Tag: wip

Stories

A barn owl pattern in progress

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

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!

 

Art, Stories

Badger update

Sonja

Hi crafty folks, I just wanted to give you and update on the progress of the badger. Here is a little teaser image for you.

I have a first badger finished and it is already sitting on my bedside table. Now you probably are thinking ‘what am I supposed to do with that info?’ Well, when a doll is finished, I always bring it with me to the bedroom, because I want to have it close to me. You know, like when you were a kid and put your new shoes next to your bed. Or was that only me?

Anyway, now you probably will understand I love this badger plushy to bits. It wasn’t easy to create this more realistic shaped pattern and I got stuck many times. I will tell all about that when I publish the pattern. What I can say now is that this crochet badger means a lot to me. Badgers are me favourite animals and after seeing one in the wild this summer it is very special to now have a homemade miniature badger next to my bed. I think this badger radiates my love for the animal and will make a very special pattern for all animal and badger lovers out there.

And one more thing. This crochet badger is brushed and to be sure all the proportions are good before I could do the promo and pattern photoshoot, I had to finish a first badger. I also want pictures in the pattern of how you assemble the animal, so I needed an unfinished doll for that purpose. I am happy to say everything turned out good so that means I will have two almost identical badgers. Maybe I will sell one off them. I have to think about that.

See you next week 🦊

Chit and Chat

Realistic animals

Sonja

For a long time I have been fantasising about making realistic animals. Even now, most of my patterns are more realistic looking than many crochet animal doll patterns around, but they are dolls. The idea of making a real looking animal is extremely tempting. It makes me feel excited and I think I’m able to do it.

This Summer I was so incredibly lucky, I saw a badger in broad daylight, in the middle of the afternoon and very closeby. It was amazing, I was completely flabbergasted. The badger was foraging in bushes very close to where we walked, then saw us and disappeared till it decided to cross the path a bit further away from us anyway and passed us again. We had enough time to be amazed first and then got a proper look! It felt like the badger was there just for me to see it.

Now you can guess the realistic animal I am going to make, yes, a badger! I’m looking so forward to start working on it. And no worries, I will never stop making ‘Popkes’ (little dolls), that’s just too much fun. And because I never made a realistic animal before, I have now idea if I will succeed. Let’s hope it will work out and there will be a pattern in the nearby future.

Back to little dolls for now, there is one that is almost ready to get published, the sloth. And oh, what a joy I had making the sloth.

At first, I didn’t even felt like making a sloth. Ashamed as I am, I must admit I found them quite hideous. Many people seemed to like them a lot and I often got requests if I could make a pattern for one. Then I decided to ask in my Ravelry group which animal pattern people were looking forward to and the sloth won.

By change, I had just bought the cutest ever sloth calendar and started to look better at them. I got enchanted by their utterly sweet and loving face. They might have the strangest body proportions, but they have the most kind face you can imagine. I soon started to love them and couldn’t wait to get the pattern ready. Here’s a little preview of my sloth’s sweet and mischievous face.

We’ll meet here soon when I publish the pattern!

 

Chit and Chat

New pattern to arrive soon

Sonja

What will it be? I’ve been a bit lazy with my updates here. Since I use Instagram I regularly post pictures there of the things I am working on and it kinda slips my mind to also write about it at my blog. Nowadays I use this place to publish the patterns. Hope you don’t mind. If you like to see the WIP’s, just check my Instagram account.

But now I am here, I can tell you all about what I am making at the moment. A big, slender spotted cat, yes a cheetah pattern. It’s almost finished and my dear editor is testing the pattern as we speak.

I never made a cheetah because of its spottiness, but they are one of my favourite big cats. Especially juvenile cheetahs with their silly wild fur are too ridiculously cute to be real. I love the expressive face of cheetahs too and was a little bit worried if I could manage to get that right. But I think I did. What do you think?

You just have to wait till the end of the week to find the pattern here. Enjoy it in all its Autumnal fury!