Tag: crochet animal patterns

Patterns

Drago, crochet crocodile pattern

Sonja

Is it a dragon? Is it an alligator? No, this is Drago, a cuddly crochet crocodile!

crocodile crochet pattern

After a long holiday break I am so glad to present this new crochet pattern. To be honest, I was a bit worried I might have lost the skill to come up with something good enough. Looking back now that’s me being a bit insecure. When I finished the head of this crochet animal I was so relieved. I made a sweet looking head which looked like an actual crocodile or alligator, like the kind and cuddly version of the fierce animal. Usually, when I design a new crochet doll, I look at many pictures of the real animal for inspiration and always am delighted by their beauty. On this case however, I mostly used pictures of plush crocodiles as inspiration. Of course I took some peeks at the real animal and kept its features in mind, but I didn’t fell in love with these reptiles.

Some of you might think when seeing Drago, ‘where are the special stitches you were going to do?’ Well, I later realised I am crocheting in a spiral, which means a popcorn based stitch, which creates the horny surface of the back, would never become symmetrical but the stitches would lean towards one side. That meant I needed to make a big flat piece you sew to the back which I don’t like. Also, when I had a prototype crochet crocodile, I liked the idea of a horny scaled chain much better. I was going to place two next to each other, which is most realistic, but that made Drago look way too bulky. My boyfriend said, ‘why don’t you just do one in the middle?’ So, I tried that and it look lovely. And exactly what I had unconsciously in mind in the first place as you can see in the sketch.

Anyway, to sum up this long story, Drago has become the friendly but recognisable crocodile I hoped. Here you can see him from another angle and below the picture you can find all the info about this crochet crocodile pattern and the links to buy it.

Amigurumi crocodile pattern

Info about & links to buy the pattern

This ever so fluffy and cuddly crocodile is made with Istex Lett Lopi, a worsted weight wool. He is 13.5 cm / 5.6 inch when sitting. All the additional information you need to know about this pattern you can find in the shop listings. You can buy this pattern in my shop at Ravelry, Etsy or order it here. It contains a clear and colour coded description of how to crochet and assemble the crocodile 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 friendly reptile.

And heads up, the pattern has a one dollar release discount till Friday the 30th.

Art

And the winner is…

Sonja

It was so hard to choose! I never realised that when I started this little contest. I though, ‘hey that will be fun’, till I saw all the funny and creative pictures. Some of you created these lovely settings, Popkes giving each other a haircut or stealing cookies out of a jar together. Also there were adventures Popkes who went rock climbing or visited Hogwarts (those were the extremely lucky ones!)

But a winner had to be chosen. For that I didn’t only look at the setting or idea, but also at the composition of the picture, the light, in basic the quality of the picture. With all that in mind, I came up with a shared first place but before I reveal the winners, I want to share a selection of the pictures.

And now the winners

Rock climbing mouse by Helen and the Popkes who are up to no good by Chris. Helen posted her picture on Instagram and Chris in my group at Ravelry. Her picture isn’t square, you can see it in its full glory here.

Helen and Chris, you are the winners. Please let me know the pattern you would like to have and I will email it to you!

Stories

The goofy croco sketch

Sonja

There are days I feel more like a housewife than a designer. After the holiday so many household chores needed to be done, I could hardly find the time to actually get back to work, even without having children…

For me the house needs to be clean and tidy before I can sit relaxed behind my desk, knowing all the time ahead is for me. Today all was set and done and what a delight. This is the result!

Goofycroco

I made a last crocodile sketch in watercolour and now am ready to enter the world of wool. I’ve been in the world of wool this summer, but that was for knitting, look what I made! Now it is time for my dearest friend, crocheting. I am going to try some new stitches for this crochet animal to get a fabulous crocodile texture, so this will be an all new adventure for me.

And keep your #popkejoy photos coming, I have seen some hilarious ones already!

Chit and Chat

Summer Popkes II

Sonja

Summer-blog

Hello everybody, it has been a while! I had a lovely and active summer holiday but the activity did not include any Popke designing. (It did include too much running away from deer flies who hunted us down in groups while hiking, but still we had a lot of fun.)

I am back now and as a last goodbye to my holiday, I happily present a new summer Popkes picture. Just look at those lazy animals, they don’t seem to be pining for Autumn as I am…

As many of you know, I started a Popke joy photography contest on Instagram. I received a lot of messages from crafters who don’t have Instagram but really want to join the contest. Amongst them are some dear friends and I decided to expand the contest. If you are a member of my Ravelry group, you can now find a thread there with everything you need to know about the contest and, do join, it is fun! I’ve already seen many Popke joy pictures there in the past. Actually, the crafters there came up with Popke joy in the first place, so it would be more then fair to have the contest there too.

You can now join the contest there or use the #popkejoy on instagram.

This holiday I did design the upcoming crocodile on paper, so be ready for a first glimpse of his sweet and kind looks this week.

It is good to be back!

Patterns

Friebel, crochet mouse pattern

Sonja

After many modifications to my original idea, Friebel the crochet mouse is finished!

House mouse crochet pattern

amigurumi mouse pattern

This pattern is the perfect celebration of all the little mice that came and visited my garden the past few months. It may be, that because of all those lively creatures, I became very critical about how my crochet mouse should look. When I started this pattern, I had a standing crochet mouse in mind. But when all the parts were finished and I had made a first prototype, the mouse looked like Bamse on a diet. Oh dear, that wasn’t at all good.

So, I frogged everything except for the rather sweet head and started all over. While working on a more classic doll shaped body, I realised it suited a crochet mouse much better as mice are such adaptable and playful animals. For the standing version I had made little pink hands and feet and when I gave the mouse doll such hands and feet, that didn’t work out either. Yet another modification had to be made. Even the tail became different that I had anticipated.

Of course there were moments during this process that I got annoyed I had to start over again, but that is a part of the designing process. Every crochet animal doll needs to have the proportions matching that specific animal and I cannot be satisfied until I adore what I see. There has to be a certain perfection in the cuteness. And in the end it is so rewarding to cherish the new creation.

Info about & links to buy the pattern

This cute mouse is made with Istex Lett Lopi, a worsted weight wool. He is 13 cm / 5.1 inch when sitting. All the additional information you need to know about this pattern you can find in the shop listings. You can buy this pattern in my shop at Ravelry, Etsy or order it here. It contains a clear and colour coded description of how to crochet and assemble the mouse with 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 little friend.

And heads up, the pattern has a one dollar release discount till Friday the 15th.

Art

Spring Popkes

Sonja

crochet animal patterns

This week I finally got the change to take a ‘Spring Popkes’ picture. Now I have a picture for every season. It was not an intended thing really, but once I had a summer and autumn picture and started to use them as my Twitter header, soon a winter one was made too. And as I was still using that one, it really seemed appropriate to update that one as soon as possible, as the snowy feel was long gone. But it rained, and was a bit cold still, so there were not so many (suitable low) flowers around yet. And popkes do not like laying outside in the rain or on a wet surface, so I had to wait.

But warmer days did arrive and I looked around for suitable flowers. Very close to where I live, I discovered daisies had made their first appearance in a grassy field and I love daisies! They are such delicate little flowers and perfectly small for Popkes to lay between. In all its silliness, this was the hardest season to capture.

Many of you also must be wondering what animal I am making next. It will be another pet animal, I am going for a dog!

Uncategorized

Bamse, crochet hamster pattern

Sonja

A new Popke has come to life. With pleasure and proud, I present Bamse the crochet hamster pattern.

hamster amigurumi crochet pattern

This whimsical little fellow has become my personal favourite. Maybe it is because I made him in memory of the funny little hamster I once had. Bamse has turned out to be such a characteristic looking doll, he could easily be the main character of a cartoon or children’s book. I often imagine him with a little Sherlock hat or a stick or other accessories. This crochet animal I find the perfect blend between realistic and made-up.

amigurumiWhen designing Bamse, I had to make quite a few heads to get that cheeky hamster look. And even after I decided I had the right look, I realised the back of the head still needed to be smaller. I love the shape of the body. Bamse his body looks like a bag of potatoes, just like I wanted it too. You know, chubby little hamsters are not known for their slender build.

The legs I designed a little different than usual, as I wanted this crochet hamster to have little hips. And, the tail is not visible in the pictures, but it is there, a little pink tail.

About the pink, I used a different yarn than Lopi for the hands, feet, tail and nose. Lopi does not have a suitable light pink so I choose a different DK weight yarn. Bamse is about 5 inch / 13 cm tall, just a little bit bigger than a real hamster.

Continue reading below the picture to find out how you can get this hamster amigurumi pattern.

realistic crochet hamster, haakpatroon hamster

Info about the crochet pattern

The pattern for Bamse the hamster you can find in my shop at Ravelry, Etsy or order it here. It contains a clear description of how to crochet and assemble the little hamster with 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 squeaky little friend.

And heads up, the pattern has a one dollar release discount till the end of March.

Art

Winter Popkes

Sonja

crochet animal patterns

Last night, I realised I probably had missed my change to make a winter Popkes picture. But this morning, when I looked out of the window, I was relieved to see there was still a bit of winter left, despite the rain of the night and it being a few degrees above zero.

This time I did not hesitate and took some of my crochet animals with me on a trip to the forest. Luckily for me, it was very snowy still and the light was just dazzling in the low winter sun. The winter Popkes picture was made.

Enjoy the rest of winter. I hope you crafters in the east of the US will not have it too rough. Be safe!

Patterns

Lopi, crochet lion pattern

Sonja

Look! Now we all can become lion tamers, the pattern is finished. You have already seen the teaser picture of Lopi the crochet lion, but here he is in full glory.

Lion amigurumi crochet pattern

amigurumi lion

This was a lovely crochet animal to design. The most intensive part of making this crochet lion was inserting all the manes. Before I started I had thought of different ways to make the manes. I could use a mane cap, or just sew in the manes. I decided to go for manes crocheted right into the stitches. It’s not very difficult to do and gives the perfect result. (You just fold a piece of thread in half and pull it through the top part of a stitch with your hook and then fold the tails of the thread through the loop.) When I had all the manes inserted, the lion looked rather silly with his reggae hair. But after brushing and cutting, and some more brushing and cutting, he looked absolutely marvelous. Even my first attempt had such a beautiful lion look. I decided to change the mane colour for the final version but definitely would use this technique. The rest of the lion was fun to make, especially the haired tail, which also looked splendid after the hairs were inserted.

This crochet lion is not very difficult to make. The crocheting bit is very easy but giving the lion the final haircut does require your own skills. I can’t exactly instruct how long each hair has to be. I explained it as good as possible and with help from the pictures I (always) add to the pattern, I think everyone will be able to give his or her lion a nice lion mane cut.

Now, where can I get this pattern?

The pattern for this glorious and cuddly crochet lion, you can find in my shop at Ravelry, Etsy or order it here. Lopi is 6 inch / 15 cm tall when sitting. He is made with Istex lett lopi, 100% wool. The pattern contains a clear description of how to crochet and assemble the lion 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 king of the savanna.

And heads up, the pattern has a one dollar release discount only the first week.