FO: A Birthday Hulk

A friend of mine contacted me to see if I could make a Hulk doll for her son's birthday. I did a quick search for patterns, but I didn't find any that I loved out there so I decided to make my own :) 

Isn't he ... Hulk-ish?! I love how he turned out :) I ended up taking elements from other designs and combining them for my Hulk. He was quite a learning experience for me - I now know that I work much better with a pattern at my disposal, lol. Anyway, details about Mr. Hulk here. 

His arms were by far the most difficult part - I actually had most everything else made and played around until I finally went in search of an arm pattern. I specifically wanted him to have muscular arms, which turns out is not an easy thing to do in a crocheted tube that's only about 8 stitches around. After trying about 6 different arms and hating them, I had the idea to look in the book AmiguruME by Allison Hoffman - the whole book is basically separate patterns for body parts and details that you can combine to make what/whoever you want. And she had a pattern for muscular arms! They even had thumbs :) I used scrap yarn to pull the thumbs down on to the hand and tuck them together to make a fist, which looks really good in person - it was very difficult to photograph. I added pip cleaners in the arms to make them pose-able too.

His hair is actually just a pom pom. I tied the pom pom to the head (spacing out the tied spots so it doesn't twist around), and then gave him a rough hair cut. The center tie of the pom pom ever worked out to look like his hair is parted. His eyebrows and abs are embroidered on with yarn - my original plan was to make 3-D muscles on his chest, but everything I tried just looked like a cluster of boobs, lol, so embroidery won out. You can see the muscle definition in his arms (and kind of his fist). For his pants I did lots of switching between the purple and green so it looks like the edges are ripped like the real Hulk. 

I attached his legs so he can sit down - well, he can do a split which makes him sit, lol. As far as yarn, I used a mystery green acrylic yarn I was given for the body (that's the 3rd project in a row I've used this yarn for - it's the perfect color!), Red Heart With Love in Violet for his pants, and Caron Simply Soft in Dark Sage for his hair along with some scraps of black yarn for the embroidery. He has 10 mm safety eyes plus there are green pipe cleaners inside the arms.

The obligatory back view. Don't mind his hair, I accidentally fluffed it up when positioning him. 

Hulk Smash!

I'm really happy with how he turned out, even if he was more work than I expected. My husband says his head looks like an angry pea, lol. I think he kinds of look like the Jolly Green Giant c but angry and with a Hulk body, lol. I think it's the 60s mop-top hair do. I already gave him to my customer and she liked him, so I hope her son does too!

WIP Wednesday: The Week of Sweaters

I have dubbed this past week as The Week of Sweaters. I managed to finish 2 (!) that I have had in the works for a long time - check back on Friday for at least one of them. I also had several doctor's appointments and other things that involved sitting in a waiting room for extended periods of time, which means I was able to make a surprising amount of progress on my newest sweater project, Emelie.

In any other sweater, I would think this wasn't very much progress, but considering this is fingering weight yarn and I started it 10 days ago, this is pretty remarkable in my book :) This cardigan is knitted from the bottom up, so I have finished the ribbing and I'm into the 3rd repeat of the lace pattern on the front:

I know the pic is crappy, but it is incredibly difficult to photograph black yarn, especially when you're trying to spread out the stitches at the same time, lol. I am really loving this project so far.It's just enough of a pattern to keep it from being boring, and it's just straight knitting or purling in between. I've also decided to eliminate the decreases at the side, so it's made it even easier as there are less instructions to keep track of. Plus, this yarn is straight up heavenly. It is so soft and light weight, I just know I'm going to wear the daylights out of this when its finished. I can't wait! 

I'm also plugging away at a custom order - a friend of mine wanted The Hulk for her son's birthday :) I couldn't find a pattern that I really loved, so I'm making my own. This has proved to be a little frustrating at times, but I like the pieces that I have finished already. I had hoped to make bobble stitch muscles on his chest, but they just looked like he had a cluster of boobs, lol, so I will be making his arms muscly instead. 

Reorganizing and rearranging my sewing room really restored my desire to sew, so I pulled out my crazy print Simplicity 2444 that I cut out weeks ago and got to work. I haven't rushed putting it together in hopes that it will help with my precision - my mantra has been, "Slow and steady wins the race," lol. It must be working because this has been a pain-free project! I marked the pieces and sewed up what you see on Monday night - I think I spent 3 hours on it then - and last night I put in the zipper.

Look at that sexy zipper! This is by far the best zipper I have ever done - it came out perfect! I followed Sunni's Mastering Zipper Techniques free Craftsy class to the letter, and what do you know, it worked! I used knit stay tape at the opening, pressed the seam allowance under, stuck the zipper down with Wonder Tape, and stitched nice and slow. I was so proud, I could've cried, lol. Also, with the zipper in, I tried the dress on ... and it fit! It's a miracle! I've had so many problems with fitting that to see it fit like it should was an amazing boost. I can't wait to finish it up now :)

That's all for me this week :) Check back on Friday for a pretty epic finished object! And head over to Tami's Amis' Blog to see what others are up to.