Major Knitting of Major Clanger

I feel that it's pretty apt that I managed to finish this project alongside the announcement of a new series of The Clangers (although they will be replacing the original knitted TV stars with more modern, CGI counterparts). If you remember, I first posted about this project way back in January and, to be fair, the knitting itself didn't take that long. I just took a hiatus on this project between completion of knitting and final assembly (that was several months; I probably finished the knitting part around Easter time and since have been working of my Lincoln Imp and a set of toy mice for a friend). I'll confess, I didn't really appreciate how much there was in the 'assembly' part and, as such, I'm not sure if this qualifies as a knitting project, a sewing project or something that combines both as well as painting, wire work and toy making.

Maybe it should just be tagged as 'toy making project', or just 'The Major Clanger Project', which sounds a little bit like some dark, government secret you'd find in a gritty, dystopian thriller.

Humble beginnings; or 'shaping'.

Clanger skin!

Anywho. The knitting part of this project is actually fairly complex. I mean, I wouldn't say it was difficult, but it certainly isn't a beginner's piece. For the most part, it is work in one long piece, which means there's lots of increases, decreases, turn (that's changing the direction of the knitting half way through a row so you end up with more rows in half of the project than the other) and all sorts of shaping. Only the arms and ears are knitted separately and they take no time at all, but the main body is time consuming. I also found the weight of yarn to needle ratio problematic; as it's a toy, the knitted fabric needs to be quite firm, so needles that are actually a size or two smaller than what would normally be required are used. This makes the stitches smaller and, as the yarn is still bulky, tighter, to create a nice, sturdy fabric that won't show or be misshapen by stuffing. Unfortunately, I'm already a tight knitter, which meant that my stitches were insanely difficult to knit. Honestly, my knitting was so tight I was having to peel the paint off of my needles to give just an extra few nanometres of space to move the stitches around on. I, uh, also bent one of my needles into an 'L' shape by fighting those stitches. Twice. That's a lot of force put into simply knitting a damned stitch. Fortunately I have a nice dad (and boyfriend) who had the tools required to straighten out my needle, although it does have a little kink in it where the bend occurred.

Ready for sewing.

I did learn how to do the 'm1' or 'make one' stitch in this pattern. It's a near invisible increase and not that difficult to do. Guess what? I hate it. Even thought it really isn't all that hard to do, I always forget how to do it and, if knitted wrong, instead of leaving an inconspicuous increase it leaves a giant, gaping hole in the fabric. So several undoing of rows, or pulling down of the entire project are needed every time I encounter an 'm1'. I wouldn't even mind so much, but every project that I have done since this (which, as I said early, is only two, or five depending on how you look at it) uses the 'm1' stitch. And if I haven't done said stitch in about three days I forget how to do it and have to look it up. It's infuriating. I don't know why I struggle so much with this stitch, but I just do. That and, particularly on this project, picking up the bar? Well, you know I mentioned that the knitting was impossibly tight? Yeah. That made knitting the 'm1' require a small act of God at times.

Bah. I hate m1. And it's stalking me where ever I go, mocking me and my inability to do it correctly. That's alright, only another four Clangers to go. And probably every knitting pattern I pick up from here on in!

First assembly.

Still, as horrible as it was to knit at times I actually, for the most part, enjoyed the project. Or maybe that's retrospect talking, as I just adore the finished product. Quite easily my favourite and, in my opinion, best of my knitting projects. In fact, at this date, it's the only one of my projects on Ravelry that I've awarded the highest happiness rating to (when you finish a project it allows you to rate how happy you are with the finish object; there's five little smiley face, with the first being really upset, the second being a bit miffed, third being kind of 'meh'/neutral, then a small smile then a giant smile. most projects get the small smile, this go the big smile).

Anyway, as I said, this project ultimately entailed a lot more than just knitting. I had intended to finish/assemble Major over summer when mum (read; the toy making expert in our family) was about to help me out. Because although I will jump wildly in to any knitting pattern, regardless of ability required, give me a needle and thread and I quake with fear. However, due to one thing then another it just didn't get done. My dad said it was fine, finish it and give it as a Christmas present, which he said was apt as it had been given as a Christmas present. But I didn't want to give it at Christmas; it was always meant to be a 'just because' (or maybe a 'thank you for buying me knitting stuff') present and it felt like I was cheating to save it for December. I knew my dad (along with the rest of my family) was coming up for my graduation ceremony so I figured I would make and finish it to present then.

Queue the song No Fear, as this became a completely solo project.

Never has a Clanger looked so evil...

Clangers drink tea, as well as soup!

The assembly wasn't overly difficult, to be honest, just time consuming. First I sewed the body piece together and then stuffed him. That was more difficult that I first envisaged as I foolishly didn't leave a very big hole at the bottom to stuff him. As such, his nose isn't very firmly stuffed (which means it's somewhat poseable, so that's a bonus?) but the rest of the body is. Once the body was stuffed, the hole was sewed up, then arms were sewn together, stuffed, and sewn to the body. After this came the 'cutting stuff out of felt' bit. Fortunately, my parents had provided me with al(most all) the felt I needed and had already scanned and blown up (boom) the patterns to the correct size. So I had to cut out two tiny, pink hands, two black eyes, two bits of pink felt for the ears, a tiny oval of pink for the nose, four feet (they sandwiched a piece of card, so each foot was made of two pieces of felt) and all the necessary components for Major's armour. I also had to cut out hair from brown felt, which was the only colour I hadn't been supplied with. Although the pattern says to make his armour from felt, in the show it's actually metal, so they did suggest painting it gold. I did this, but didn't realise they would need over night to dry. Oh well, no big issue... Right? I spent Monday day and evening sewing Major and assembling all his body bits, so by the time I went to bed I had a finished, but naked, Clanger. That meant I only had to put his armour together the next day. Only, the next morning, as I got out my jewellery wire (I make wire rings/jewellery on occasion, so have reels of gold coloured wire, which was just perfect for the finishing touches to the armour), and started adding the holes and wiring everything together I suddenly realised... The armour didn't fit. Even though it was the right size, there was just no way I was going to get it to all connect seamlessly. So I had two options; fix the front and back panels and have gaps at the side or try and make some panels to fit the gaps. Which meant more painting, even though my parents were coming that evening.

Back and front panels of armour.

So paint away I did. The panels are a little large, but I don't think that matters too much. After fixing the rest of the armour together and creating the harness that it all hangs off of (and then having to rush around tidying the house) I eventually got the hair dryer out to quick dry the paint. It was still a little wet by the time I decided to fix it into the rest of the armour, but not so wet it was going to come off on anything. Then I glued the 'C's on the front and back with PVA and, again, used the hairdryer. Then all that was left was to dress Major.

Adding holes for wiring.

And didn't he look fantastic. I had been pretty pleased when I'd just finished him, but the addition of the armour really made it perfect. As I've said before, I really am pleased with the project. The only thing I think is perhaps a bit iffy is his feet (I'm not a fantastic sewer and they were really difficult to sew on); they may need sorting out some time, but now he's in the hands of my dad (which means mum is nearby to sort out my sewing mishaps). They're just not as secure as I would have liked, but, hey, learning curves. Overall, I still think he's brilliant.

Extra panels being added.

So after he was made, all that was left was to leave him on dad's pillow to find later on that evening. I think dad was just as happy (if not more so) than I was; it's always a great feeling when your hand made gifts are genuinely appreciated. Everyone was pretty impressed with him, which is always a confidence boost. My boyfriend even tried to convince me to keep him as, he said, it 'was a shame to give away something that so much effort had been put in to'. But no. As much as I love Major Clanger, he was never meant to be anything more than my creation. And I'm glad that my dad likes him so much.

'C' for 'Clanger'.

As always, the base facts. Used a pink DK wool (no known brand, acrylic) with 2.75mm (UK 12) needles. About 50g of yarn was required. Needed gold, brown, black and pink felt, plus gold wire and thin card, to finish the project in total. The body, arms and ears were sewn with a tapestry needle and yarn; the felt (feet, inner ear, hands, nose, eyes and hair) were sewn with matching thread and fine needles. No sewnign was required for the tunic, although wire tools were needed to secure the wire 'staples'. Assembly too two days, knitting took a couple of months. Pattern was from The Clangers, by creator Peter Firmin, Carol Meldrum and Ruth Herbert.

Major Clanger!

 

The happiest Clanger.