Monsters and more

I think I’m getting the hang of this knitting thing! Here are my latest projects…

For Mother’s Day, my husband got me several knitting books, including Rebecca Danger’s “Big Book of Knitted Monsters.” I can’t say that it ever occured to me to knit monsters, but several of them are awfully cute. My first attempt is this guy, who I almost think looks more robot-ish than monster-ish.

This was my first project using the “magic loop” technique, knitting stripes, turning a heel and doing a 3-needle bind off. The magic loop was easier than I thought it would be. Switching colors for the stripes on the arms and legs was annoying, and the heels look very, very, messy (I ended up just sort of sewing over them with yarn after it was stuffed just to make sure everything was secure). And one foot is quite a bit longer than the other. But I’m going to give it to a friend who’s expecting a baby soon, and I hope she will overlook those imperfections!

I also made this little monster for my niece who is turning 7 next week. The yarn I bought ended up being much lighter-weight than advertised, so I probably should’ve used a smaller needle to get a tighter fabric. I wasn’t happy with how much the stuffing shows through. Again, this one required a bit of post-stuffing surgery, and those TOES were tricky. But the feet are my favorite part. The pattern didn’t call for stripes, but even though I dislike knitting them, I love how they look so I did stripes on the arms and legs.

Parker has requested one of the largest monsters in the books, but it doesn’t look as tricky to knit (no thumbs or toes!), so that will be next.

I also made another lace scarflet, like my first project, but this one is red wool.