FO: felted squid
I posted a while back about changing a pattern for a non-felted stuffed animal to a felted one. Now well past my Olympic deadline, I finished the squid in question.



As a disclaimer, having a stuffed squid suddenly gives you these urges to take pictures of your squid doing strange activities. I just can't help myself.

Here is squiddy pre-felting. His tentacles are about 8" longer than his legs. And God only knows who he's text messaging.


I felted squiddy by hand because he's tentacle mania, and I was afraid some tragedy would befall him in the washer. After about two hours wrestling with him in the kitchen sink I lost interest, plus the Star Trek marathon on Spike was over, so I called it quits. He hasn't lost all his stitch definition, but he's pretty firm, so I'm fine with it.

Here's squiddy reclining.


Squiddy blogging about his exploits


He was intended to be a gift, but as you can tell, I'm a little attached to him. I think I may just buy my friend a T-shirt and hope she forgets that I was ever knitting her anything.


The pattern used was here:
http://www.strangebuttrewe.com/squidhat.htm

The only noteable change was that I didn't use foam balls for eyes. Instead I knit 1/2 spheres, felted and stuffed them, and sewed them into his eye sockets. Thanks for looking!

(Post a new comment)

	molliewollie 2006-03-13 05:04 pm UTC (link)
	Wow. Now I really, really want one, and I rarely feel that way about posted FOs. (Reply to this)

	silent_dance 2006-03-13 05:05 pm UTC (link)
	Wow! He is absolutely amazing. Well done!! :D (Reply to this)

	cherry_chiicake 2006-03-13 05:06 pm UTC (link)
	Wow. He's great-- I wouldn't want to give him away, either. What kind of yarn did you use for him? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	shimmy9 2006-03-13 05:13 pm UTC (link)
	Oh, what an oversight! I used leftover Cascade 220 on his eyes, and 2 giant balls of Cascade Eco+ for the rest of him. You just get so caught up in posting pictures of squid drinking coffee that you forget to post the important stuff... :) (Reply to this) (Parent)

	brieza 2006-03-13 05:06 pm UTC (link)
	Adorable! He looks pretty good even with remaining stitch definition. (Reply to this)

	pzelda 2006-03-13 05:06 pm UTC (link)
	Awwwwww! I LOVE it! The pics are hilarious. XD I can't stop laughing at the text messaging and blogging pics. ;D You look about my age (20). I was surprised to click on your userinfo and see that you are actually 26. Yay! I want a squid too. XD (Reply to this) (Thread)

	shimmy9 2006-03-13 05:31 pm UTC (link)
	thanks on all counts :) they ARE a lot of fun. just be ready for the social repercussions. Like pretty soon your boyfriend will wonder why he has to share the bed with a Squid. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	ohviva 2006-03-13 05:08 pm UTC (link)
	that is awesome! the image of the squid drinking coffee totally made me laughing out loud. (Reply to this)

	faeryl 2006-03-13 05:11 pm UTC (link)
	He's so CUTE! :-) (Reply to this)

	shadowkisaten 2006-03-13 05:23 pm UTC (link)
	Wow. Just....WOW!!! (Reply to this)

	mslindz 2006-03-13 05:23 pm UTC (link)
	I love it! Now I must make one for myself :o) (Reply to this)

	tynkrxbell 2006-03-13 05:27 pm UTC (link)
	oh. my. god. my son would LOVE a squid. Actually I would love a stuffed squid. (Reply to this)

	mslindz 2006-03-13 05:31 pm UTC (link)
	Curious - did you stuff him before or after felting? I'm guessing before would have been fine since you hand felted, but I wonder if it would hold up okay in the washer being stuffed beforehand? (Reply to this) (Thread)

shimmy9 2006-03-13 05:41 pm UTC (link)

I stuffed his mantle after felting, but I stuffed his tentacles before, because I was worried that they would fuse together. This probably would have been more of a problem in the machine, since you can't always be getting in there to keep the tentacles hollow. In hand-felting, I think they probably would have been fine if I had stuffed them afterwards. As it is, they turned out a little lumpy, but otherwise are perfectly servicable. That old post of mine was actually me asking for advice on what to do about the stuffing / felting dilemma. The community had a lot of good ideas, if you're thinking about a project like this one. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	hobbitblue 2006-03-13 05:45 pm UTC (link)
	Ok, I now want a squid in my life *shakes head in bafflement* That is just utterly cool, and I love the way he looks felted.. pretty nifty photos too, he's a dab hand tentacle with the laptop I note :) I'm sure your friend will love her t-shirt :> (Reply to this)

	kepharel 2006-03-13 05:47 pm UTC (link)
	that's the best thing EVER. now i want one! i love the pics of him typing and texting and stuff. that's awesome. seriously awesome. squid love! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	trineknits 2006-03-14 08:17 pm UTC (link)
	What pattern is that in your icon?? *curious* That lace is beautiful! (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - kepharel, 2006-03-14 08:22 pm UTC

(no subject) - trineknits, 2006-03-14 08:59 pm UTC

	blackrayne 2006-03-13 05:57 pm UTC (link)
	He's awesome! I certainly wouldn't want to give him away either. (Reply to this)

	love! watchamacallit 2006-03-13 05:59 pm UTC (link)
	Did you just sew it shut instead of making a hat? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	Re: love! shimmy9 2006-03-13 06:38 pm UTC (link)
	Nah, he's technically a hat, although he's kind of stiff from the semi-felting. I did have to tie a little string from the inside top of his mantle to the top of the hat part, to keep his body fluff from pushing the top of the hat out his jaw. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	delyrium 2006-03-13 06:02 pm UTC (link)
	that is so cool- i think i'll make one for my brother's birthday- i have a good 9 months to do it... but i can't wait to get started! question- i downloaded the pdf pattern... any idea why all the text is in code? did you have this problem? (maybe to keep me from knitting it up now, instead of writing my research paper!) (Reply to this) (Thread)

	shimmy9 2006-03-13 06:42 pm UTC (link)
	Huh. I don't know. It opens fine for me, so maybe it's whatever viewer you're using? I guess you're stuck with the research paper :) Heed my warning: you'll knit it as a gift with the best intentions, but Squiddy is highly addictive! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	shewillbetray 2006-03-13 06:05 pm UTC (link)
	The best post knitting pictures ever. I can't stop laughing at Squiddy blogging. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	shimmy9 2006-03-13 06:43 pm UTC (link)
	At least he's not downloading squid porn. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - krasota, 2006-03-13 06:46 pm UTC

(no subject) - shimmy9, 2006-03-13 07:06 pm UTC

	lady_hookington 2006-03-13 06:58 pm UTC (link)
	That is awesome! I had to share the link with a friend who is a marine bio grad student! (Reply to this)

	wingsrising 2006-03-13 07:18 pm UTC (link)
	That rocks. :-) (Reply to this)

	hottoastermama 2006-03-13 07:30 pm UTC (link)
	That is really, really super. (Reply to this)

	pretty_fish 2006-03-13 07:39 pm UTC (link)
	This is about the most amazing thing I've ever seen knitted. (Reply to this)

	cthulhulovesme 2006-03-13 07:56 pm UTC (link)
	Oh man oh man oh man! I've been looking at that hat for a long while, but now I think I really have to make it. The felted version looks amazing. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	_kelbel 2006-03-14 12:05 pm UTC (link)
	oh no! Hello Kitty is even in on it! Squiddy must be popular! Seroiusly, that first photo made my day. *dies laughing* And I second the t-shirt for your friend. Keep the squid! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	slughuntersf 2006-03-13 08:40 pm UTC (link)
	very nice! Do you study squid? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	shimmy9 2006-03-13 10:28 pm UTC (link)
	I wish I did! I'm in a genetics lab, and we use C.elegans as a model. Way more genetically amenable, way less cool. What's your picture? Is that some trippy sea slug? (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - gishmi1ish, 2006-03-16 01:45 am UTC

	belle_marmotte 2006-03-13 09:09 pm UTC (link)
	Love the squid, great job, and thanks for the funny pictures! Someone should hand you a prize for the most amusingly presented FO in the world EVER! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	shimmy9 2006-03-13 10:30 pm UTC (link)
	EVER? wow... What would that trophy look like, anyway? :) Thanks (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - belle_marmotte, 2006-03-13 10:48 pm UTC

	craftycrystal 2006-03-13 09:13 pm UTC (link)
	I have been wanting to do this, but I always thought "what the hell would I do with a squid hat?" I never thought of making him a stuffed animal! I need a felted squid now! Yours looks so great! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	thanks shimmy9 2006-03-13 10:31 pm UTC (link)
	see, i'm sitting here thinking, "what the hell are all of you doing withOUT a squid hat?" (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

Re: thanks - craftycrystal, 2006-03-14 12:01 am UTC

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