Pokemon crochet - risky but worth it!

My side of the sofa has been taken over with Pokemon crochet again. After making a few more Pokeballs as a last minute present for one of Sam's friends I finally got around to making a few different balls to add to the kids pokeball collection. First I crocheted up this Ultra ball - on giving it to my children it was promptly thrown at me.
 

This didn't deter me though as I foolishly decided to try and make a repeat ball. I was very proud of it and so passed it to my husband to admire and he then threw it at me with a shout of 'I choose you!' 

Emily then requested a crochet pokemon for one of her friends and so little Lotad has just been finished up ready to join a new family. Before heading off to a new home though he went out to visit our garden pond to see if he could spot one of the frogs that have been occasionally popping by.

I'm pleased to say that Lotad has not been thrown at me, at least not yet...

The droid gang

I'm still loving the fantastic Star Wars crochet patterns by Lucy Collin. In the run up to Christmas they were the perfect quick gifts to make for the family.

BB-8 has come from the new Star Wars crochet book "Even more Star Wars Crochet" by Lucy Collin. I love how the clever construction worked so well to show so much detail and he ended up looking fantastic.

This kit came with so many exciting new patterns as well as the materials to make BB-8 & a Jawa.

"Utinni!"

I was much happier with the finish of my Jawa after adding an extra row of sc around the finished edge of the hood to make it slightly deeper.

Last up I made a really quick R2-D2 (and he really was very quick, only took about 3 hours from start to finish). My R2-D2 has pipe cleaners in the legs to reinforce them without any stuffing which I think worked really well.  

I just love these patterns and will be sorting through my stash to make more soon :-)

 

Dinky Tardis

Just heard that a friend is in hospital so needed a little something to cheer him up fast! Thankfully I found this fabulous Tardis pattern by Nyss Parkes on Ravelry which worked up super quickly.

The detail is added with bits of white felt and black embriodery done in a hurry so slightly irregular but still looks good. A bit of black yarn sewn round the top shows where 'police box' should be written (no way I was going to be able to sew that in so small!)

I decided to stuff mine and crochet the bottom closed, by decreasing in the corners it also helped with keeping the Tardis a box shape.

A little crochet light added on top finished it up beautifully :-)

Cooling down

Our super hot Summer weather has quickly become rainy and overcast... however that hasn't stopped my Emily from very much wanting me to make her this little cute crochet ice lolly.

Pattern is from the latest issue of Simply Crochet (#74) and is written by Susan Yeates. It worked up super quickly and was perfect for gratifying the demands of this little bossy girl.

The dark side of crochet

I'm really excited to be showing off this little stormtrooper made from the Star Wars Crochet kit that I've had sitting waiting for me to start for years. (Star Wars crochet by Lucy Collin)

Well now I've made a start and created this little guy I think I shall just have to keep going and see how many of these fantastic characters I can create.

The patterns are fantastic - detailed, clear, well thought out and easy to follow. I love all the detail that has gone into this little guy, especially his chubby cheeks!

Christmas llama

I'm still cracking on with the backlog of Simply crochet kits that I've amassed, here is the latest off the hook - Fa-la-la-llama by Erinna Lee.

Quite a fiddly make to do, lots of small pieces to crochet and then join together including some tricky embroidery on the face using separated yarn... which ended up pulling apart so had to make do with some doubled up thread.

When I made up the sequined reins I decided to crochet them straight into the chain which I think gives them a much neater finished than the method in the pattern.

Pretty pleased to have him finished, and also glad to crack on with some other exciting projects I've been keen to start... more on that soon :-)

Hot hot hot!

The weather is so very hot - our Manchester garden has never been this dry... however there is one plant that seems to be loving the recent heat wave.

This ever so cute amigurumi crochet cactus is from the kit with issue 59 of Simply Crochet. I love this pattern by Ilaria Caliri, the little details make it look so perfect, like the spike stitch around the top of the pot to create the rim and the tiny pompom that you put in the centre of the flower.

The hot weather seems to make it hard to face any larger projects so at the moment I am happily working through some of the lovely kits from my back issues of Simply crochet.

I've also recently finished this Tilly Flop card design that made me smile - so true :-)

I've got sunshine, on a cloudy day

Now we are coming to the end of November most of our days are cloudy and dull... so it was lovely to make up this sweet little unicorn with a rainbow mane.

In fact I was so pleased with how she turned out I made a second one straight away!

The mane is lovely and wavy from having the yarn unravelled (see the unicorn on the left) and though it is fiddly to do the effect is really lovely. 

The pattern is by Ilaria Caliri and can be found in issue 54 of Simply Crochet.

Mini Pikachu

"Mummy you said you would make me something next and Pikachu is one of my favourite Pokemon too..."  Right - so that would be another order for Pikachu then :-)

This time I used a very cute and quick pattern by Gladys at The Bunny Studio and I love how he turned out.

He also has a cute lightening tail and brown stripes at the back.

I choose you Pikachu!

Our growing collection of Pokemon just wouldn't be complete without a Pikachu.

This little guy is very dinky, he has tiny little limbs and is a good size for a toddler hand. My Emily insists he is a Pichu because he is so small.

I used the lovely free pattern by Clare Heesh. I love the detail that has gone into his tail to make the lightening shape.

He even has some brown stripes on his back.

Aww - such cuteness!

Poliwag!

This little pokemon has been in my to-do pile for over a month - but I'm so glad I cracked on with him and got him finished to show you all. He was inspired by the new Sun & Moon Pokemon cards which have featured a few new artworks with crocheted versions of the Pokemon. Pokemon and crochet make a fantastic mix and I've loved seeing the creatures that have been obviously lovingly made to go on these cards.

I wanted my Poliwag to be as close to the original artwork as I could manage so I've spent a lot of time ripping out and reworking the different parts to get the shapes as close to the original. His main body is shaped a little like a squashed raindrop so I had to do some interesting shaping with increases and decreases to get him to be a non-rounded shape. I also reinforced his tail a little with thick felt to help it stand up unsupported when attached to his body.

Now Poliwag is completed he is going to be making his way over to Australia to meet Ando who is a huge Pokemon fan and has the YouTube channel Unlisted leaf.

Who's that pokemon?

Can you guess who this crocheted creature is going to be turned into?

Parts assembled in the wrong places without final embroidered details

Rainbow piggy

I needed a quick and fun project to make up for my Mum's Birthday... and as she loves pigs this little guy seemed like a good choice. The pattern is a free one from Lonemer's blog and it is sweet, simple and well written with nice clear photos.

I'm not quite sure why a pig in colours of the rainbow pleases me so much, but he does. I just hope my Mum likes him too!

Gotta catch them all!

Finished up some pokeballs to throw at the kids... love the simple pattern by Linda Potts (Wolfdreamer off the hook)

Meet Mareep the Pokemon sheep

We have been quite Pokemon crazy here at Tea Towers this Summer and have been playing the Pokemon Go game on Rich's phone, making our own cards and also getting excited about all the different creatures there are. So it made logical sense to me that when I saw the latest Yarndale collaborative project that my contribution would be Pokemon themed.

So say hello to 'Mareep' - my sheepy character that will be sent out to join the rest of the flock at this year's Yarndale (little woolly sheep project)

My Mareep has been made using the free crochet pattern up on Lucy of Attic24's blog with a few elements like the quiff and ear cones that I've come up with freehand. I hope someone at Yarndale gives him a loving new home!

Finally a proper photo of the Pokemon card I used for inspiration, I love the cute picture of Mareep on this card - he looks so sweet and fluffy.

Yarny Kirby

My Sam's current Wii gaming obsession is called "Kirby's Epic Yarn". It is so pretty to look at with all the wool & felt detail the game has. You've also got to love a game where the main baddie has giant knitting needles with which he knits up all the other baddies in the game.

This yarn Kirby was made from the lovely free pattern from Nerdigurumi's lovely blog (pattern is here) and it works up quick and easily. For my Kirby's eyes I embroidered his felt eyes instead of painting them in the hopes they last all the love Sam gives them :-)

Gruffalo update

Remember my little crochet gruffalo that I told you about back in November 2012? Well a while back a lady from Macmillan books emailed about using my photo of my mini crochet gruffalo in a new gruffalo website they were creating...

Well it looks like the website is up and live now and there is my little gruffalo in their gallery section http://www.gruffalo.com/join-in/gallery/

Tiny totoro

This little totoro has been made using a very light 4 ply yarn and so is perfect for the tiny hands of little totoro fans :-) The pattern is another wonderfully written pattern by Lucy Ravenscar and you can find the Ravelry page for it here.

Okay - I'll admit it, these photos were taken last Summer... not sure why it has taken me so long to share him with you!

Happy March everyone :-)

Buzy buzzing

Lots of lovely things have been hooked up here recently including this very cute little bumble bee (this lovely free pattern is by Emi Carmichael and you can find it here).

Amigurumi for all the family

Instead of trying to make hand crafted presents for all my friends at Christmas I decided to focus on making special amigurumi for Sam, Emily & Rich. 

 
First of all I made up the lovely grey Totoro amigurumi (pattern by the very talented Lucy Ravenscar). He is a very big and cuddly amigurumi and is so cute - we now have quite an army of Totoro's in this house :-)

Next to make something for Sam - and what could be better than a mini minion? Sam loves the Despicable Me films and finds the antics of the minions hilarious. He is very pleased to have his own minion now and has shown it off to lots of his friends. Lovely and easy minion pattern by Kristen McCrory)

 

Lastly I crocheted up a rather scary Gengar for Rich - he used to have a plastic one that scared me silly and this crochet one does the same, it's probably those red evil eyes that are responsible. This is another clear and well written pattern - lots of separate parts though so quite a mission to finish it all up. Pattern by Ana Amélia Mendes Galvão