I’ve been faithfully knitting on my Hemlock Ring Blanket and finishing up socks that were cast on in 2008, but I needed something new. I wanted to knit something for Max, and I wanted it to be a quick project, and one that I could use stash yarn on.
I pulled down all my knitting books. I looked at socks, puppets, toys, and even pulled out the crochet book I have. I tried a couple options but nothing was working out, so I went to my bookmarked knitting projects and Grumpasaurus stuck out immediately (it’s one of Max’s nicknames*). The first day I was able to knit and stuff the body. The next day I knit and stuffed the tail, as well as made the arms and legs. Today I knit the spiney ridge on his back, and attached all the bobs and ends.
I am very pleased with the 3 day time frame to get this piece done. Frequently I get hung up on projects like this and dawdle because I'm not really sure how to do the sewing bits involved, especially embroidering the facial features. This time I just kept momentum and plowed through no matter that I felt very out of my element. The worst part for me was trying to embroider the face before he's stuffed and completely formed. I ended up going back and adding some stitching to his face after all was said and done because it was too hard to see his eyes and mouth. Since I was already doing that, I added some fanginess to his mouth instead of the straight line from the pattern because mine just didn't seem grumpy enough.
Now I just have to keep the cats from getting hold of him and ripping him apart before Max is old enough to play with him. This would be one of those toys that doesn't do anything and doesn't feel good in the mouth, so it will have no interest for Max at the moment.
Honestly I think I may have spent almost as much time figuring out what I wanted to work on as I did actually knitting this guy. I wish that I had better pics to post, but if I wait until daylight to get the camera and take them before writing this then it may never happen. Instead I will make use of my insomnia and iPhone and just be done with it.
*Like Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde, Max is Snugglesaurus and Grumpasaur. Although mostly he's just Booga.
I pulled down all my knitting books. I looked at socks, puppets, toys, and even pulled out the crochet book I have. I tried a couple options but nothing was working out, so I went to my bookmarked knitting projects and Grumpasaurus stuck out immediately (it’s one of Max’s nicknames*). The first day I was able to knit and stuff the body. The next day I knit and stuffed the tail, as well as made the arms and legs. Today I knit the spiney ridge on his back, and attached all the bobs and ends.
I am very pleased with the 3 day time frame to get this piece done. Frequently I get hung up on projects like this and dawdle because I'm not really sure how to do the sewing bits involved, especially embroidering the facial features. This time I just kept momentum and plowed through no matter that I felt very out of my element. The worst part for me was trying to embroider the face before he's stuffed and completely formed. I ended up going back and adding some stitching to his face after all was said and done because it was too hard to see his eyes and mouth. Since I was already doing that, I added some fanginess to his mouth instead of the straight line from the pattern because mine just didn't seem grumpy enough.
Now I just have to keep the cats from getting hold of him and ripping him apart before Max is old enough to play with him. This would be one of those toys that doesn't do anything and doesn't feel good in the mouth, so it will have no interest for Max at the moment.
*Like Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde, Max is Snugglesaurus and Grumpasaur. Although mostly he's just Booga.
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