From My Notebook: Mistakes ...er ... Learning Experiences!

I nicknamed him "weird guy" because I try everything out on him first, including embroidering his face. It's been pulled out time and again! Everybody needs a weird guy in their knitting bag!

See this guy? He's my experiment. I was trying to have arms and legs knit right into the animal so I wouldn't have to sew them on at all. As you can see, his arms are way too small! This made me realize that I must increase many more stitches between the place markers!!! He was supposed to have been an elephant, but his trunk was so tiny and bizarre, I had to cut it off just to stand to look at him! Now, the place where the trunk used to be looks as if he has had some painful throat surgery. (I guess he has!)
His shape is perfect for several other animals/insects I'm working on, though, so I was glad I had finished knitting and felting him instead of giving up and throwing him away.
As for the hair ... well I was trying to figure out a way to root in hair on a felted toy. It works, but not great. Unlike the natural spaces in stitches you have on a knitted toy, you must use an awl to create a space first, then you can knot the hair through each hole. I tried using a safety pin first ... I snipped the safety pin in half and used the part without the head that had the pinpoint on the bottom. I then bent the top like a small hook. I thought I could use this like a needle without an eye. You see, when you latch hair, you want to be able to get the needle off ... this is why a crochet hook works ... well, my little pin needle didn't work very well. It kept hooking the felt fibers as it came out. Then I tried the awl. Very time consuming, but it did work. I think attaching hair, in general, is time consuming ... no matter what method you end up using!
I just was experimenting on my new patterns for Halloween. My ghost needs work, but I can see what I did wrong with his arms and I'd like to have his head shaped a little differently, as well. It really helps me to knit up and felt a few versions of something before I come up with exactly what I want.
I did felt my bookworm, though! He's kind of a sluggish bookworm! I really like him. Now for him to dry so that I can embroider his face. More from the notebook later ...