This is Ernie modeling Yoshi’s sweater in the pics. Thanks Ernie! Great Job!
I am modifying this pattern to make an xxl size. Yoshi has a 13 1/2” neck, a 15” back, 5” between his front legs, a 7 3/4” belly, and is 19 1/2” around his ribcage. I am adding the number of stitches that is the difference between the lg and xl sizes to each piece. So, I cast on 54 sts and increased to 76 on the body in the first 40 rows.
I started this pattern on needles, but decided I didn’t have the right ones, so I am trying to knit it on my bond machine using keyplate 1. I think it would have gone much faster and been easier if I had worked it from the front to the back instead of the back to the front (as the pattern is written for hand knitting) because it is so much easier to decrease on the machine than increase. Maybe next time I will try it the other way. I am on row 64 right now, so far so good.
UPDATE: I finished the body and neck and then had to set it aside for a while. Now I am trying to resume the project and I am wondering if I got the math wrong where I said I increased to 76 stitches (it should have been 74), or did I actually increase to 76?
Anyway, when I figure it out, I will start knitting the hood using size 6 needles.
Finished knitting the body and hood. Steam blocked it, and it looks much, much better!
I sewed the front pieces together instead of adding a buttonhole to one side and a button to the other. I have added a decorative button there, front and center, that matches the one on the belly strap.
I am using the super bulky yarn separated in half (down to 2 plys?) for the popcorn. So far, so good. I did a test piece with several popcorn which I steam blocked and they seem to hold their shape pretty well.
Update 7/29/2014: I finished it last night! yay!
I made five popcorn on each side and 3 down the back.
It has a small pompom on the tip of the hood made from the same yarn as the popcorn. I used a tiny backer-button when I added the pompom so the thread wouldn’t cut the knitting.
The buttons are from dill-buttons #826, size 1 1/8” (28 mm).
I didn’t button the belly strap so that it would show up in the pics and so we wouldn’t stretch it out.