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Tuesday 24 February 2015

Mini Knitted Moose Sam


 It has been a while I think since I posted something that made me seem like a Supernatural nut. Which is remiss of me. And so, say hello to my little moose!



It was quite a complicated knit, and a lot of it was trial and error as I went along but I'm going to try to make a pattern as best as I can in case you want to make a mini moose Sam too, and lets face it, who wouldn't?

Knitted with 3mm needles using DK wool.

Firstly for the body and the head (moose colour):
Cast on 20 stitches
Beginning with a knit row stocking stitch (SS) 20 rows.
Cut the yarn leaving a long tail and thread this through the 20 sts and pull tight.
Using mattress stitch sew down to the bottom of the body, stuff it and then sew up the bottom. Wrap a bit of  yarn tightly around the middle to make a neck.

The Nose (snout?):
Cast on 8 stitches
SS 4 rows.
Cut the yarn and thread it through the 8 stitches, put a little bit of stuffing inside before pulling the stitches to form a cup shape. Sew this onto the head.

You should now have something that looks a bit like this.



Legs (moose colour) make two:
Cast on 10 sts
SS 16 rows
Cast off
Sew with mattress stitch to the end of the leg, stuff and sew up.

Trousers (denimy blue):
Cast on 12 sts
SS 12 rows
Cut yarn and on the same needle CO 12 sts
SS 12 rows
SS 4 rows across both legs
Cast off.
Wrap the trouser legs round the moose legs and sew up. Then sew the trousers onto the moose.

Shirt (I used red, green and white, but it's up to you):
The shirt was complicated because obviously it has to be plaid. After some research I decided the best method was to knit a stripey shirt in a wide rib and then using a crochet hook add the vertical stripes after. A video that was really good at explaining this can be found here.
Cast on 19 sts (green)
Using K3 P1 rib, rib 2 rows green, 1 row red, 1 row green, 1 row red, 2 rows green, 1 row red, 1 row green, 1 row red, 2 rows green, cast off.




Add 4 lines of crochet stitching in the purl sections. In the image above I've done one of these. I then embroidered on some white stitching.


You can then cry a little bit about how many loose ends you've got to sew in but you're done.

Sew the shirt onto the body leaving the chest bare.

Arms (moose colour) make two:
Cast on 6 sts
SS 8 rows
Cast off
Sew with mattress stitch to the end of the arm, stuff and sew up.

Sleeves (whatever you used for the shirt) make two:
Just to make things awkward I used a number of stitches that didn't make it symmetrical so keep an eye on whether you're supposed to be knitting or purling.
Cast on 10 sts
First row (green) rib is K3 P1 K3 P1 K2, following this rib another row in green, 1 red, 2 green and cast off.
Add the 2 lines of crochet in red and the white embroidery.

Sew the arms into the sleeves and then sew onto the moose.

Now to the fun bit.

Antlers (white/cream) make two:
Cast on 2 sts
SS 10 rows
Cast off
Thread a small paperclip through the moose's head in a 'u' shape. Sew the horns on to this and onto the head at the bottom.
I also knitted to little bits (Cast on 2 sts, SS 4 rows, cast off and sew down) to sew onto the sides of the horns

Ears (moose colour) make two:
Cast on 4 sts
K 1 rows
P2 tog, P2 tog
K1 row
Cut yarn and  thread through both sts. Sew the base of the ear together so that it curves round. Attach to head.

I then embroidered on some nostrils, eyes and the tattoo, you can't really do anything too detailed with such thick yarn so I wouldn't recommend trying to do the actual tattoo just go for a rough approximation. And then he just needs some moosey hair.



And there you have it, please leave a comment if you have any questions or improvements.

The finished article with a traditional banana for scale.
Want to make a really cool Winchester journal necklace?  Check out my other Supernatural posts :)

Thursday 5 February 2015

Doctor Who Scarf Mittens

I finished my Doctor Who scarf before Christmas, sadly it didn't get to quite full length but wool was running low and it was becoming a trip hazard. It is still more than twice my height. Anyway, it has wormed its way into my heart and now holds the title of 'favourite scarf' so I thought it was about time I made some mittens to match.


The mittens are inspired by my scarf which in turn was inspired by this pattern. All the details about my scarf can be found here. So that they matched I did the main part of the mittens in garter stitch (all knit rows) and used the same (incorrect) colours as I did for the scarf.

Instructioney bit in case you want to make some (without the colour changes):
Using 3mm needles cast on 40 stitches
K2 P2 rib for 20 rows
K 44 rows
K2 P2 rib for 3 rows
Cast off.
Sew down the sides using mattress stitch and remembering to leave a hole for the thumb.

If you want to make some exactly like mine then the left one is, beige for 20 rows in rib and 4 rows in garter stitch, red for 10 rows, orange for 4, navy for 20 rows and green for 6 rows of garter stitch and 3 in rib. The right one is grey for 20 rows in rib and 2 in garter stitch, red for 20 rows, navy for 8, beige for 12 and orange for 2 rows of garter stitch and 3 in rib.

In other news, because I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, I've finally started watching Firefly and it is pretty good. Also Crowley's in it which is going to make any show great. Of course I should be doing my work instead but that's what student life is all about :).

Happy knitting :D