Twinknit

After a weekend in Kentucky, I now have photos of my Misti Alpaca adventure.

Pattern: A piggie-modification of the Lovable Toys pattern from Last Minute Knitted Gifts

Yarn: Misti Alpaca Worsted in color # 3720 (less than 1 skein); a little bit of Hipknits silk in “Sky” that came as a sample when I ordered from Pureknits almost a year ago; and even tinier bit of Knitpicks Gloss for the eyes

Needles: Brittany US 5 dpns

Notions: An antique button to close the scarf, stuffing.

Modifications/Notes: Well, as when I made Dante the elephant, I knit the whole thing on dpns instead of two circulars. If you own LMKG, then you know there is no pattern for a pig. But I wanted to make my friend Julie something that would make her smile this Valentine’s Day, it having been a particularly rough winter for both of us, and I know how much she loves pigs (the hog killing that I attended this December was at her house). Julie also vocally and frequently admired Dante, so a stuffed piggie seemed like a natural gift of choice.

I knit the body as the elephant pattern called for, but ended the “snout” as soon as the decreases were completed. For the ears, I cast on 12 stitches, and knit in seed stitch for three rows. On the fourth row, I began with a ssk, knit in pattern until the last two stitches, which I knit together. I knit a row straight. Then I did a decrease row. I continued in this manner until there were two stitches on the needle, which I knit together. Voila! Adorable ears, which I got right on my first attempt. The tail took a little thought, but that also worked perfectly on the first try. I cast on 10 stitches. I knit into the front and back of the loop on each stitch across one row (20 sts). I did this again on the second row (40 sts). Then I bound off. Presto! A piggly-wiggly tail!

I could not be more pleased with how this turned out. There was a little wonkiness along the bridge of the pigs nose that blocking might have fixed, but all in all, I think she’s pretty cute. The best part? She took less than one skein of yarn, so I have enough left over to make myself one!