Kathryn Ivy

November 24, 2007 - Posted by Admin User

Affirmative.

Robot Robot

Project Specs
Pattern: Robot
Pattern Source: Unusual Toys to Knit by Jess Hutchison
Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted in M-03 Grey Heather (70 yards), M-120 Limeade (20 yards), M-78 Aztec Turquoise (10 yards).
Needles: US8 straight needles and 6 DPNs
Date Started: 11/10/07
Date Finished: 11/24/07
Finished Dimensions: Knit body in one color instead of two, attached antenna after seaming.

I'm twice the robot you'll ever be!I’m sure everyone and their mother has seen the knit Robot pattern by Jess Hutchison by now. After having it on my to-do list for over a year, I finally got around to making one. He calls himself Robot Robot, because he thinks he’s two robots in one. This little robofriend of mine will traveling across the country to my friend for Christmas, and I hope he will receive a warm welcome.

I’m sad to say that I was kind of disappointed in the pattern. The knitting itself was not difficult, and I am sure you could easily figure out the pattern without having the instructions in front of you. One of the things I like most about Jess Hutch’s is that they’re knit in the round, but this robot is the exception. All piece are knit flat which requires a whole lot of seaming and ends to weave in too. I ended up spending more time seaming the pieces together than I did knitting them. The thing is, I don’t really mind seaming, but it required an extreme amount of attention to keep the edges from looking sloppy. I can’t say that I am 100% happy with how it turned out, but I did the best I could do. It was impossible to keep the corners square because it got so bulky and that is probably the thing I am most disappointed in.

I love to do the Roboboogie.I was really considering sewing a little robot shaped pillow to insert into the robot instead of just stuffing him. If I ever knit one of these robots for myself I will definitely do that. It would just really help keep the stuffing even and eliminate the possibility of any stuffing from showing through the stitches. Hopefully over time the stuffing won’t shift too much, or else he’ll have to be renamed Blob Blob. I would have liked to add some embroidered graphs to his color panels and maybe a few buttons too, but by the end I was just ready to be done with him. There are a lot of cute things you could do with this pattern. My favorite part of this guys is his antenna. To create the little bit of a knob at the top, I threaded the tail end of the yarn through the three stitches 6 or 7 times to bulk it up.

In the end, I like how he turned out, but it seems there is a lot of hype over this pattern which is basically a glorified pillow. I think I’d rather try my hand at sewing one of the Wee Wonderful Robots instead of making another one of these.

Beep Beep

 

Comments

  • November 27, 2007, 9:15 pm - Madge (http://knitdevil.blogspot.com/)

    Robot Robot is very dashing! And now I have silly Lost in Space music running through my head.

  • November 27, 2007, 2:53 pm - Mandy (wishiwerebuffy.wordpress.com)

    I think he's adorable!!!

  • November 27, 2007, 12:25 pm - Oiyi (www.oiyi.blogspot.com)

    Love the colors of your robot. He looks great. Having all those pieces to sew up would annoy me, too.

    I really wish she would republish that pattern book.

  • November 26, 2007, 5:01 pm - Leslie (www.whatastitch.blogspot.com)

    Oh, I love your robot. Don't sell him short! I wouldn't notice any of the flaws you mentioned. I also think your color choices are perfect.

  • November 26, 2007, 12:13 am - Meg (http://bloglessnomore.blogspot.com)

    He's cute - love the colors and the knobby antenna is a great touch. I did 2 of these for my son and there were no blobby stuffing problems after a year in the care of a 3 year old boy. For the second one I did the arms and legs in the round and picked up the stitches for the body from the legs, which cut down a bit on the seaming.

  • November 25, 2007, 8:32 pm - bookgrump (http://blogs.litfan.com)

    He's terrific! I so wish I could find that pattern book for a reasonable price. I'm sure his recipient will be happy with him.

  • November 25, 2007, 11:55 am - apixiegirl (magicpixieknitter.blogspot.com)

    He looks just perfect.. his embroidered mouth is so perfect too..

  • November 25, 2007, 11:16 am - kim (http://www.yarnabuse.com)

    That's the perfect robot! He's so cute, like a baby robot.

  • November 25, 2007, 9:46 am - Lolly (http://lollygirl.com/blog)

    Totally cute! I love him. I bought that book ages ago and have not made anything yet... I really should!

  • November 25, 2007, 3:54 am - Claire (www.justclaire.blogspot.com)

    He's very cute. Nice job!

  • November 25, 2007, 1:04 am - Christy/NotHip (www.neitherhipnorfunky.com)

    Hey robot! He looks great; I like how the gray heather has a bit of a silver/metallic sheen to it in the photos, very futuristic.

  • November 25, 2007, 12:27 am - Julia (http://moontea.typepad.com)

    He turned out so cute! I love the colors. I've made two of these and I agree...the seaming is really off-putting! The little corners, nooks, and crannies are what make it so difficult. I've been doing a lot of seaming for my afghan squares lately, and while it's much bigger, it's not so hard!

  • November 25, 2007, 12:25 am - Jen Da Purse Ho (http://www.purse-ho.com)

    OMG he came out so cute! :) good job!!!

  • November 24, 2007, 10:07 pm - rohanknitter (www.homeschoolblogger.com/rohanknitter)

    He's adorable and the colors are great. He looks very nice - you are like me - too picky when you look at your creation. ; ) The first knitted toy (Alan Dart Gnome) I ever did required a ton of seaming and I didn't like that aspect of it much. (but now I've made 5 of them and at least it's improved my seaming!)

  • November 24, 2007, 6:55 pm - Adrienne (www.adriennenixon.com)

    Very cute! I love the way he turned out!

  • November 24, 2007, 6:00 pm - Faye

    I think it was the simplicity and cleverness of Jesse's patterns that make them appealing to young and old. You could have adapted the pattern for DPN's. I mean, look at what Jess has done with and too a ball, a basic square pillow? You got more than value for money when you purchased her pattern book.

  • November 24, 2007, 4:49 pm - Shannon (www.minervaturkey.com)

    I think he turned out great. I looked at your seams, and I think you did a fantastic job with them. I am working on a toy pattern now that is all knit flat, and I am not looking forward to hours upon hours of mattress stitching. :(

    Thanks for the link to the Wee Wonderfuls. I am off to check them out.


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