Extermiknit!

*cue scary music*

Exterminate!

Oh, no. Daleks in London! (Wait...didn't a spaceship already take out Big Ben?)

Daleks in Paris!

Okay, so I ran out of iconic landmark knick-knacks. :) I had way too much fun taking these pictures, even though they turned out badly because of the time of day I took them (near the window).

I knitted this Dalek with a free pattern on Ravelry called Extermiknit!. Just in case you're not hooked on Doctor Who (yet), Daleks are an alien mutant race that know no emotion except hate. Their main goals is to exterminate! anyone and everyone in the universe who is not a Dalek, and of course, they are sworn enemies of the Doctor.

The pattern came together pretty easily, though there were some challenges for me. This is the first plushie type thing I've knitted (as in a 3D object). All of those bobbles were a pain, though this wasn't my first time making bobbles...I did quite a few of them on this hat. It was my first experience with colorwork and my first time knitting an I-cord (which was much easier than I expected).

{By the way, stuffing a knit plushie is way different than stuffing a doll you've sewn. You can't stuff it too much because the knitting will stretch out after time.}

I also tried to do a jogless join so that all of my colorwork and stripes would turn out neatly, but that didn't go so well. I really didn't want to show a picture of the sloppy back of my Dalek, but for the sake of honesty, here it is.

The long arm has wire (technically an unbent paperclip :) inside to make it stiff. Obviously, you wouldn't do that if you were making it for a kid, but this one isn't a toy. The pattern suggested it, but I was going to leave it out until I realized that the arm would probably get very droopy after a while.

The eye stalk also has a paper clip inside. I did leave the two bobbles off the side of the Dalek's head. On the show, the two little circles are very subtle, but on the pattern, all I could see was two big eyeballs and I think it's distracting. So I left them off.

I knitted this in some really cheap acrylic yarn...some leftovers from a big Red Heart (?) skein of black, and the silver/grey is Vanna's Choice, or something like that? Something with the Wheel of Fortune lady's picture on front. :)

This was an easier knitting project than I expected it to be, though knitting the base was a bit of a pain. You've got an upside down, mostly stuffed Dalek in your lap and the wire in the eye stalk keeps shifting around and poking out (finally I just took it out until I was finished with everything else), and it makes for some very awkward knitting.

But I'm so pleased with how it turned out. It's such a fun, nerdy finished item. :) This is one of those projects where I'm like, "I can't believe I actually made that!" I'm not bragging, but you crafty people know what I mean, right? I feel like that about my Penelope scarf and my purple coat and the first pair of socks I knitted. And the Dalek turned out so much bigger than I expected (it's probably 13 or 14 inches tall). It looks so cool and imposing sitting on my desk. :)

P.S. Remember how I mentioned that one of my cats hated Olivia? Well, I showed him the Dalek and he sniffed it, and that's it. A cat doll with a polka dot dress and he runs from it, but an evil robot alien thing? No big deal.

Until next time,