear!
The little leather clothes were kind of a huge pain in the ass to sew and they’re rather difficult to get on (so I’m sending Willow already in them). They did come out more or less exactly how I envisioned them though, so that’s awesome.
The doll itself is knit in acrylic yarn (from some estate sale or something) and the red hair is acrylic too, latch hooked in individual strands (which was also a huge PITA, but it came out looking really good).
Willow’s pink sweater is plainer than the one she wears in the episode, but I’m lacking in tiny butterfly appliques and anyway, the fuzzy pinkness is exactly as envisioned, so a score on that one. I used the machine on the leather outfit, but I sewed the skirt by hand (I wasn’t at my machine and I wanted to work on it).
I really hope my partner likes her! I’m really proud of how she came out, and I am sad to send her away. Maybe I’ll make myself another Willow doll with a different outfit from a different episode. : ) I have to finish up another item that’s almost done and then make one more thing, and my swap package will be ready to send. My partner says she should be sending this weekend too. I can’t wait to see what she made me!
Stitch, Brinn, Stitch! 