Olivia the Octopus

With the holiday season hot on my heels, I've decided to knit up some plush toys for my younger siblings. Plushies are a great knit, most of them are pretty quick and don't require complicated stitches. The oldest of my three younger sisters, Sarah, espied an octopus pattern I was looking at and proclaimed that a purple octopus would be cool. Thus for her I chose the pattern I'd been looking at, the Teacupfaery Octopus by Jane Conway.

 This is Jane Conway's lovely octopus, how could I not make one?

I was dismayed to see that despite the cuteness of the finished octopus, no other ravelry users had completed the pattern, only Jane. A cute knit, being passed up by other users? I was sold, I have a weak spot for anything that seems pathetic, especially if it's also cute. I set out to knit Olivia the Octopus for my sister.

The pattern has a couple of seeming errors, or perhaps I should say that it wasn't written as clearly as it could be, though it's easy to follow for the most part. It starts out having you knit the body of the octopus flat, then seaming it up and knitting the bottom in the round after you knit each tentacle in the round. I did knit it flat, but honestly it would have been easier and for me, faster, to knit in the round. I'd advise doing just that. I'm using Caron Simply Soft, in lavender, on size 6 needles. It makes for soft but durable and easily washable toys, so I like it for that purpose. I also like using plastic 'safety eyes' on my toys, they slip between stitches and stay fastened, forever. As long as the surrounding yarn is intact, the eyes will never fall off.

 Pictured: Safety eyes

The tentacles start with 8 stitches and decrease by a stitch every inch. I chose to i-cord the last two inches of mine, since when I was down to three stitches it was easier than trying to knit in the round. I put a pipe cleaner in each tentacle so Olivia is pose-able. Unfortunately, my yarn had a flaw and there is an odd puffy lump on her head, but she's cute even with octopus-acne. Her head isn't as round as Jane's octopus', but I attribute that to my sewing skills being lacking. I will opt to knit another octopus in the round, and as at that time I will have actually received my christmas present of a digital camera, I will take step by step photos of my process.

And now, Olivia!