Roman Soldier Amigurumi Pattern

There's a brand new pattern in my Etsy shop, a cute little Roman Soldier, with a choice of three different styles of armour. I've been working on this new pattern for a while now - I made the original way back in 2011 as a Christmas present for my nephew, who was really into the Romans. I was also a bit inspired at the time by Doctor Who, which featured the character Rory becoming an immortal Roman. I started to work on turning it into a pattern earlier this year but I got a bit side-tracked by various other projects. However, now I've finished all the work on it, and it's ready to buy.

The pattern lets you make a Roman Soldier, about 6.5" tall with a choice of three different styles of armour. There are also details to make a helmet, a sword and scabbard, and a cloak.

Living in Britain, I've always been interested in the Romans, who left an indelible mark on our country. We live quite close to two Roman villas, and I've really enjoyed taking my boys there, especially when they have re-enactment groups showing off their outfits and moves (and their legs!).

I think my little Roman would be prefect for anyone who's fascinated by Roman history, young or old, or for any Doctor Who fans who loved Rory in his Last Centurion persona.

Happy 50th Doctor Who!

My crocheted Daleks are getting in on the Doctor's 50th anniversary celebrations today - they've got their party hats on and they're having a great time! I've been enjoying all the celebrations so far - I loved the wonderful 'Adventures in Space and Time' about the beginnings of the series, and I'm looking forward to 'The Day of the Doctor' that's on tonight.

If you want to make yourself a Dalek, you can find the pattern in my shops on Etsy or Ravelry

If your Daleks want to get in on the celebrations, here's the pattern to make them tiny party hats:

Party Hat

Abbreviations:
ch = chain
st = stitch or stitches
sc = single crochet (US), double crochet (UK)
FO = fasten off

General instructions:
Work in rounds and 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 (ch 2, 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.
You will need: 
Small amounts of two bright colours of yarn.
3.5mm (E) hook.
Tapestry needle.

Leave a short length of yarn when you start each colour.

Start using colour 1.
Round 1: Ch 2, work 6 sc into 1st ch - 6 st.
Round 2: [2 sc in next st, sc in next 2 st] 2 times - 8 st.
Change to colour 2.
Round 3: Sc in each st around - 8 st.
Round 4: [2 sc in next st, sc in next 3 st] 2 times - 10 st.
Change to colour 1.
Round 5: Sc in each st around - 10 st.
Round 6: [2 sc in next st, sc in next 4 st] 2 times - 12 st.
Change to colour 2.
Round 7: Sc in each st around - 12 st.
Round 8: [2 sc in next st, sc in next 5 st] 2 times - 14 st.
Change to colour 1.
Round 9: Sc in each st around - 14 st.
Round 10: [2 sc in next st, sc in next 6 st] 2 times - 16 st.
FO. Pull the start of the yarn for both colours and the end for colour 2 through the top of the hat to make little streamers. Cut to length.
Weave in the end of colour 1 or use it to sew the hat on (I just pinned mine on).

Dalek at the Doctor Who Prom

This summer there was a concert of Doctor Who music as part of the Proms season at the Royal Albert Hall. Sadly, I didn't get to go, but a crocheted Dalek made from my pattern did! Luckily, the person who made it for her friend's little boy let me know that it might have been filmed, so when the prom came on television I was watching with eagle eyes. I was so chuffed to have spotted it, and I took a photo of the Dalek menacing a Judoon (or was it the other way round?). It's not great quality, but hopefully you can see it.

 

Here's my original Dalek so you can see it a bit more easily:

 



Dalek Amigurumi Pattern

I'm a long time fan of Doctor Who - I started watching Jon Pertwee in the 1970s when I was very little, and I've loved it ever since, old series and new. The Daleks are a brilliant creation, scary and iconic, and I just had to crochet them. I made three a few years back, two for swaps and one for a present, but I never made any for myself. With the new season of Doctor Who just starting (and with the first episode featuring a selection of different types of Daleks) I knew I had to make them again.

I tweaked my original pattern a bit and came up with a design I'm really happy with. It's quite fiddly to make, but it has most of the essential details. I've made a classic grey and black Dalek from the 1970s and a bronze and gold one from the new series. However fearsome the real Daleks are, when they're reduced to 7 inches tall and made of yarn, they're suddenly much more cute and cuddly, and fun to play with. One of mine found a wig I'd made for something else and decided he'd look good in it. I can't decide if he looks like Boris Johnson or if it's one of Captain Kirk's!

You can download the PDF of the pattern from Etsy or Ravelry

Flappy Owls, and lots of other stuff I've been making

I don't seem to have posted here for a while, but I've definitely been busy.

I have just finished testing my Flappy Owl pattern, that appeared in Inside Crochet magazine last year. I can now sell it myself, so I made two more owls to test it, and because I wanted to see what Hedwig would look like in a pullover! It's a fun pattern to make, and I would love to try out all sorts of different colour combinations. You can buy the pattern in my Etsy shop.

 

Over the winter I've been working on all sorts of amigurumi, for friends, presents, and even for myself. I'm a fan of the old tv show, Blake's 7, and so I made a friend a little Blake and Avon. They were finished late just before conventions so I didn't get good photos, but here's one he took:

I also made myself one of the creatures that appears in one of the episode, a hairy, horned critter called Og, to take to the convention.

I then decided to make a present for one of my nephews. As he likes Romans I thought I'd make him an amigurumi one, and because I'm a Doctor Who fan I based it on Rory. I had a lot of fun making the helmet.

Then, as a present to myself, I used the same basic pattern I'd been using for Rory, Blake and Avon and made a little Frodo, with a removable cloak. I'll probably develop this pattern so it could be used to make all sorts of other characters.

I've also been busy making various fun little toys for our school's Christmas bazaar, so I'll start writing up the patterns for those and posting them here. And I've been working on my Totoro patterns, improving them and coming up with a version of the grey totoro as well as smaller versions of the blue and white ones. I'll be posting the completed patterns for those very soon.

My claim to fame

I never know how to start the first post of a blog, and this is my first proper blog, so I don't have much experience. Why have I started this? Well, I like making things, and whilst I already post photos up on Flickr and show things off on Craftster (as Angry Angel), I thought it would be nice to have one place where I could keep everything together.

I have a few projects that I've been working on - I'm re-writing my free patterns and will post them here, I've recently finished a new crochet creature ready to go into my Etsy shop, and I'm busy designing cute little Star Wars amigurumis - but for my first post I thought I'd share my geeky crochet claim to fame.

Nearly two years ago I was contacted by a television production company asking if they could use a photo of Wicket the Ewok that I had crocheted. I said yes, but never heard anything else from them.

Then, last autumn an eagle-eyed crafter contacted me and said she'd seen him on a Channel 4 programme, Bring Back.... Star Wars, with Justin Lee Collins. I checked out the repeat, and there he was! The show has Justin contacting the various actors from Star Wars and trying to get them back together. He had a big board with photos with all the actors, generally publicity shots from their agents. But bizarrely, for Warwick Davies they had a copy of my picture! Anyway, I was very excited to see my Ewok on telly. Here it is on YouTube, you can see the picture after 4m 30s : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhdbFVMY6DM&feature=related

However, this was just the beginning. Not long after that I had an email from Hat Trick Productions, asking if they could use my photo of a crocheted Dalek and Doctor Who for an episode of Have I Got News For You with Tom Baker as the guest host. Of course, I said yes (they paid me too, which was even better!), and since HIGNFY is filmed only a day before it's shown, I soon got to see my creations up on screen. Having advance notice was good because I got to tell a few friends and family so they could watch too.

Here's the clip on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pYj82q2SDQ - my photo turns up 1m 20s in. I was rather pleased that none of the panellists were rude, it even got a couple of jokes!

So, that's got me started. If anyone would like to make their own Wicket the Ewok watch this space. I originally put up a simplified tutorial on Craftster, but I've written into a more conventional format and as soon as I've given it a test, I'll be posting my pattern here.