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

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.