Intarsia? Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi ..

I was raised by sci-fi nerds.

An odd way to begin a blog, perhaps, but I think that in light of this, and my previous post, an explanation is in order.

I don't remember the first time I saw Star Wars, but considering my parents and their respective sci-fi preoccupation, I think I'd be safe in saying that it was in 1977 .. at the age of three. It would be similarly impossible to say how many times I've seen the films, so let us just state that the number is significantly larger than would be required to know the dialogue back to front.

One day earlier this year I was browsing the internet with my afore-mentioned, nerdy companion, and we discovered this wonderful R2D2 beanie. At that point it had been some years since I had picked up my needles to make anything more ambitious than a half-finished scarf, and I had certainly never tried anything more complicated than knit, purl, rib and stripes. Hey .. I like a challenge, and my companion's enthusiasm for the garment started me thinking. Could I make that? Could I take on the task of Intarsia .. and what the hell is Intarsia anyway? Wikipedia? Help!

So, after a little bit of study, I gathered my yarn, my needles and bobbins, and took a deep breath. I grabbed the pattern that was kindly provided by Carissa over at Carissa Knits, and moved into uncharted territory.

After a few attempts, which involved some unraveling and untangling, I finally got the hang of the dpns, (which I'd never even held before, much less used) and my beanie started to take shape. I followed the chart and felt ever prouder of myself as R2 dangled from my needles. The first beanie was a pretty good effort, I thought, for an absolute beginner. There were some holes where I changed colours, and some further study on twisting the yarn showed me where I was going wrong. Armed with this new knowledge, and with R2 No. 1 on my noggin, I started again. I decided that I wasn't quite happy with the chart I was working off, (I am a Star Wars nerd after all, and a bit of a perfectionist) so I found some photos of R2 and made my own chart. This time the finished product was much neater looking.

I'm still rather amazed that I managed to get it together, and hopefully, when my friend receives the gift sometime in the next week or so, he will enjoy wearing it as much as I enjoyed making it for him.

Yoda Amigurumi

Being the huge nerd that I am, when I discovered the joy that is Amigurumi, I simply had to make a Yoda. I had seen a few examples on various blogs and fan pages, but none of them really appealed to me. With a fellow nerd's birthday on the horizon, I decided that Yoda would make a perfect gift, and set about learning the basics of Amigurumi.

So here he is. My first attempt, and I must say, in all modesty, he's pretty cool. By the time I was done knitting his little cloak and making his cane, it was quite difficult letting him go. I have since made another for my son, and I have orders for two more, but I think it's time to focus on something else for awhile. I'm all Yoda'd out .. and besides, I have three other things on my needles which need my attention.

Obsessed? Moi?
Surely not.