A Little Buddy

Pictured: An amigurumi alien, green with four side ‘fins’ and a purple space suit.

Don’t try to crochet too much in the early days of a global pandemic while ALSO, a hotly-anticipated game comes out and you binge-play it. Tendonitis is not fun. At all. But after a couple months of PT and a couple months of not pushing myself too hard as I got back into the swing of things, I finally did a new project! This little buddy is intended for the recipient of that flying saucer mobile I made about a year and a half ago – an alien to match the flying saucer, meaning it’s green with a big round head and side fins. Apart from that, though, I could design it however I wanted. I’m quite happy with how it turned out! Decided to make it a bit more fantasy and make a purple space suit – the raised purple ‘collar’ is supposed to be where a helmet would go. To give it some support, it also has three little legs on which to rest, which allow it to stand up unsupported! Very pleased with that.

Hopefully I won’t be as long between posts next time, but who can predict things in these uncertain times?

I’m only cryin’ cause I never dreamed it’d take this long

In progress shots of a Noodle Man, Lea from Kingdom Hearts, in an outfit he wears for approximately thirty seconds in the ending cutscene. (I already did Xion’s, and I’m in favor of all the Ex-Organization members never having to wear their death cult trenchcoats again anyway.) I spent so incredibly long deliberating over the color of his shirt and pants, and figuring out how to do the plaid.

Continue reading I’m only cryin’ cause I never dreamed it’d take this long

Friend? Friend!

After all those Peeps (quite a few Peeps indeed!), finally I have finished my next big project, the rhino pattern from Kerry Lord’s Edward’s Menagerie. (If you want to buy him as just a PDF or block, this one is Austin the Rhino.) Not much to say about him except that I made a couple modifications to the end of his horn (I could not physically do the final three-stitch decrease to one,) and adlibbing his tail because I didn’t feel like doing the braid.

Not A Peep Out Of You

While obviously things are *gestures to the world at large* this year, we are still nearing Easter. And that means this adorable free pattern from Whiskers And Wool for Marshmallow Bunnies is making the rounds. Next thing I know, I’m making eight of them for various friends and family. They work up super-fast – I can make one, start to finish, in about an hour, since each side is only two rounds and the ears and it’s only two pieces to sew together. The trickiest part is probably just the finishings – since they’re so small, you want to get their eyes as well-placed as possible, and the ears are tricky to stuff. I actually didn’t stuff my second one’s ears today (the one on the left), and I think it works fine. Round 2’s the most involved actual crocheting, since all the shaping’s there, but it’s got a nice rhythm to it. I’m sure by the time I’m done with these, I’ll have it memorized. The purple was most popular, but I’m also going to be doing them in the other standard Peep colors of pink, yellow, and blue – I’ll keep you posted! (I mean, um, ‘standard completely generic Easter colors unassociated with any classic seasonal candies’. Obviously. Yeah.)

Antarctic Buddy

Well, nothing like social distancing to get you making extra progress on a nice, big project! This guy’s a commission for my aunt, from Amigurumi Parents And Baby Animals (specifically, as you can see, the cover project by Janine Holmes of Moji-Moji Design.) He’s pretty cute, though some of his patternwork (specifically the back of his head, which requires a series of increases, decreases, and slip stitches into slip stitches on the ends of rows) was pretty tricky.My aunt asked for just the Papa Penguin, not the baby as well. While that baby in the stroller is precious, that would be a lot of wirework to transport (since she lives in California and I’m on the east coast) so I am perfectly fine with that. He’s quite a cutie! My next projects are all pretty big, especially since the one I’ve been in progress on since January is another doll I’ve been working on in my spare time. I might give an in-progress shot or two of Noodleman to keep from being too drought-like over here!

The Year’s End, It Is

I finished this on Christmas Eve and forgot to take pictures (and was then away until last night,) but hey. Works as a good Last Post Of The Decade, no? Pattern is, once again, by Vivian Russo/Philae Artes and is, once again, a take on The Child/Baby Yoda. This one’s significantly bigger than the ornaments and available for snuggling or putting out and staging something. (He’s not quite posable, with his little arms going under the collar and also being quite small, but then we are talking about a cute and tiny baby.) The pattern is really simple and easy-to-follow, which is always ideal for things like this. As a side note, I tweeted some pictures of the Pokeballs to Junichi Masuda on a lark (since he retweets a lot of fanart,) and… Yeah, this is the definition of ‘Senpai Noticed Me’, isn’t it. I am still pleasantly baffled, since I had realized after making the tweet that he was probably asleep for the night and didn’t expect him to see it waking up. (Gotta imagine there’s quite a few notifications on that account.) So, that’s 2019 around here! While some good stuff definitely happened, I will nonetheless be glad to see the end of it.

Smithsonian Buddy

I’ve lived in the DC-Baltimore Metropolitan area my whole life. This means I first went to the Natural History Museum when I was, like, four. And they had a mosasaurus. They also had a little claymation video next to the mosasaurus speculating on their extinction due to falling sea temperatures killing the ammonites they liked to eat. (I suspect this is no longer the prevailing theory, but this was like, 1996.) I loved this exhibit, and have been IMMENSELY saddened I can’t find it recorded anywhere. Point being: MOSASAUR. When I saw the Dinosaur Amigurumi book had a pattern for one, it was only a matter of time until I made it. And then it was only a matter of time until I finished it after leaving the poor thing flipperless for months. I love it. I’m also much happier with my flipper sewing than I usually am. Marking where you want stitches to go, apparently it works. Who knew? Happy 2020, in case I don’t post anything before that, Hanukkah sameach, merry Christmas, and may the light return soon!