Knits of the Living Dead

"I knit, I like cats, and I collect dolls, but it's not what you think." I found myself thinking this as I bound off the neck opening of a tiny little sweater last night. My cat was sitting next to me, and I was home on a Friday night (which is unusual for me) watching The Listener on hulu.com.

The sweater in question was for the little guy in the pic above. Wolfgang is a Living Dead Doll*, which I started collecting a year ago or so. As I mentioned before, I only buy dolls that I fall in love with immediately. Looking at Wolfgang, I knew that I could love him if only his sweater wasn't so frigging hideous. Fortunately, I have a craft that empowered me to change the thing that was bothering me about this situation.

Seriously, how can you not love a face like that!? Conversely, how can you love a boat-necked monstrosity like that? It took me a while to actually get to the knitting (being the non-monogamous knitter that I am), but it totally flew once I did!

Pattern: Seamless Yoke Sweater by Elizabeth Zimmerman/ Cobblestone by Jared Flood
Yarn: Koigu KPM in Maroon
Needles: Addi Turbo Circulars, size US3

I based the measurements for this sweater off of Jacob's hoodie (see below), which told me it would have a 6" chest circumference (42 stitches, if I remember). The sleeves (according to Liz Z's percentage system) should have had 14 sts, but when I used that number, I got a sleeve that was more snug than I would have liked, so I used 16 sts. As recommended for sweaters for toddlers and children, I cast on the number of stitches that you'd use for the upper arm and knit a straight tube (rather than casting on fewer and increasing to the amount needed for the upper arm, as you would w/most sweaters for people over the age of, perhaps 8 or 10). I used the Magic Loop technique for knitting this tiny jumper. Can I just tell you that casting on and knitting the first row of a 16 stitch sleeve will teach you the meaning of the word "fiddly"? Yeah, it will. I now have a Master's Certificate in fiddly knitting. I love it!

I fudged the "Yoke Sweater" directions a bit for the yoke, too (Elizabeth would be proud!). Or maybe not, it's hard to tell w/such a small piece of work, since I believe Liz's directions were only ever tested by her on people-sized garments. Anyway, it was mostly guesswork, and, as mentioned before, I re-started the sleeves once. I also ripped the yoke back once (last night, actually), when I decided that I wanted the garter stitch to start earlier and that my decrease rows were too close together (the shoulders were too 'square'). This yarn, though? Effing DELICIOUS!!! Super -soft merino wool that I don't believe to be superwash (the ball band didn't say so, and I spit-spliced a couple of ends together, which I don't think superwash would do, but let me know if that's not the case). I want my own sweater knit from it, but not from the fingering weight. I'm going to be checking to see if Koigu makes a similar yarn in DK weight. Or I suppose I could buy a poop-tonne of the fingering weight and hold it double...hmmm....

Here's Wolfgang with his pal Jacob (on the left in the red hoodie). You can pretty well appreciate the subtlety of the semisolid shading in the yarn in this pic and the one above. It's really lovely! Jacob very graciously served as a fit model for the sweater, as he had been liberated from his box when I started the sweater and Wolfgang had not. Wolfgang really likes his new sweater, though--doesn't he look much happier now? He tells me that Jacob should have his own handknit sweater, since he was such a good sport about helping to make Wolfgang's sweater a reality (I had to pop Jacob's head off in order to remove his hoodie and try on the new sweater. Ouch!).

While shooting the other pic by the window, I noticed Wolfie's reflection in the window. The Horror Film lover in me thought it would be unforgivable to snap a super-creepy shot like this one! Add this to the list of things you don't wanna see in your window at night, eh? ;oD

I knit wiff Jacob, I knit wiff Homero, now I wanna knit wiff youuuuuu......!

Ok, kids, I'm off to work on something less absurd and creepy....or am I? ;o)

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*If you're unfamiliar with Living Dead Dolls and would like to know more, you can visit the official website by clicking here. Once you enter the page, you can view the Archive/Morgue to see the various series of dolls. Wolfgang is from Series 10, and Jacob is from Series 13. :o)