Poncho for Chewie

Recipient: The Chewie Award
Designer: Moi
Pattern: As yet unnamed
Completed: September 30, 2005
Colours: "Jazz Hot"
Yarn: Bernat Sox, 60% acrylic, 40% nylon, sock weight
Completed status: I can now safely hand Chewie onto the next deserving recipient
Notes: Possibly the dumbest project I've taken on yet
Pictures: None - but stay tuned

2005-Oct-5

Hooray, Chewie is returned! (Although missing the hat - and I can't find the green pump that was left behind, either.) He was on my desk this morning, lying atop a printed note in Ransom font:

Next time Chewie may not be so lucky

Better keep an eye on him

(Cue ominous music)

2005-Oct-4

Still no photo. Alas, there now may never be a photo. I came into work yesterday morning (what was it with yesterday morning?) to discover Chewie gone from his place on top of my filing cabinet. I checked around the sides of the cabinet in case he had merely fallen down - no dice. I checked my desk - nope. I checked with my co-workers - they were as clueless as I. Unless one of my colleagues is lying, Chewie has simply vanished, the place where he was marked only by a solitary, lonely green pump. (How very Cinderella.) My co-workers suspect kidnapping and think it would be neat to post 'Have you seen this Wookie?' signs around the office. I am more suspicious - I suspect outright theft. Sadly, there is no way we could report this to Security and be taken seriously. "Well, it was a 5" tall Chewbacca action figurine, dressed in a kicky poncho, feather hat, lurid striped tie, green handbag, and one green shoe." Yeah, that'll get a manhunt started.

2005-Oct-2

I finished the fringe at lunch on Friday, and tadah! Chewie is now beautifully accessorized for the colder fall weather. My colleagues thought it was a hoot. And there's another piece of good news - I came in on Friday morning to discover Chewie's lost pumps on my keyboard. My co-worker had found them, so Chewie's ensemble is now complete! There is, sadly, no photo, as I am reluctant to bring my camcorder all the way to work for one silly shot, but I'm going to ask one of my coworkers with a Treo (with a camera in it) if he minds humouring me.

2005-Sep-26

Friday at lunch I knit the body of the poncho. This took longer than I wanted. I started out with a fancy-schmancy cabled design with some moss stitch edging. Halfway into it I held it up to admire my handiwork and discovered that the variegation of the yarn (and the brightness of the colours) completely obliterated the cable.

Riiiip.

So instead I just went for a plain stocking stitch dealio with YO increases. Unsurprisingly, it knit up super-fast. It fits Chewie very well - he tried it on. Now I'm working on the fringe.

2005-Sep-22

I am starting to refer to this as 'the PonChew'. :)

(Sorry.)

I think I've decided to make this out of the same variegated yarn which I'm using for my (so-called) striped socks. For one thing, the colours in the yarn are vibrant, so that will give the piece some bling. Also, one of the colours in the yarn is a green which will coordinate beautifully with Chewie's handbag.

(Yes, he has a handbag. What of it? He also used to have matching pumps until my co-worker William lost them. Chewie is very stylin'.)

I will definitely have yarn left over from my socks, but not enough to make anything significant, so knitting tiny crap like a poncho for an action figurine is a great way to get rid of the leftovers. And finally, I am almost finished the first sock. When I'm done, that will be the perfect opportunity to start on the PonChew.

And hey, if you thought socks were portable, I'm sure that will be nothing compared to this. It's basically going to be nothing more than a swatch with a hole in the middle. I'm almost embarrassed to call it a whole project by itself, actually. Perhaps I shall give it an air of legitimacy by adding fringe.

2005-Sep-20

This is going to sound weird. Bear with me.

My department at work is a really, really cool group. We're about 35 people, we do stellar work, and we all get along really well. We do a healthy amount of fun and silly stuff - like monthly 'Focaccia Friday' lunches out at St. Lawrence Market, or inter-cubicle wars with Nerf-esque missiles. :) Another thing that got started - I'm not sure how - is the passing of the 'Chewie Award'. This is a trophy which gets passed along whenever someone is noticed being particularly fashionable and coordinated. Specifically, the trophy is a Chewbacca The Wookie action figurine wearing various kicky accessories made out of paper and tape. On Friday, I happened to be wearing a very coordinated outfit, which included a gorgeous lapis lazuli necklace (which matched my shirt) and matching lapis lazuli earrings. The Chewie Award, therefore, is now mine.

Where am I going with this? Well, the tradition is that a person who receives the Chewie Award must create a new accessory for Chewie before passing him on. I will, of course, be knitting something. And what is more fashionable for today's modern Wookie than a poncho?

I'm not sure whether to make it really blingy and use up some of my fun fur yarn, or go for a more classic look with mohair, or what. I would love to make him something sparkly, but I refuse to actually shell out money for this cause, so I am confined to my own stash. Stay tuned.