Sunday, 7 February 2010

Cork and Crochet: Knights

One of the ideas I tried out for the bazaar was to use corks and crochet 'skins' for them. It's a fun way to recycle old corks and makes cute little guys. Here is the first of the patterns: feel free to make these for your own personal use, or to raise money for good causes.




You will need:
Small amounts of grey and bright coloured yarn (red, green, blue or yellow) yarn.
Small piece of felt and length of yarn, both different colours to the main body of the knight.
A cork, approx 1.75" (4.5cm) long.

Black permanent marker pen (Sharpie).
4 mm (F) hook.

Abbreviations:
ch = chain
st = stitch or stitches
ss = slip stitch
sc = single crochet (US), double crochet (UK)
BLO = back loop only
FLO = front loop only
FO = fasten off

General instructions:
Work in rounds unless otherwise stated and do not join rounds unless told to. Use a stitch marker to mark the start of a round - a small piece of different coloured yarn placed under the stitch at the start of the round will do. To start a round, you can use the magic ring method, but I prefer (ch2, work 6 sc into 1st ch). If you work the 6 sc over the tail of yarn as well you can use that to pull the hole tight.

Work through both loops of stitches unless otherwise indicated.

Start using grey yarn:
Round 1: Ch2, work 6 sc into 1st ch - 6 sc.
Round 2: 2 sc in each sc around - 12 sc.
Round 3: [2 sc in next sc, sc in next 3 sc] 3 times – 15 sc.
Round 4 - 5: (2 rounds) Sc in each sc around - 15 sc.
Ch1, turn.
Row 1: Sc in next 10 sc, ch1, turn - 10 sc.
Row 2: Sc in next 10 sc, ch5.
Round 6: Sc into 1st sc of row 2, sc in next 9 sc, 5 sc over ch5 - 15 sc.
Sc in next 2 sc, change to bright coloured yarn and mark as start of round.
Round 7 - 11: (5 rounds) Sc in each sc around - 15 sc.
Change to grey yarn.
Round 12: Sc in each sc around - 15 sc.

Ss in next sc, FO and weave in end.

Cut felt into small shield shape and use contrasting yarn to sew onto body with a cross shape.

Use black yarn to sew a little mouth on the beard.
 Fit over cork and carefully draw face in the gap.








16 comments:

cleo said...

THanks for sharing!!! These are fantastic... how great are you for this idea ... recycle, educate (middle ages), hand craft AS WELL as a very valid excuse for opening a bottle of wine mid week!! BRAVO!!

Jkrue said...

lol, these guys are so cute!
you could make them for a chess game
I'd love to see what the kings and knights would look like

LucyRavenscar said...

Thank you! I'd definitely like to give a chess set a go, but you could also use these as pieces for a game like Ludo.

Anonymous said...

Merveilleuse idée!!!!!!! bravo! je vais en fabriquer pour mes petits gamins.... Merci....

Winterprism said...

These are soooo cute.. I found the link at Ravelry which directed me to Crafster where I followed a link to your blog.. Anyways. I was thinking that since corks float, maybe a person could do these with cotton yarn and use them as bath toys?? I don't know if it would work but it would be fun to find out!!! : ) Thanks so much for sharing, I am now following your blog, as well..

LucyRavenscar said...

Thank you! Good idea to make bath toys - let me know if you give it a go and if it works!

Kids craft ideas said...

Great tutorial! i will make it, thanks for sharing.

LucyRavenscar said...

Thanks! It's coming up to Christmas Bazaar time again, so I'll have to make some more myself.

Onin said...

They are so cute!!! I love them! It's a great idea! I'll try to do something like that.

LucyRavenscar said...

Thanks! I'd love to see photos if you do make them.

RedTedArt said...

Wow! These are the cutest little knights EVER! I am SO making a set this Christmas. Thank you!

LucyRavenscar said...

Thanks! Have fun making your army!

Olga said...

Thank you very very much for sharing your great idea. I made my own version of your cork creatures and I have called them Ganchicorchos. The are a perfect present. All people love them. If you want to see my Ganchicorchos, they are in my blog: http://teje-mundos.blogspot.com
They are also in Ravelry (I am Oladola)

Olly said...

Bellissimi!!!

Beautiful!!!
...and I have a lot of corks! (he! he! ;o) )
...the hardest part, for me, will be to venture with a crochet hook! : D

LucyRavenscar said...

Thank you! They're nice and simple to make, so just give them a try.

Olly said...

...yess!
I'll try!!!
(also cause I think it's the simplest thing I can do of this blog :D )

ciao!