Tag: crafts

Stories

A little dilemma I had

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.

Bunsie-clean2But 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

Sonja

Lumi-out

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

Tuffs, crochet lynx pattern

Sonja

lynx crochet pattern amigurumi

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.

lynx amigurumi pattern, haakpatroon lynx

Tuffs-side

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.

 

Uncategorized

My Autumn

Sonja

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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.

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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!

 

Uncategorized

Brutus, crochet bat pattern

Sonja

bat crochet pattern, flying fox, fruit bat amigurumi

My crochet bat pattern is finished and what a lovely little scoundrel Brutus has become. I’ve called him Brutus, it sounded fun for a sweet looking bat.

Brutus is a very versatile crochet bat. He can both stand and sit and if you like a flying bat, you can have him hoover above your bed. This cool crochet bat can even close his wings when he goes to sleep, like this.

crochet bat pattern

When I designed this bat amigurumi, I had to keep in mind the size of the wings. To prevent him from becoming a huge doll, I made his body and head just a bit smaller than usual, so the eventual bat would have a pleasant size. Brutus has a span width of 10.2 inch/ 26 cm and is sitting 5.9 inch/ 15 cm tall.

For my crochet bat, I chose to give him thin and flexible wings, which can be folded and played with. For those of you who want to make a hanging flying bat, I would recommend to make the wings double, so they are more steady and will not curl. All is explained in the pattern of course.

Info about this crochet bat pattern.

The pattern for this cool crochet bat 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. Crocheting this bat isn’t all that difficult, but sewing the pieces together does requirer some patience. Brutus is made with two colours of Lètt Lopi yarn, a pure wool. In the pattern you can find what materials you need, the Lopi colour numbers, in short, everything you need to know to make this mystical crochet animal.

crochet animal, animals, haakpatroon vleermuis, halloween.

Patterns

Wasby, crochet raccoon pattern

Sonja

What’s with all that racket? It is Wasby, my new crochet raccoon pattern. Here he finally is! I’ve called him Wasby, as raccoons are called ‘wasbeer’ in Dutch.

With a nice frontal picture, meet my crochet raccoon!

This crochet raccoon pattern was a bit of a tricky one to make. When I started, I had many ideas of how to make this animal. I didn’t want the head to be round but it had to have wide cheeks like a real raccoon. The thing I had in mind of how to shape those cheeks didn’t work out that wel, so I had to think of something different. Also, the raccoon should not become too chubby, but just a bit, which meant I had to make a bunch of bodies before I got the right size. I wasn’t sure about the right colour for the hands and feet….dark or light? I made some test versions and decided to go for light and added some extra little details with the dark yarn.

I am very pleased with the end result. Wasby has become the raccoon doll I pictured. He has the right proportions and I love his realistic looking face. The fun thing about patterns like these are, you can do whatever you like, if you prefer dark feet, just go for dark. I’ve chosen rustic colours to make this raccoon, but white, grey and black will do too. You could even give the raccoon a more brown fur colour instead of grey.

Here are some more pictures of Wasby and below them you can find info about and links to buy this pattern.

Isn’t he a ferocious little crochet raccoon? This is my favourite picture of him. Wasby is sitting 5.1 inch/ 13 cm tall.

The crochet pattern for Wasby the raccoon you can find in my shop at Ravelry, Etsy or order it here. Wasby is made with Lett Lopi, a 100% wool. I have chosen to use a light beige for the light parts of the raccoon and the darkest brown you can find for the dark parts. It gives him a more warm and rustic look. In the pattern you can find a clear and colour coded description of how to crochet and assemble this animal, with extra illustrations and example pictures at the bottom to help you get everything right. In the pattern you can also find what materials you need, the yarn colour numbers, in short, everything you need to know to make your own whimsical raccoon amigurumi. All the additional information you need to know about this pattern you can find in the shop listings.

Art, Stories

Leaves and hedgehogs

Sonja

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.

Flims-leaves

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….