Stuffed Animal Yellowjacket

I held a yarn bombing at my school in October, and hung a few of these little guys on the trees

Materials:

Yellow, black, and white yarn

Double pointed needles

Poly-fil stuffing

Yarn needle

Since this is a stuffed animal, gauge doesn't matter.  Choose weight of yarn and size of needles so that the gauge is slightly tighter than usual, just so the stuffing doesn't show through.

Body:

(starts at tip of head)

In black, with CO 4 sts (leave a long tail – about 4”)

1.      join in the round, kfb around (8 sts)

2.      kfb around (16)

We sold these in a holiday sale, so I had to make tiny Santa hats for them

3.      k around (16)

4.      inc 2 this round (18)

5.      dec 2 this round (16)

6.      k around (16)

7.      dec 2 this round (14)

8.      k around (14)

9.      dec 4 this round (10)

10.  k around (10)

In yellow

11.  kfb around (20)

12.  k around (20)

STUFF HEAD

13.  k around (20)

14.  k around (20)

15.  inc 4 this round (24)

16.  k around (24)

In black

17.  k around (24)

18.  inc 4 this round (28)

19.  k around (28)

20.  k around (28)

21.  dec 4 this round (24)

22.  k around (24)

In yellow

23.  k around (24)

24.  dec 4 this round (20)

25.  k around (20)

26.  k around (20)

27.  dec 4 this round (16)

28.  k around (16)

In black

29.  k around (16)

30.  dec 4 this round (12)

31.  k around (12)

32.  k around (12)

33.  k2tog around (6)

STUFF BODY

34.  k2tog (3)

35.  work i-cord for 3 rounds

Cut yarn and pull through last three sts

Weave in end

Wings (make 2):

In white, CO 4 sts (leave a long tail – about 4”)

Work i-cord until piece measures about 6”

Cut yarn (again, leave a long tail) and pull through 

Finishing

• Antenna
• cut cast-on tail, weave leftover (attached) end into the yellowjacket
• find the side of the yellowjacket you want to be the top
• with a tapestry needle, thread cut piece of yarn down into the head, skip a few stitches, come up, do a backstitch into the head, then come up again
• for instance, if you start going into the right side of the head, bring yarn out about two and a half stitches to the left, go back in half a stitch to the right, come up two and a half stitches to the left
• make sure antennae are an even size, trimming them if necessary
•  Wings
• find center point of the top of the yellowjacket
• slightly to one side of that, take the tail of yarn from one end of the wing and use it to sew down about an inch of one side of the wing
• fold wing so it makes a loop on top of the yellowjacket
• use the tail from the second end to sew that end next to the first end
• sew about an inch of the second side so that it lies flat in a nice loop on the yellowjacket
• repeat with the second wing, making them as symmetrical as possible

Abbreviations:

- CO: cast on

- sts: stitches

- kfb: knit into the front and then the back of the next stitch

- k: knit

- inc: increase by knitting into the front and back of a stitch.  When it says increase by a certain number in the next round, spread out that number of increases as evenly as possible across the stitches you have.

- dec: decrease by knitting two together.  When it says decrease by a certain number, do the same as the increases.

- k2tog: knit two together.  Put left needle through two stitches and knit them as if they were one.

- i-cord: short for idiot cord, even though it should be short for impressive cord.  For a tutorial, check out this video à http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=700AG7Kvbhc

Diamond Blanket

For a size reference, I'm 5'7.5"

Materials (what I used, anyway):

7 skeins Caron Simply Soft, Dark Country Blue

5 skeins Caron Simply Soft, Bone

Needles: US size 10 circ (29”)

Notes:

The diamond in the middle doesn't match up exactly with the Diagonal Garter Stitch pattern, because the garter stitches shift over 1 st every 2 rows, and the diamond increases or decreases 1 st every row.  If you want, you can finagle with the Upper and Lower Center patterns to make them match up.  Basically, you would knit so many sts in Blue, then come back and purl the same number of sts instead of increasing the number.  Each section would take 40 rows instead of 20.  The diamond might look a little bit blockier, but with this many sts to it, I doubt it would change the smoothness much. 

Also, the top edges of my diamond look a tad funky because I purled Bone into the stockinette Blue.  If you're feeling really fancy, for the Upper Center, when you get to the Bone st before the Blue (or after, on the other side), always knit, even if the pattern says to purl (which happens four times on my blanket).  

Bottom:

Cast on 320 sts in Dark Country Blue

I did 5 sts of garter stitch on each side instead of ribbing, and the rest is stockinette

Continue for 60 rows

(Keep knitting 5 sts garter, 53 sts stockinette in Blue on each side on the Diagonal Garter Stitch rows)

Lower Diagonal Garter Stitch:

in Bone

[helpful hint: mark the center of your row]

1 and all odd rows: K

2. P2 *(K3 P2), repeat from * until center; *(P2 K3), repeat from * until last 2 sts, P2

4. P1 *(K3 P2), repeat from * until 1 st from center, K1; K1 *(P2 K3), repeat from * until last st, P1

6. (*K3 P2), repeat from * until 2 sts from center, P2; P2 *(P2 K3), repeat from * until end

8. K2 *(P2 K3), repeat from * until center; *(K3 P2), repeat from * until last 2 sts, K2

10. K1 *(P2 K3), repeat from * until 1 st from center, P1; P1 *(K3 P2), repeat from * until last st, K1

Work pattern 10 times

Lower Center:

Keep knitting in Lower Diagonal Garter Stitch in Bone, but knit stockinette in Blue in the center

For the first row, work Lower Diagonal Garter Stitch until 1 st from center, K2 in Blue, keep working Lower Diagonal Garter Stitch (but count sts in the pattern so it matches the previous rows)

For the second row, do the same but stop 2 sts from the center, P2 in Blue, and continue

For the third row, stop 3 sts from center, K6 in Blue, and so on

Do this for 20 rows (you should end with P40 in Blue)

Upper Center:

Similar to Lower Center, but using Upper Diagonal Garter Stitch (written out below), and decreasing number of blue sts

For the first row, work Upper Diagonal Garter Stitch in Bone until you reach the Blue section, K40, keep working Upper Diagonal Garter Stitch (again, count the sts in the pattern so will match the new rows - it won’t match the old rows!)

Decrease number of Blue sts by knitting over them in Bone (in Upper Diagonal Garter Stitch), one st per row on each side of the center

Do this for 20 rows (you should end with P2 in Blue)

Upper Diagonal Garter Stitch:

all in Bone again

1 and all odd rows: K

2. *(P2 K3), repeat from * until 2 sts from center, P2; P2, *(K3 P2), repeat from * until end

4. K1, *(P2 K3), repeat from * until 1 st from center, P1; P1, *(K3 P2), repeat from * until last st, K1

6. K2, *(P2 K3), repeat from * until center; *(K3 P2), repeat from * until last 2 st, K2

8. *(K3 P2), repeat from * until 2 sts from center, K2; K2 *(P2 K3), repeat from * until end

10. P1 *(K3 P2), repeat from * until 1 st from center, K1; K1 *(P2 K3), repeat from * until last st, P1

Work pattern 10 times

Top:

Back to stockinette in Blue for 60 rows (with the 5 sts garter on the ends, of course)

Bind off

Congratulate yourself for a job well done!