Achilles Tendon for Alex Trebek Amy Stephenson
A few years back, a friend of mine who is a cancer survivor asked me to knit her the Womb from Knitty. A few months after I'd done so, her father was diagnosed with kidney cancer, so she asked me if I could knit a pair of kidneys for him. I made up my own pattern and knitted them for her, and subsequently her father made a robust recovery despite having lost a significant amount of kidney tissue. Of course, I can't prove that my kidneys had anything to do with it. But that didn't stop me from telling the story on “Jeopardy!" when I competed (taped on Nov. 9, 2011, and airing Jan. 18, 2012), and it didn't stop Alex Trebek from finding it just a little weird. “I won't tell you what my ailments are," he quipped before we resumed the game. But I already knew: He'd torn his Achilles tendon in July 2011 when chasing a thief from his hotel room, and was stil experiencing pain as he recovered from surgery to repair the damage. So I designed this Achilles tendon pattern, knitted it up, and mailed it to him. He sent me a very nice thank-you note, though I didn't manage to get anyone to photograph him with the tendon.
Materials
scrap yarn in three colors: bone or buff (heel bone), brighter white (tendon), red (leg muscles); worsted weight (or different weight as you choose to scale the project) ·size 7 needles, any style, or different size as you choose to scale the project ·darning needle cotton or polyester batting
Directions
Heel Bone With the bone or buff yarn, cast on 8 stitches. Starting with the wrong side, knit 5 rows in stockinette. Next row (RS): k1, kfb, k5, m1, k1: 10 st Next row (WS): purl to end Next row: (RS): k1, kfb, k7, m1, k1: 12 st Next row (WS): purl to end Next row (RS): k1, kfb, k9, m1, k1: 14 st Next row (WS): purl to end Knit 14 rows st st Next row (RS): k1, ssk, k8, k2tog, k1: 12 st Next row (WS): purl to end Next row (RS): k1, ssk, k6, k2tog, k1: 10 st Next row (wS): purl to end Next row (RS): k1, ssk, k4, k2tog, k1: 8 st Next row (wS): purl to end Bind off loosely, leaving a tail to use for seaming. Bring together the cast on and bound off edges and seam the piece together until al an inch-long opening remains. Fill with batting, then finish seaming the piece closed work in any loose ends. The piece will be rounded at the heel or center and taper toward the cast-on/bind-off seam.
Tendon
Working from the rounded rise of the back of the heel bone, pick up 8 stitches using the brighter white yarn. Knit st st for 2 inches, ending with WS. Next row (RS): k1, kfb, k5, m1, k1: 10 st Next row (wS): purl to end Next row (RS): knit to end Next row (WS): purl to end Next row: (RS): k1, kfb, k7, m1, k1: 12 st Next row (WS): purl to end Next row (RS): knit to end Next row (WS): purl to end Next row (RS): k1, kfb, k9, m1, k1: 14 st Next row (wS): purl to end Next row (RS): knit to end Next row (wS): purl to end Next row (RS): k1, kfb, k11, m1, k1: 16 st Next row (WS): purl to end Knit 6 more rows st st, ending with WS Bind off loosely.
Leg Muscles
Leg muscle half, left-sloping (knit two pieces) With the red yarn, CO 3 stitches. Row 1 (WS): purl to end Row 2 (RS): kfb, k1, m1, k1: 5 st Row 3 (WS): purl to end Row 4 (RS): knit to end Row 5 (WS): purl to end Row 6 (RS): k4, m1, k1: 6 st Row 7 (WS): purl to end Row 8 (RS): k5, m1, k1: 7 st Row 9 (WS): purl to end Row 10 (RS): k6, m1, k1: 8 st Row 11 (WS): purl to end Row 12 (RS): knit to end Row 13 (WS): purl to end Row 14 (RS): knit to end Row 15 (WS): purl to end Row 16 (RS): k1, ssk, k5: 7 st Row 17 (WS): purl to end Row 18 (RS): k1, ssk, k1, k2tog, k1: 5 st Row 19 (WS): purl to end Row 20 (RS): k1, ssk, k2tog: 3 st Row 21 (WS): purl to end Row 22: bind off loosely Leg muscle half, right-sloping (knit two pieces) With the red yarn, CO 3 stitches. Row 1 (WS): purl to end Row 2 (RS): kfb, k1, m1, k1: 5 st Row 3 (WS): purl to end Row 4 (RS): knit to end Row 5 (WS): purl to end Row 6 (RS): k1, kfb, k3 6 st Row 7 (WS): purl to end Row 8 (RS): k1, kfb, k4: 7 st Row 9 (WS): purl to end Row 10 (RS): k1, kfb, k5: 8 st Row 11 (WS): purl to end Row 12 (RS): knit to end Row 13 (WS): purl to end Row 14 (RS): knit to end Row 15 (WS): purl to end Row 16 (RS): k5, k2tog, k1: 7 st Row 17 (WS): purl to end Row 18 (RS): k1, ssk, k1, k2tog, k1: 5 st Row 19 (WS): purl to end Row 20 (RS): k1, ssk, k2tog: 3 st Row 21 (WS): purl to end Row 22: bind off loosely Place the back of a left-sloping piece against the back of a right-sloping piece and seam together until an opening of about % inch remains. Stuff with batting and finish seaming the piece together, working in loose ends. Do the same with the remaining pair of pieces. Seam the bottom ends of the leg muscle pieces to the top of the tendon. You may wish to sew the edges of the two muscle pieces together at the very bottom for added stability.
