What to take when going to R'lyeh

The Dice Bag of Doom--it is finished.  Behold it's wondrous appearance:

Ready to play!

*More pics in his native habitat--

Eye sees you!

And you!

Check out the awesome dice!

Do you have monster manual envy, yet?

I used Green Mountain Spinnery's Mountain Mohair  in Maritime and 2 different dye lots of Moss.  There's just enough variance to be able to spot the different lots. :)

The pattern was easy to do...and I did, like a lot of others on Ravelry, increase the size of the bag.  72 stitches...my gauge...5.5 sts per inch, for a bag approximately 7 inches tall x 5 inches in diameter.

I cast on via the lighter circular beginning from Eunnie Jang's lace tutorial.  Then I increased, as I said, to 72 stitches...then did the ribbing pattern for about 16 rounds, placing the stitches on a spare needle for quick access.

Here's some old pics that I took as I went along...

Here's the stitches picked up and a few rounds knitted.

I chose not to knit a whole new bag, as per pattern, but picked up stitches behind the work and continued on, instead.   I skipped a few stitches here and there as I worked and had 60 stitches after picking up.  Then I knitted 12 rounds.  

My decreases didn't work out evenly, as I guessed on the fly (Yes, yes, math was, and apparently still is,  not my strong suit.) and I ended with 52 stitches.

See it?  It's in the upper needle.

You can just make out the crack forming in my #2 needles above, so I had to go to DPN's at this point. So I arranged 13 stitches per 4 needles, and knit 3 more rounds.  Decrease again...k 11, k2tog...48 stitches. K one round. Do eyelet round.  K 2 rounds.  Increase by 4 stitches total over 6 rounds.  I knit 5 more rounds and then bound off.  Most Ravelers used an i-cord bind off...but I crocheted some crab stitch over the cast off edge. 

It's not too clear, but the eyelets are there :)

Crab stich makes a nice hybrid between picots and i-cord

After that, it was all about the tentacles.  Essentially, make i-cord tentacles until you can't take it anymore. LOL For me, that was about 17, ranging in size from 3 stitches, all the way up to 6 stitches.  I probably knitted them a bit too long, but they turned out okay, I think.

You can see the difference in dye lots

From there, I arranged those tentacles, tacked them into place, and added 8, 15 mm yellow animal safety eyes.  I clipped off the part of the posts that protruded from the backs, so no one would get scratched reaching in.  The lining helped with that, too.

Here it is, tentacles sewn, eyes placed, but unlined

Oh, the lining?  Just a tube of fabric with a bottom, hemmed, and hand tacked in place right above the pick up line.  Too bad the camera wouldn't cooperate...so only little pics to share :( 

All tacked in

So this really was a fun knit, even though I whined some (Well a lot.  I-cord is boring. LOL ) about the i-cord.  I wasn't sure about the blue yarn...but I think it really adds to the effect.  I had chosen a black yarn, some Lamb's Pride Worsted that was in my stash along with the mossy Mountain Mohair.  Definitely not the same weight, and it showed.   But the blue is evocative of His briny home...and we like to keep our Elder Gods happy.

*Field photography by the recipient! :)