Pulpie

Pulpie, a fun little piece of orange juice pulp, was created in response to my teenage daughter’s ongoing references to her great dislike of pulp in her juice, to which I heartily agreed. Pulp = ick. The other day, however, the vision of this happy little guy popped into my mind, and I decided I must make him!

After knitting Pulpie, I realized his shape would make a wonderful rain droplet (or tear drop) as well as an aptly shaped candy corn, or a very dimensional flower petal. Once stuffed, you can shape him to be rounded or squish him a bit for a flatter appearance. And Pulpie is a great project to make with leftover yarn from other projects.

So, here you go, my first pattern for the new year, and it's a freebie to boot!

Mateirals:

About 20 yards of worsted weight yarn. (Pulpie was made from Plymouth Encore; Val, the Valentine’s Day candy corn, was knit out of Cascade 220 and Cascade 220 Superwash.)

US4 DPNs

Scrap yarn for stitching eyes, mouth, etc. Or, you can use small buttons or plastic eyes that have snap-on backs that hold them in place (usually found in the googly-eye section of craft stores). If knitting this for a young child, I do not recommend using the buttons or plastic eyes, as they could be a choking hazard if they came off.

Polyfil or yarn/fiber scraps suitable for stuffing

One locking stitch marker.

Tapestry needle.

Notes:

Gauge for this project is not essential. You just want to make sure your resulting fabric is snug enough that the stuffing will not poke through the stitches.

Finished size is approximately 4” tall and 7 ½” in circumference at the widest part.

Abbreviations:

K – knit

Kfb – knit front and back

Pfb – purl front and back

K2tog – knit two together
SSK – slip, slip, knit

Directions:

Cast on 2 stitches.

Row 1: Kfb (4 stitches)

Row 2: Kfb (8 stitches)

[Note: This project is mostly worked in the round knitting each row, but these first two rows are just
easier to work flat instead of in the round, I find. Technically, to keep the project all stockinette, Row 2 should be purled, not knitted. However, I do not find the task of purling front and back an enjoyable one. Since this will be on the base of the stuffie, I have no qualms about it being an odd row of garter stitch. If it bothers you, though, feel free to Pfb instead.]

Divide stitches evenly across four DPNs, two per needle. You will now be working in the round. Be careful not to twist your stitches as you join.

Round 1: Knit

Round 2: Kfb (16 stitches, 4 per needle)

Round 3: Knit

Round 4: Kfb (32 stitches, 8 per needle)

Round 5: Knit

Round 6: *[K, Kfb,], repeat from *. (48 stitches, 12 per needle)

Rounds 7 – 14: Knit (this will add approximately 1” from last increase round).

Round 15: [K2tog, K8, SSK], repeat three more times.

Rounds 16 – 19: Knit (this will add approximately ¾” from first decrease round).

(Note: if doing a candy corn, Row 18 is a good place to change to your second color. Overlap your tail yarns with the working yarn on the inside of the stuffie for several stitches, snugging them up as needed, in order to anchor them and not have a visible gap.)

Round 20: [K2tog, K6, SSK], repeat three more times.

Rounds 21 – 24: Knit (this will add approximately ¾” from second decrease round).

At this point, you will want to add your eyes and mouth. Also use your cast on tail to cinch up any hole that might have resulted after you joined to knit in the round. Weave the tail in a bit and then pull it through to the inside of the stuffie where it can stay forever. Add your stuffing to this lower part of the stuffie at this point before continuing. It’s easier to add the stuffing as you go since the stuffie narrows as you go up.

Round 25: [K2tog, K4, SSK], repeat three more times.

Rounds 26 – 30: Knit (this will add approximately 1” from the third decrease round).

(Note: if doing a candy corn, Row 26 is a good place to change to your third color, again overlapping the tails to prevent a hole.)

Round 31: [K2tog, K2, SSK], repeat three more times.

Rounds 32 – 35: Knit

If you haven’t been doing so, add more stuffing now.

Round 36: [K2tog, SSK], repeat three more times.

Round 37: K2tog four times

Last chance to squeeze in some stuffing for the top!

Break yarn, leaving a 10” tail. With tail on tapestry needle, run tail yarn through remaining four stitches and cinch them up. At the back of the top, weave the tail yarn in and out a bit, as inconspicuously as possible. Now, take the needle and run it down through the inside of your stuffie, pulling it out the bottom. Snip the tail yarn off as close to the body as possible, then smoosh it around a bit to let the end pop back inside, never to be seen again.

Name him.

Squish him.

Love him.

Make him a friend.

Is it too soon to play catch up?

Seriously, it's only mid-January, and while I'm feeling quite on top of some things, there are other areas where I feel behind. I've been mentally composing a blog post for days now. Too bad that doesn't automatically get it up here. ;)

So, we're home from our third and final trip to North Carolina. We spent two 14 hour days in the car with two days of time with our son and grandson sandwiched in between. It was an interesting visit, as we were based out of our hotel room the whole time we were there, and we were driving a vehicle that seats five, only we had six people. So anywhere we went with the whole crew, it involved me driving everyone there in shifts. As it turned out, a major snow and ice storm came through Jacksonville the Monday we were there, making everything a grand mess. Many businesses and restaurants shut down that day because they get that kind of weather so infrequently that they aren't prepared for it.

The weather made it necessary to say our goodbyes to him earlier Monday than we'd planned so I could get him back to base (which was also closed to all non-essential personnel) before the next wave of ice came through. I'd had my major emotional meltdown the week before when I'd returned him after New Years, but it was still hard to say good bye again. What was harder, though, was having to watch him say goodbye to his five year old son. I'm not sure how much our grandson understands about where his dad is going, he just knows he'll be in first grade before Daddy's back home again.

Our drive home Tuesday was nerve-wracking due to the bad roads and continued snow and ice. I was so thankful Kevin was driving and not me, but even I was tense. It feels so good to be home. I spent the rest of last week taking the Christmas stuff down (finally) and trying to catch up on laundry and cleaning as well as getting us all back in the swing of our school routine.

In the midst of all the crazy, I have been knitting and spinning! During the ride down to NC and the first day there, I made a pair of worsted weight socks for our son to take with him...he won't be able to wear them in uniform, but they'll keep his feet warm when he sleeps!

Yarn: Gedifra Fashion Trend Color; Generic toe-up sock

I started this Moody Kerchief shawl while we were in NC, and it was my drive home knitting, during which time I got most of it finished.

Moody Kerchief by Kirsten Kapur; Yarn: Three Irish Girls Springvale Super Merino, Ginger Honey colorway.

I ended up modifying the pattern a good bit. I was using two sets of color gradient mini-skeins from Three Irish Girls that I got in the Pick of the Knitter club a couple years ago. That gave me far more yarn than the pattern called for, and I wanted to use as much of it up as I could. I added a lot of extra rows to the straight knitting sections, and then I ended up adding some extra sections as well.

I'd envisioned the color changes happening at section changes, but that didn't work out completely. Still, I'm really happy with how it turned out. I finished it the day after we got home.

And right now, I'm in several swaps. I try not to do swaps too often because the pressure of getting the right things for my swap partners tends to stress me out. LOL But somehow, I managed to sign up for three swaps going on simultaneously, two of which involve the requirement of a knitted item. I've never done that kind of swap before, so...extra pressure! Ahh! I do have my first knitted item finished, but I won't post pictures of it until after it is received. I will say I'm happy with how it turned out. I hope its recipient likes it too!

For one of the other swaps I'm doing, I decided to spin my own yarn for one of the yarn requirements. I must say, I am totally loving this yarn...

The fiber itself looks good enough to eat...

It's BamHuey, a bamboo/merino blend dyed by NewHueHandspuns. I've worked with this fiber before, spinning the Sun Beams colorway for my Caricia shawl. It spins like butter, seriously. It is fabulous! And I think the color will be perfect for it's recipient.

Oh, and just another note about our deployed son to bookend this post. He actually called us last night...from Afghanistan! Seriously? I was tickled to hear his voice (and he seems to be doing just fine), but do you know how surreal that is? I mean, I know technology has changed the face of war in so many ways, but I can't help but think how in the not too distant past, families waited weeks or months just for a letter home from their loved one who was off fighting. Now, they're just a phone call or e-mail away. I'm having a lot of philosophical thoughts about that, but I'll spare you. Because honestly? I'm having a lot of philosophical thoughts about many things lately. My brain is working overtime, and it's all I can do to keep up.

New Year, Distraction

How sad that it's taken me six days into 2011 before I've finally gotten to blog. I blame it on my current state of distraction. After a blessedly wonderful holiday break, I am currently distracted by many things. I've spent over 50 hours driving since the Monday before Christmas, making two down-and-back trips to North Carolina. I have one more to make this weekend, though I'm hoping I'll have another driver to help this time. I've been distracted by the trips, and I'm distracted by the purpose of this upcoming trip - seeing our oldest son one last time before he deploys with his Marine unit. I'm distracted to the point that nothing else will remain in focus because all I can think about is that he will be gone, far away, for many months. It will be the first time in my life - in his life - that he will been somewhere that I cannot go and visit him if I so choose. He will not be tangible, and I am disliking it mightily.

And most recently I am distracted by my husband pointing out the huge effing storm that is going to make its presence know right along the 700 mile path we'll have to drive home on Tuesday. He wants to come home a day early, and I do not. I am a mother. I will drive 700 miles at 5 miles an hour if it means getting to spend one extra day with my child before he goes away to do his duty in a war on the other side of the world.

So I'm trying to distract myself from my distraction. I lure it away for short periods by knitting, by watching Stargate Universe on Netflix (I suppose I should be glad he's only going over the ocean and not to the other side of the universe, though for all intents and purposes, it really doesn't seem much different), and by pretending to be productive. I start a task, but then I get...distracted. I feel like my mind has taken a vacation and forgot to call the temp agency for a replacement.

I'm sure this will pass. Eventually I'll be back to my normal self (which isn't completely without distraction, to be honest) instead of feeling fuzzy and disoriented, the way you feel after taking a too-long afternoon nap, waking after it's gotten dark. But for now, I'm trying to ride this out and hope for the best.

How's 2011 going for you?