Ruthless Knitting

He comes complete with a Buddy ‘Bot Box.

He is even cuter close up.

Today is my brother James’s birthday, and David and I made this Buddy ‘Bot special just for him. I hope he likes it!

Pattern: Robot from Jess Hutchison’s Unusual Toys for You to Knit and Enjoy (no longer available)
Size: One size. Measures about 10″ tall and 8″ wide.
Yarn: Nashua Creative Focus Worsted and a bit of Green Mountain Spinnery Mountain Mohair
Yardage: Unknown. Leftovers.
Yarn Source: Iris Fine Yarns in Appleton, WI; eBay
Needles: I already don’t remember. US 8?
Gauge: Beats me.
Notes: Knitting Buddy ‘Bot was fast, easy, and fun! The seaming was less fun, but that was mostly because I used the same yarn as I used for the body, and it’s a loosely spun one-ply that is really too fragile for the purpose. I saw no way around it, though, as the seam yarn shows in several places on the robot and therefore must match.

The only modification I made was to knit the body and limbs in the same color. The pattern calls for the center of the body to be knit in a different color from the main arm and leg color, but I didn’t have anything that seemed like it would work. I like how Buddy ‘Bot looks in one color, anyway. I also put a short length of toothpick in the antenna to make it stand up better.

I love Jess Hutchison’s toy patterns. I have also made Henry and Dolly from her little booklet. They all came out perfect on the first try, and there is something wonderfully satisfying about the shape and size of them.

Once Buddy ‘Bot was finished, I decided that he needed a box, and David agreed. He made it for me, and I did the spray-painting and lettering. David also gets credit for the “Kill All Humans” line and for suggesting that I change the robot’s name from “‘Bot Buddy” to “Buddy ‘Bot.” He’s such a great husband.

Isn’t Buddy ‘Bot fetching? He looks like he wants to kill you, but he also feels kinda bad about it, and it stresses him out.

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Picky editorial note: I know that the apostrophe in front of “bot” ought to face the other direction, but I can’t figure out how to make the computer obey my will on this matter.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 9th, 2007 at 11:48 am and is filed under Finished Objects. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.