6 posts tagged “marvel comics”
Happy St. Patty's Day, Everyone!
Yep, I missed Valentine's Day... I'll try to post a few Valentine's things in an Easter post... (crossing fingers that I feel up to that).
Here's a Big something Green for St. Patrick's Day
Marvel Comics the Incredible Hulk! for Matt's Birthday, with his best bud, Lambie Pie... ;o)
Our nephew, Matt, had been wanting a Hulk, since I started making these peeps, but I could never bring myself to make one... But, when I ordered a variety of green yarns to get the right shade for something I was making, one of them arrived and I said... Omigosh... it's Hulk green! And I already had some bluish purple that would work for pants... so there I was, making the Hulk! :o) I intended to make him a LOT smaller, but he just happened! ... these things have a life of their own.
I actually finished him just a day before Matt's birthday (Whew!), last
September! But I could never decide which photos to post, so he's been
languishing, waiting to be seen. He's not really my cup of tea, with his angry
face. I like CUTSEY things! With sweet smiles! But he was a challenge, and I
learned a lot of things while making him that are useful in other projects, as
well. Lambie Pie says that he's much sweeter and nicer than he looks.
One of my fellow amigurumi artists said "he's not angry, just having a bad
face day, I guess". heh heh And that's how I'm looking at him from now on!
;o)
He's not cross-eyed, just a trick of the camera, and the reflectiveness of the eyes, I guess.
He's the largest peep I've made at 15" tall and nearly as wide! And
he's knitted in one piece from toes to top of head, and then each of his arms
knitted in one piece, from fingers to shoulders, and sewn onto the torso. I did
make notes while working on him, so hopefully I will be able to share the
techniques that I discovered, and developed, in the future.
You probably can't tell from my photos, but the waist of his pants is ragged
and ripped looking, with a scrap of white shirt left stuck in it, and the hems
on the pant legs are ripped. I didn't do a good job of capturing that in the
pics, unfortunately. Didn't have him for long after finishing him, and had to
take the pics in a hurry.
I'm kind of fanatical about not wanting to attach pieces, as you might have noticed, and I was pretty tickled with the method I finagled for making his torn up waist, and hems on his pants, with my trusty knitting needles, all in one piece with his body, and never having to sew any bits on! YAY! Too bad it shows up so poorly on the pics.
Also, I found a new and very simple method of making hair while working on
Miss Piggy, for my DH (she's still not finished, unfortunately, so obviously not
posted), and I used it to make the Hulk's hair. It's a really versatile
technique, and very easy to do, too. You can make short or long hair using this
method. I hope to write up a tutorial for it at some point. Or I will at least
post a simple description of the process. As long as you use an eyelash or
fuzzy yarn of some sort, appropriate to your project, it is super easy to do!
And I do like easy! :o)
Happy St. Patty's Everyone!
Lots more Peeps photos to be found at http://www.flickr.com/knittycat
Lots more Peeps photos to be found at http://www.flickr.com/knittycat
and Pudge photos at http://www.flickr.com/anthor
After the last post, filled with what I haven't completed, I thought it would be nice to show you some of what I HAVE completed lately:
It's been a very PINK spring! :o)
We have two very Pink Ballerinas:
Pippa Potomus for Mia's Birthday
and Katerina Kitty Ballerina for Kristina's Birthday
Katerina rehearsing for her debut!
Pippa and Katerina are cousins and have a lot in common - they both love pink and they both love to dance!
and we also introduce:
Kermie 2 for Kristina's Birthday (okay, okay, he's not pink!)
Kermie 2 and Katerina are very close
Chatting and
Strolling
Family Portrait
and Advice from Big Brother
And a sparkly little Marisa Mousie for Jill
And before that...
the Peep that we've fallen in love with... I ordered some cool new yarn to try - Moda Dea Fur Sure, and when I saw this lovely yellow fuzzy stuff, it just cried out to be a...
Peepsie Peep!
We're all crazy about her and so glad that she was an experiment
with the new yarn, and not a gift for anyone, so we get to KEEP her!
YAYAYAY!!!
Peepsie says "Peeep!"
Which means, "Hi!"
Pudgie loves Peepsie Too! :o)
And here's...
Mossalia the wee Mermaid - my first mermaid experiment. I LOOOOOVE mermaids! :o)
You can see that I caught her (carefully) barehanded. We did not keep her, of course, but had a nice chat, took some photos, said "goodbye", and watched her swim away beneath the waves.
And we can't forget the comic fans amongst our ranks...
(okay, I'm one of them, I admit it.)
Marvel Comics' the Human Torch.
FLAME ON!
- my
impressionistic interpretation - for Matt. :o)
He's quite small (prox 3 1/2" not counting flames, 4" with flames). I think he kind of looks like a fire elemental. :o)
Knitted on size 2 needles with Senso size 3 crochet thread. Flames crocheted in strips and sewn to body.
And if you have been saving up things to do "When Pigs Fly"....
The Time has Come!
We have a Pink Flying Piggy!
Petunia Phlying Piglet
Complete with an easy pattern to make her! To make Petunia, I came up with a new (as far as I can determine) idea for making the legs of a 4-legged peep, all in one, along with the rest of the body. She’s knit in the round, all in one piece (except for wings of course), including legs, ears and tail and just stitching the sides of the legs and ears together when the knitting is done. A nice easy project. I really enjoyed making her! :o)
Pattern for Petunia Phlying Piglet can be found here!
More about Petunia and the Loopy Legs Technique in the next post! (which won't be too long away, I hope, because it's nearly finished!)
Hope you are all having a lovely summer! Lots of fun in the sun
(with your sunscreen of course) and playing at the beach, and BBQ's, and happy
times! :o) Stay Cool! (I sooo want to put ",Dudes" here! heh heh)
What comes between Easter and Mother's Day?
This post, apparently. ;o)
This blog is becoming a holiday affair... Quite
unintentionally, I assure you. But since I make a lot of peeps as holiday
gifts, it's just been happening that way.
I'm busting out of that mold today, though.
Belated Easter for Kristina & Mia:
Last
Sunday, we had a happy family gathering, celebrating 3 birthdays, and belated
Easter for our two younger nieces, whom we hadn't seen since
Christmas.
Mia and Kristina got their Eggy/Bunnies, Eggletina and Eggalia:
(Made with Softee Baby "Rocking Horse" and RH Baby Teri "Baby Print")
Their fuzzy lambies, Lambie Pinkletoes and Lambie
Meringue:
(made with TLC Baby Amore and Paton's Be Mine*,
respectively)
(Patterns for the Eggy/Bunnies and Wee Lambie Peeps will be coming in the next post.)
* I am not recommending knitting peeps with Paton's Be Mine though,
because it's so hard to work
with, even though it does make a yummy soft and fuzzy fabric. *
When we gave an Elmo to Mia and a Cookie to Kristina for Christmas,
wee Mia "adopted" Cookie with such fervor that no one had the heart to take him
away from her, least of all, sweet Kristina. So I promised to make Kristina a
replacement. And finally, she has him! And she was delighted with him! Hurray!
(Cookie Monster Pattern is available free! See this post.)
Here are all three Cookie Monsters, D's - the original - and
Mia's and Kristina's. You might notice that D's felt that he should have a
Christmas scarf as well! :o)
Tony's birthday goodies:
The main purpose of our
gathering, was to celebrate Tony's birthday. For the occasion I made some
goodies for him.
He LOVES hot bright colors, especially orange, red, and yellow, so I made a simple cotton washcloth with a very bright colorway of Sugar and Cream. Just a plain garter stitch. But it made a wonderful zigzag pattern, and the garter st made it nice and cushy. :o)
Don't you love multicolor yarn? You never know what you're going to get.
Next - a money bag, stockinette st, in the round, bright yellow, lion brand soft baby, with a big red dollar sign on one side and a big red t on the other. Filled with money of course. :o) a teen boy's fave gift.
An interesting feature is the closure: I felt that tying
the drawstrings or using a bead would be too bulky, but it needed to close
pretty securely so the money wouldn't fall out, so I knitted a strip and wrapped
it around the drawstrings, snugly, and sewed it closed, making sure it still
would slide. It worked just great!
And last - but of course not least to a peep or amigurumi lover
- a skateboarding monkey peep, Maximillion, with a backpack full of bananas!
He prefers being called Maxie, by the way.
Making the teensy backpack was such fun! I felt like Gulliver
in the land of Lilliput. :o)
We owe the skateboard to chez michelle... I'd considered making one, since Tony loves skateboarding, but I wasn't sure how a knitted skateboard would come out, so I hesitated to make it. But then I saw this wonderful ami [here] by chez michelle and saw how feasible the skateboard was.
Construction comments:
Maxie was made with Bernat Microspun Mango, and bright yellow, Lion Brand Soft Baby, using my Wee Lambie Peep Pattern (free pattern for the Lambies coming in my next post, along with the pattern for the Eggy/Bunnies). I made him with longer legs and arms (appropriate for a monkey), and slight modifications for the ear shape. And, of course I did some simple colorwork (which I don't like doing), for the face. The face and head were made the same way as the lambies, but after stuffing and closing his head, I needle-sculpted his face to give him a more monkey-shaped muzzle.
His skateboard was made with two strands of size 10 crochet cotton, and size 1 needles. Knit in the round, a simple tapered tube, then slipped a piece of cardboard in (cut to fit) and closed up. Added seed beads for wheels and a piece of yellow beading elastic for a carrying strap.
My DH and I were really happy with him! :o)
and so was Tony, which is what counts, of course. :o)
Marvel Comics' The
Human Torch for Matthew:
I couldn't have peeps for the other nieces and
nephews and not have something for Matt, of course, so we took the opportunity
to give him the "Human Torch" I'd finished a few weeks ago.
Unlike the Thing, the Torch peep is much more impressionistic.
He rather reminds me of a fire elemental. He's quite small, doubleknitted in my "classic
peep" style, with sz 3 crochet cotton (Senso) and size 2 needles. The flames
were crocheted in long strips (I've forgotten the hook size), and sewn
on.
The moment I saw that yarn, I immediately thought "The Torch!"
Matt seemed quite happy with him. :o)
I'll be posting the Lambie and Eggy/Bunny patterns with the next post, and I hope that won't be tooooo long from now.
Also.... I'm actually working on a Kermit the Frog pattern (as I've received MANY requests!). Making a Kermie for Kristina's June birthday, but it's a challenge, trying to remember how I made the original! :o)
Wish me luck!
Many thanks to all of you kind folks who have been so supportive, and so willing to comment so positively on my flickr.com pages, and elsewhere. I appreciate it more than I can say. It gives me strength to do the arduous work of pattern writing. It's arduous for me, anyway. I like to just grab my needles and some nice yarn and just CREATE!! Stopping and thinking about what I'm actually doing is quite a stretch. ;o)
Cheers!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
We wish you all the very best Holiday Season!
A very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year to All!
Our gifts to you:
Muppet Patterns!
Elmo Peep:
Cookie Monster Peep:
link to pdf of Cookie's pattern
the Thing Pattern?
Well, the pattern's written and the photos are in
it, but it's not fully proof read.
But here it is anyway! :o)
the Thing: link to pdf of the Thing's pattern
link to pdf of Nellie the Elephant's pattern
Much Joy and Many Blessings to Everyone!
A pattern for the Thing?! Is it possible that she's FINALLY finished it??
Well, It is possible...
Yes! I've finally finished writing the pattern! Whew! No wonder it took me so long to MAKE him! I
had no idea how much work he was till I wrote it all down. Being quite a lazy knitter, I would never have tackled such an ambitious project if I'd known in advance how much work it would be. ;o) And writing his pattern was even HARDER than MAKING him!! Sheesh! All of you pattern designers out there, I take my hat off to you.... or I would if I were wearing one.
But don't let me put you off of making a Thing of your very own. Although the pattern is pretty long (at least for MY standards ... I like things I can make in a day or three!), each part of it is fairly simple to do. I do recommend that you are an experienced knitter, or at least a very adventuresome beginner! I knit him in the round on two circular needles, but you could use dpns if you are more comfortable with them (they always make me feel that I need two extra hands), and there are no seams to sew, but the head and arms, and brow ridge, are knit separately and sewn on. Other than knitting and purling, I use two types of increase stitches, the kfb and the kinc (video help here for increasing in the right side of the stitch where she calls it a M1R or M1B, and here for the left side of the stitch), and k2tog for decreases. Then it's just knit purl knit purl.... and so on and so on.... till you have a big orange Thing! :o)
I will be posting the pattern in pdf format very soon (I just need to add photos to it first). It's my Christmas gift to Marvel fans and the knitters who love them! :o)
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More Patterns Coming?
In other peep news - I've nearly completed a pattern for Nellie the Musical Elephant (because our niece wanted one like her - so I took notes while I made hers - Hurray!).
Also, I'll be posting a pattern for the Unbroken Heart soon as
well.
Christmas is nearly upon us and I have LOTS of tasks (as I'm sure you all do), so I don't know how much I'll be able to get to, peep-wise, for the next month, but since I've been so bad at adding posts here, you probably won't
notice. ;o)
The good news (for some folks) is that I'm planning on making an Elmo and a Cookie Monster for Christmas gifts and I'll be making notes on their
We wish all of you Very Happy Holidays! And we hope that you have lots of fun preparing for them. :o)
I recently posted a new Character Peep to our flickr pages modeled after the Marvel Comics' character the Thing (link), and suddenly, it went a little mad in our e-world! :o) Apparently, there is a LOT of interest in the Thing (member of the Fantastic Four in Marvel Comics, and recently immortalized even further in a big screen movie). Folks were viewing and blogging about our humble little version, and interest in a pattern became apparent.
Making the Thing
Unfortunately, as I've mentioned, I rarely knit from a pattern, and usually knit freehand, inventing (sculpting the shape) as I go, so there is really no exact documentation of how I made the Thing. I can reconstruct a close approximation of how I made him, but the exact execution will be up to anyone who wants to duplicate my efforts.
Update: I'm hard at work, writing an actual pattern. I hope to have it finished within
the next week, and I will post a link here as soon as it is ready.
I did take a few "in progress" photos, during his construction, and hope that they will help you to visualize the process. I will include them on the page with the pattern when it is completed.
BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE THING'S CONSTRUCTION:
There is really nothing very unusual about the construction of the Thing. He's actually engineered in the same way as any basic, two-legged, standing, toy, and can be crocheted, instead of knit, if you prefer. My version is knit in seed stitch (k1p1 then knit the purls and purl the knits) except for the shorts which are stockinette.
If you've made other toys or amigurumi, he is made using the same process.
- Starting from one foot, knit the foot and leg in the round in the same way that you'd knit a simple sock or bootie.
- Put the stitches from the first leg onto a holder and make the second leg the same as the first and add the toes to both feet.
- Attach the color for the shorts and knit across both legs (front and back), picking up the stitches for the first leg from the holder.
- Knit the torso in the round up to the neck, (changing back to the body color at the waist).
- Knit the head and arms (including the fingers) and sew them onto the torso.
- Knit the brow ridge and sew it on.
- Knit the waistband and sew it on
- Pop in the eyes and embroider the mouth
VOILA! The Thing!
Since he wasn't going to a small child, I did insert pipe cleaners into the legs, arms and torso, to give a little posability and stability (because he's so top heavy).
For much more detailed instructions, please see the Pattern for the Thing linked to on the
