The first fibrey delight I must update my forlorn and neglected blog with is a super fun beanie I knit up for the Monkey Pup while he was here!
Monkey Pup Mohawk
I wanted to knit him something for a while now and since he was super keen to get his hair cut into a 'hawk when we saw him a while ago, I thought the Mohawk Hat beanie would be very appropriate! I began by following the instructions for the Mohawk Hat from Domiknitrix as I liked the design of the close fitting skull cap base with the curve to the nape of the neck. As I went along, however, I found the instructions just didn't work with my understanding of patterns! I found it very difficult to follow and in the end, with the Widow's Peak band and part of the first gusset done I abandoned the pattern.
I decided instead to simply knit a black beanie custom fit to the Monkey Pup's noggin, then attach the mohawk flair afterwards! Brilliant! I soared through the beanie and had it finished while we were off camping on the weekend - nothing like sitting by the campfire surrounded by gorgeous bush, a canopy of stars above, marshmallows toasting and knitting away!
When I first was knitting away at the Domiknitrix pattern Monkey Pup asked me what I was knitting "A little something for you!" I replied. "Really?!" he said, "What is it!?!" with much excitement. I told him that it's a surprise and I couldn't give it away, that would be telling! He paused for a second and said "A beanie!" Clever little monkey got it right first time! And it wasn't even LOOKING like a beanie yet, it was the top strip for the crown of the head! hehee So I told him delightedly that he was spot on, but there was a twist at the end that would make it a very special sort of beanie.
I had initially bought a skein of Amaroso Malabrigo Worsted from Yarn and Kisses to use as the mohawk hair, as when we last saw the Scamp his favourite colour was red! Not so anymore! When we were doing something or other when he first arrived, he saw something green and exclaimed, "My favourite colour!!" And I thought "oh deeear!" I know I could have gone ahead with the red mohawk and he would have been thrilled with it all the same, but I also had those 6 skeins of Apple Green (ACID apple green!) malabrigo sitting in my stash earmarked for Ester... maybe I could just use one of those skeins and restock the missing skein later... After discussions with stylist Skoot we decided to go with the green!
As others have said before, the hooking in of all the mohawk hair took longer than knitting up the beanie itself! Gah!! But it became quite addictive and it was done sooner than I thought, particularly since I made the 'hawk band so wide.
Monkey Pup's new 'hawk
Monkey Pup LUFFS his new Mohawk and went a bit crazy dancing in front of the mirror when he first put it on and saw himself in it! So awesome!! *beams* I asked him to pull a 'tough punk' face when I took the shots - I think he's got the part!
My only after thought is that I would have preferred to use machine-washable yarns, and will take care to do so for future kid-knits, for practicality and durability. All the same, the black will hide most grot (and I can tell you, Monkey Pup certainly attracts the grot!) and if the green 'hawk gets a bit matted and dreaded it'll just look all the more hardcore *grin*
I'm looking forward to many more Monkey Pup creations in the future! I just hope I can keep up with his growth rate!
Monkey Pup Mohawk
I wanted to knit him something for a while now and since he was super keen to get his hair cut into a 'hawk when we saw him a while ago, I thought the Mohawk Hat beanie would be very appropriate! I began by following the instructions for the Mohawk Hat from Domiknitrix as I liked the design of the close fitting skull cap base with the curve to the nape of the neck. As I went along, however, I found the instructions just didn't work with my understanding of patterns! I found it very difficult to follow and in the end, with the Widow's Peak band and part of the first gusset done I abandoned the pattern.
I decided instead to simply knit a black beanie custom fit to the Monkey Pup's noggin, then attach the mohawk flair afterwards! Brilliant! I soared through the beanie and had it finished while we were off camping on the weekend - nothing like sitting by the campfire surrounded by gorgeous bush, a canopy of stars above, marshmallows toasting and knitting away!
When I first was knitting away at the Domiknitrix pattern Monkey Pup asked me what I was knitting "A little something for you!" I replied. "Really?!" he said, "What is it!?!" with much excitement. I told him that it's a surprise and I couldn't give it away, that would be telling! He paused for a second and said "A beanie!" Clever little monkey got it right first time! And it wasn't even LOOKING like a beanie yet, it was the top strip for the crown of the head! hehee So I told him delightedly that he was spot on, but there was a twist at the end that would make it a very special sort of beanie.
I had initially bought a skein of Amaroso Malabrigo Worsted from Yarn and Kisses to use as the mohawk hair, as when we last saw the Scamp his favourite colour was red! Not so anymore! When we were doing something or other when he first arrived, he saw something green and exclaimed, "My favourite colour!!" And I thought "oh deeear!" I know I could have gone ahead with the red mohawk and he would have been thrilled with it all the same, but I also had those 6 skeins of Apple Green (ACID apple green!) malabrigo sitting in my stash earmarked for Ester... maybe I could just use one of those skeins and restock the missing skein later... After discussions with stylist Skoot we decided to go with the green!
As others have said before, the hooking in of all the mohawk hair took longer than knitting up the beanie itself! Gah!! But it became quite addictive and it was done sooner than I thought, particularly since I made the 'hawk band so wide.
Monkey Pup's new 'hawk
Monkey Pup LUFFS his new Mohawk and went a bit crazy dancing in front of the mirror when he first put it on and saw himself in it! So awesome!! *beams* I asked him to pull a 'tough punk' face when I took the shots - I think he's got the part!
My only after thought is that I would have preferred to use machine-washable yarns, and will take care to do so for future kid-knits, for practicality and durability. All the same, the black will hide most grot (and I can tell you, Monkey Pup certainly attracts the grot!) and if the green 'hawk gets a bit matted and dreaded it'll just look all the more hardcore *grin*
I'm looking forward to many more Monkey Pup creations in the future! I just hope I can keep up with his growth rate!
3 comments:
OK, that is absolutely the very coolest thing!!!
Love that hat! Your blog is hysterical. I really enjoy reading it.
You are a genius - the beanie mohawk is awesome & it looks great on the little pup. He must be thrilled.
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