March Madness

NKD asked me if I could figure out how to knit the poncho from The Emperor's New Groove. The one with the llama on it. Out of alpaca.

Once I got over the idea of knitting a poncho, it was a pretty easy project, especially since I chose bulky weight yarn. And copying a cartoon in knitting turns out to be pretty easy - not a lot of detail to deal with. Copying cartoon colors, on the other hand, since I'm not a dyer myself, turned out to be much harder.

We compromised on the amount of pure alpaca in the finished product; camelid yarn is notoriously expensive. I went with pure alpaca for the dark green stripes at top and bottom, and a much cheaper alpaca/acrylic mix for the main body and picture. How much cheaper? The yarn for the dark green stripe cost almost as much as all of the rest of the yarn for the project put together.

I've not met the recipient, but I'm sympathetic to most cosplay, since it's not that far removed in spirit from Renaissance Faire garb. I hope it meets his expectations.

Yarn: Cascade Yarns Baby
          Alpaca Chunky,
         4 skeins Olive Heather,

and Bernat Alpaca,
       6 skeins Fern,
       1 skein each Wheat,
         Tomato, and Stone

Needles: 10.5

Pattern: Mitered Unisex
Poncho from Lion Brand
as a base, plus an intarsia
rectangle appliqued to the
center front




I had a little of the pure alpaca left, so I knit a scarf for a friend...

Yarn:      Cascade Yarns Baby Alpaca Chunky
               in Olive Heather

Needles: 9

Pattern:  The Fidget

Mods:    I used the twisted moss stitch pattern to
              make a cushy scarf rather than a neck
              warmer.

Seasons in Transition

Winter knitting is winding down. I just ripped out one sock back to the foot because I had managed to start the heel gusset increases in the wrong place. *sigh* But I finished the latest pair for DH.

Pattern: Oliver
Yarn: Crazy Zauberball in Würzelsepp, 1 skein
Needles: 2.5 mm
Mods: kept the toe increases at every other row until 12 sts remained instead of switching to every row increases, to widen the toe box slightly

To my amazement, I only used one ball of the yarn I had set aside for these. I poked around a bit for a different pattern for the other ball - still for DH, since these are definitely not my colors, but different enough from the Olivers not to make laundry day more of a chore than it already is. Fortunately, Oliver is such a completely different shape that finding another pattern was not difficult. I think I've settled on Paraphernalia.

The neighbor's crocus are in bloom. I dodge bunnies in the morning, I've seen fat robins eating worms, and we've eliminated our first stink bug of the season. Definitely spring, even if there is still some snow in the forecast.

I've been knitting up a silly project in bulky weight alpaca on 6.5 mm needles. That really goes fast!

There's lace in my future, but so many non-knitting things on my to-do list to check off first. We're planning a road trip in a few months, though, so it will definitely be on the needles by then. This one first, I think: