New Paradigm Daleks

If you follow me closely on Ravelry, you probably know I finished my first New Paradigm Dalek within a week of when the episode "Victory of the Daleks" first aired in the UK. 

So far I've done the orange "scientist" and the red "drone". They're a lovely pair, aren't they?

New Paradigm Daleks, one orange, one red

But beware. As you'll remember from the episode, they consider older Daleks inferior and will EXTERMINATE! them. You may want to consider this before introducing a New Paradigm Dalek to your household. No one wants to come home and discover this:

New Paradigm Daleks with old-style Dalek lying on its side

Anyway, enough chat. Let's get to the real meat of the matter...my modifications to the lovely EXTERMIKNIT! pattern to make a New Paradigm Dalek.

You will need four colors: the main body color (I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease in gold 171 for the scientist, and Patons Classic Wool in bright red for the drone), a medium gray color (Wool-Ease oxford grey 152), black (Wool-Ease black 153), and a small amount of a white or off-white color for the "eyes" (Wool-Ease fisherman 099). If you're doing the white variant, I strongly recommend using off-white for the "eyes" instead of using the pure white yarn you used for the body...otherwise the "eyes" will not show up well.

Techniques

  • LPC (left purl cross): slip one stitch to cable needle and hold to front. Purl one stitch, then knit stitch from cable needle.
  • RPC (right purl cross): slip one stitch to cable needle and hold to back. Knit one stitch, then purl stitch from cable needle.
  • Tuck stitch: with tip of left needle and working from the back side, reach into the head of the purl stitch three rows below the knit round, inserting the needle from top to bottom. Knit this loop together with the next stitch on the left needle. Repeat this process for every stitch on this round. If you're unfamiliar with tuck stitches or knitted-in hems, you may find this video tutorial helpful to figure out what I'm trying to say here. The one difference is that I prefer to pick up the loop with the left needle instead of transferring from the right to the left (I think it's a wee bit more efficient my way), and she is telling you to pick up the loop that would be the bit at the bottom that runs between purl stitches, while I want you to pick up the top of the purl stitch. It does matter where you pick up that loop...the ridge needs to fold flat like a hem instead of forming a tube. (edit 09 Jan 2011: A lot of people think there is an error in the instructions for how many rows down you're supposed to reach, although what I wrote is correct, but apparently not phrased clearly enough. The knit round I'm referring to is the purl ridge as seen from the back side. This means you are skipping five rounds total and grabbing the head of the sixth round.)

Work the body as per the original pattern until you finish row 29. The bobbles should be worked in gray for all variants except the yellow Dalek Eternal, in which case you should use black for the bobbles. Other than the bobbles, they are all worked the same.

Body

  • R30 - k3, RPC, p2, LPC, k1, RPC, p2, LPC, k2, k2tog, k2, RPC, p2, [LPC, RPC, p2] 6 times, LPC, k2, SSK, k2, RPC, p2, LPC, k1, RPC, p2, LPC, k4     (85 sts remain)
  • R31 - k4, p1, p2tog, p1, k3, p1, p2tog, p1, k7, p1, p2tog, p1, [k2, p1, p2tog, p1] 6 times, k7, p1, p2tog, p1, k3, p1, p2tog, p1, k5     (74 sts remain)
  • R32 - (switch to gray yarn) k5, k2tog, k4, k2tog, k8, k2tog, [k3, k2tog] 6 times, k8, k2tog, k4, k2tog, k5     (63 sts remain)

Shoulders

I strongly recommend working this section on circular needles instead of DPNs if your transitions between needles on purl are as bad as mine are. It's not quite enough stitches for a 16" circ, but it's worth it for a tidier finished product.

  • R01 - p22, k4, p10, k4, p23
  • R02 - p22, k5, p8, k5, p23
  • R03 - p22, k6, p6, k6, p23
  • R04, 05, & 06 - p22, k18, p23
  • R07 - k26, p10, k27
  • R08, 09, & 10 - p22, k18, p23
  • R11 - p22, k6, p6, k6, p23 
  • R12 - p22, k5, p8, k5, p23
  • R13 - p22, k4, p10, k4, p23
  • R14 - (switch to body color) k around
  • R15 & 16 - p around
  • R17 - p2, [p2tog, p5] until last five stitches, p2tog, p3     (54 sts remain)
  • R18 - (switch to black) k around

Neck

  • R01 & 02 - k around
  • R03 - [k16, k2tog] 3 times     (51 sts remain)
  • R04, 05, 06, & 07 - k around
  • R08 - p around
  • R09 & 10 - k around
  • R11 - tuck stitch
  • R12 - k around
  • R13 - [k15, k2tog] 3 times     (48 sts remain)
  • R14, 15, 16, & 17 - k around
  • R18 - p around
  • R19 & 20 - k around
  • R21 - tuck stitch
  • R22 - k around
  • R23 - [k14, k2tog] 3 times     (45 sts remain)
  • R24, 25, 25, & 27 - k around
  • R28 - p around
  • R29 & 30 - k around
  • R31 - tuck stitch
  • R32 - [k13, k2tog] 3 times     (42 sts remain)
  • R33 - (switch to body color) k around

Continue with round 2 of head and work until end of head.

Appendages

I prefer to work the appendages with DPNs two US sizes smaller than what I use for the rest of the Dalek to make the appendages extra firm...you won't get a droopy eyestalk this way. The manipulator arm should be gray for the section with two strands held together, and black for the section with one strand. The blast gun should be worked in gray. For the eyestalk, work the first four rows with two strands of gray, then switch to black doubled for the rest of the eyestalk.

You may notice that there's a black ring around all the appendages where they're attached to the body. On other Dalek variants, I would simply whipstitch the appendages with yarn to match the appendage. However, to get that lovely black ring, I first whipstitch the appendage in place with black, then satin stitch over the whipstitching. You don't have to go to this effort if you don't feel like it, but if you do it'll yield a result truer to the actual New Paradigm Dalek, not to mention the appendages will be much more securely attached.

Because I'm lazy (and missed the fact that there's something different on the back panel of the body until watching the repeat of this episode on BBC America...well after I had finished this Dalek), I did not do the gray stripe on the center of the back panel on the body. If you want to be really accurate with your Dalek, do some embroidery over that section (duplicate stitch would probably work). I don't really care for embroidery work, so you're on your own if you want to add that gray stripe down the back.

Base

Work as per pattern, except adding four more rounds of purl between round 5 and 6. The New Paradigm Dalek has a wider rim at the bottom than earlier variants, so I feel this is an important detail. (I should also mention I've never actually done the four rounds of purl the pattern recommends...I much prefer five rounds of purl on regular Daleks.) Finish as per pattern, and keep this Dalek away from older Daleks if you don't want them exterminated.

I will write up a pattern for my Supreme Dalek variant when my father brings his Dalek back home from the office. Okay, I did figure out what to do on that one from looking at the pictures of the original Supreme Dalek I made for Jess, plus a rough chart I had drawn on the printout for the original pattern. However, I'd prefer to examine the actual Dalek while writing out proper directions someone else can follow. Expect more Dalek variants as I get around to making them.