FO: Sheldon
Posted By Laura on July 22, 2009
Pattern: Sheldon by Ruth Homrighaus, Knitty Winter 06
Yarn: Jaeger Matchmaker Merino DK, Red and Lilac, from stash. Can’t remember the shades. Discontinued.
Needles: 3.25mm DPNs, 3.75mm straights, Knitpicks Harmony; 3.75mm crochet hook.
Mods: Couldn’t do the i-cord bitty, so double crocheted the shell together instead.
Sheldon is yet another baby knit. I decided that she has lots of knitted garments (still need to finish off one of them – I need to add buttons) so thought I would make a little toy instead. I have knit Elijah twice now, so thought I would do something different. I fell in love with Sheldon when I first saw him. I even had some green patons DK cotton for him. However, when I cast on with the cotton, it was Not Very Nice. The cotton was really tricky to use and gave me a couple of ladders around the DPN joins. So I ended up digging into my stash.
Yes, I know. Red and lilac are not your typical turtle colours. But I didn’t have any other green in my stash, so it had to do. I have so much in my stash so I didn’t want to buy anymore yarn. All my baby knitting has been from stash. Which is better, methinks. Because all I lose is some time. I am not spending money needlessly. Which my husband likes too.
Sheldon’s body and legs were easy enough to knit. In fact, all the pieces were easy enough to knit. The shell itself is rather clever, with the colour changes. I had never knit with 2 colours before. However, putting the shell together was Not Fun. I undid it a couple of times, I struggled with the i-cord finishing, the base bit seems a tad small (even though my tension is accurate and I followed the pattern properly) and it just didn’t seem to fit properly. I have finally put it together and it is staying as it is. Husband thinks it is the perfectionist in me, but bits don’t look like the pictures on ravelry. Oh well. It can stay as it is.
The yarn was yummy and I would knit with it again. Shame Jaeger have discontinued all their yarn, though. And I don’t have anymore in my stash. I didn’t use full balls of either the lilac or the red, so I have a little bit for maybe a scrap afghan or something if / when I get round to it.
I shall try and get the buttons sewn on my little BSJ today (don’t hold your breath, I’m not). It is all blocked now, which is good. It took ages to dry for some reason.
So, the last couple of days I haven’t had anything on my needles. But I have realised that my needles are a bit messy. So, out comes the sewing!
I decided that my DPNs were not in suitable storage. My knitpicks were alright, but my Brittany birch and metal needles were not. In fact, I am ashamed to admit that they were stored in a plastic tesco bag and they were all over the place. So, I decided to get my bum into gear and do a bit of organisation.
I have used this tutorial by Kathryn Ivy to create some funky little pouches for my DPNs.
Man, they are rather cute. I have made 2 different sizes here – 5″ and 6″ pouches. These now house my Brittanys and my Knitpicks. I have made 11 little pouches so far. It was like a factory line! I cut allllll the material out first and then sewed them together. I nearly didn’t sew them together though as I threw a little strop when I couldn’t, for the life of me, remember how to wind on a bobbin! It was doing my head in and I thought I was going mad – it’s been a while since I had done anything on my sewing machine, and even longer since I had to wind a little bobbin up. Got there in the end, though.
Today I am going to go back to the production line as I need to make some pouches that are 7″ and 8″ for my longer, metal needles. I am really impressed with them and they look so much neater than they were. And all of the needles are together, rather than floating about in a plastic carrier bag …
I am not going to finish this entry without mentioning the cats, though.
The other day, after I had taken photos of my Umbilical Cord Hat, David decided that it would be cool to have the cats model the hat (Ha!). So, I had the camera in hand and David had the hat. First, we tried it on Missy …
She was Not Impressed.
Neither was Charlie …
Suzy was too quick to get a photo but she was equally impressed with the possibility of a hat on her head. So, instead of a Suzy / hat picture, here is Suzy, as she currently is. Curled up, in a basket that has a black binliner in it. Yup, that’s our Suze.
Sigh.
Sheldon is lovely! Well done on the tidy up too. Not long now…….