Eeeek! It's a Rat Amigurumi

 I got a request from my sister-in-law to make a rat doll for my nephew.  My nephew was bitten by a rat a couple years ago, and someone had given him a rat doll to comfort him.  Something happened to the doll and my nephew needed another one.  The old doll was a primary red color, so this one should be a similar color.

I found some free mouse patterns, but no good ones that were rat specific.  I picked a mouse pattern and elongated the nose slightly.

I used this free Morris Mouse pattern.  This pattern was pretty easy to follow. It was all SC in rounds. 

Supplies:
--1 color worsted weight yarn
--9 mm eyes
--size H crochet hook
--stuffing
--embroidery thread for whiskers
--needle to sew parts together
--stitch markers (I use paperclips)

I made all of the parts before stuffing or sewing any pieces together.  The original pattern had a slightly smaller nose and no whiskers.  Instead of one 5 SC Rnd to start off the face, I did three 5 SC rounds.  The nose is the only count change I made to the crochet pattern to make it look more like a rat.  For the whiskers, I tied black embroidery thread inside the nose, and then I pulled it through and pulled the strands apart.

I stuffed and sewed all of the parts together, and I ended up with a medium sized red rat doll. 

I found some other good mouse patterns.  My favorite was this pattern, but I didn't think it would look as good in the red color.  I might make it at some point using colors like those in the pattern.  It's in Spanish, but I put the text in Google translator and the translations turned out well.

This Francisco The Fancy Mouse pattern was another one I considered making, but it would also be harder to make with this red yarn as the main body color.

Amigurumi Monsters

I recently decided to make some amigurumi monsters, and I am sharing those projects this week.  I found other monsters that I wanted to make, but I ran out of time.  There will probably be another monsters post in the near future, but my attention will next be turned to making an amigurumi rat for my nephew (by request and I finally found a good free pattern).

Here are the 3 monsters all in a row:

 All three monsters were made using patterns by Stacey Trock.  They can be purchased from her website.  The striped monster, Mixtro, is available for free on Ravelry.


Mixtro

To make Mixtro, I used 4 colors of acrylic yarn, a G sized hook, needle, stuffing, and 12 mm eyes.

First, I used 2 main colors and switched back and forth to make the main body.  This pattern is a little bit different from others I had previously done for a couple of reasons.  It is done in the round, but it is started by using a chain, rather than a magic circle.  The ears required me to learn a new trick as well, only going partway through the round, but they were relatively simple.

Next, I added the eyes.  They are just a simple crochet in the round, 12 mm eyes placed in the middle, and then the eyes are stitched onto the body.

Then, I added the mouth.  I just stitched across with black acrylic yarn.

Finally, I stuffed my monster and sewed it shut across the top between the ears.


Mr. Toothy

The original Mr. Toothy has a felt tooth, but I chose not to add the tooth.  It's all made in the round, and is fairly simple to make.  (I'll show more of the parts with the Yeti below.)  It includes 2 ears, 2 arms, and 2 leg parts.

I made this monster using a size H needle, 2 colors of acrylic yarn (body and mouth), 12 mm eyes, stuffing, and a needle.

First, the legs are made to a certain point, and then stitched together.  Next, stitch around the body for some rounds.  Then, the arms are stitched into one of the rounds, and then a couple more plain rounds.  Finally, you do reducing rounds until closed.  The ears are stitched onto the head, rather than being stitched into the round.  The mouth is just a plain stitch using black yarn.


Yeti

For this Yeti, I used a cotton blend yarn for the body and a gray acrylic yarn for the face.  I also used 12 mm eyes, stuffing, crochet hooks, and a needle.  For the body, I used a size K hook, and I used a size H hook for the face.

You can see all of the parts and the yarns in the following photo.

It is easier to see in the above photo how the legs were started separately, and then later joined together.  As you can see, I am still using my super cheap paperclip stitch markers.  I like them.

You might not see it at first glance, but I used the same pattern for the Yeti as I did for my Mr. Toothy.

The only differences are the lack of ears and the face.  For the Yeti face, I just did a number of increase rounds.


I have to give a shout out to my wonderful husband.  He did a great job for my birthday this year.  He got the bike that I had requested, but also surprised me with my favorite flowers.  Soooo pretty! We also had a great evening going to dinner and a movie.

8-Bit Wario Magnet

I originally had some other posts in mind for this weekend, but I got busy with prep for trial week, so I didn't end up finishing any crafts this week (or even posting on Sunday) So, I am a day behind and digging into my stash of crafts I haven't yet shared.  Thus, this week I shall share my 8-Bit Wario.

There's no 8-Bit Wario you say? Well, there is now. Behold, 8-Bit Wario!  Feel free to copy my pattern.

Here he is all melted and mingling.

In case you missed it, here is my 8-Bit Mario Magnets post.


 Update:  This post was featured on House of Hepworths.

Hello Kitties

(pic: Darwin meets Hello Kitty)


I'm really into amigurumi right now, so I chose another amigurumi project for this week's craft.  I recently made some perler bead magnets for a couple of my nephews, so I wanted to make something for one of my nieces this week.  I have a niece who is a fan of Hello Kitty, so i thought I would try my hand at making one.

I found these two free patterns: Pamplemousse and Robotrish.  I used both patterns and made some changes in order to create the above Hello Kitty doll.

My stripes are 3 rounds red and 2 rounds white.

I made the head and ears as directed in the patterns.  The arms and legs are basically the same as the ones from Pamplemousse, but I added red at the end of the legs, and red and white stripes on the arms.

I elongated the body (using Robotrish's pattern) by adding extra plain rounds in the middle and top.

The nose was basically the same as the ones in the two patterns in terms of size, but I made it using a MC/sloppy circle.  I'm pretty sure mine was ch 2, Rnd 1:  2nd from hook, SC 4 and then Rnd 2: SC 2, SC 1 around for 6 total.

I added a skirt onto one of the white stripes in order to form a dress.  To make the skirt bigger than the body, I made increases.  For the ruffle, I did 3 SC in next, 1 SC in next (repeated it all the way around), and then SC all the way around.

The bow was based on the one in the Pamplemousse pattern.  I made the bow as directed, but it was not big enough to tie a not in it. So, I did a plain chain and wrapped it around the bow.

For the embellishments, I used plastic fasten on eyes and black yarn for  whiskers.