Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Lions and Tigers and Bears...

...or just one tiger.
I'll get you my pretty! And your little dog, too!

Pattern: Tiger Cub from The World of Knitted Toys
Yarn: Opal Tiger sock yarn obtained in a swap with Susann and Jawoll superwash sock yarn in ecru
Needles: US size 2
Notions: Polyester fiberfill and stick-on goggly eyes

Modifications:

1) I worked the legs, tail, and ears in the round to avoid seaming.
2) I made the tail much longer than the pattern stated. It looked too stumpy so I kept going.
3) I used self-striping tiger yarn instead of changing colors to get the stripes.

Comments:

1) I love the way the stripes turned out--especially because I didn't have to do anything to make them happen.

2) I'm not so happy with the way he looks. I think the legs are too big and the nose is too pointy. After working this tiger and the panda before, I'm very suspicious of the patterns in this book. I don't think the published patterns were used to make the models in the book. I think the models were made and then the patterns were written to reproduce the animals in the simplest way possible. Or I'm just very bad a finishing stuffed animals and making them look cute. But I like the reason in which I blame someone else for my disappointment.

Peter's Comment: It looks like Cleo!

So I tried to take a photo of the Tiger with Cleo. She was okay for the first few shots and suddenly:
Die other patchy cat! Die!

See Monkee! The tiger that you rubbed all over your face last night had been in Cleo's mouth! And Scout's too, but I wasn't able to snap a photo because I had to rescue the poor tiger from her.

19 comments:

Mintyfresh said...

Oh my! It's very cute, and I love the way you used self-striping yarn to get the colors.

Meredith said...

Very cool! I love the way the stripes turned out.

Karen said...

Aw, he's so cute!

Though I agree with you on the patterns from that book....I've made 2 animals and neither one look like the model...but then again, it could be MY knitting/stuffing abilities. I'm not the sharpest crayon in the box.

Pumpkinmama said...

So cute! Perfect use of the tiger yarn.

Stephanie said...

So cute! I love that you used the sock yarn that way.

Now I'm worried. I've made four of the animals from that book - but haven't put any of them together yet. I'm a terrible procrastinator on finishing. :( So now I think I have one more reason to be lazy - it won't look like the phot anyway!

knottygnome said...

aww, kitties in attack mode are so adorable.

i'm not much for knitted toys, but i think yours is very clever and cute.

Anonymous said...

I found you via ephblog (I'm '04), and I 100% agree about world of knitted toys. the lion cub AND the dolphin both bear some resemblance to the pictures in the book, but they're significantly less cute. (the emperor penguin, however, is AWESOME.)

Anonymous said...

I guess she didn't like the competition!

The tiger is cute though, perfect use for the OPal Tiger Sock yarn!

Anonymous said...

Adorable!! Brilliant using the self striping yarn too!

Anonymous said...

So cute! I love the picture with Cleo. :-)

turtlegirl76 said...

Ha! Monkee had kitty spit rubbed all over her face!

I knew it'd be a perfect cat toy!

Jennifer said...

That is so cute!!! I love it.

aija said...

What a rad use of that Opal yarn! :)

Helen said...

i doubt it's you. gotta be the pattern. hmmm. but the striping is great!

Anonymous said...

Absolutely fabulous!
I love how the pattern of the yarn turned out. I think it's much nicer than when knit into socks!

Elizabeth said...

Awwww... that tiger cub is adorable! And Cleo obviously likes it, too.

amylovie said...

I think it is cute. I agree, though, that it isn't super tigerlike.

Amy

Anonymous said...

Okay, while I must admit that it is not an exact likeness of the majestic jungle creature that it is meant to represent, it is a pretty damn cute stuffed animal. I think its lack of realism is in fact the key to its charm. The self-striping yarn worked great!

Anonymous said...

I love the Tiger!!

AND I have the book (in the loft book stash....)