CKM (22 pin) Axolotl Scarf

 

Oh, happy days! I got a Sentro Express circular knitting machine for Christmas! My first project was a wool dryer ball... but once I got the hang of things, I went big and made this axolotl scarf. It took a 3.5 oz skein of Vanna's Choice Dusty Rose, and a little bit of black for the embroidered face, and less than an ounce for the gills and tail fins. 

First, I'd suggest you make the legs first. Then you can use the rest of the yarn for the scarf. I made the scarf first, guessing how much I'd need for the legs, and I cut it very close! 

I used an F hook for the legs. 

Legs: make 8

Chain 10. Slip stitch in the 2nd chain from the hook and the next two chains. *Chain 4. Sl st in the 2nd chain from the hook and the next two chains.* Repeat from * to *. You've just made three toes. Slip stitch in the chain at the bottom of the first toe, then sc in the rest of your original chain. Finish off, leaving a tail to sew to the scarf. 

Now you can use the rest of your yarn to make the scarf.  I started and ended with about 5 rows of waste yarn because that's what the YouTube videos said to do. 😄 I did about 240 rows, and my scarf is abour 48" long. 

Finishing: 

With black yarn, embroider eyes about 6" from the edge. Embroider a mouth centered between the eyes, about 3 rows below the eyes. 

Gills: Make 4 with a contrasting color. 

Chain 9. Slip stitch in the 2nd chain from the hook and the next 7 chains.

*Chain 10. Slip stitch in the 2nd chain from the hook and the next 7 chains* (one chain will remain unworked). 

Repeat from * to * . Finish off, leaving a tail to sew to side of scarf. Sew one to each side of the scarf with the center gill even with the eyes. 

Bottom fins.

Gather the bottom of your scarf and secure. Join your contasting yarn to one side about 3 rows up from where the sides straighten out. *Make 3 dc in one stitch. Skip two stitches and slip stitch. * Repeat from * to * three times. 

Sew legs to sides of scarf with top legs 2-3 rows below the gills and the bottom legs 2-3 rows above the bottom fins. 

Repeat the steps for the other end of the scarf, 

Making a project list...

 Right now, I have four WIPs (works in progress). Well, six if you count the two afghans that are buried somewhere in the spare room closet... 

The five that are out by my chair: 

1) Octopus Hat - I started it in the spring when things were slow, figuring I would have it finished once the weather started to cool. I don't think I've worked on it in months. The weather is cooling... I should get back to it! 

2) Moana the Ghost - this is a project for the Halloween Crochet-Along at Crochet-Along Adventures. It's using up a lot of the white yarn I'm trying to finish up for my "Blair Farm Stitch Project!" Here's what it looked like at the end of part one: 

3) Pink Ankylosaur. Since I discovered the pattern for Tom Ank the Ankylosaur, I think I've made five of them. I just sold one at my last craft show, so I wanted to restock. I've always been thinking of going outside the box, and using non-traditional colors. So, Pinkie the Ankylosaur will have a pink head and body, and a beige shield with pastel bumps. I can't wait to get back to working on her! 

4) Custom order beagle - I've been corresponding with a customer for over a month now regarding making a beagle to look like her dog. The order came through this morning, so that bumps the other projects, so I can get her order in the mail by my shipping deadline of Tuesday. 

So, once the custom order is done, and I catch up with a few of the other WIPs, what should I work on next? Believe me, there's no shortage of ideas! 

The above-mentioned crochet-along just released the next project... a wizard bear. Oh, so cute... I have to make that! Oh, but I wanted to finish off my Blair Farm Stitch Project in October, I should use up that yarn! I want to make a small Patches the Bear with the brown, and a baby dragon with the yellow, and I have that idea for a butter lamb Christmas ornament, and a yellow gecko.

Oh, and since yellow is a gender-neutral color, I should make up a giraffe in yellow, green and white stripes, since someone asked for one at my last craft show. 

Oh, yeah, that show... I sold one of my Highland cows. I'm down to two in inventory: Fergus the Great and Grayson. 

I like to have a good selection of colors on that listing, since they sell so quickly. I could make one in pink, light brown, pastels, black, dark brown... 

Hmm... speaking of that show, which other items sold out that I need to remake? I took a video of my booth to post on Instagram, so I can take a quick scan of my table to refresh my memory. Oh, yeah. Thumbelina... that was a fun project and she sold quickly. I sold two monkeys. I want to remake Baby Louie in pastels again, but thought I might want to make him in Autumn colors too. I sold a couple of sea turtles. Oh, maybe a sea turtle in fall colors! Oh, and I sold one of my flip octopus toys... the happy yellow one with blue/purple angry side. I should get that remade... I think I've sold one at every craft show I've had this year! (well, that's only four shows, but they have been consistent sellers!) Oh, that long neck dinosaur sold... and he got a lot of attention at the show before he sold! 

My scrap yarn bin is starting to pile up again... so I want to make a scrappy snake. And I have a couple of design ideas I need to work on... 

And, oh, the new patterns I've been finding! A mermaid/merman pattern, with a cute little sea wave bag to carry them in. A dragon with a little egg that he fits into. A cockatiel. A Betta fish. 

So many project ideas... Part of me is hoping that I get the time to finish them all... another part of me hopes that the custom orders keep rolling in, and I'm too busy with orders to start new stuff! 

The Blair Farm Stitch Project

 It was a bright and sunny day....

I got a FB message telling me there was a garage sale at the Blair Farm, a small family farm about three miles from my house. I would pass right by it driving from work to my daughter's house. The message said "there's lots of yarn." 

Oh, but I'm trying to stick to a yarn diet... and my Etsy shop has been dead lately... I'm currently on day 14 of a sales drought... a new record for 2021.  Lowest Etsy sales since November 2019. I really don't need any yarn right now. After paying 2020 sales tax and a renewal for my Office software, my net profit is the lowest it has been in a long time. You know, I could rattle off plenty of reasons why I should just keep on driving and pass up the garage sale completely.

So, did I stop there after work? Of course! Did I buy yarn? Sheepishly shrugging shoulders... yes ma'am, yes ma'am, two bags full. 

Well, there was a sign saying "Fill a bag and make an offer!" 

So I filled two bags and offered $30. They accepted. 

Quick pic of the yarn

Once I got the yarn home and emptied out the bags, I thought I probably could have offered less. They had $1 per skein posted, and I was trying to keep track of skeins as I put them into the bags. I figured a 25% bulk discount would be a good figure, so I was shooting for about 40 skeins. I don't know if I hit that. Some were partial skeins, and I picked up a few bags of scrap balls. I will have a more complete figure once I get the yarn inventoried. (Total yarn weight = 140.9 ounces. If calculated at 4 oz = 1 skein, it's 35 skeins. If calculated at 5 oz per skein, it's 28. So I was pretty close to $1 per skein.) **June 12 correction... I missed a 4-oz skein in my inventory, so it was 145 ounces. 

A little more organized

My shopping wasn't all that organized... I grabbed yellow for butter lambs, green for geckos, baby yarn because I like to combine colors with multiple strands of yarn, purple because I like purple, pink because I knew I was running low, browns because I've been making a lot of dogs lately. Scrap yarn because I knew I would use it. 

I went out to the porch to do burn tests. All the yarn in the plastic bag is wool. 

I guess I'll be making some wool dryer balls! 

As I was contemplating my purchase, I thought it would be fun to track the items I make from this yarn, to see how much of a return I get from my expenditure. If all goes as planned, I will be a vendor at the East Aurora Street Fest on July 24th (9 weeks away). I'm trying to focus on having an inventory of my best-sellers for my table. 

Sea Turtles

Beagles

Dachshunds 

Geckos

Turtles

Scrappy Snakes

Baby Dragons

Chameleons

Baby Owls

So, for the next 9 weeks, I will be focusing on using up this yarn to make items for my shop and eventually Street Fest. I'm calling it The Blair Stitch Project because I bought the yarn at the Blair Farm. I will be updating on a regular basis as I finish projects... it will be interesting to see how much return I can get from a $30 garage sale haul. (Oops, Blair Stitch Project is a shop in the UK. I will hashtag my finished items on Instagram with #blairfarmstitchproject ) 

There was a pair of thumbless infant mittens in one yarn bag... so I will add them to my mitten listing... so there's already one project added to the list. 

I have two projects started that I want to finish up before really diving into The Blair Stitch Project (DONE), but I'm thinking a little turtle or a gecko might pop off the hook as a break from the bigger projects! But first, I need to inventory it! (DONE)

Finished Projects

1. Green infant mittens 

2, 3, 4 - Baby Owls & Nest

5 - Little Turtle

6 - Baby Dragon

7, 8 - Baby owl in nest

9 - Another baby dragon.
(I went to get finished dragons to get a group shot for Etsy, and couldn't find the red dragon that my Etsy listing said I had, so I pulled red yarn from the bin and made another!) 

10 - had fun with a striped monster! 

11 - Tan gecko with pink stripes. 


I only have a few ounces left from the 7 oz bag of scrap yarn! 
I focused on using up that yarn on Wednesday night... and finished it off with #12 - scrappy snake, and #13-14 tacos. 

My sales drought was finally broken this morning (5/27)! Yeah! I sold the ankylosaur that I finished about two weeks ago... so I pulled yarn to start a new one! 

#15 was the new Ankylosaur - in baby green with a tan shield. 

#16 was a gecko, also in baby green

#17 was a Mermaid cat with an ombre tail

#18 - Mermaid tail with Retro Stripe yarn and pink body/head

 

All three of these projects were completed during a Memorial Day road trip with family. 

#19 - Mood Octopus in baby green and pink

#20 was a new design I'm working on... beach bunny

Just the shirt is from the garage sale yarn, but he counts toward the total! 

#21 - Bud the Dragon

He was totally made from garage sale yarn, and used up a lot of little balls of white yarn! 

#22 - Poppy the Purple Panda

The white and purple are garage sale yarn.... I pulled the gold and lavender from my scrap box for her flowers. 

Since I had the white and the purple out, I made a Ballerina Kitten (#23) . 

Kept the purple theme going with #24, a purple gecko. 

The purple trend continues with # 25, Dexter

He's 12" tall and took a long time to finish... but I feel accomplished to have completed him! 

Oops, somewhere in there I made a half-pint penguin with the purple... so he'll be #26. He's bottom left in this purple collection pic. 

Back to highland cows for a bit... #27 is Cam. One skein of yarn was in the colorway "Camel", so he gets his name from that. 

#28 is Pinkie the Axolotl

I'm not even sure what an axolotl is, but I heard they are trending due to 

Minecraft... which I've never played. 

#29 is another highland cow... Meet Pinkie! 

#30 was a quick little project to be added to an order as a "travel snack" for a gecko... a mini donut! 

31 - "one good axolotl deserves another" 

32, 33, 34 - Sea Turtles

Now I am done with the green, camel and pink yarn...

 Just started a bigger project with the purple and ombre. 

35 - FunnyBee Blue

I got bored with a couple of big projects and needed to whip up something fast, just to feel like I've made some progress... so I made a bee! 

#36 - still working on that blue yarn, with a blue sea turtle

#37 was a custom order... but I used yarn from the garage sale to complete it... A dachshund! 

38 - a blue axolotl

39 - ankylosaurus

 

#40 - Purple Dragon

#41 - Jazz the Sea Turtle

(Still using up that purple and variegated)

#42 - Jazz Jr

Purple and multi-color yarn are all gone now! So, I pulled out a few new colors to work with... 

#43 - Emerald Green Gecko

Life got busy with a new design, extra projects at work, and getting ready for a big craft show... but I finally got around to #44. 

Elbie the Baby Dragon uses two strands of pastel ombre baby yarn held together. He's such a cutie. 

#45 was a quick project to send along as a surprise gift with an order... 

46 - Another Ankylosaurus

47 is a dragon named Eustace.

48, 49, & 50 were travel snacks to go along with Etsy orders. The geckos got donuts... Fergus got a bale of hay! 

#51 is a catnip mouse made with some wool yarn that I picked up at the garage sale. I have a quart bag full of wool... more mice coming! 

52, 53, 54... more catnip mice

#55 was fun... a little chicken! 

56-60 were more catnip mice, made at Street Fest. 

61 was an axolotl using the pastel variegated yarn (there was a lot of that!)

#62 was Dixie the Dolphin, which used the variegated pastel yarn mixed with sold color stripes.

#63 - Taffy the Beluga Whale, using the pastel variegated yarn with white yarn.

#64 was a flip octopus... happy on one side (with the variegated pastel... still chipping away at that), angry with the peach side

#65 was another use of the variegated yarn: a Hug Monster! 

Orders, restocking, pattern tests and contest entries have kept me busy, so I haven't done much with the garage sale yarn lately... but I got back to it this week: 

#66 - a pink dragon

#67 - I used some of the pink yarn to finish up Bubbles the Monkey. 

Oops, I did it again... 

Another garage sale purchase... only $22 this time, though! 

#67 - I had some camo yarn to use up, so I paired it with the brown from the garage sale, and made this dragon!

#68 - Neo the Giraffe used up a lot of pinks, browns and white yarn! 

I would like to finish off the yarn by the end of October... 

This one used up a little of the white yarn... #69

Then I made up a little bone to ship with a dachshund order. 

#70

#71 - This one really thinned out the white yarn! 

#72 This one used up a lot of white yarn, too! The pink sections (head, legs, body) used one strand of pink held together with a strand of white. 

#73 is the Wizard Bear, part of a Halloween Crochet-along I'm doing. He used up a bunch of brown! 

#74 is a Butter Lamb Christmas ornament.... using yellow from the garage sale bin! 

#75 was the wizrd bear... he used up about half the skein of "oatmeal" brown yarn

#76 used up some more of it... with Breccan the Cow 

#78 used up a little more with a mini pup

#79 was a yellow baby axolotl

#80 was a green scrappy snake 

#81 was a Highland cow

It's down to one gallon-size bag! 

Some of the scraps went into "Happy Pills" (82 & 83)

I combined some of the thin white yarn with some light brown to make this cow #84

1/6/22 - Only a little yellow and brown left in the bag...

Project #85 was a Butter Lamb

Project #86 was another butter lamb... since I only have yellow and brown left, there's not much I can make! 

February 13 final update! 

Yesterday I finished off two projects, finishing up all the yarn from this purchase. 

#87 was a cute little bear with a patch: 

And #88 was a little yellow chick, restocking one that sold a few weeks ago. 

Of the 88 items I made, over 40 have sold, and I have recouped my $30 several times over. Now I need to work on another "use it up challenge!"