Sunday, May 10, 2020

It's all in the ears

I have mentioned previously that I subscribed to a knitting magazine.  At that time, the regular contributor for toy patterns was Alan Dart.  His designs are amazing.  They are so full of character.  An added bonus is that his instructions are detailed and easy to follow.

In the June 2014 edition, the pattern was for a Peruvian Llama, with chullo hat and poncho.  
This photo is from the original pattern at https://www.alandart.co.uk/peruvian-llama/
As you can see, it was stunning and colourful.  My immediate decision was to take it in to show my friend at work.  Why? Because she has three alpacas.  When I showed her, she too was amazed at the detail and llama-likeness, which prompted me to ask, what is the difference between llamas and alpacas.  In essence, she said there was very little of significance, bar their ears.  "The way I remember," she said, "is that llamas have ears like bananas!"  This made me chuckle and then she asked me if I would make her an alpaca following the original pattern but with the obvious ear adjustment.  With such a stunning pattern, I could not refuse.

I have a considerable stash of yarn so the colours for the hat and poncho were not a concern but I needed to buy the specific yarn for the llama - correction, alpaca - body.  Then I had to wait for it to arrive. Patience is never really a strong suit of mine and I just wanted to get on with making it.  I had colours, I had needles, I had the pattern - so I began with the alpaca accessories and set to on the poncho.  

Whilst the instructions to follow are laid out clearly, that does not mean the knitting was easy.  You will recall in the previous story I mentioned about working with multiple yarns at a time.  Well this was not so complex as that but the item was considerably smaller and thus a tad fiddly.  I took my time and checked it as I went along.  On the first attempt, I messed it up. The crosses that you can see to the top of the poncho did not initially turn out like crosses. I think I made an error due to confusing myself as I needed to make stitch decreases as well as colour changes.  Whatever the reason, it was undone and reknitted - just that section, not the whole poncho.  Once it was all knitted, the fringe had to be added.  That is a seriously time consuming effort but well worth it.

By the time I completed the poncho, the body yarn had arrived so thoughts of the chullo hat were set aside and the alpaca body was started.  I was fascinated as I knitted at how it was possible to come up with the pattern I was following. The changes to make the chest puff out were simple and yet so clever in the effect it had on the knitted piece and this became more apparent once it was sewn up.  I will not bore you with all the clever pattern nuances but I will tell you though that the legs are made such that the llama/alpaca stands steadily due to some ingenuity involving drinking straws.  Suffice to say it was a joy to make and intellectually stimulating too.  Even the stuffing needs attention to make sure it shapes the toy appropriately.  Mr Dart is a very talented designer!  

As mentioned, my friend requested an alpaca not a llama so some minor adjustment was required for the ears.  I knitted the original pattern to see the size then worked out, of course with the aid of my trusted graph paper, an alpaca ear design.  I think it worked well because when I took the completed alpaca in to her, adorned with poncho and chullo hat, she was over the moon.  
The first alpaca
She showed those who visited her desk and one colleague requested an even more bespoke alpaca - that the hat and poncho to be in the design of the hat owned by the friend they intended to gift it to.  They provided me with a photo of the hat.  You know how when you zoom in on a photo it can pixelate? Well on this occasion, it was an advantage.  I printed a standard copy of the picture and the close in one and used them to work out the pattern to be knitted up.  It was an enjoyable challenge and the result was very pleasing.
Alpaca with bespoke hat and poncho
Some time later, my son came home from secondary school and said that he had a request for me from a friend.  He had mentioned to them that I had been knitting llamas and alpacas and they asked if I could make them a llama with a hat.  It turns out there is a comedy series called "Llamas with Hats" which they really liked and thought it would be fun to have their own llama with hat.  As I recall, there were subsequent requests with differing hats but this is the photo found of one of them.
A llama with a hat
These handsome toys were fun to make and never failed to raise a smile on those who saw them.  A year or so after making the first, my friend with the alpacas gifted me some alpaca yarn made from the fleece of her alpacas.  It had to be done - I made one using that yarn for the lower half of the legs.  It made me smile to know there was real alpaca in the making of the alpaca.

I still occasionally get asked to make a llama or an alpaca, the most recent being last summer.  Some have fringes on their ponchos, some do not.  It is all a matter of choice, as are the colours used.  Here is a small selection of others I have made.  I hope they make you smile too.




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