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 :)

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

Lord of the Rings Book Necklace

So I am a terrible person. I should be revising negation and articles and why you don't make the verb agree if it takes avoir in the passé composé unless the object pronoun comes before the auxiliary *groans*. But instead I've watched the whole of season 1 of Teen Wolf (deceptively terrible title, it was actually quite good) and made this...

Just to clarify, I made the book not the Evenstar, that "was a gift". It was very simple, just thick drawing paper, a little bit of cardboard, a biro and some coloured pencils. Of course if you're not artistically inclined you could always print of a mini book cover instead but I think doing it yourself is nicer (and they charge a lot for coloured printing in the library, plus I'd have to walk there).

For the pages I used nine rectangles of cartridge paper, folded in half and glued together, definitely do any drawing or writing you want on them first. For the cover you will need a bigger rectangle of paper folded in three (not equal bits, it should be; almost half the rectangle, fold line, little bit, fold line, almost half the rectangle) with a thin strip of cardboard glued down the middle section. I selotaped the eyepin to the cardboard and then superglued the book pages on top. I also glued the back page to the cover for extra security.

Red Biro over coloured pencil was surprisingly effective.

I filled the pages with a variety of things, the One Ring poem, a slightly awful tiny drawing of Gandalf, a bit of tengwar, normal stuff :) and unlike the Winchester journal, this isn't a mini prop replica so you can write or draw whatever you want inside it. Favourite quotes, a homage to Orlando Bloom's wig, the options are endless.

So you can compare it to the genuine article.

The final thing to do was to attach  a jump ring and put it on the necklace.
And there you have it. Have fun :)
Namaarie.

DIY Supernatural Winchester Journal Necklace

"It was the heat of the moment..." 

 If Asia's waking me up then that means it's Tuesday. Have I mentioned before that I love Supernatural? I've just finished Season 7, my first essay has been handed in, the 200th episode has come out and I've passed the denial stage now and just let it consume my life so...

It is possibly the most amazing thing I have ever made and it was super easy, like, dying in Supernatural easy.

Everything I used, plus salt (obviously)

The notebook it a small rectangle of card (approx. 5cm x 3cm) and then 7 (or more if you want) slightly smaller rectangles on normal lined paper. Fold all the bits of paper in half and glue them together so you have a mini book, I dipped some of mine in coffee to make them brown and crinkly and beautiful, I think it probably says something about me that this was my first time using my hairdryer since I arrived at university. Then just let your imagination run wild, these were my pages but it can be whatever you want. I just used an ordinary black Biro and a pencil and on some of the pages I used bits of newspaper. This Wikipedia page is really useful if you want to make it really accurate John's Journal Pages but I like the fact you could also include quotes from the show. When I needed to write something to fill in the blank spaces I just used the lyrics from Carry on My Wayward Son and I found doing some parts in Biro and some in HB pencil was very effective.

As you can see some pages I replicated while others just payed homage to the show.

My initial idea was to draw the Impala, but cars are hard and number plates are easy.

Because you never know when having an exorcism on hand could be useful.

 For the cover of the Journal I just coloured in the card with a brown pencil, selotaped down an eyepin (I think that's what they're called, it's like a little metal stick with a loop on top) then I glued the paper book into it.

The devil's in Sam Winchester the detail.

I found the little bottle at a craft store, along with the necklace loops (jump rings?) and eyepins. After I filled the bottle with salt I super-glued the cork down, less practical for hunting ghosts I know but also less likely to result in awkward spillages.

Got Salt? I took mine from lunch today.

That's all guys, happy crafting and remember, don't be the first 5 minutes of an episode of  supernatural!

Merlin inspired Mittens

Without a doubt, especially if you don't include season 5 *shudder*, Merlin is one of my most favourite TV shows of all time. Luckily for me I share this love with my best friend and so for her birthday this year I decided to make her some Merlin themed mittens.
Voila!

Like the Gondor mittens, they are just rectangles folded in half with a hole for the thumbs.

Boring instructions in case you want to make some yourself: I used 3mm needles and DK wool, the mittens are 40 sts across, the cuffs are 20 rows of K2P2 rib, then 5 rows of stocking stitch, continue in SS following the chart below (I put the furthest letter 4 sts from the edge with the thumb hole), then 5 rows of SS and 3 rows of K2P2 rib.

I can't believe its nearly two years since it ended :(. Nerdy Confession; sometimes I still get angry when I think about the way they ended it, in my opinion you can't spend 5 seasons on a plot line of Will Arthur find out that Merlin has magic? and then "resolve" it in the last 20 minutes of the finale episode, still I guess that's what fan fiction is for.
I leave you then with a slightly terrible drawing of Merlin and the wise words of Dr. Seuss "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."

*Very deep voice of the Dragon* "Merrrrlinnn!"

Gondor inspired Mittens

Gondor has no mittens, Gondor needs no mittens but if you're going to take the Pass of Caradhras, you're going to want some knitwear. Behold, mittens inspired by the White Tree of Gondor.

The man who (or woman) can wield the power of these mittens can summon to him an army more deadly than any that walks this earth, possibly. I love making mittens like this because they're just rectangles so they're super easy and quick to make.

To make the mittens I used 3mm needles and DK wool, but the friend I made them for has huge hands so I would recommend using a smaller size of needle.

Mitten Pattern
CO 48sts in white
Row 1: K2 P2 rib
Change to navy blue
Row 2-21: K2P2 rib
Row 22: Knit
Row 23: Purl
Row 24-55: Working from chart continue in SS
Row 56: K2P2 rib
Row 57: K2P2 rib
Change to white
Row 58:  K2P2 rib
Cast off in rib
To make up simply sew down the side using mattress stitch and leaving a hole for the thumb. Weave in all the loose ends.

For the left mitten make sure with RS facing pattern is on the  right and the opposite for the other mitten. I have in the past finished two mittens only to discover they were both left handed.

Knitting Chart

Feel free to comment if you have any questions or suggestions.

Happy knitting.