NanoPants Dance
Knit Gir Pattern
A quick note on copyright:
As the designer of this pattern, I would love to hear your comments on it. If it inspires you to try your hand at designing, so much the better—I’m an engineer, not an artist, so if I can do it, anyone can.
I would also prefer that you contact me and request permission before distributing this pattern to a large group or selling items made with this pattern. Doesn’t mean I’ll say no, but I’d like to keep track of these things.
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A tiny taquito-loving robot friend that will wreck all your plans for world domination. You'll note that I haven't listed a gauge, but you should a needle a size or two smaller than that recommended for the yarn you choose, so that the stuffing can't be seen through the knit fabric. With worsted weight yarn on size 5 needles, he is about a foot tall.
Please read through all the instructions before beginning. The construction is not particularly intuitive, and it will help to know why each step is done in a particular way.
What you'll need:
-Ability to do, or willingness to learn: Casting on, knitting, purling, working in the round, increases and decreases, intarsia, picking up stitches, embroidery, and stuffed-animal construction.
-Less than 200 yards of gray yarn, and a small amount (maybe 10 yards?) of bright blue.
-double-pointed needles, a size or two smaller than recommended for your yarn.
-Yarn needle to weave in ends and sew on a mouth.
-Stuffing. I find that cheap Polyfil stuff works just fine.
-Optional: Black yarn or embroidery thread for the mouth, a small amount (probably less than a yard) of pink yarn for a tongue.
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Notes:
Whenever increases or decreases are needed, I tried to randomly arrange them so that there wasn't an obvious increasing or decreasing line. This isn't necessary, but I thought I'd mention it.
Work in stockinette unless otherwise specified.
Use whichever cast on, stitch-picking-up technique, bind-off, increases, and decreases you prefer. At no point is the stretchiness of a caston/bindoff region critical. I used bar increases throughout, because I liked that it made it look like the robot had small dents here and there, but again, your preferred method is the way that's best for you.
Head:
The head is constructed in the round.
Cast on 12 stitches onto double-pointed needles, and connect them without twisting. Knit 4 rows plain.
Evenly increase 4 stitches per round until there are 32 stitches.
Then increase 4 stitches every other round until there are 40 stitches total.
Then increase 4 stitches every 4th round until there are 52 stitches total. Knit 4 rounds plain (or more, if the head seems too squat).
Purl one round. This provides a natural "folding point" between the head and the flat bit on top.
Knit one row plain, decrease 4 stitches at the next row, then knit another plain row.
Decrease 8 stitches evenly every other row until 8 stitches remain.
The Antennae is constructed from the 8 stitches left at the top of the head.
k2tog 4 times. You now have 4 stitches left.
Do 4 rows of 4-stitch I-cord, then knit 2, k2tog.
Do 4 rows of 3-stitch I-cord, then k1, k2tog.
Do 4 rows of 2-stitch I-cord. Now you'll be making the little ball at the top of the antennae. If desired, switch to the blue yarn (I didn't.).
Do a double-increase in both stitches, so that you have 6 stitches total. Work one round plain, then k2tog three times on the next row, ending with 3 stitches. Cut the yarn about a foot away from the work, thread the yarn through the last 3 stitches, and weave in the end. You may use the weaving-in process to shape the ball a bit more.
Body:
The body is knit flat, with indentations where the arms and feet will be picked up, and a small intarsia rectangle of blue on the belly. If desired, you can put this same rectangle on the back.
Cast on 11 stitches, and, working flat, work 3 rows plain.
On the fourth and fifth rows, work to the end of the row, then cast on one stitch, resulting in 13 stitches at the end of the fifth row.
Work four rows plain.
Here there is a bit of belly shaping and the intarsia is starting, all at the same time. K1, m1, k2, attach the blue yarn and work 7 stitches, attach another piece of gray yarn and knit 2, m1, k1. There are 15 stitches by the end of this.
The next 7 rows are worked without shaping, working the first and last 4 stitches in gray and the remainder in blue. Don't forget to twist the yarns at the color change to After the 7 rows of intarsia, break the blue and second gray yarns, and work one plain row in gray.
k2tog, work to the last two stitches, k2tog. 13 stitches.
Work 3 rows plain. Rather than work separate front and back pieces, I worked it all in one piece, so at this point, we'll be working from the bottom up to the shoulders.
For the next 4 rows, bind off the first stitch of the row. 9 stitches remain.
Work one row plain, then cast on one stitch at the end of each row for the next 4 rows. 13 stitches.
Work 3 rows plain, then k1, m1, work across to the last stitch, m1, k1. 15 stitches.
Work 7 rows plain, then decrease by one stitch at either side in the next row. 13 stitches.
Work 4 rows plain.
Bind off 2 stitches at the beginning of the next two rows. 9 stitches remain.
Work 3 rows plain, then bind off. Leave a long tail to use for seaming the body together later.
Arm
This entire section is worked in the round. And you'll need to make two of them.
The arm consists of an "arm ball", for lack of a better term, worked in blue and picked up from the arm socket we made in the body, and gray I-cord. The hand is made by separating the I-cord into two segments and working each separately.
Fold the body piece in half, so that it looks like the robot's unstuffed middle.
(Shhh. I'm not an artist, but it should look something like that.)
The spots with the thick dark lines? This is where the arms and legs will be picked up from.
Pick up 6 stitches around one shoulder in blue with double-pointed needles, and distribute them evenly.
Round 1: Increase by 3 stitches. 9 total.
Round 2: Increase by 3 stithces. 12 total.
Round 3: Work plain.
Round 4: Decrease by 3 stitches. 9 total.
Round 5: Decrease by 3 stitches. 6 total.
Round 6: Decrease by 2 stitches. 4 total.
Switch to gray for the arms. If desired, do a purl row about once every 5 rows to make the arms look segmented.(I did this.)
Work 4-stitch I cord for 9 rows, then k2 k2tog.
Work 3-stitch I cord for 10 rows.
Now the hand shaping will begin. Increase by 1 in the next two rows, leaving 5 stitches. Knit 4 stitches and put the 5th on a stitch holder. Work 4 rows with the 4 stitches, then knit 2 together twice. Break the yarn about 2 feet from the knitting (you'll need an extra-long piece), and thread the yarn through these last two stitches.
Now, carefully weave the yarn through the hand so that it ends up where the one stitch on the stitch holder is. Use the yarn to work this one stitch as I-cord for 2 rows, then thread the yarn through the last loop and weave in the end.
Leg
The leg is worked in the round. Stitches are picked up from the lower indentation marked by a bold line in the picture above, in a similar manner to those stitches from the arm.
Pick up 6 stitches. Increase by one stitch every row until there are 24 stitches total. If the leg seems too short, work a few plain rows.
Purl one row. This provides a natural "folding point" between the leg and the bottom of the leg.
Knit one row plain, then decrease 6 stitches every row for 3 rows. 6 stitches remain.
K2tog 3 times. 3 stitches remain. Break the yarn about a foot from the knitting, and thread it through the last 3 stitches. Weave in the ends.
Repeat for the other side.
Eyes
The eyes are tricky. I found I needed to rip them out several times before I was pleased with their appearance. You may wish to skip ahead to the finishing section before doing anything with the face, as having the head in 3-D may help you find the best arrangement. They are knit in the round by picking up stitches on the head.
To choose the eye placement, I cut two circles of paper that were the right size and pinned them to the head, moving them around until the expression seemed right. You might want to find a picture for comparison.
Once you've found a good spot, pick up stitches around the paper with gray yarn before removing it. I picked up 26 stitches, but this is the number most likely to vary, so don't worry if you're a few stitches off.
Knit two rows plain, then purl one row. The purl row provides a nice edge.
Switch to the blue yarn, and knit one row plain. Decrease 6 stitches every row for 3 rows. 8 stitches (or however many stitches you ended up with-18) remain.
k2tog across the entire next row. About 4 stitches remain. Break the yarn about a foot from the knitting and thread the yarn through the last stitches. Weave in the ends.
Finishing:
Weave in all the ends and sew the seams up either side of the body, but don't attach the head yet. I used mattress stitch and found that it blended in well.
Stuff the body and head, using a pencil or the unhooked end of a crochet hook to get the stuffing into the small hole of the leg. The arms don't need stuffing, but the armballs probably do. If you haven't stuffed a stuffed animal before, here's a good rule of thumb--stuff it until it doesn't seem cuddly anymore, and it will probably be cuddly. Stuff it until it's cuddly, and it will end up limp and shapeless. You always need more stuffing than you originally think.
To attach the head to the body, first sew the first few stitches of the shoulder together, then attach one side of the neck to the shoulder (in both cases, work one row in from the cast on/bound off edge). Continue to sew the shoulders together, then weave the yarn over to sew the last piece of neck to the shoulders. Before you complete this seam, give the entire piece a last once-over--is there plenty of stuffing in every section? Is there any part that's lumpy? Are all the ends hidden, or will it be easy to just poke them through the stuffing to hide? If everything looks good, poke another small blob of stuffing into the neck and close the last seam.
The mouth can be sewn with black yarn or embroidery thread. The larger piece seen above used yarn, the smaller one needed something thinner. The tongue was made by picking up two stitches under the mouth and, working in garter stitch, increasing one or two stitches every other row.
Enjoy!
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A quick note on copyright:
As the designer of this pattern, I would love to hear your comments on it. If it inspires you to try your hand at designing, so much the better—I’m an engineer, not an artist, so if I can do it, anyone can.
I would also prefer that you contact me and request permission before distributing this pattern to a large group or selling items made with this pattern. Doesn’t mean I’ll say no, but I’d like to keep track of these things.
