Knitting the Monster sucks. February 21, 2004
Making a monster by adapting a teddy bear pattern and using furry yarn
I practically finished the Wampa and decided to try and make some more fuzzy animals. The Wampa was made with a white eyelash-type yarn called Mustachio (i think..), and the yarn was actually really nice to work with on the recommended size 7 needles. The work went really quickly as well. I wanted the next monster to be more fuzzy so I decided to try the Cascade Yarns “Splash.” Wow. Not so easy.
Now, I know I could have used larger needles and made my life a little easier, but I
didn’t want the finished monster to be any larger, and I wanted the stitches to
be small so that it could be easily stuffed and look like a real stuffed animal.
Increases were practically impossible to see once you got to the next row, so I
kept dropping them. The only thing harder to see than the increases were the
dropped stitches. I knew they were there, but I couldn’t pick them up. I
eventually changed the increase style which stopped me from dropping so may
stitches, but I had to start over about 3 times before i figured this
out.
The hairs on this yarn are much longer and tanglier than the
Mustachio yarn. Often I wouldn’t actually knit into the stitch, but just the
hair of the stitch. That way, the stitch would work itself free once I was long
past that row. I finally have it figured out, but I am not sure all the extra
attention is worth it. It took probably twice as long to make and I don’t think
it is twice as cute.
