ExterminaKNIT

Remember the Christmas crafty post?

Well, I didn't finish all my gifts back in the Fall because I had friends who I wouldn't see for a while (SOME people left the country!) so I had extra time.  They're HUGE into Dr. Who. And you know what's easy to find?  Dr. Who knit patterns! (as if the internet isn't already full of non-knit Dr. Who items).

So when I came across this gem on Ravelry, I had to make it. The instructions are well written, but I highly recommend using the .pdf format and not the .txt. Since it starts with 114 cast on stitches (DANGER - LARGE KNIT TOY ALARM going off) I scraped the knitting idea and found an easier (and smaller!) crocheted Dalek pattern which was a better size.

It started out OK... but I stalled out on Round 9. Sigh.  It took another couple weeks of motivating myself into starting it again... luckily, that's when a snow storm hit! Hooray! Perfect excuse to not go outside and to craft =)

One of the many things I had to look up during this pattern was FPSC and this video helped a ton.  Short, sweet, to the point.  Not sure the purpose of that stitch in this pattern though. Maybe shaping purposes? The top part is where I used the FPSC stitch.

I now have a hand-puppet Dalek. EXTERMINATE!! RAAAAAA!

Once I got to the bobbles, I started making a mistake.  Not really sure how I did it, but I went from 60 stitches to 30.  Ugggggh!! I increased them during a gray round to get it up to 60 again, but it made an obvious mistake... I'm just going to pretend that Daleks are voluptuous and have curves now. OK? Ok. 

The boy tried to make me feel better about it... "Just stuff it really well up top, then smooth it out." Well, that was a good plan, and did help some, but I think if I just did the stupid pattern correctly, I would have been fine.

When comparing it to the patten it's not *that* bad or different. There wasn't great explaination on how to crochet over or around the bobbles... hence my random pinching in round and losing stitches.  I think.

But I prevailed! And found I don't like crocheting 4 stitches in a round. Ugh.  But the plunger looks OK, the arm isn't great.

Not entirely happy, but not mad either.

The eye entertain mes as well as the dome lights on the top.

The curves aren't too noticable now.

My biggest complaint is how freakin' big he turned out to be. And this was the small pattern!! Ugh. I'm discouraged, so I'm not making a second one for a while, but knowing me, I'm going to revisit this pattern and conquer it properly.  I tend to do multiples of a pattern... never one. Sigh.

Bailey was scared and hid by the couch. Shocking.

Domino wasn't too sure of this thing looking at her... so she got close.

Oh noooo! The Dalek EXTERMAKNITTED Domino!

Thoughts?  I'll most likely make another one in a few months... maybe it'll be red... =)

UPDATE: I made a red one! 

Pre-plungers, etc.  Not a bad shape this time around!

I'm not happy with how droopy his eye is still. The arm and plunger look good though.

Face on he's cute! The eye still annoys me.

The dome lights and gun are fun.

UGGH IT STILL DROOPS

Thoughts?

Tis the season to get crafty, tra la la la la....

Thanksgiving is my favorite time of the year... but Christmas is a close second.  I really like giving people gifts and since I've become crafty I've enjoyed making things for people.  I started making the knit items almost a year in advance as I originally wanted to knit all my friends a scarf.

See? Beautiful green one sided and pink on the other scarf! Way too time consuming.

I eventually scraped that idea as it was too slow, boring, etc.  Eventually, it morphed into making toys that reminded me of certain friends.

I pulled out an older pattern to make for some friends.

As Christmas drew closer, and I ran out of time, I postponed giving people things until their birthdays, etc.  Lazy... I know.

First up - a couple friends of ours thoroughly enjoys Mario Bros and requested I crochet them a Goomba.  However, when they originally asked I didn't know how to crochet but since I acquired a while crochet hook kit back in September I've learned... and surprised them with one.  Again, I found a free pattern on Ravelry.com.  I had to look up a YouTube video on what a Magic Ring was, but that was worth it as it's a really cool skill for crochet.

When making the pattern, I ran into a little problem... I lost count when crocheting one of the feet. So he's a little... lopsided. But it still looks OK (I think) and I did better on the next ones.

Next ones you say? Well, after I made him I realized that some of our other friends would like them too.. so I made a mini army of Goombas...

AAAAHHH RUN AWAAAAAAAY!! I crocheted Domino an army!

Well, the Goombas weren't enough. I asked the hubby what other friends would like a crocheted gift and he asked if there was another Super Mario Bros pattern I could do.  Luckily, Ravelry is FULL of free patterns and I found the 1-Up Mushrooms... which I promptly made several for friends (and us).

They're super cute and easy to make. My phone camera turns the green a funny color.

So I made another one. I still need to work on my crochet skills... all my projects come out different sizes, ugh.

I didn't just crochet two mushrooms... I ended up making about seven of them - either red or green depending on the friend.  Carpal tunnel, anyone?

And once I was SICK of making mushrooms, I moved on to different friend... the one who likes penguins.  For some reason, I couldn't find a decent free pattern for knitting but I did find one in crochet. There were a couple techniques that I used on the star post but were rusty for those one, so YouTube helped with those but overall this was a taxing pattern.  I made some alterations (ex: didn't do the legs portion and didn't make 4 feet as two looked great on the bottom) and then the white part slip was weird.  It worked... but I stitched it on wrong and lost count at one part so it's... off. And I hate googley eyes on crocheted/knit toys so I just did black yarn.

I liked him even with all my changes. But I felt he was missing something...

....So I decided to crochet him a Santa Hat.  I didn't use a pattern for that - getting better!

But enough toys! Remember the Moebius Scarf I made? Well, I made another one for someone else for Christmas and then I made a tiny one for my bro in law since he likes math (I didn't think he'd wear a scarf). It's just small enough to be a desk ornament.

I tried to use the colors of the school. See how tiny it is? It was really hard to do on Size 3 circular needles with only 10in cables. Talk about painful.

But I think it looks pretty cool for a little desk topper. 

I didn't do a lot of sewing this year and I regret that.  Maybe I'll make a table runner next year for friends/family.  Or I'll do something with clay... or Baileys. Oh the choices!

Happy Holidays! I hope you enjoyed my review of patterns =)

Round and Round we go...

Scarves are getting boring.

I've been finding some super cute things on Pinterest that involve Knitting in the Round.  All the needles that I inherited were straight and weren't double pointed.  So I went to Michael's and got some size 4 double pointed needles.  I prefer metal over bamboo mostly because I've read things online stating that cats tend to chew up bamboo ones (AHHHHHH considering how expensive those things are!).

I used multiple videos, again the one from New Stitch a Day.com being the most helpful, and I was able to figure it out in an afternoon.

Isn't it cute? I may have "proposed" to my hubby with it when he got home... =)  He wasn't as amused as I was. Ahhh well...

What is to come of this new skill? Only time will tell.... =)  Happy crafting!