Thursday 20 September 2012

Goswald the Gargoyle


I'm NOT a knitter. Whenever I’ve tried it, I always ended up with a trapezium instead of a square.

Over a year ago I was coveting the  Extreme Knitting  needles on Create And Craft channel and the hippy/homeschooler type things that can seemingly be “run up” with them, so Mum *hilariously* got me a Knit Your Own Boyfriend kit (available in lots of places online) for my birthday. He sat in his box for over a year.
I started him this July/August, picking up needles for the first time in maybe 10 years. It was a bit of a disaster, but mum helped me LOADS, she had to unravel parts of him several times when I purled several rows in a row, instead of purl and knit. He’s currently sat in the box he came in, part stuffed and head and armless. He WILL be finished.

I really only made him to get practice for the first ever knitting pattern that I bought myself.


I LOVE GARGOYLES 

One of my college exhibitions I photoshopped people into Gargoyles. I think that started the obsession. Besides, they are said to scare off and protect from evil or harmful spirits. Which is always useful. 

The Knitters that saw him went *sharp intake of breath* “that’s VERY difficult for a beginner” *pursed lips*, but I seem to like to make things difficult for myself with things like this. 
To be honest, I found it very easy (but I would probably find knitting a scarf stressful!). Some parts were hard work, such as the toes, which had some odd instructions, perhaps toy knitters know what they mean, but I had some difficulty understanding which end I was joining to the main knitting, and there is a little “bridge” of the toes between the front and back of the toe, which one day I spent well over half an hour trying to get in the middle of the toe instead of the end (you’ll understand what I mean if/when you make him :-D) it’s like 5 rows, I could have knitted the entire foot in that time! in the end I did my own thing! The toes ended up adorable, so I don’t care if I did them “wrong”.
The only pictures in the pattern are of the finished Gargoyle, no step by step, so sewing him together was kind of guess work, but I’m really happy with him finished :-D 

Was aiming for a big ol beak nose, but it ended up more Roman than beak. Ah well, probably years of erosion.

He even has an adorable tail!




Just look at those FABULOUS toes! His lovely big ears have a rolly edge that you can fiddle with.


Available from The Old Toy Knitting Shop

He also has 2 brothers, that I’m sure will find their way into my shopping basket at some point!