Monday, June 16, 2008

I'm Still Here!

I'm sorry I've been gone for so long. I've missed blogging, and though I've been reading my favorite blogs, I haven't been reading them as often as I'd like. Things have been busy and crazy and I just haven't been knitting much. I have finished a couple of projects, I've frogged a couple of projects, and I'm kind of just feeling the knitting blahs at the moment.

Anyway, I do have some photos to show: I finished a little crochet toy from a pattern by Owlishly, available on Ravelry as a Ravelry download. I modified the Scott pattern to resemble Diego whom my wee Mole adores. Truth be told, he prefers Dora (as evidenced by his calling out "Dora!" whenever he sees some Dora paraphernalia and singing the Dora theme song to himself as he rides along in a stroller or on my back in a baby carrier. However, I was afraid of making Dora's hair, so I attempted Diego first.



I made a crochet loop wig cap and cut the loops. i tried to cut them unevenly to make Diego’s spikey hair but I fear it simply looks uneven. I gave him shorts and modified the stitch count a little to make the short legs wider than the calf. I also added socks and made a little vest and rescue pack.

I am a VERY novice hooker and the Scott pattern is extremely easy to follow. My only problems with this are due to my inexperience - I’m tense, it’s tight, and hard to poke the hook through the holes. Also, the yarns are two different materials - cotton and wool - and thus have different amounts of give. They are also slightly different weights, and I don’t know enough about crochet gauge to adjust properly with hook/stitch count so i just barreled on through with the same hook size (except for the back pack which was a significantly thinner yarn and didn’t need to join with the other yarns so i downsized.)
I made this as a “test” before i plunged into another Owlishly pattern, Seth, which is the one I really want to make. I thought starting smaller would be a good first attempt but really I think the larger doll will be easier. I had trouble with the tiny little arms. they’re kind of a mess and i just sort of winged them in the end because i couldn’t find the actual stitches a lot of the time.

I used safety eyes and embroidered a small mouth but if my kid doesn’t accept it as Diego I might cut more accurate pieces from flannel and stitch them on, as I did with Dora's backpack.

20 Comments:

Blogger soknitpicky said...

WOW! I bow to your creativity! This is adorable and a *very* convincing Diego!

3:23 PM  
Blogger Sarah-potterknitter said...

How fun! I can't wait to see the next ones.

3:39 PM  
Blogger tiennieknits said...

That is so adorable. I want one! I'm glad you're back!

3:50 PM  
Blogger penny said...

novice? very adorable and beautiful photography.

4:07 PM  
Blogger Stephanie said...

My kids would totally know that was Diego. You did a great job!!

4:20 PM  
Blogger Sue said...

Diego looks great. I am sure your kids will love him.

7:23 PM  
Blogger Alicia said...

He looks so good! Wow, I can't believe how cute that is!

10:02 PM  
Blogger The A.D.D. Knitter said...

The 'fro on little Diego is killing me--so cute!

10:14 PM  
Blogger a friend to knit with said...

so happy to see you light up in my bloglines!!!

totally adorable!

11:21 PM  
Blogger Oiyi said...

Diego is so cute! Great job with the hair.

www.oiyi.blogspot.com

10:37 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Ahhh he is adorable!!! Love it!

1:54 PM  
Blogger Cactusneedles said...

I think he looks great! Good job! :)

6:08 PM  
Blogger mames said...

i love him! he looks like he is always on the go, backpack and all. and the image of your wee one singing songs about dora cracks me up. very cute.

6:15 PM  
Blogger Liz K. said...

I LOVE his hair. It fits your family perfectly. Does Mole have hair like the Squid and your hubby? Yet?

8:40 PM  
Blogger CraftyCarole said...

woah.... very very cute and I love the additions. It is so Diego

I really need to learn to crochet.
missed your blogging

3:01 PM  
Blogger Ilix said...

Love it, it looks great!

4:27 PM  
Blogger Robin said...

So cute!! I'm playing blogreadingcatchup and note you have so many great FO's!!

12:36 PM  
Blogger Fleurdelalaine said...

So cute!!

1:13 PM  
Blogger Darcys Knotty Knitter said...

My daughter is crazy about Diego I knew immediately that it was Diego fantastic job!!!Hugs Darcy

1:54 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Wow! What a lovely blog and cute pictures!

9:10 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home