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.
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.
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.
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.
Every so often I feel like painting a picture, creating an image where everything is possible. My crochet animals are the perfect theme for these illustrations, as I can make them come alive in a fairytale world. For my ‘working self’ there is nothing more exhilarating than combining my work as an illustrator with my crochet designs like this. It is so much fun and inspirational.
‘Floro and Finse’s wondrous autumn’ is a seasonal Popkes painting, the third in a series of four illustrations. I previously made a winter and spring illustration featuring my crochet animals. A summer illustration should be next on my list, but as summer is my least favourite season that probably will take a while.
I thought it would be interesting to show you a slideshow of the process of making this illustration. As you can see, blue is my white and the painting slowly gets its full colour.
It is no surprise to me that this illustration is my best loved so far, as autumn is my dearest season, it is those colours!
It has been a while since my last post. I have been fairly busy working on an autumn painting and we have been on a holiday to Zuid Limburg, the most southern province of the Netherlands. We stayed in a very basic holiday house but the surroundings where astonishing. The part of the Netherlands where I live is utterly flat but Limburg consists of beautiful hills. We enjoyed many hikes through the countryside and also visited parts of the Eifel in Germany, where the hills gradually change into mountains and where autumn has almost reached its full glory. It was such a beautiful holiday and I honestly miss those beautiful hills.
Here are some more pictures.
This week I will continue working on my painting and when it is finished, I am going to start on my upcoming crochet pattern, a lynx. I’ll keep you posted about the progress.
Enjoy autumn!
As desktop wallpaper I most often use one of my illustrations. Untill yesterday, my Christmas illustration featured on both my laptop and iPhone desktops, which obviously was becoming outdated. I had many ideas for new illustrations, but didn’t find the time to actually make one. After Jones was finished I decided to skip crocheting for a few weeks to paint a new illustration.
First I thought of making a strictly seasonal spring painting but also had the idea of a big field with fireflies in it. And by all means, it had to become a Son’s Popkes themed illustration. I decided to go for the field with fireflies, and Finse and Jonesy.
When the illustration was finished, I was not happy at all with the result. Somehow the colours didn’t seem right to me. As usual I’m starting to like the illustration now. It is not perfect, but I love the atmosphere and the expressions of the animals. It is probably some kind of an artist syndrome, not liking the result immediately….it always takes time for me to really love what I made and then I’m absolutely proud. It is a weird thing.
Well, now I’m back to crocheting. On a whim I decided I’m going to design a panda. Two leftovers of yarn caught my attention and I decided they had to become a panda. (Hopefully there is enough for the whole beast.) After that I’m back to my list of otter, mole and red panda. I don’t know the order in which I’m going to make them and a rat or mouse also is on my mind.
Enough to be done!
Finse and Jonesy’s night of fireflies is acrylic on canvas, 24 x 18 cm.
The Christmas holiday has started and I’m closing the previous period with a Son’s Popkes adventure.
A Son’s Popkes adventure by Sonja van der Wijk. Acrylic on canvas, 30 x 20 cm.
Finse, Falun and Rupert went into a dark forest to find themselves the perfect Christmas tree. It took them all day and by nightfall they finally found it and went back home.
I wish you all a great and fun time and a very cosy Christmas! On New Years day I’m back with an image post about dolls made by all of you. See you then!
Hedgehogs are fond of leaves. They love to rustle through them, to find food and when winter is arriving they nestle themselves in a nice pile of leaves and other bedding materials to keep them warm and cosy.
I couldn’t think of a better season to design a crochet hedgehog pattern. Here’s a first glimpse of Flims in a beautiful coloured autumn scenery.
I’m not finished yet with the pattern but it will be available next week.
Now I’m back to enjoying my favorite season, like hedgehogs rustling through the leaves, sniffing in all the lovely smells and watching the beautiful colours of autumn. I wish it could last forever….
When you don’t see them.
sonspopkes.com 