After much mucking about with prototypes, changing my mind about colors, fiddling with horn shapes, and all manner of other knitterly shenanigans, I'm pleased to say that my monster is finished and ready for his closeup!

Hallo, my name is Tuppy!

Knitted out of worsted-weight yarn and designed with stashbusting in mind, this little guy uses less than 50 grams of the main color, and only a few grams each of four contrasting colors. You knew you were saving those random partial skeins for something!

Affinity for plantlife not guaranteed

Tuppy has a little bit of everything: knitting in the round, increasing and decreasing, picking up stitches, simple charted colorwork, basic hand-stitching, and embroidery! The pattern includes six pages of photos and step-by-step instructions, and one page of templates for the wings and teeth.

9 out of 10 watermelons recommend Tuppy for your summer knitting!

Yarn: your worsted leftovers (wool, dishcloth cotton...whatever you've got)!

One size: lovable.

Knitted measurements:
-Toes to horns: 11”/28 cm.
-Tummy circumference: 12.5”/32 cm.

You'll also need: felt, thread, stuffing, extra-heavy stabilizer, safety eyes.

Price: $4.50

Ravelry Link

Hooray for monsters!

I mentioned in my last post that my partner in monstrosity, Tanis, was working on her very own bundle of knitted ferociousness. Her creation, The Stubenmonster, is available on Ravelry too!

Posted by Elli at 1:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (40)

Heyya! So today is rainy and yucky, and I just want to curl up on the couch and see if Season 2 of Gilmore Girls is any good, but...I was told I need to blog. Peer pressure, it seems, is alive and well in my life.

Here's a little project I've been working on:

What ees eet?

Back in January Tanis had a dream that we designed a project together. Since this dream seemed to make a lot more sense than the other one she had where she was stealing babies from the hospital...we decided that it must be a good idea. There followed this chat:

T: I really want to do a plushy-type stuffed character/animal/thing or a fabulous fair isle hat. Any thoughts?

T: OMG. That's exactly what I wanted to do! A fair isle monster!

So that pretty much decided that. Tanis has long since finished hers...written up the pattern and everything. I, of course, am the one dragging my feet. Why? Who knows? My horn prototypes have been a little problematic, but nothing an intrepid knitter couldn't overcome. Maybe my intrepidity is waning?

Anyway here's a photo of my sketch. This monster will look like this if it kills me:

That's all for tonight! Stars Hollow calleth.

ETA: Upon re-reading I realize that I've muddled the facts. Tanis and I are each designing and knitting our own monsters...doing our own individual spin on the same project. This one is mine; hers is yet to be revealed. Stay tuned for that!

Posted by Elli at 10:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (20)

Yesterday I was "tidying up" (in quotes because I ended with a bigger mess than I had to begin with) and thought I might as well empty out the knitting basket. You know...kind of like tilling the soil in the spring. Not surprisingly, I found a few projects that I had forgotten about.

Big Rainy Day Fingerless Gloves

I started these sometime last winter (Ravelry says in December) because I really want my own pair.

Since I have fabulously large hands (as a woman, I'm not sure what this says about me) I've forgone the sportweight and instead I'm using a mixture of worsted and dk yarns to size things up a notch. So far it seems to be working out fine and glove number one is Elli-sized. Not sure why these fell by the wayside...probably Christmas. Time for number two!

The Henry Scarf

Ah, Henry! In a fit of herringbone lust I happily cast on for this during the Beijing Olympics, got a few rows in, and screwed up.

Now that we've had a little time apart I've made peace, frogged the offending row (this bad boy has loooong rows), and now Henry's back in rotation. Happiness, rainbows, confetti, etc.

Snorri Gloves

Gloves for Thunky! Started last winter with the alpaca he brought me from England, I'm designing these as I go.

Abandoned because the colorwork in the fingers (which makes them double-thick and snuggly warm) is a major pain in the neck. I think it's time to ditch the fiddly fingers and just go plain. If that means these will be done in time for next winter, I'll be a happy camper.

That's it for today! I still have a few projects that haven't made it blogside, and a small pile of unblogged FOs, but I feel like I'm getting a little closer to current!

p.s. Thanks for all the helpful suggestions for the pink scarf! I *think* I've decided on a new stitch pattern...yay!

Posted by Elli at 8:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)