Bub the Dwip

This is Bub, and Bub is a dwip.

I had an awful crash in health today, at which point I was unbelievably scared of relapse. Consequently, I have confined myself to the sofa this afternoon, and Bub is what emerged from my needles.

For the last couple of days I've looked after my BEAUTIFUL niece Ellie, who I don't get to spend nearly enough time with, and which is why I'm so exhausted, and this morning she was spotting aliens on my paperchase bag. This inspired the birth of the Dwip, who emerged from the needles as I was too tired to knit anything complicated but wanted to create something new.

I miss knitting toys now I'm knitting for the wedding so I thought I'd have a go at a little creature, and this is the first time I've drawn up a picture and then tried to create it. Bub looks nothing like the picture as he seemed to have consciousness and told me he didn't want long dangly legs and actually wanted toes, but I do love him.

There will be more! Stay tuned for his friends.

Flat garter stitch heart

Here's the pattern for the flat heart I've designed for my wedding invitations. The red one in the picture is slightly more angular than the finished pattern, but I stuck it to a prototype invitation so I photographed the original version.

The large (pink) heart was knit on 3mm needles with baby double knit (to the original 'large heart' pattern).

The small (red) heart was knit on 3mm needles with double knit (to the original 'large heart' pattern). The 'small heart' pattern allows baby double knit to create the same size as this heart.

I don't know why the babyDK seems to have knit up so much bigger than the DK, but I don't have the label for the DK so I can't tell you its properties. Sorry!

Large heart:

If knit in baby double knit this knits up at the size of the pink heart in the photo.
If knit in double knit it knits up at the size of the red heart in the photo.


*CO 3sts
K 2 rows
Inc 1, K to end of row (repeat this row 5 more times)**
Break yarn and leave on needle
Repeat from * to **, casting on same needle sts have been left on
K across both pieces
K row
Inc 1, k across row, inc 1
K 2 rows

# K2tog, k across row, k2tog
K row ##

Repeat from # to ## until 3sts remain

Slip 1st st knitwise, k next st and pass 1st st over (as cast off), k last st, pass 2nd st over.
Break yarn, fasten off, bury ends.





Small heart:
This pattern is for use with baby double knit. Using double knit will create a much smaller heart.

*CO2sts
K 1 row
Inc1, k to end (repeat this row 4 more times)**
Break yarn, leaving stitches on needle.
Repeat from * to ** (casting on to same needle sts have been left on)

K across both pieces
K 1 row
Inc 1, k across row, inc 1
k 1 row

# K2tog, k across row, k2tog
K row ##

Repeat from # to ## until end.
Cast off, break yarn, fasten off, bury ends.

An update

I seem to have been quiet on here for a while, even though I have been knitting away as usual.

I've designed hearts for the front of the wedding invitations and I'm in the process of knitting the wedding cake pattern Alan Dart wrote for Simply Knitting. It's going slowly because the actual wedding planning keeps getting in the way (who knew it took so much organising?!) but it's looking good. Quite a nice size, too - I'm planning on using it as the top tier of the actual cake.

I think I might do smaller versions of the invitation hearts to put on place settings, but I'm not sure how many I'll be able to get done. It seems as though I need to knit until my fingers bleed now!

I've been doing effort-free blanket knitting while I've been poorly too, and have got one square done: pastel stripes 60sts by 80 rows. Hot!


There was a photo with this post, but blooger's being a pain and I'm too tired to keep trying. Being ill is crappy no matter what, but M.E. makes me a right mardy cow!

Edited to add photo after I stopped being mardy. That was the first version of the heart. It's been adapted since then, but it's not vastly different.