Skip to main content

Pickle Done

So I started making the Christmas Pickle last night and finished it this afternoon.  The pattern is from Pattern Recogknition.  This pattern was selected because it looks less like a cylinder and more like a real pickle, it has curves.  That and the fact I could use my mini crochet hook to add beads to make the spines of the pickle.  The only dynamic was the pattern uses a regular wrap and turn technique to create short rows rather than my preferred German Short Rows technique.  So I went online and found some help to make the conversion.

Patty Lyons gives a great tutorial here to do it.   Should you check out the link you will see it is easy, but nonetheless I wrote it down so not to put myself in the situation of doing it on the fly.  It was simple and gives the extra stitches to the head and at the bottom of the pickle.  See the photos below.

The googly eyes were purchased years ago in Seattle at another discount fabric store.  They are the permanent type with a clingy clasp on the back so those eyes will never be pulled through the knitting.  The nose is a big orange bead and I was able to add the 20 green beads with my crochet hook.  It was good to practice that technique again.

The final product is very satisfactory.

In the morning light as the knitting is in process

The finished Christmas Pickle with its curves in the afternoon light

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Anatomy of a Sock

I've been knitting socks for a relatively short time.  One of the disconcerting things for me as I started following patterns for socks is the pattern designer assumes the knitter (in this case that would be me) knows all the parts of a sock.  So I thought I'd devote a post to improve my own knowledge about the anatomy of a sock and maybe some of you will learn something about the humble yet necessary sock as well. Here's the names of the parts of the foot as I know them. #49 ankle, #50 heel, #51, instep, #52 ball, #53 big toe, #54 toe, #55 little toe, #56 toenail. There are some parts more important for this discussion; first the heel of a foot is generally used to refer to the entire C-shape from the ankle to the instep.  Speaking of the instep, it refers to that curve near the bottom of the foot.  And what seems to be missing in the design above is the sole which generally refers to the bottom of the foot in total or plantar aspect in more technical terms...

Yarn Barf

It's back to quirkiness and time to step away again from the cuteness for a while.  But as you see I'm someone who slips from one to the other without much effort so anticipate this back and forth to be my new normal. A dramatization of me in the midst of my startitist frenzy Yarn barf .  I'm willing to bet you hadn't thought of putting those two words together, had you?  It just so happens yarn barf can be a reoccurring pain for those of us who use yarns that come in a skein instead of a hank.  (No pun intended regarding the current Noro virus, well maybe a little pun.) Skeins of yarn wound by the manufacturer These are hanks which need to be wound into balls  If you look closely at the picture on the right you'll see the start on the millet yellow skein at the centre right of the photo.  Its start can easily be seen coming from the centre of the skein onto the violet skein to the left.  Easy to find, right! ...

Yarn Usage II: Crochet vs. Knit

All four swatches were made.  Each is 6.25" or 15.875 cm square; each prepared with the same sized yarn and needles or hook.  It took 25 stitches to get the appropriate width for the knit swatches and only 20 stitches for both of the crocheted squares.  That already says something, but I'll get to it in a minute.  (Don't know what I'm talking about here?  Check out this post first.) Unfortunately, you'll just have to trust me that four swatches were prepared and that they were all the same size.  In the excitement to get to measuring and weighing of the swatches, no photographic evidence was taken.  Luckily for me the results of this research doesn't have to be reviewed by a jury of my peer.  This blog post will be the sum and total of where this information is published. The remains of my four swatches What can be shared, however, are the balls of yarn rewound after the weighing and measuring was completed.  You will note the size ...