I just couldn’t resist giving one of these adorable critters from Rebecca Danger’s book a try. The added bonus to working Coco: getting over my fear of DPNs!
Rebecca uses DPNs for the wee bits of her monsters, and magic loop for the bodies. I used ML to join the legs together, but once the body was established I recast it back to DPN to get some practice working with them.
Finding out that DPNs are more scary looking than working with them really is was almost as good as well, getting what you want for Christmas! :yay:
Good for you! I found I actually like dpn’s a lot more than I do circs sometimes. It is all practice and I have gotten quite good at them since making so many socks. What put me off on them in the beginning was casting on stitches to different needles, which was a mess then I knitted the stitches back onto the needles that had stitches instead of onto the empty one and quit immediately. When my dd kept bugging me about making her a pair of socks, I found a very simple pattern, “God bless Mary” and it used worsted weight. Following her directions, I was able to make my first pair of socks using dpns and I was off and running. What I want for Christmas costs a lot more than dpns. It is a beautiful house in my hometown where I would love to move back to, but cannot afford it as my dh has an excellent job here. Maybe if I wish hard enough, Santa along with the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman and Harry Potter will grant me what I want for Christmas this year!
Me too! For Coco, the CO was 4 sts and rnd 1, k1fb in each st, so I just cast onto 1 needle and knitted the first round onto the other needles. I found it much easier than with circs where I have uttered many ugly words over twisting the cast on when joining. Look, Ma - no twisted join on DPN! I figure for hats, I can CO using a straight needle, and do the same…
. . . I found a very simple pattern, “God bless Mary” and it used worsted weight… . .
I’ll have to see if I can find that pattern. I loved machine knitting house socks for gifts (flat seamed socks) so hand knitting some worsted socks in the round would be AWESOME!
What I want for Christmas costs a lot more than dpns. It is a beautiful house in my hometown where I would love to move back to, but cannot afford it as my dh has an excellent job here. Maybe if I wish hard enough, Santa along with the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman and Harry Potter will grant me what I want for Christmas this year!
Isn’t that often the case with Christmas gifts? From time to time, I enjoy going to my home’town’ of New Orleans for a visit. Now that I’m older I have no desire to move back. Is your hometown in TN too? That’s a beautiful state.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed that you get your Christmas wish if not this year then in the future! Crossed Fingers
No I grew up south of the South Bend Indiana area in a little town that was very much like Mayberry actually. The house I want is in South Bend though about 3 blocks from my best friend (who has been my best friend since 7th grade so that would be 45 years ago) and my son, dil and one of my grandchildren the other one lives here in memphis, my sister and a couple nieces and nephews live there too. We lived there after my husband retired from the Navy and we moved because of job issues. So, if we were rich, I would love to live back up there again even with all the snow.
Great job on tackling the scary looking DPNs. I recently did the same after numerous frustrating attempts at casting on spacey enough to get my knitting to fit around short short cables!
Now I put all my stitches on one long straight needle and then divide them up onto the DPNs. I know a lot of people don’t like regular straight needles, but I find lots of uses for them. I also discovered that the bamboo DPNs make working in the round much easier because the bamboo keeps the stitches from slipping off so easily.
Your Coco looks like it’s progressing nicely. Can’t wait to see the FO.
Rebecca Danger’s monsters are a fast knit. I knit slower than old people walk, and am finishing the 2nd arm this evening. :yay: Tomorrow she’ll get finished while my cheesecake is baking, with a photo shoot as soon as the glue on her teeth dries.:teehee:
I wanted to gift her through our local Angel Tree program, but she’s not superwash wool. I’ll find her a good home somewhere…
I’m with you on the bamboo DPN even though I’m a metal circs girl. Same for the uses of straights. But then again, I’m all about using the right tool that gets the job done quickly, easily, and accurately.
Coco seems to be well on his (or her) way. It’ll be fun to see the completed project.
Yes, metal needles put me off dpns for years until I bought a set of bamboo. The metal needles kept shooting out of my knitting, causing much hilarity in the family.
Jan, I have this thing about making toys… back when I could crochet I made scores of toys for my daughter and for Angel Trees at Christmas. I really missed doing that. Once I figured out how to knit and saw the book, it became mine! Never too late for a happy childhood, you know. :woot:
Art Lady, I got 'em!:yay: But, I learned on my next project (a hat) with them that the bamboo DPN are too sticky for me to comfortably work more than 10 sts on each needle. So after casting and and working several rounds on the hat it was back to the metal circs… This finding out what techniques work best for me and when is really be a lot of fun!:woohoo:
:roflhard: