My entry to the knitting competition

 And here it is, my entry to the knitting competition that I blogged about earlier this year! It's not completely my brainchild (ha, see what I did there) but I got inspiration from this ravelry project and I think it turned out quite nicely. The colour of the  avocado-dyed yarn works really well and I even had some left after I finished the stuffing. I hope they won't be too harsh on me concerning the anatomical correctness of my model but I truly did my best.

If you want to know more about the technique that I used to make the "i-cord" folds of the brain please see below, otherwise enjoy the pictures:

While I was happily blogging away about dye-related experiments and various FOs I almost forgot that I still have to prepare my entry for the knitting competition! For some reason I had it in my head that the deadline was at the end of April but yesterday I got an e-mail reminding me that it has to be finished in 10 days. Panic! 

Of course I already had an idea in mind at it involved the avocado-dyed yarn that I prepared a few weeks ago. But again I made the mistake of wanting to be innovative by using a knitting mill. For those who don't know what this is: basically an advanced version of the good old "Strickliesel" that most of us made acquaintance with ca. anno 1991 in Mrs Sander's textile creation class in primary school. This contraption is supposed to be a time saving and easy solution to produce large amounts of knitted cords that can be used for all kinds of stuff. It is supposed to be.

In a rush (because no time) I borrowed the knitting mill from a lady in my Stitch'n'Bitch group who was kind enough to give it to me and I started filing the thread. The instructions were simple enough and if I understood the principle as a six-year-old surely it can't be that complicated, can it? YES IT CAN! While almost driving me crazy with constantly piling up the thread at the top and blocking the tube it I almost got into a fight with the boyfriend when he tried to get involved with his "engineering skills" (a.k.a. a genuine but not very highly appreciated attempt to help me de-clutter the yarn mess). 

After several attempts, some torn thread, a lot of swearing and  only minimal results I was close to giving up for my own peace of mind. But because I didn't really have any other alternatives I managed to get at least some of the cord done (with a lot of prodding and with the help of a crochet hook), hoping it would be enough.  It was not fun! I didn't even remember to take pictures because I was just happy that I finished the stupid cord. My verdict: the knitting mill is a product designed in hell and it hasn't helped me an itsy tiny bit, it only cost me nerves.

Despite all the technical problems I finished the project in time and sent off the application. Now I can just sit and wait and keep my fingers crossed in the meantime. Wish me luck!

Pattern: "Dream Factory" by Alicia Williams

Yarn: Coccinelle natural yarn; dyed by myself