Hello Tallulah

Already in the second week of January and I'm getting so confused thinking it is April as the weather is so mild and the garden plants have tiny little buds already.  They are talking of a cold belt arriving tomorrow onwards but it never really seems to effect me on the far East Coast - thats probably a good thing right?

So my task for the Christmas break was to finish another pet for the collection and decided on a micro pig.  The bright pink in the riot chunky (Dawn) collection was calling to me, a bit cliche to use pink for a pig but I think Tallulah worked out well and the pink to dark plum colourways suited this design.

The body was tackled first which is roughly the same as Milo the Cat and as it is the same all around and the shaping is minimal.  The good thing about designing animals is once you have one or two designed the others are usually a variation of the patterns of the others. 

It was important to get the nose right on this pig as a snout is usually boxy in shape. To keep the shape of the nose during stuffing I wedged thick card into the nose so it would keep the perfect flat round snout shape.  You can see from the image below the card firmly placed in the nose.

         

 

Deciding on the size and placement of eyes was a long decision.  It was between a 8mm or 10mm eye and then near together or far apart.  The head sat on my desk for a good 24 hours while I decided as once you commit to pushing the backs of the eyes on there is no going back.  So 10mm it was with a far apart placing, backs pushed on so just had to make it work now.  Its important to take the time on the face as this will determine everything ultimately, this is what gives the design personality.  The next problem was the markings on the nose, I was looking forward to this part and had the idea it would be simple and sew on some round markings - well it looked awful.  I tried using little buttons, then heart shaped buttons, black felt, pink felt, brown thread, grey thread,  everything I tried I really didn't like.  Again I left the head on my desk overnight to rethink.


After a nights sleep to rethink, I got a contrast colour within the yarn and simply sewed two lines on the nose - voila nose finally sorted.  So straight onto the trotters, I took the front paws from the Bruno the Puppy pattern and once the round foot was crocheted a little bit of stuffing needs to be put in.  You can see from the image below before the leg section is crocheted stuffing needs to go into this part.  Once stuffed the rest of the leg could be completed.  Then I got some grey embroidery thread and sewed in a line in middle of the trotter and pulled in tight so you create essentially two toes either side. Again take the time to puff up the trotter shape.  I made all four in one go and they were on the coffee table when my best friends and her husband were over.  He looked at them and had a very confused look on his face, I won't say what he thought they were as slightly rude but very funny.

Ears were a slight adaption on Milo the Cats just longer.  With everything made i just played with positioning.  As I always say take your time on this part, don't sew anything into place until you really like the way it looks.  Take photos of each position so you can quickly see them altogether which makes it easy to quickly compare how they look.

 

I forgot to mention the tail,  This is a fun crochet project and a great pattern for using for any spiral design.  They look great as spiral mohair scarfs.  You simply chain then in each chain you 2 x dc, then on the next row you 3 x dc into dc, so you are constantly increasing every stitch which makes the spiral.   Very easy and very effective.  All thats left to do now is sew up and give your micro pig a name.  Hope you enjoy making Tallulah.

I used King Cole Riot Chunky in colour Dawn

http://www.wool4less.co.uk/King-Cole-Riot-Chunky-100g-NEW-COLOURS_AZ2T7.aspx

                                            

Fresh Ideas

I am excited about the New Year, as I have been approached by the magazines Let's Knit, Inside Crochet and Knitting and Crochet to feature the Kawaii Designs.  I have been working on another pet which will be a free pattern launch in the Knitting and Crochet Magazine in the New Year, but I am not allowed to say what it is until it officially goes in the mag.  

However what I can say is I am currently working on another pet which will be a goldfish but isn't actually gold in colour.  I hope to get this finished very soon and on our Etsy shop and on the Wool4less site as a free download. 

Here is the start of it, name to be determined.  Its not until the eyes go in will I be able to think of a suitable name, any suggestions welcome.  Not sure at this stage either how elaborate to make it, thinking a simple fish like the ones you win at Fairs or a more ornate fish with the goggly eyes.   

Any ideas on pets you would like to make let me in the future please know.  I have lined up to make a micro pig and a tortoise.

Finished Bubble the Goldfish.  

Creating Bruno

So why did I even decide to start creating designs of my own?  Well I am always adapting crochet patterns and I had a really bad habit of never writing down what I had done and then of course I would be asked "how did you do that?". and being the total amateur I am I said "just did it".  After many a disappointed face I thought I really must start noting my patterns.  I love the art of amigurumi and thought I would trial out my own.  I thought I would start with a dog as it maybe the simplest in shape to master. I also love the variegated yarns you can get and knew I would use these rather than plains to give a completely different effect.  Oh and then I thought be totally radical and use Chunky!! I used Riot Chunky in shade Rhinestone for Bruno.
http://www.wool4less.co.uk/King-Cole-Riot-Chunky-100g-NEW-COLOURS_AZ2T7.aspx
I know traditionally you use DK for amigurumi but I like to live dangerously :) So armed with a 4.5mm hook I started.

Beginning with the body and a magic ring/loop of 6dc.  If you have never done a magic ring/loop before I would recommend you look up an easy tutorial on youtube.  Thats what I did years ago and it does make such a difference to toy making.  Here is quite an easy one for a starter for ten.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfKKoU4HpCs
Once you give it a go a couple of times it becomes second nature.  You can see from the pic below that the centre is completely closed up, and you can also see my new kitten Fizz enjoying the whole yarn experience also. I used a paperclip as my stitch marker simply because it was nearest thing to hand on my desk that would do the job.

I have to say that it was a new discipline to remember to have to write down everything I did.  I carried on with the round then started to shape up the sides. Its quite a simply formula to creating a flat circle in crochet which I use for the base of a lot of the animals I make.  You start with your magic ring of say 6dc, then for the next round you increase in each dc so you double your stitches, then your next row will be 1 x increase, 1 x dc all the way around, then the next row will be 1 x increase, 2 x dc all the way round and you continue in this way adding an extra dc to each round until you get the circle to the desired dimensions.  Its a great one to remember, so you can make round coasters, table mats, rugs, anything you want to be round and flat.  

So where was I?  I shaped the body which is like a round container, so their was not particularly any hard shaping involved.  You can see from my messy work station the body completed and stuffed.  My terrible hand written notes which will only serve to frustrate me later when I had to type them up properly. You can also see the starting of another body part with is in fact the head and the snout part is what you can see.

The head took me an age.  Crocheting it up to only pull it down again, that's always been one of the great benefits of crochet that it never takes long to redo what you undo, unlike knitting. Starting with the nose and working out by increasing to evolve into a head shape.  Once I was happy with the nose and the front of the face this is the time you have to commit to your work by placing the eyes as you wont be able to reach very well once you go further.  I used 10mm black eyes.  Once the rest of the head was finished, it was stuffed compactly and because it still didn't look very interesting I stitched the nose on, then it seemed to come alive just a little bit.

Ok so body and head finished it was time to create the paws, ears and the simplest of all the tail.  I knew I wanted Bruno to sit down so that meant the would need to be two different sets of paws.  The back paws I made chunky as they would need to help the whole design to sit, and the front are only stuffed in the bottom part so when they are sewn in place they don't stick out to far from the body. I used the same colour as the nose to sew on the paw markings. I made them quite tight and then I manipulated the stuffing in-between the toes to give more definition. I wanted biggish ears so that they could be sewn easily into different positions, they were simply made by creating a circle and then increasing and decreasing.  They naturally fold in half to create this floppy ear shape - no stuffing required. 

 

Now the major parts had been made and stuffed it was time to sew them together. The assembly in my opinion is the most important part and should not be rushed in anyway, and never sew any parts on unless you think that it looks really good in that place.  

My top tips for assembling are:

1. take each individual part and take the time to shape them.  So for the head, I really took the time to shape Bruno's nose and puffing out his cheeks either side of the line under his nose.  I use a thick sewing up needle to manipulate the stuffing where I want it.  I did the same for the paws and created fullness for toes.

2. once your happy with the individual shapes, get some long dressmaker pins and pin the parts on to the main body.  Be symmetrical  as you can, ie if you like the ear 6 rows in then place the second ear 6 rows in.  Play with different positions, take a photo of each one incase you forget where you put things while rearranging.  This helps me to then compare which positions look best overall.

3. head positioning is probably one of the biggest factors into cuteness status.  Try putting the head to one side looking either slightly down or up, it will transform how cute your little critter can look.  

So happy with the final positioning, I sewed very tightly each part into place.  Then final manipulation of stuffing if needed as when holding to sew I tend to squeeze quite tightly and sometimes lose a little of the shaping.  Hide all the loose ends and then hey presto Bruno was finished.  

The Bruno in the picture below I have sewn into a lying down playful position

If you are interested in making your own Bruno then you can find the pattern on both our Etsy shop or at www.wool4less.co.uk who are selling kits also.  

Happy Creating :)