Dwarf amigurumi pattern

My latest pattern, to make a selection of crochet Dwarves, is finally finished. I started working on this pattern nearly two years ago, but it kept getting put aside for other projects, and I rather lost the urge to get on with it. Then recently, when I was deciding which pattern to work on next, I looked at the one dwarf I had already made, and figured I might as well finish what I'd started and design a few more companions for him. Once I got started I really enjoyed coming up with different looks for the dwarves, and was very glad that I had chosen to work on this pattern!

I made five different dwarves, two female and three male, with all sorts of different looks and accessories. They fit with my other fantasy amigurumi characters, the slightly taller Elves and the smaller Halflings. Dwarves are another classic fantasy race, originally found in Norse and Germanic myths, that have become solidified in modern imagination from books such as The Hobbit and C. S. Lewis' stories of Narnia. They now feature in all sorts of films, books, and especially role playing games, both computer ones and table-top versions such as Dungeons and Dragons.

Dwarves are usually portrayed as being short and stocky, with impressive beards. Female dwarves do not appear so much in literature and film, and so there is no tradition of how they appear. Sometimes, as in Terry Pratchett's Discworld, they are indistinguishable from male dwarves, but games usually show them as bare faced. They don't feature except as background characters in Peter Jackson's Hobbit films, but I was interested to see that he gave them just hints of facial hair. I made my female dwarves without beards, just to show what they'd look like, and so as not to hide the different shape of their bodies, but there's no reason they couldn't have beards as well.

Most stories about dwarves tend to agree that they live underground, and are experts at mining and working metal. They are usually considered to be tough, and good at fighting, so I made my dwarves with warm, practical clothes (mostly crocheted as part of their bodies), including leather belts and wrist guards. I also included extra items that are made separately, such as a sleeveless coat, a simple cloak and a warm hat.

The pattern contains all the details to make these five characters, with different clothes, three different hairstyles (pulled back, loose, and spiky and shaved at the sides), and two sizes of beard. You can also make armour and weapons for them - there is a pattern for a helmet, with or without wings, a round shield, an axe and a war hammer.

You can buy this pattern from Etsy, Ravelry or LoveCrochet. Use all these details to make a dwarf look the way you want, by mixing and matching the different elements and accessories. If anyone makes one themselves, I'd love to see what your dwarf looks like!

Fantasy Amigurumi - Elves

You may have seen from my previous post that I'm working on a series of Fantasy amigurumi characters. I've already designed a pattern to make Halflings, and now my pattern to make Elves is finished. Elves originally came from European mythology and folklore and have now become part of modern fantasy books, films and games.

I've made four different Elves, two male and two female, to give a selection of options for people who want to make their own Elves.

Elf Warrior: He has long blond hair, pulled back into a braid, and a green tunic. He also has a separate hooded cloak and a sword.

 

 

 Elf Archer: He has dark, mid-length hair and a tunic with wrist guards. I made him a cloak and a bow with a quiver full of arrows.

Elf Princess: She has long dark hair with a silver head-dress, and a long blue dress.

Elf Sorceress: She is wearing a short top, a long skirt with splits, arm protectors and shoulder armour. She has pale mid-length hair and long pointed ears, and she carries a staff with a magical orb at the top.

 

 

All the Elves are about 6.5" tall, compared to the Halflings that are 5.5" tall. I'm now working on a Dwarf pattern, but I'm not sure whether to make a female Dwarf. As a Discworld fan, I always think female Dwarfs should look the same as male ones, but I don't think this is the case in various games, or in The Hobbit from the glimpses we saw of Dale at the start of An Unexpected Journey. I'd really appreciate hearing people's views on this.

The Elf pattern is available to download from my Etsy shop.

Witches and Wizards

Fantasy has always been my favourite genre of books and films, so I thought I'd design some cute lttle amigurumis of various classic fantasy characters. Given that it's nearly halloween it seemed like a good idea to start with witches and wizards.

There are lots of great books featuring witches and wizards - Terry Pratchett's Discworld books have brilliant witches like the formidable Granny Weatherwax and the young but powerful Tiffany Aching, and Unseen University is home to a wonderful collection of  bickering wizards. One of the great things about the Harry Potter books is the fun J K Rowling has with all the eccentric characters in their amazing outfits and Tolkien, of course, created a classic and iconic character with Gandalf, the archetypal old, wise wizard.

One of my favourite books when I was little was The Witch Family by Eleanor Estes (if you've never heard of it you can take a look at some of it here: http://tiny.cc/wpl9p). It has lovely line drawings by Edward Ardizzone of a little witch girl, and the most adorable witch baby, which were definitely an inspiration for my designs.

My pattern is now for sale in my Etsy shop - and with it there are instructions for all the variations to make a mini witch or  wizard (just 4.5" tall) with several different looks.