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...

Pokemon headwear

I thought it was high time for some new crochet hats for the residents of Tea Towers. After much pattern searching it seems that Pokemon are still very much in Emily and Sam's hearts so I started on a Pikachu hat for the cheeky one.

Emily kept me on target to get it finished with daily challenges that she set each night before she went to sleep - 'Mummy tonight I want you to finish ...'

She was also very clear about the level of detail she required and made sure to check in with me that I had all the materials I needed - 'Don't forget that you need red wool for the cheeks..', 'it needs to have brown stripes on the back Mummy, don't forget'.

Sam took a lot longer to decide on what he wanted. He still wears the crochet hat I made for him 5 years ago... it still fits and is super snuggly and has almost become his trademark at school, so he only wanted a hat that would continue to be as noticed.

I think he is going to be noticed in this :-)

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

Yarndale 2016

Hooray for another Yarndale!

Thea, myself and Jane headed into Skipton at the weekend for another dose of yarn goodness.

We found so many beautiful colours and so much inspiration.

From the wonderous crochet your own stuffed animal head...

To some of the fluffy creatures we get our yarn from.

The lovely Yarndale sheep were out on display again.

As well as lots of other hand crafted beauties.

We found my little Mareep who had just made a new friend :-)

And between spending hours hunting through the stalls we took a break to go on the Yarn walk.

We had such a wonderful time and enjoyed it all so much, thanks so much to the organisers for another fantastic yarn filled day.

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.

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