Ika (烏賊)

I went to the library today and borrowed a book called Knit Wit by Katie Boyette; I was perusing through it and simply fell in love with her Squid pattern and simply HAD TO make it.  With my Chiaogoo US8 (5.0mm) needles and Caron Plum Perfect yarn, here's how it went: In general, I followed the pattern with just a few small tweaks (& corrections to the pattern):

 

For the body, you need to knit 17 rows after the final increase (or else the head will seem way too small); then after the final decrease, I decreased another 6 sts, knit 1 row, decreased another 6 sts, knit 2 rows then increased 12 stitches and knit 1 more row to set up for the leg portion.  

 

For the legs, I pretty much followed the pattern except for the 3rd repeat, it says to KFB but it's suppose to be Ktog and for the first, third and fifth legs, I decreased one more time before binding off and for the second, fourth, and sixth legs, I knit 2 more rows then decrease one more time before binding off. 

 

For the fins, the instructions provided seemed too small for my Ika (烏賊) so, I messed around and here's how I made my fins:

Cast on 6 sts and join in the round.

K2, M1, K2, M1, K2 (8 sts)

Knit 2 rows

K3, M1, K2, M1, K3 (10 sts)

Knit 3 rows

K4, M1, K2, M1, K4 (12 sts)

Knit 3 rows

K5, M1, K2, M1, K5 (14 sts)

Knit 3 rows

K4, K2tog, K2, SSK, K4 (12 sts)

Knit 3 rows

K3, K2tog, K2, SSK, K3 (10 sts)

Knit 3 rows

K2, K2tog, K2, SSK, K2 (8 sts)

Knit 2 rows

K1, K2tog, K2, SSK, K1 (6 sts)

Bind off

For the tentacles, since my Ika (烏賊) was just not quite like the one in the book, I had to modify this as well.  So, I did a 4 st icord instead and doubled the tail portion as follows:

KFB 4x (8 sts)

K

K1, KFB, K4, KFB, K1 (10 sts)

K 4 rows

K1, K2tog, K4, SSK, K1 (8 sts)

K

K1, K2tog, K2, SSK, K1 (6 sts)

K

K1, K2tog, SSK, K1 (4 sts)

K

K2tog, SSK (2 sts)

Bind off.

 

And here's what it looks like finished: