Tag: Susan Claudino-Aguilar

Sir Octopus

The pattern designer from the previous knit gift had a sale on buying three patterns at the same time. So that is what I did, next to GOGEE, I also got a pattern for Dandy Sir Cephalopod and Bonbon. DSC is an octopus with a top hat and a monocle, I had to have it. Bonbon is a cute little rabbit, it will probably see my needles fairly soon.

On to DSC, I used the same yarn as for the GOGEE and got to work. First you knit the eight tentacles, which you finish with a three needle decrease. Once all eight tentacles are knit, you start the body, at some point, the tentacles are three needle decreased onto the existing body. This is a really easy join that only leaves you with eight tails to weave in (YAY!). The remainder of the body is then knit up, eyes are added a moustache is sewn on and then the head is closed up. Before finishing, a length of yarn is glued around one eye for the monocle. The pattern is wonderful and easy to follow. I really enjoyed knitting him.

The most difficult part came with the moustache. I didn’t have a moustache button available. It was Sunday, he had to be completed by Monday and all shops in the vicinity were closed. I had no choice but to bust out my trusted fimo clay. The (metaphorical) cobwebs were wiped from the pasta machine and it was put to work. I drew a moustache on some paper and traced it on my flattened fimo clay. Holes were punched and the clay was baked. I also decided that none of the safety eyes I had in the stash were large enough (see above, he just looks silly with tiny eyes). So with the remaining moustache clay, I made some half domes that I squashed onto smaller safety eyes. These cover-eyes were also baked and then glued to the smaller eyes. I learned again that I cannot be trusted with superglue since I got some on my finger.. again.

Once the eyes and moustache were added, I closed him up and knit the top hat. Since the octopus itself was quite .. busy in his colour scheme, he needed a neutral hat. So I got out some grey and got to work with that. When he was finished he couldn’t really stand on his tentacles, but if you perch him just right on a cup, he looks ever more wonderful. He’s currently living in the office on the desk of the birthday girl, so I still get to see him. She’s still deciding on his name, but it’ll definitely start with Sir.

Knit GOGEE

So, since the interchangeable knitting needles arrived, I’ve been longing to knit again. Just looking at other people’s projects in Ravelry is not sufficient to curb my knitting cravings, or so it seems. This meant that I have started knitting again. I’d already started on a rabbit, which is now packed up in the corner of shame since its body is way too large for its head and I’ve not been in the mood to unpick. I’m also knitting a hidden dinosaur scarf that it still waiting on more yarn (I was an idiot and didn’t read the instructions on how much yarn to use). But I recently finished two different knit gifts. Today we’ll discuss the first.

Now, you may have wondered what in the world a GOGEE is, I don’t blame you if you did. GOGEE stands for Guardian of Good Energies Elf, it’s a pattern created by Susan Claudino-Aguilar. The idea is that you knit it with purpose so that it catches all the good will you knit into it. It’s a little creature with arms, legs and a pocket on its front. I thought it was super cute and if I made it, it would be a wonderful opportunity to put in some good energy and a positive message for a friend of mine.

From the pattern page, I’d discovered that this was an updated version of the Voodoo, You Love Me pattern. Since I really like the zombie-esque-ness of the Voodoo pattern, I decided to make some modifications to the GOGEE to get the best of both worlds. I knit up its arms, legs, pocket and body exactly as described in the pattern. I did not knit the ears, since I didn’t really like them and when I came to the last couple of rounds in the head, I decreased quicker without additional knit rounds to create a rounded head shape.

Once the knitting was finished, I sewed a little mouth and added a felt heart on his front. A little message was written and put into his pocket for any bad times. He’s quite cute if you ask me, if a little floppy. For some reason his head is larger than I expected, even though it’s the same size in the pattern pictures. In any case, he now has a new home and I hope that the recipient can look upon him with some fondness!