As I
mentioned many moons ago, I was asked to make a shark sleep sack thingie for a co-worker's baby. It was an amusing proposition so I thought, what the heck. Let's do it!
While trying to workout the best way to construct it, I came across
an article about
a woman who photographs her baby girl in these amazing sets. It's really adorable. When I saw it, I thought of him since he promised silly photos. :D She made a
book, but I think this one was my favorite. Or the elephant riding one. :D
This was quite the experience. I don't improvise project much. I haven't reached a level of knitting where I really understand the stitches and construction well enough to feel comfortable with doing so. However, this seemed like a fairly easy challenge, so I went at it full steam ahead.
As it is basically a really large hat I had a good idea for the knitting. To give it some texture I knit-through-the-backloop for the body so it made a twisting pattern. That was the easy part. Tedious and boring, but easy. The complicated part was deciding to knit the thing as one piece. I discovered while knitting plushies that I really hate binding limbs on. The extra stitching is irritating and doesn't look as nice. That being said, I practiced the increases for the dorsal fin and the side fins. That was an interesting exercise. I had to monitor how they grew slowly every other round in relation to the length of the swaddler. When the fins met my length requirements, I had to determine when to start decreasing to make the tail and close the bottom. That was a slight challenge too.
I remember plotting early on about the eyes being sewn so the little one couldn't swallow buttons. I also decided on making it look slightly less realistic and creepy, but still pretty recognizable as a shark. Thus, no red gums like in the photos, not was I making mutliple rows/sets of teeth. I like that the four teeth make it look a bit goofy. Also, the XO for the eyes was amusing to me, but not sure everyone is going to see the hugs and kisses thing like I intended. It does look sort of silly demented, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
I also had to buy a slightly different weight of yarn to finish the project out. The manufacture stopped producing the one I'd originally bought and pulled it from stores. So when it came time, the weight is a little larger on the new skein, even though the colors match. I ended up using way more yarn than projected.
A lesson in many things this project. I learned
kitchener stitching as well as that I don't really like knitting thing that don't provide quick/instant gratification. If I do a swaddler again, it will have to have some sort of pattern to keep me entertained while knitting it. The monotony of ktbl for about 16 inches was torture. Fortunately I didn't have to pay overly much attention and could watch movies while knitting without fear of screwing up.
I started the project in January and finished the first of July during the large East Coast power outage. Yes I did finish it while out house was without power for a little over 48 hours in the dark by flashlight/candlelight. Once I gifted it to my co-worker, there was much delight, and it only took about five seconds for him to pull it over his head.
I love when my plots and schemes come together. Not so much for myself, but I do love when I plot for others.
