Hook and Needles: Knitting and Crochet Blog (cool stuff, techniques, and things I find)

If you follow the Techknitting blog (which you should), you’ve seen this video. Otherwise, I’m posting it here, too. It is a stop-motion animation from a machine knitting group in Montreal. It’s just amazing!

Nibbler from Futurama

One of my favorite characters in Futurama is Nibbler. He’s Leela’s voracious, fuel excreter pet. I couldn’t resist, so after a lot of trials and errors, I crocheted an actual size Nibbler.

My amigurumi Nibbler

I knew that many of you would like to make your own, so I took notes, and wrote them up as a pattern. If you try to make it, keep in mind that this is not an amigurumi for beginners. You need to be a somewhat experience crocheter. It is made of many parts, so it will also take some time to make.

Download the pattern here

I’ll soon be posting the pattern for the cape, shoes and diaper. I just have to transcribe my notes.

PS: If you find any errors, let me know.

Update (Nov 26, 2008): The pattern for the cape, shoes and diaper is up.

The kids have come and gone, and as usual, we have tons of candy left… I promise I’ll take it to work on Monday and give it to my students or leave it in the reception area. I already have a tommy-ache from eating candy all night. I really just don’t learn…

I know this post doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, but it is. I wanted to share some pictures of my pumpkin (I didn’t want to spend too much time carving it this year):

My pumpkin on the porch

My pumpkin lit

And some pictures of Raffi wearing his brain slug. I had the intention of training him to wear it, but I didn’t… Taking the pictures before him taking the slug off was a battle (lasting 20 minutes), but I’m way more stubborn than Raffi when it comes to taking pictures:

We tried holding him for the pictures

Here he thinks he is getting a cookie

Here he is tired and trying to hide under the kitchen table

Is this doggy abuse? Probably… But it’s his fault for being too darn cute!

Every year I knit at least a couple of hats for my husband, this year I decided to crochet him a beanie (which ended up being more like toque). I find crocheting faster, and he likes the hats to be thick. The following is my recipe for beanies. It’s not exactly a pattern, because you can adjust it to fit your head size, and yarn weight.

Crochet hat with brim

That is me modeling the hat

Before you start, measure the intended head. You want to determine the rim’s width, so place your tape measure around the head where the rim of the hat would be (probably going from above the eyebrows to the nape of the head). Write the number down.

This hat is done in double crochets, each row starts with a chain of 2 (or 3 if you prefer), and ends with a slip stitch to join the last double crochet with the top of the chain you started with.

You’ll make the beanie in the following steps:

1. In a magic ring, or in the first chain of a chain of 2, single crochet 10 stitches.
2. Crochet 2 double crochets in each single crochet on the first row (20 stitches).
3. Continue increasing 10 double crochets in each round until you reach the rim width you calculated at the beginning.
4. Double crochet all around (no more increases) until desired length.

If you are not sure how to increase 10 double crochets in each round, here’s an example of how to increase all the way to 90 stitches (that’s how big my hubby’s head is),:

• [dc 1, dc 2 in 1] 10 times (30 stitches)
• [dc 2, dc 2 in 1] 10 times (40 stitches)
• [dc 3, dc 2 in 1] 10 times (50 stitches)
• [dc 4, dc 2 in 1] 10 times (60 stitches)
• [dc 5, dc 2 in 1] 10 times (70 stitches)
• [dc 6, dc 2 in 1] 10 times (80 stitches)
• [dc 7, dc 2 in 1] 10 times (90 stitches)

You may need more, or less, depending on the head circumference, and yarn weight.

If you find that you are at the point where the hat it too narrow, but adding another increase row will make it too big, then increase only 5 stitches, instead of 10 on the last row increase. And if you have to choose between the beanie being a little tight, versus a little loose, choose a little tight, the beanie will likely stretch over time a bit.

If you want to add stripes, just make sure the slip stitch at the end of a row is made with the colour of the next row.

For my husband’s I made it longer to add a brim (he likes being able to unfold the sides of the brim to cover his ears), and to make it even warmer, I lined it with polar fleece (if you are going to line your beanie, make it a tad larger.) If you want to learn how to do this, check out Techknitting’s articles about it (How to line a hat, headband style, with Polar fleece, and Fully lining hats with polar fleece).

If you prefer doing the hat in single crochets, you can, just do your increases by 6, instead of 10. It will take longer, but the fabric will be tighter.

I hope this helps!

That's me modeling the hat (it's to big for me!)

The other day, in one of Ravelry’s forums, someone asked for a good way to add embroidery to your knitting. I did a quick search in Youtube, and I found this awesome video on how to chain stitch and wrap stitch:

And if you don’t crochet, and the hook intimidates you, you can use a needle:

I haven’t tried on crochet, but I bet it works just as well.

With Halloween fast approaching, I needed a subtle costume for me, and my faithful canine sidekick Raffi. I’m really into Futurama at the moment, so I figured demure matching Brain Slugs would do the trick.

Brain slugs are space parasites that stick to your head and control your every action. If you suspect a brain slug infestation is in the works, switch to a garlic shampoo.

Futurama's Brain Slugs

There are many patterns available for brain slugs, but I felt I should try make my own. I made a big slug (for moi), and a small one (for Raffi).

My slugs

These are fairly easy to make (check out my Amigurumi Tutorial 1, 2 and 3), but you do need to know how to single crochet around the post (see this video, just keep in mind that you’d be doing single crochet, not double crochet like in the video).

Once you finish them, you can sew them to a headband, or just attach a length of yarn (or long chain) to keep them in place.

Download the Brain Slugs pattern here [PDF]

Update (Oct. 31, 2008): I put some pictures of Raffi wearing his slug here.

Good news everyone! I just opened my Etsy store:

Coopersita’s Cute Creations

Right now I’m just selling 3 patterns of Halloween amigurumi: Nicky, Wendy and Franky!

My three Halloween amigurumi patterns

They are $3.99 each, or $10 for all three. You read right, you can save $2.00 if you buy them all at once!

And to entice you even more into buying them, here are some desktop wallpapers of them:

Standard  (800×600, 1024×768, 1280×1024 and 1600×1200)

Nicky

Franky

Wendy

Widescreen (1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, and 1920×1200)

Nicky

Franky

Wendy

For instructions on how to install or download, see this post.

Wish me luck!