Pokemon Fever

Pokemon Black & White was recently released (March 6th 2011) and I admit, I let myself get swept up in the new gamer craze. After almost three weeks of having my brother and all his friends constantly having their faces pressed against their DS(i) consoles, I found myself longing to play, too. I was pleasantly surprised to receive a new DSi and Pokemon Black this past weekend for my birthday. My brother's friend Mark was over today, and after spending some time playing together, he asked me if I could knit him a cozy for his DS. After an exhaustive search for a suitable (and creative) pattern, we decided that I would just make a plain case, and knit a pokeball charm to attach to the zipper.

Unfortunately, there was no knit pokeball pattern to be found. It was up to me to design one. I found this simple ball pattern, and took an extra step and created my own color chart to create a ball in the likeness of a pokeball. I've decided to be nice and post the color chart I've created so other crafty pokelovers can enjoy it!

Follow color chart row for row with the pattern. Don’t worry, the hardest part of the chart is worked over rows 11-18, so you won’t have to worry about increasing or decreasing while changing yarn colors

Pokeball Color Chart

I will be casting on the cozy this weekend and I PROMISE to post the finish product as soon as it's done!

**updated 4/14/11**
Knitting in this in the round with dpn's makes it come out MUCH nicer! Just join in the round replace rows with rounds and P with K, and boom! Instead of binding off purlwise, draw your yarn through the remaining stitches, pull closed, and weave in your end!  It's done faster since there is no need to sew it up after! Just don't forget to stuff it!

Roadblock

I have an ever growing stash of leftover yarn. After each project I complete, I have quite a bit of left over yarn. I hate to admit it, but I think my mom passed some of her hoarding habit down to me. Even if it is just a small bit of yarn, I can't bring myself to dispose of it.

I recently vowed to not purchase any new yarn until my stash runs dry, but its proving to be more difficult than I thought it would be. I tried knitting amigurumi (I made the hubby the cutest little turtle), but they don't take  much yarn, so I'd have to knit a whole army of those guys before I ran out. So I set out for bigger projects.

I picked up an elephant pattern for my mom. Yes, my fifty something mom, requested I knit her an elephant. If you knew her, you'd understand. I thought that I had just enough left over yarn to complete it, but, as luck would have it, I ran out of yarn just before I started the ears. So I have an ear-less elephant. I decided to put that down until I come across some yarn that would make acceptable ears.

For my next project, I chose a scarf. Simple, and a quick knit because I would be using chunky yarn. Chunky yarn knits up easy, and fast. Halfway through my scarf, I ran out of yarn. A little frustrated, I ripped the whole thing and scoured Ravelry for a pattern that would accommodate the type of yarn I wanted to use and its yardage. I found a cool hat and cast on. Just as I was finishing up the very top of it, I ran out of yarn. By this point I wanted to throw down my yarn and scream, "Come on!" I ripped the hat.

 So here I am, with a box full of yarn, taunting me. Maybe I'll just start making washcloths and potholders. Anyone need a potholder? I'll personalize it with your initials.