Knitted Butterfly Embellishment & a Sneak Peek

I spend an inordinate amount of time on the sidelines at my boys practices and games.  During the spring, summer, and fall a good chunk of that time is spent with a camera in my hand as seen here and here.  But during the winter(I don't care what the calendar says, it's winter in NY,) I tend to put the camera away.  Whirling Dervish plays box lacrosse during the winter which is played on an indoor field with protective netting between the crowded spectators area and the field.  There's really no good way to take a pic.  So it's a great opportunity to make a dent in my yarn stack and get some knitting done.

I've been working on a project for my blogland friend Fawnda over at Fireflies and Jellybeans.  She's gearing up for the arrival of her new baby girl.  I was so excited for her and knew right away that I wanted to knit something for her.  This glitter butterfly wall art that Fawnda created for the new nursery was just the inspiration I was looking for. 

With this as my inspiration, I knew that I would want to knit some butterfly embellishments for my project.  I want Fawnda to be the first to see the completed project when it arrives in her mailbox, but watch for a complete tutorial over on Fireflies and Jellybeans coming up in the next month or so.  Here's a closeup of one of the knitted butterflies that I created.

These were really easy to make.  A beginning knitter could punch out several of these during a typical game and because of their small size never lose count of their stitches while cheering.  These are pieced in 3 parts - the 2 wings and the body.

First the wings.

I used size 6 needles for this project.

Left wing:  Cast on 7 sts.  Row 1. K2, Kfab, Kfab, K3.  Row 2. Purl.

Row 3. K2, Kfab, Kfab, K, Kfab, Kfab, K2.  Row 4. Purl.

Row 5. K3, Kfab, Kfab, K3, Kfab, Kfab, K3.  Row 6. Purl.

Bind off.

Right wing:  Cast on 7 sts.  Row 1. K3, Kfab, Kfab, K2.

Rows 2 through bind off same as left wing.

The body.

Cast on 5 sts.  Knit a 2 inch i-cord.  To knit an i-cord, I use double-pointed needles.  I find that it's easiest for me to use just 2 dp needles and slide my work to the other end after finishing a knit row rather than using 3 dp needles.

To assemble (or "make up") the butterfly, sew the short side of each wing in a straight line.  This will cause the longer side to ruffle up and look like a wing.  I like to leave tails a little long and use the tails to sew on my embellishments.  Position the body of the butterfly over the seam between the 2 wings and sew that into place.  Knot a short length of yarn at the butterfly's head and trim to antenna length.

I think these butterflies would look great on sweaters, hats, or purses, but also would be fantastic as trimmings on gift boxes.

So how about that Sneak Peek pic I promised?  I've started stripping.

Wallpaper, that is.  Which rooms getting an overhaul?  While Fawnda's readying her nursery, my (not so) baby's room is seeing some big changes.  Look for updates soon.

Thanks for popping in and check out all the other neat projects at Just a Girl's Show and Share Day, Under the Table and Dreaming's Sunday Showcase, and Between Naps on the Porch's Metamorphosis Monday.