FO: Gus Gus

I'm under a bit of a rock sometimes with things that are new. I see indie patterns from a few designers I follow online, but unless someone I follow talks about a new pattern or book, it doesn't usually cross my path for a while. Back in May, I decided to see what new knitting books my library had to offer and man was I surprised. They had all kinds of things, old and new, but I was so excited when I got Knitting with Disney. Now, I'm not one to wear Disney themed items (I'm scarred by the 90s character t-shirts I always wore as a kid), but I do still love the movies I grew up with. When I saw Gus and Jaq amigurumi in this book, I had to cast on immediately. 

This pattern is Gus by Sarah Elizabeth Kellner and it's published in Knitting with Disney. I mean ... how could you not cast this on? Impossible. I used all yarn from my stash: Red Heart with Love in Tan for the body, Red Heart Super Saver in Pink for the ears, Loops & Threads Impeccable in Kelly Green for the hat, and Vanna's Choice in Mustard for the shirt and Chocolate for the shoes and nose. I kind of wish I had a lighter pink for the ears, but that's splitting hairs. I went down in yarn size for mine because I don't have chunky weight yarn on hand in lots of colors like I do worsted and aran weight, and I used size 5 double pointed needles since that's what Mochi Mochiland's patterns always have you use for that size yarn.

So I knit the feet 6 TIMES. Yes. The saga is this: you knit the body first and then pick up in a specific place to get the feet to angle outward like normal feet. I'm used to body patterns that are either exactly the same on the front and back or so obviously different that I don't have to think about it. So I didn't mark the front and when I assumed the front and made 2 feet, I thought I got it wrong (spoiler alert: I didn't). So after knitting both feet, I pulled them out and made them on the opposite side of the body. Only then did I realize I had actually got it right the first time, so I pulled them out YET AGAIN. This is dedication, folks. Anyway, after the feet you do the head and then the arms and sweater. The sweater is knit flat and then seamed onto his back, much to my kids chagrin (they immediately asked if they could take his shirt off).

The face was one of those embroidery puzzles we sometimes get. The pattern is designed to make felt eyes, which is good because plastic eyes would just not give the right effect, but it's bad because they are ovals and I had to freehand them. I like to use my Sizzix paddle punch circles for my felt eyes since then I know they are true circles and don't come out wonky. I got there in the end and I'm happy with my eyes, but the perfectionist in me is looking at them critically. Oh well, he's a stuffed animal, lol.

I made this guy during an extremely emotional and stressful week for me, so he was a nice little break from reality. This is a bit of a hack I figured out years ago when I first started knitting - no matter what is going on in your life that you can't control, you can control this. You can make an adorable stuffed animal and control everything about it. And it's cute and everyone knows its cute and it makes you feel superficially better about that one thing. So that is what this little project did for me, just like so many of the animals I've made in my life. 

Gus Gus now sits in my thread rack above my sewing machine, just like he should :) Sometimes all we need is a somewhat pointless but cute project to keep us going.