October 2012

Halloween is coming, time for some nasty knits.

31/10/2012

Worm Dipping

I have a pattern for a worm that I'm pretty happy with.

Ideally I'd like the body of the worm darken to either side of the clitellum, lightening at the ends. Sadly, I can't quite manage this. Colour changes are hard to do neatly on such a small scale. My knitting will never convey the subtle shading of colours in a real worm...

...or will it...

I spent a couple of happy hours this afternoon dipping albino worms in pink dye. I used a dilute pink to soak the whole worm, then I folded the bodies in half and dunked the midsection in a more concentrated solution. I'm hoping they will dry with shading intact.

I feel a bit like Dr Frankenstein. But with worms.

26/10/2012

Dedication

I'm ill and sat on a train to Slough.

My current feelings can be summed up by the word “yeeergggghhh”.

Still here I am typing away, getting the pumpkin pattern written up for the weekend. Now that's dedication for you.

25/10/2012

Stuffed Pumpkin

So I kept going until I had ten repeats of my ridge pattern, then I joined the ends of the knitting together, stuffed it and made a stem. Pumpkin done.

I knitted ten ridges because my model pumpkin has ten ridges. It made me wonder if all pumpkins have ten so I did some research using the highly scientific method of googling “pumpkin” and counting the bumps in the pictures.

Turns out most of them do, I suspect that it has something to do with the fact that the pumpkin flower has five petals.

22/10/2012

Haven't got a clew.

I'm still worm making. I have a cunning plan but it won't be worth while until I have a good batch of them knitted up. In the meantime here's a fun fact for the day: a clew is a ball of yarn or thread, but it can also be used as the collective noun for a group of worms.

Between worms I've been having another stab at the pumpkin. Knitting in the round didn't work because the sections weren't prominent enough so this time I'm going to try knitting in the flat, parallel to the ridges. By halving the number of stitches at each ridge, I'm hoping to pull the fabric of the knitting inward without resorting to my back up plan – sewing!

I always feel a bit nervous when I'm trying to knit a curved design in the flat. It's so hard to tell if the pattern is working out before it's finished. This pumpkin is big compared to most things I knit so if it fails I'll have wasted a lot of valuable knitting time. Here's my work so far.

You can see the knitting bulge away from the needle, trying to form itself into a bump. This bodes well for the design working as planed. You can also see that I used a different colour for the cast on edge. I intend to unpick it later and join the sides of the pumpkin with Kitchener stitch.

19/10/2012

Eeeeeeek

Want to hear something really scary?

I just bought my first home.

OK that's not strictly speaking knitted related but I felt I should share. I'm off to knit more worms. It is how I shall make my fortune.

16/10/2012

Intermission

I took a break from worms to knit a pumpkin. It hasn't gone to plan. Here's the mini pumpkin I'm basing my pattern on (home grown in my parents' garden – thanks mum and dad). The colours in the photo came out a bit strange, like I've been knitting the 70s. It's because I took the photo after dark, in artificial light. The nights are drawing in. I actually like it getting dark early, but it makes photography more challenging.

The pumpkin has vertical ridges evenly spaced around the circumference. When I started knitting I slipped stitches every other row to try and pull the knitting inwards. It did tighten the knitting but not enough to affect the shape of the pumpkin. First law of 3D knitting: anything you stuff tends to the round.

10/10/2012

Worms Worms Worms

I'm still trying to knit worms. It's taking me days.

Ignoring colour for the moment I'm trying to decide on a good wormy texture. The first I tried was too lumpy, the second not lumpy enough, the third looks too much like knitting (a strange complain about actual knitting but I hope you know what I mean), and the fourth is scruffy and complicated but definitely my favourite.

The fourth was made as regular i-cord but before starting each round you wrap the yarn around the knitting.

09/10/2012

Why Aren't Worms Easy

I'm trying to knit worms. It's taking me hours.

I'm probably overcomplicating things. I do that a lot. Worms are just long thin shapes.

They have that bump thing at one end (the clitellum apparently).

Look closer and they have ridges...

...and don't get me started on the colour. A single worm can be all shades from light flesh tones to dark pink/purple. Knitting does not do shading well, especially when you don't have the colours to start with.

08/10/2012

"The old dear put down her knitting as she saw me coming, studied me over the top of her granny glasses, and smiled sweetly. Most people thought of her as a nice old thing, but I happened to know that her knitting needles had been carved from human thigh-bones, and if she smiled widely enough, you could see that all her teeth had been filed to points."

John Taylor – Nightingale's Lament.

Halloween Doll

Because I have this blank pattern lying around and couldn't resist.

03/10/2012

Ooops

OK so last month didn't exactly go as planned (No updates in two weeks = Bad Jessica). I got one pattern done but didn't finish the half apple that I was working on. It goes on my knits in progress list for another day. Right now I'm turning my brain to the gruesome, grizzly and spooky, trying to think of some good halloween patterns.