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Tuesday, September 23, 2008

kat-tun

You people are good!

I can't believe it was guessed! And by two of you, no less! Good job!

Yes, I actually knit a Japanese "boy band".

During Secret Pal 12, my pal posted the following photo, with the explanation that it was a band she loved and she wished she could go see playing (they were in Japan at the time).

Seeing those cute little cartoony figures reminded me of the Pocket Pal I'd knit for Jakob a loooong time ago (Ravelry link), and I had a brain-wave. I'd knit her her very own boy band!

I used the basic shape of the Pocket Pal design, and changed the colors/clothing to reflect the cartoon figures.

All the KAT-TUN members were knit with scraps of Anchor and DMC embroidery floss, and on size 2.5mm needles.

If I knit more Pocket Pals with floss I would go down to a 2.25mm or even a 2mm needle, as I found them a little loose when stuffing. However, I think my next batch would be with worsted weight yarn, to have larger toys for my kids to play with.

AKANISHI JIN

He was the first one I completed, and I realized belatedly that he should have long sleeves, and not short sleeves, as I accidentally knit.

NAKAMARU YUICHI

You can barely tell, but I actually knit his pants in fair isle to get the plaid effect of the original.

TANAKA KOKI

If I were to change the pattern, I would only work 2 rows of the white shirt, instead of 4. I find it wider than the illustration and it bugs me. You can't see it in this photo, but I actually used silver floss for the chain hanging around his waist.

KAMENASHI KAZUYA

I had fun with this one, although his hair left much to be desired. If you look closely, you can even see the fringe I embroidered below his leather jacket!

TAGUCHI JUNNOSUKE

I should have stuffed this one more, but misjudged how much I would actually need. Luckily he's so busy with his funky jacket and pink waist-scarf, that you can barely tell. UEDA TATSUYA

I struggled with how to include the gauzy over-shirt this guy is wearing, but in the end I decided to omit it. My photo doesn't show it, but I did include the white patches on each shoulder.

Here's the back view of the 6. Please ignore the jog on the black & white striped shirt!

Here's the group shot with all 6 lined up in front of their respective cartoon icons. I am very pleased with how they turned out, but they weren't for me, after all...

Want to know what my secret pal thought? To see her reaction, and the cute box I sent them in, click here.

Labels: Akanishi Jin, FO, Kamenashi Kazuya, KAT-TUN, my patterns, Nakamaru Yuichi, Pocket Pals, secret pal 12, Taguchi Junnosuke, Tanaka Koki, Ueda Tatsuya

posted by Jennifer Lori @ 7:50 am 5 comments

Friday, March 23, 2007

FO: Pocket Pal Very Easy Boy

Eh. That's how I feel about this FO.

The Pocket Pals are from a booklet of the same name by Val Love of Dovetail designs. The patterns themselves are very easy and clearly written- to a point. And that's what, to me, ruined this project.

Here's a photo of the back of the booklet (the "Very Easy Boy" is in the bottom corner) and my attempt.

I really enjoyed the knitting part. I used embroidery floss and a 2.5mm needle, and kept thinking- how cool is this? I own every color of Anchor floss (that's over 450 little bobbins) and was mentally planning to knit not only the 20 pals from the booklet, but designing my own little dolls and toys. It takes less time to knit than a gauge swatch, and before I knew it, I was done.

I was immensely charmed by the little square, and jumped right into the seaming, which went very well and very easy. It was so adorable at that stage that I deliberately didn't even show it to Yannick because I wanted to save the cuteness for once it was complete. The gathers for the neck, arms and legs went perfectly, and I had this cute little doll in my hands.

Well, this cute little bald doll with no face.

And here's why I'm not sure I'm going to make any more: the hair instructions. They suck. Does it even count as directions when all it says is "embroider hair using straight stitch"? If I could guarantee that the hair would work out for any future dolls, I'd be making them by the dozen. But I'm afraid of ruining them like I feel I ruined this one.

Yes, I used satin stitch, not straight stitch. But I was working on a peach flesh-toned head and didn't want the scalp to show through. I might try making one more and working the back of head and scalp with the hair color instead of the skin color, then trying the straight stitch and seeing if I have better luck. Anything is better than the doll-of-shame equivalent of the "bowl cut".

Cute from far...but far from cute.

Look Ma- a bowl cut.

Oh well.

In other news:

I can't remember if I posted this or not, so forgive if its a duplicate: we have sold our house. Woo hoo! Now we need to buy a new one so we have somewhere to go. (A mild technicality, I know).

Labels: FO, Pocket Pals

posted by Jennifer Lori @ 12:15 pm 3 comments

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