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This time I have made a rather special creature. Meet Bunsie, my crochet ferret or polecat pattern. In Europe and Asia we know this animal as well as a wild animal, the polecat, as the pet version you Americans know too, the ferret. Polecats are the wild ancestors of ferrets. The English name ‘polecat’ is based on the French ‘poule chat’ which means chicken cat. I think we all can imagine why that name is chosen for this sneaky little critter.

Especially ferrets come in all kinds of colours. For Bunsie, I decided to use the dark colours of a polecat youngster. The most common colour in both polecats and ferrets is a white muzzle, dark brown line between the muzzle and eyes, a white line above the eyes and ears and a lighter brown for the rest of the head and the middle part of the body. I have tried several colours but absolutely loved these. The witty thing is, you can choose any colour you like, as I have created the right spots for them to go in.

It took me a while to design this animal, because the colour schemes were fairly complicated to make in crochet. I wanted everything to look perfect and at the same time, this crochet animal pattern had to be easy to make for all of you.

Here is another picture of Bunsie the ferret amigurumi, and below it you can find info about, and links to the pattern.

This crochet ferret is 5,7 inch / 14,5 cm tall. Bunsie is made with three colours of lett lopi, a 100% wool. The pattern for the head is written in stitch colour, so it is a piece of cake to make a perfect ferret yourself.

The pattern for this whimsical animal, you can find in my shop at Ravelry, Etsy or order it here. It contains a clear description of how to crochet and attach the animal with example pictures at the bottom to help you get everything right. In the pattern you can also find what materials you need, the Lopi colour numbers, in short, everything you need to know to make this special creature.

And heads up, the pattern has a one dollar release discount till March the 11th.

Art, Chit and Chat

Illustration of an actual event

March 3, 2015 Sonja

Last week the most fabulous coincident happened. We were on a short holiday in a little cottage in the woods. Every so often I worked a bit on my polecat pattern, so I could release the pattern this week. I was just about to start on the tail when I looked outside and saw the most amazing thing, an actual polecat running passed the window, followed by a cat! Full of utter joy, I shouted to my boyfriend, who was taking a bath, there’s a polecat outside!!!

What a coincidence. A real polecat, while working on the pattern of one. They are not the kind of animal you see very often, especially in daylight, so what a pleasure indeed. I quickly made a drawing of the short and special moment. And yes, the rabbit was sitting there too, not at all bothered by that strange event. I do wonder what that cat was doing there. It isn’t a very common place for a house cat to hang out, disturbing all the wildlife. Luckily, the Polecat did got away safely.

Art

So anyway

February 17, 2015February 18, 2015 Sonja

Last week I felt like painting a picture. I was still using a wintery white and snowy artwork as my laptop and iPhone wallpaper and longed for something more colourful and spring. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to create a new fairy tale painting with my crochet animals starring gracefully in it.

But oh my, it didn’t work out all that well. I guess my idea was not solid enough and I rushed into the illustration. Now, when it is finished, the only part I consider worth looking at is Finse with his umbrella and even that isn’t painted very well. As for the rest of the illustration, the colours are wrong, the background is too distracting and Floro looks utterly ridiculous.

The idea was to paint Finse and Floro in a stormy, between winter and spring landscape, struggling with the wind. Well, Finse does not seem to be struggling does he now? He seems more surprised his umbrella got flapped over for some unclear reason.

Anyhow, the painting is not at all ‘desktop’ worthy and I tossed it somewhere in a corner. What a pity, I even postponed my polecat aka ferret pattern for that silly painting.

Now let’s get on with it!

Stories

A little dilemma I had

February 4, 2015 Sonja

This time I’ll be making a rather whimsical animal. One of my favourite animal species are mustelids. The adorable polecat I’m going to crochet belongs to that family, together with badgers, otters, weasels and many more of these musky smelling creatures. Now polecats live in Europe, Asia and Russia but not in America. However, most of you Americans do know this animal as a pet . . . . the ferret that is. Yes, the polecat is the wild ancestor of the ferret.

But what is with the dilemma?

When I thought about making this animal, I had a doll in mind that was standing on four paws, something new and different. But while working on the sketch and some shaping test, I discovered this was not the nufty tufty creature I had in mind. It looked much too serious and not at all whimsical. I am not the type of person to give up easily, but this just was not my style.

In my notebook there where a bunch of unfinished sketches, just some silly looking polecat faces staring at me without bodies. For the fun of it, I drew a body underneath one of them, standing curiously on the back legs.

And there he was! A silly polecat that gives you a smile on your face when you look at it.

Art, Chit and Chat

In the field

January 30, 2015 Sonja

We are having this terribly dreadful winter, it rains, rains and rains, but the weekend after I had finished Lumi, some snow did fall. I gladly took that opportunity to make some nice pictures.

Enjoy your winter! I hope mine will get colder!

Note: I am already working on a new project, something a bit different and will tell more about that next week.

Patterns

Lumi, crochet arctic fox pattern

January 22, 2015February 25, 2020 Sonja

Lumi is finished and he turned out ever so cuddly and soft. I wanted this crochet arctic fox to feel and look soft, but not to have a completely fuzzy appearance. To get this result, I first brushed him, and then cut off all the long hairs, which gave the exact result I hoped for. You can still see the crochet stitches, but Lumi looks furry too.

Working on this arctic fox felt a bit odd from time to time, as I already designed a red fox in the past. I absolutely did not want this fox to look the same, but that seemed to be a bit inevitable, as they both are foxes and I do prefer my designs to have that realistic touch. Luckily, there are some major differences in the foxes and my fox patterns are vey different in shape and sizes although they look like cousins. This fox feels younger to me, whilst he also is more compact. Lumi has a very sweet appearance and I love his subtile colour changes.

Below the pictures of dear Lumi, you can find info and links to the arctic fox crochet pattern.

I choose to make this crochet arctic fox in two colours. A warm grey for the paws and edges of the ears and a milky white for the rest of the body. However, this fox would also look very good in just white. Lumi is made with Lett Lopi, a 100% wool. It is easy to brush and gets a very soft result, but acrylic yarns also look good when brushed. Lumi is sitting 5,5 inch / 14 cm tall.

The pattern for this utterly soft arctic fox, you can find in my shop at Ravelry, Etsy or order it here. It contains a clear description of how to crochet and attach the animal with example pictures at the bottom to help you get everything right. In the pattern you can also find what materials you need, the Lopi colour numbers, in short, everything you need to know to make this furry little friend.

And heads up, the pattern has a one dollar release discount till Januari the 29th.

Stories

White and fuzzy

January 6, 2015 Sonja

For starters, I wish you all a very happy New Year! My previous post was titled ‘It’s almost Christmas’ but that lovely period is behind us now. I had a jolly good time and still hear the Mary Poppins songs playing in my head.

I absolutely feel delighted to start the year with a new animal to make, a very wintery creature, the arctic fox. He will be very different from Flam the fox, as arctic foxes have much more subtile features. Their ears and noses are smaller than the ones of red foxes, to prevent them from freezing, and they have an incredible thick and fuzzy coat. I’m sure this little fox will have a brushed tail and maybe I will brush him all over to make him extra fluffy and soft. And if he asks me for one, I will make him a nice warm scarf like his red cousin.

For 2015 I have a lot of new creatures in mind. Hamsters and guinea pigs, a Mr. ratty, a polecat, maybe some more water creatures and much more. If anyone ever feels I am missing an animal, do let me know, I’m very curious what you think and maybe I will make the animal.

Stories

It’s almost Christmas

December 20, 2014December 20, 2014 Sonja

Every year, I make a Christmas card. Before I started Son’s Popkes, I used to paint humoristic illustrations of Santa having bad luck. Now, with Son’s Popkes, I have this fabulous new subject, my crochet animals. This year I thought long of what to paint. At some point I started thinking of taking some nice pictures, because I still hadn’t got the right idea for an illustration.

But then the idea finally was there. What about ice skating Popkes? That was a very fine idea indeed, so I started to sketch about and after some time I finished this Christmas card.

The painting is titled ‘A Popkes winter wonderland’ and is painted with acrylic paint on an 18 x 24 cm canvas board. I’ve grown very fond of this painted version of Falun, he looks so utterly adorable.

My Christmas holiday has started now. I’m going to enjoy it by finishing the book I’m reading, Roald Dahl’s ‘Going Solo’. My boyfriend and I like to go hiking in this wintery weather and in the evenings we will be watching our favourite movies. I always look forward to this time of year and wish you all a jolly good Christmas and a happy New Year!

Patterns

Tuffs, crochet lynx pattern

November 25, 2014February 25, 2020 Sonja

The design proces of this crochet lynx went all so jolly well. It started when I was working on the head. How to get a fairly realistic cat face the first dilemma was. With a bit of experimenting and an extra nose patch, the cat face was there and pretty catty it looked. Even the ears had to be special, as lynxes have a rather particular white spot at the back of their ears. It took me quite some time to make this pretty face, but I was very happy with the result.

As for the body, it should not become too fat or skinny, nor too high or short, so a bunch of bodies were made and there was the right size. Then came the claws. How could I possibly make those very typical cat toes? I remembered a doll I made long ago with very special feet and decided feet like that could do the trick and they very well did. As last I made a tail, no two, the first one wasn’t right. I brushed some pieces of the cat and carefully sewed my Tuffs together. There he was, my dear and tufted, crochet lynx. I’m afraid this story makes it sound a bit more easy than it actually was, but this was a very fun proces with more ups than downs.

Here are more pictures and below it you can find info and the links to this crochet lynx pattern.

Info about Tuffs, the crochet lynx pattern.

Tuffs is made with a 100% wool and he is sitting 5,5 inch/ 14 cm. Crocheting this lynx isn’t at all that difficult. The special stitches for the toes are so clearly written, even my boyfriend could make them. The pattern for this tufty crochet lynx you can find in my shop at Ravelry, Etsy or order it here. The pattern contains a clear description of how to crochet and attach the animal with example pictures at the bottom to help you get everything right. In the pattern you can also find what materials you need, the Lopi colour numbers, in short, everything you need to know to make this unique crochet animal.

And heads up, the pattern has a one dollar release discount till December the 2nd.

Art, Stories

A pretty big cat

November 11, 2014November 11, 2014 Sonja

Last week I started working on my new crochet animal pattern, a crochet lynx. I am quite excited to make this animal. Before I start designing a new pattern, I always look online to see what other designers have come up with. First of all to be sure my pattern will be nothing like theirs but also just to see what is offered. When I searched for a crochet lynx pattern, there wasn’t much to find. This pattern might become rather unique, which makes it extra fun and challenging.

Lynxes are incredibly colourful animals. Their fur consist out of all kins of colour ranges and lynxes can also be spotted. To make the pattern simple and not to expansive for everyone to make, I will use three colours for this crochet lynx.

And one slightly silly note, I am quite awful in drawing cats. Drawing this basic sketch took me hours. I have no idea why that is, other animals aren’t a problem, but when I draw cats, they always look ridiculous. Fortunately this lynx does look fairly smart.