When coming up for the idea behind this post, I could not think of an appropriate name for these little guys, so I called them "Felties" which sounds completely bonkers, but fits the purposes.
When I first came up with the idea to make my nephew a buzz lightyear scarf, I envisioned a little buzz on the end. It tuned out as such:
Then, I thought, "A girl buzz would be cute," and thus this Feltie was created.:
Afterwards I was so into it that I made iron man and started princess peach, but ran out of scrap felt before she could be finished....
Aside from peach, I found them adorable and figured that I could most likely adorn them onto things and sell them in my shop. I'll add a pattern soon, so that my fellow crafters can make them for free, but please don't sell them.
So in two weeks my nephew is having a birthday... He's turning six, so I figured it was time to get him actively engaged in various art forms. I'm starting with drawing.
Following a lovely tutorial I found on dA here, I bound a sketchbook for him and covered it in denim. After playing around with sharpie and rubbing alcohol, I finished it up and threw in a pack of roseart crayons.
Here is the side view of the book.
Seeing as my nephew loves nascar, I made a gift tag, as demonstrated in this tutorial, with nascar pictures. I wrapped the package in brown paper and tied it up with string. I can't wait to give it to him!
Here is what the opening and ending pages look like, I "collaged" some magazine bits.
“Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit either.” ― Elizabeth Zimmermann
KNITTING, KNITTING, KNITTING; WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?
As you may have already guessed by the pictures/quote/scream-type-thing, I, teenage-crafter have taken up knitting, a craft I thought I would never understand.
To me, knitting seemed like an obnoxiously long way to make something that most likely would look pretty lame to on-lookers. Of course, I thought this, because I was jealous of knitters, and the knowledge that they possessed. In fact, two years ago, I attempted to take up the hobby, only to find myself with a skein full of knotted yarn, two hours worth of sleep, and NO nice little scarf... Unfortunately for ME, I had promised my nephew a lovely scarf made by his favorite artist. (Child-hood forgetfulness did not work in my favor, here, as he still remembers the promise nearly three years after the fact.)
Therefore, on Saturday, I went out with the goal of a love-able scarf set in mind. To accomplish this, I decided to make it in the image of the hero of all children's toys, Buzz Lightyear. Since I couldn't find an acceptable way to do this on the internet, (And, I'm not nearly skilled enough at knitting to make my own pattern-y thing.) I decided to sew on a life-like Buzz unto the scarf with felt in just the right colors. :)
See, Buzz is excited about being made into a scarf!
Materials Needed:
Yarn of some sort (I used "I love this yarn" #201/Greybeard size medium.)
Knitting needles (I used US size 8/5.00mm needles)
The Recipient's height
Felt (Peachy, green, red, purple, brown, white, blue, black, yellow, and gray.) [For this, it might be simpler just to buy a big pack of felt, which is what I did. :)]
Sewing needle
Thread (I personally prefer for this to be in the same color as the yarn, but it's up to you. )
Scissors
Fabric Glue (I used "Aleene's OK To Wash-It" Glue, so that my sister could wash the scarf without Buzz, falling off.)
Let's KNIT!
First thing's first, gather your materials... If you are making the scarf way before it is going to be gifted, as I am, you can probably save some cash, and just purchase the yarn and needles. (Unless, you just want to be prepared, that's good too!) I got both of mine at the Hobby Lobby, where my yarn was priced at $3.99, and my needles were priced at $4.09, this was pricey for my jobless teenage self, so I printed the weekly coupon and brought my sister, and I ended up spending $4.85 total. (GOOD DEAL, right?)
Now, all you have to do, is learn how to knit.... WELLLLLL, considering that I just started, I'm not exactly the best person to be teaching you, however, I can give you the link to the tutorial that taught me, which was literally one of the easiest tutorials to follow. Here it is:
[You can make your scarf as wide or thin as you'd like, for the one I made I cast on 25 stitches, making it just about 5 inches wide.]
Wasn't that EASY? Now that you're knitting up a storm, it is the perfect time to bring in the child's measurements... The reason I had you get those, was because the general consensus for how long a scarf should be, is how tall the recipient is. However, kids grow like bean stalks, so it is good to add a good four inches to the length, in order to better ensure that is will (hopefully) make it through the cold season.
Continue knitting until you have reached the desired length and then bind off. Wasn't that fun? Mine took me about five days to make and ended up being 60 inches long!
To the FELT and Beyond!
Now that you have finished your fabulous scarf, it is time to add on our good friend, Buzz Lightyear! I will provide a template below, for Lightyear's pieces. (When I get around to it....) Just adjust to your width and get printing!
My scarf ended up being about 60in in length, and is very warm, with the exception of a few holes from where I started and dropped stitches.
