FSM? six weeks late

sooo...

finals are coming up, and consequently, i should not be knitting and watching so much x files. but i did buy myself a little knitting knobby the other day, and have been making blue i-cord (leftover t-rex yarn) and have been pondering what to do with it. a friend suggested i make a series of flying spaghetti monsters to reflect the stages of picasso's art (blue, rose, and cubist). we shall see, we shall see.

once i find my size fours again, there will soon be another pattern for you all to feast your eyes upon...inspired by the mental obsessions of brady higa.

...aaaaaaand
i wrote that back in mayish. and now its julyish. so it's outdated, and the robot (the aforementioned pattern that incorporates my size 4 dpns) is still unfinished, but coming along nicely.

in other news, there's this neat shrug entitled 'Bobblicious' on Knitty, and i've started that in ravenclaw colors. the hogwarts set shall be complete before the summer's out. there's an abandoned rexlace belt still on the needles, which i suppose i'll finish one of these days.

i've decided that perhaps a way to make myself blog more often and even regularly, is to go with this trend of using 'shuffle' on iTunes and listing the first ten songs that come up. here's this week's listening. i'll put them in song (album) - artist order for clarity.

1. Better Days (Better Days) - Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes
2. She Said, She Said (The Big Come Up) - The Black Keys
3. Parker's Mood (Ken Burns Jazz) - Charlie Parker
4. Sometimes a Fantasy (Glass Houses) - Billy Joel
5. She's Not You (Worldwide Gold Award Hits) - Elvis Presley
6. Dose (Dose) - Latin Playboys
7. Wade in the Water (A Portrait) - Chanticleer
8. Company in My Back (A Ghost is Born) - Wilco
9. This Time Darlin' (Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell) - Social Distortion
10. 747s (Public Library) - Jonathan Rundman

...nothing too incriminating...i lucked out this week, i guess.

grace and peace. and yarn. ;)

P-Bird!

modelo numero dos. disfruta.
pattern number two. enjoy.


Pterodactyl

Materials:
yarn – 85g should suffice, I would imagine
needles – US size 6 dpns (4)
stuffing…I used polyfill
yarn needle
googly eyes or buttons (optional)
point protectors (optional, but a damn good idea)
craft glue (optional)

Wings (make 1)
(it would behoove you to employ point protectors here, then you can pretend you’ve got straight needles)

CO 80 sts
row 1: k
row 2: k38, p4, k38
row 3: p38, k4, p38
row 4: k17, k3tog, k18, p4, k18, k3tog, k17 (76 sts)
row 5: k2, p1, p2tog, p31, k4, p31, p2tog, p1, k2 (74 sts)
row 6: k16, k3tog, k16, p4, k16, k3tog, k16 (70 sts)
row 7: k2, p1, p2tog, p28, k4, p28, p2tog, p1, k2 (68 sts)
row 8: k32, p4, k32
row 9: k2, p1, p2tog, p27, k4, p27, p2tog, p1, k2 (66 sts)
row 10: k14, k3tog, k14, p4, k14, k3tog, k14 (62 sts)
row 11: k2, p1, p2tog, p24, k4, p24, p2tog, p1, k2 (60 sts)
row 12: k28, p4, k28
row 13: k2, p1, p2tog, p23, k4, p23, p2tog, p1, k2 (58 sts)
row 14: k11, k3tog, k13, p4, k13, k3tog, k11 (54 sts)
row 15: k2, p1, p2tog, p20, k4, p20, p2tog, p1, k2 (52 sts)
row 16: k24, p4, k24
row 17: k2, p1, p2tog, p19, k4, p19, p2tog, p1, k2 (50 sts)
row 18: k9, k3tog, k11, p4, k11, k3tog, k9 (46 sts)
row 19: k2, p1, p2tog, p16, k4, p16, p2tog, p1, k2 (44 sts)
row 20: k20, p4, k20
row 21: k2, p1, p2tog, p15, k4, p15, p2tog, p1, k2 (42 sts)
row 22: k7, k3tog, k9, p4, k9, k3tog, k7 (38 sts)
row 23: k2, p1, p2tog, p12, k4, p12, p2tog, p1, k2 (36 sts)
row 24: k16, p4, k16
row 25: k2, p14, k4, p14, k2
row 26: k2, k2tog, k2, k3tog, k7, p4, k7, k3tog, k2, k2tog, k2 (30 sts)
row 27: k2, p1, p2tog, p8, k4, p8, p2tog, p1, k2 (28 sts)
row 28: k2, k3tog, k3tog, k4, p4, k4, k3tog, k3tog, k2 (20 sts)
row 29: k
row 30: BO, cut yarn

Fabulous, darling.


Body
(knit in the round, so you’ll use all four needles, finally)
(you’re beginning at the head)

CO 18 sts
rows 1-4: knit
row 5: k14, turn
row 6: p10, turn
row 7: k8, turn
row 8: p6, turn
row 9: k6, k2tog, turn (17 sts total)
row 10: p7, p2tog, turn (16 sts total)
row 11: k8, k2tog, turn (15 sts total)
row 12: p9, p2tog, turn (14 sts total)
row 13: k10, k2tog, turn (13 sts total)
row 14: k2tog, k11 (12 sts)
rows 15-16: knit
row 17: k2, m1, k8, m1, k2 (14 sts)
rows 18-19: knit
row 20: k3, m1, k8, m1, k3 (16 sts)
rows 21-23: knit
row 24: k4, m1, k2, m1, k4, m1, k2, m1, k4 (20 sts)
row 25: knit
row 26: k8, m1, k4, m1, k8 (22 sts)
rows 27-28: knit
row 29: k7, m1, k1, m1, k6, m1, k1, m1, k7 (26 sts)
rows 30-32: knit
row 33: k6, k2tog, k10, k2tog, k6 (24 sts)
row 34: knit
row 35: k6, k2tog, k8, k2tog, k6 (22 sts)
row 36: knit
row 37: k6, k2tog, k6, k2tog, k6 (20 sts)
rows 38-39: knit
row 40: k6, k2tog, k4, k2tog, k6 (18 sts)
row 41: k3, k2tog, k8, k2tog, k3 (16 sts)
rows 42-44: knit
row 45: k1, k2tog, k4, k2tog, k4, ktog, k1 (13 sts)
row 46: k2, k2tog, k2, k2tog, k2, k2tog, k1 (10 sts)
rows 47-48 sts: knit
row 49: k1, k2tog, k2, k2tog, k3 (8 sts)
row 50: k2, k2tog, k1, k2tog, k1 (6 sts)
rows 51-52: knit
row 53: k2tog, k2tog, k2tog (3 sts)
row 54: k3tog, cut yarn

Arms (make 2)

CO 4 sts
row 1 and all subsequent odd arm rows: knit
row 2 and all subsequent even arms rows: purl

this goes on for a while

row 25: BO 2 sts, k2 (2 sts)
row 26: purl
row 27: knit
row 28: purl
row 29: BO, cut yarn, leaving a long tail


Legs (make 2)

CO 8 sts
row 1: knit
row 2: purl
row 3: knit
row 4: purl
row 5: k1, k2tog, k2, k2tog, k1 (6 sts)
row 6: purl
row 7: knit
row 8: purl
row 9: k2tog, k1, k2tog, k1 (4 sts)
row 10: purl
row 11: knit
row 12: purl
row 13: k1, k2tog, k1 (3 sts)
row 14: purl
row 15: k3tog, cut yarn


Pointy Head Thing

CO 4 sts
row 1: knit
row 2: purl
row 3: k2, m1, k2 (5 sts)
row 4: purl
row 5: k1, m1, k3, m1, k1 (7 sts)
row 6: purl
row 7: knit
row 8: purl
row 9: knit
row 10: purl
row 11: k2, m1, k3, m1, k2 (9 sts)
row 12: purl
row 13: k2, m1, k2, m1, k1, m1, k2, m1, k2 (13 sts)
row 14: purl
row 15: knit
row 16: purl
row 17: knit
row 18: purl
row 19: k4, m1, k4, m1, k4, m1, k1 (16 sts)
row 20: purl
row 21: knit
row 22: purl
row 23: knit
row 24: purl
row 25: knit
row 26: purl
row 27: k1, k2tog, k1, k2tog, k4, k2tog, k1, k2tog, k1 (12 sts)
row 28: purl
row 29: k2tog, k1, k2tog, k1, k2tog, k1, k2tog, k1 (8 sts)
row 30: purl
row 31: knit
row 32: purl
row 33: k1, k2tog, k2, k2tog, k1
row 34: purl
row 35: k1, k2tog, k2tog, k1
row 36: purl
row 37: BO, cut yarn, leaving long tail


Finishing

Poke in the yarn tail at the closed end of the body. Then, where the head is angled, where it changes direction, find a small hole on either side of the head. Realize that this is problematic and the designer was too lazy to go back and remedy the pattern to get rid of these, and decide you’d better take up your yarn needle and sew them shut. Do this; it won’t take but a few moments. If you’ve elected to use buttons for eyes, now wouold be the perfect time for attaching them. Then you can stuff the body with your luscious polyfill! Mmmm…


Now you don’t want your pterodactyl to turn out like Icarus, so attaching the wings securely is key. Fortunately, the centering part is easy, with that line of purl stitches down the center. So cut yourself a nice hank of yarn and sew down the edge of that purled column, and across the bottom, up the other side, and back to where you started. Tie a knot and poke in those ends.

Stuff the legs, and attach them in a logical fashion, using the tail from the cast-on row if possible. Make sure they don’t stick out at too much of an angle, that would look a bit silly.

Working with an arm, thread the long tail down through the hand (those rows of 2 sts), and bring the edges of the arm together, seaming it into a skinny little tube. If you’ve still got a good deal more of the tail left, use it to attach the base of the arm to the crease where the body and wings meet. Then carefully, sew the arm to the wing, so that the arm is positioned relatively horizontally a little more than half of the arm’s length, and then bent upwards, so that the little hand bit sticks out above the wing at the top. Like always, poke in the end when you’re done. (Obviously, you’d want to do this for both arms, which you totally understood, but I’d thought I’d point it out to ward off any self-proclaimed masters of technicality.)

Aaaaaaaaaaheadlessbirdaaaaaaaaa!

Now comes the interesting part. That poky head thing. More seaming! So take that lengthy tail from the bind-off row and employ your yarn needle to sew the edges together, lightly stuffing. You want a little bit of polyfill, probably, but I feel like mine is too puffy. Not that overstuffing is a huge problem. You’re still making a pterodactyl, which will still qualify as equally amazing in most people’s minds regardless of the heftiness of that head plate. In the end you want it folded so that the seam you just made runs along the center of the bottom side, with the piece being relatively flat. One end should appear more rounded and shorter than the other. That’s good. That goes in the front, so the other (pointier) side is closer to the wings. Using your stitching skills (honed in the rest of the Jurassic birdmaking process) sew this to the head, using the logical positioning skills that all of us have somewhere deep within us. (Careful, it is easy to sew it on a bit crooked. Then it turns out like mine, which is sort of looking off to one side. Which is cool, if that’s what you’re going for. But it’s not too hard.) Here comes the predictable refrain: poke in those ends!

Get out your craft glue and stick on those humorous googly eyes. Probably two is good enough. One on either side of the head is a good rule. Sort of close to the poky head plate. But by all means, don’t let me stifle your creativity. If you want a Cyclops pterodactyl, or seven eyes, all on the left side, go for it.

Show all of your friends/acquaintances, and send me pictures of your creation. Especially if it’s eye setup is unconventional.