Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Finally A Finished Object

Lookit! I finished something! Yay! Pretty novel, huh? Meet Hermie:

I adore his eyestalks! And his claws. And his sweet whiskers. He is quite large too. You can judge the relative size by the fact that his shell alone is bigger than my fist. And if he was a real hermit crab he'd be looking for a new and larger shell very soon! I'm very happy with the results. Hansi Singh is an amazing designer but one needs to have quite an extensive skill set to make one of her "Hansigurumi" creatures. There is complex knitting, picking up stitches, stitch grafting, stuffing and assembly actions all going on - sometimes simultaneously. Not for the faint of heart for sure. But hey, I did it! Go me.

I want to complain that the title of Hansi's book from Interweave Press, "Amigurumi Knits: Patterns for 20 Cute Mini Knits", is very misleading. The patterns are not really cute (unless you have my sense of humour) and as written they are definitely not mini. The publishers obviously had their own notions. Hansi herself describes them as "peculiar" which is a perfect way to say they are more realistic than cartoonish. The yarn called for is worsted weight. You could of course use finer yarn and smaller needles for a smaller sized critter. But trust me, you might want to practise with the big stuff first! You also would have to find a smaller wire than chenille stems if you want to make the limbs posable. Though I think the giant size actually makes my hermit crab even more delightful. Can't miss him!

However, I missed yesterday's outfit post but it was a retread of the day before - minus the boots - so you didn't really miss anything. Here's today's:

  • Grey and black jumper, MM (self-drafted pattern, poly knit)
  • Oatmeal henley t-shirt, SB
  • Black knit ruffled capri pants, SB
  • Green striped knit socks, MM (pre-Ravelry)
  • Black Birkies

Dressed for: Teaching small kids to do spool-knitting. Only partially successful but fun!

In other news my camera remote finally showed up. Told you it was on the slow boat! And hello, it actually works. My photos may get more exciting. Or not. We'll find out soon enough, won't we?

4 comments:

Sharon in Surrey said...

A couple of my knitting buddies bought the knitted Dinosaur book - Karen is knitting a Spinosaurus - a newly discovered behemoth with a huge sail on it's back - sort of a giant croc with a huge sail on it's back . . .

pao said...

Oh, you hermit crab is divine. Is another on its way. In due time, of course. And is this a remote-aided photo? Or is that yet to come. Such excitement!

Louisa said...

Thanks for the kind comments! And no, I don't think I'll be making another. Maybe a shell. Too much fiddly work! Karen's Spinosaurus sounds cool. I love stuffies. Too much probably!

peahen said...

I absolutely love it! Like you, I'm a fan of the peculiar. This has inspired me to dig out the pattern for the angler fish I never quite got around to!