These female gender symbols look good on their own, but are even better in pairs or linked into a garland.
This pattern works well with any size yarn and appropriate needles, but for mine I used 8 ply/double knitting acrylic and 4 mm double-pointed needles. If you are planning on displaying them outside eg knit graffiti, you may want to consider using synthetic yarn to help them survive the elements better.
Materials needed:
A few grammes of 8 ply/dk yarn
Pair of 4 mm double-pointed needles (dpns)
Thin, flexible wire and scissors or wire cutters (my wire was on a reel and labelled "tie wire")
Blunt needle for sewing up
Skills needed:
Ability to knit i-cord. If you don't know how, try watching this video from EastSideKnitter on YouTube or take a look at this photo tutorial from PurlBee.
Instructions:
Cast on 5 sts. Knit i-cord until the length is the circumference of the circle size you want. To test this, just curve the i-cord around into a circle and if it's not long enough, keep knitting! When the i-cord is long enough, cast off the sts and knit two short pieces of 5 stitch i-cord for the + part of the ♀. One should be slightly longer than the other.
To assemble, bend over one end of the wire to make a blunt end and thread it into the longest piece of i-cord. Once the wire pops out at the other end of the i-cord, thread it through again, so the wire goes through the circle twice. Ensure that you have enough wire protruding to form the vertical piece of the ♀ and twist the two ends of wire together.
Sew the ends of the i-cord circle together. Bend the ends of the twisted wire to make a blunt end and slide the longest remaining piece of i-cord onto this vertical shaft of the ♀. Sew the end of this vertical i-cord onto the i-cord circle. Cut off a small piece of wire and bend it in half to insert into the shortest length of i-cord. Sew this onto the vertical shaft and sew in all ends, to make your completed ♀.
These ♀ look good singly, with two linked together or made into a garland and displayed horizontally or vertically. . .
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| ♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀♀ garland at Women's Centre to celebrate International Women's Day 2011. |
