design

A barn owl pattern in progress

September 23, 2019 Sonja

Some of you know already I am working on a barn owl pattern. A while ago I posted a picture of the face I designed on Instagram and I’ve been busy working on the body. At the same time I’ve been working on other things and everything isn’t going as speedily as I had hoped for.

So here’s a little progress update. Last week I finished the barn owl’s body, thinking this would be the final version. But I am not completely satisfied just yet. I tried something new to attach the tail and wings seamlessly and it looks very neat, but new things take more time.

In the picture you see prototype 2. I want to use a lighter colour for the wings and back. Also, I don’t like how the spots on the belly are positioned, I tried to make them look random, but they’ve become quite geometrical on the right side (in this picture). And I think the chest needs to be a bit wider, the wings are too close to each other. I’m hoping to publish the barn owl pattern the first or second week of October and it looks like I am going to make that date!

I’ve also been working on a crazy little free pattern, a little creature many of us don’t like to have in high numbers in our gardens, but hedgehogs do. Yes, they will be cute! That pattern will be available here by the end of this week.

And what could it possibly be?

Chit and Chat

An experiment

April 19, 2019April 19, 2019 Sonja

Hi dear crafters,

Just writing this short post to let you know I’m going to try something new. It might sound like a big thing, but not to worry, my style will never change. What I am going to do is trying a new type of body. For a long time I’ve been thinking about making more flexible crochet animals. The idea is that these dolls can lie on their bellies, but can also sit upwards. To make them more soft and flexible I’m thinking of using a different, thinner yarn, called Drops Alpaca.

I have no idea if this will work, and maybe I’m able to get the right result with Lett Lopi, but I need some time to work it out.

I also hope to create a type of body that needs less assembling in the end. Sno & Snoosle and Poochey & Fudge already are a start of that, but I want to take it a few steps further, where you create holes from where you later can crochet ahead for the arms and legs. I’m very curious myself how that will work out.

I’m very excited about this for a while now and finally decided to give it a go. I’m starting with a playful little fox. I can’t promise there will be a pattern soon, but I’ll try my best to create the fox pattern I have in mind.

Happy Easter for now!

Chit and Chat

Working on Ida monkeys

February 16, 2017 Sonja

Hi peeps, it seemed appropriate to give you an update about what I’m up to. I am doing something I normally would not do. I am making two Ida monkeys as assignments. When I started Adi’s pattern, I planned on making an extra monkey for my friend and illustrator Esther van Hulsen. But I didn’t plan on making another one. When Esther showed Adi to the professor that bought the Ida fossil, he was so delighted with the result he wanted to have one too. Well, I could not reject that, it felt fair to make him one too.

So, now I am working on the monkeys. I have to change their appearance a bit to make these look exactly like Esther’s version, but that makes it more fun.

You probably wonder why I never take assignments to make animals. Well, the main reason is that I get attached to them. When working on them I start to love them and have trouble giving them away. Also, if I would take more assignments like these, it would mean I would be constantly making the same animals and have less time designing new patterns, and that is what I love doing most. Every time it’s a challenge to create a new and fabulous looking doll and it keeps me fresh!

Now about a new design. I haven’t decided yet what animal I am going to make after I have these monkeys finished and I am open to suggestions. If you come up with something I really like, it might be the animal I am making next. So don’t be shy and let me know what you would like to see!

Patterns

Pudding & Cake, crochet guinea pig patterns

November 15, 2016February 24, 2020 Sonja

With a lot of excitement and some pride, I present to you Pudding and Cake, my crochet guinea pig patterns. Meet the furry little boys!

Not one crochet guinea pig pattern but two? Well yes! I started by making a sketch as I always do and somehow got to a final one showing two cuddly guinea pigs. At first that was just the lovely sketch but the further I got with making Pudding, I felt like actually making that second piggy on all fours too. My basic idea was to make a standing guinea pig, a whimsical character like most of my crochet animals are. I think because guinea pigs have a special place in my heart (I have had them when I was little and for the last 10 years too), it felt so natural to make Pudding a friend.

My crochet animals usually are a blend between a realistic looking animal and a playful doll shaped character. For the second piggy I decided to go for a more classical shape, standing on all fours. As that isn’t really my thing, it felt a bit odd designing an animal like that so I tried best to capture the playfulness my patterns normally have. And I had to, making Cake a perfect match to Pudding. Don’t they make the cutest pair? I’m a bit stunned myself, they look so adorable and funny together with their wild looks.

When I started designing Pudding, I really wanted to give my crochet guinea pig the appearance of the abbesinian guinea pig, my favourite type. But adding yarn like lion’s manes felt a bit too much, so I decided to go for brushing. Brushing the crochet surface gives an animal such a wonderful look and is so easy to do too. All you need is a hard brush and some courage.

Now about the patterns. Both piggies are about 5,5 inch/ 14 cm tall and made with Isex Lett Lopi wool. There are three versions you can buy.

A discounted duo pattern with both Pudding and Cake’s pattern to make the pair. You can buy this pattern in my shop at Ravelry and Etsy.
The pattern for Pudding. You can buy this pattern in my shop at Ravelry and Etsy.
The pattern for Cake. You can buy this pattern in my shop at Ravelry and Etsy.

You can order them directly from me here too.

All three versions contain a clear and colour coded description of how to crochet and assemble the piggies with example pictures at the bottom to help you get everything right. In the patterns you can also find what materials you need, the yarn colour numbers, in short, everything you need to know to make them. All the additional information you need to know about the patterns you can find in the shop listings.

Here are some extra pictures of the separate crochet guinea pigs.