Last Sunday I started knitting a toy.
I have attempted to knit this pattern several times but I always found fault with my results.
Coincidentally my friend Karen had been working on the same pattern and she encouraged me to watch Patty Lyon's Youtube tutorial "Jogless Join: 2 Row Stripe". Well, that helped take care of the wonky color changes and it was an easy peasy technique to learn.
It came out cute but the cast on edge - aka the feet - were a bit too bulky for my liking.
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| Raccoon #1 |
So I made another one. I changed the cast on color to dark gray and thought I could seam the feet differently but it didn't seem to make a difference. Also, there were bigger problems with this little guy: the jogless join was coming apart and the back of his head was splitting open. The more I tried to fix it the worse it got.
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| Raccoon #2 front view |
So I made a third one.
This time I used a provisional cast on for the feet and before adding the stuffing I wove in the many yarn ends securely. After stuffing I removed the provisional cast on and grafted the feet. Now the bottom of the feet matches the same smooth surface as the top of the head. Much better.
I had knitted three softies in four days and then stalled till today because I didn't know how to embroider a face on knitted fabric. What yarn do I use? The same thick worsted yarn, sock yarn, or embroidery floss?
I consulted my knitting library* and opted for black fingering-weight (sock) yarn.
The best thing about having made three raccoons is that I practiced making faces on the first two before starting the third face for reals.
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| Raccoon #3 |
* References
Susan B. Anderson Topsy-Turvy Inside-Out Knit Toys
Esther Braithwaite Forest Friends Dolls
Dani Church The Secret Lives of Letters
Anna Hrachovec Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi
