Yay for peacocks!
I designed this guy for Red Heart's national "Save the Planet" contest using Red Heart's new Eco-Ways recycled blend yarns. It took me about two weeks to complete using a 3.25 mm hook, and I'm oh so excited to show him off! You may have seen this guy around town on Red Heart's website because he's been named one of ten finalists in the contest!
He's currently residing on my hall shelf waiting to find out the results of the public vote on Red Heart's site (which ends June 1st). You can check out all the finalists here
http://redheart.com/saveplanet.html and cast your vote for your favorite projects in the knit and crochet categories
I can't read or write patterns to save my life, so below are some detailed descriptions of his creation process. Thanks so much for taking a peek!
I started at the head and worked my way down, switching to light green to make the rear half of his body. (The wings cover up exactly where the blue ends and green begins.) Without any wings, feet, tail, or beak, the body looked like a two-tone, legless alien llama
Each tail feather was crocheted individually, and I sewed them together in layers using a yarn embroidery needle and a strand of the hunter yarn. To make the fringe around the edge, I separated the hunter yarn into individual plys and handknotted little snippets all the way around the outside of the tail.
The only part of this bird that's reinforced is the feet. I used two three-inch pieces of skinny dowel rod for this. The hardest part about attaching the feet was finding the bird's center of gravity. I added the feet last because of this, but as I was working, I used toothpicks to keep track of where the feet should go.
The comb was made using three pieces of floral wire that were twisted up and looped around so the loops could be connected with the teal yarn. I separated the teal yarn into individual plys and knotted little snippets all over the strand connecting the loops to make it look like a solid crest.
For now he's found a nice safe home on my hall shelf--far FAR away from my bad kitties that lurk below. . .
