Monday, December 17, 2012

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

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