Introducing Henry...
I have to admit I had a lot of fun with this guy.
The door you see here blocks a storage space under some stairs. We refer to it as the 'cave' as it was door-less for many a year. There happens to be a decent gap between the end of the carpet, beginning of the concrete (no carpet in the cave), and the bottom of the door. Due to this, and the fact that the cave is on an exterior wall, there is a decent tundra-like draft coming out from under this door in the winter. This all led to my Handsome Hubby sweetly asking if we could put something in front of it. His original remedy was a rolled up towel, which did serve the immediate purpose. But I knew the towel would never last there. Plus it happens to be the exact towel I use to block knitting projects. Then an idea sparked in my head.
Why not knit a cylinder shaped something with some wool I'm not using? I could stuff it with rice or beans or something when I was done. I went stash diving and found this yarn. A friend bought it for me at a church rummage sale years ago. It wasn't even in my stash on Ravelry! I saw the green and yellow and knew it would be fun striping the two. Once I had sat down and began knitting I had an epiphany. The green would make an awesome snake skin color. And I had some blue I could use instead to stripe with the yellow! And he was born...
Henry the snake, wearing a sweater (complete with ribbed collar and hem). I think he looks collegiate.
I knit the sweater flat, picked up stitches at the base of the ribbing, and knit a head in the round. Then did the same at the other end for the tail. I just winged it and didn't take notes as I have no intention to publish anything. There are several stuffed animals on Ravelry that look similar enough should anyone be interested. After the head and tail were done I sewed up a cylinder with fabric and filled it with bean bag stuffing. I had read it worked well for blocking drafts and a friend just happened to have a couple bags full she had no use for. After inserting the fabric tube I mattress stitched the 'sweater' shut. That was tedious since I was stretching it around something solid, but so worth it. T finish him up I stitched on some eyes and an i-cord tongue.
And there he sits against the door doing his duty so wonderfully. (Photographed on a window ledge just to show off detail in the light.)
The whole idea of making a snake was because I expected EM to not be able to leave the draft-blocker alone. Why not make it fun? Ironically he has 'patted' him a few times but otherwise left him alone. Who'd have thought?
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