Baby Yoda

So, who's watching the new Star Wars series, The Mandalorian? Not me unfortunately, because it's not available in the UK, but without even looking for spoilers I can't help but see images of the adorable baby Yoda that features in the show. It's not actually Yoda as a baby, but a member of his species, which doesn't have a name. The first thing I noticed when I looked at pictures of the cute little baby was that it looked a lot like my mini amigurumi of Yoda which appears in the Star Wars Crochet Kit and which is a small and very simplified version of Yoda.

So, I decided to try adapting that pattern a little to make it more like the baby in the show. If you have the Star Wars Crochet Kit then you can use these variations and make yourself your own tiny Baby Yoda. (Please note, I'm using US stitch names).

Follow the instructions to make the Head and Body as they are in the book, but use 9mm safety eyes for that big-eyed baby look.
After making the head change to dark beige yarn for the body on round 11.
When you get to round 20 don't change to green yarn and don't make the feet, just work 27 sc around.

Baby Yoda's ears are proportionally larger, so make them as follows:
Rnd 1: ch 2, work 6 sc into first ch - 6 st.
Rnd 2: 2 sc in each st around - 12 st.
Rnd 3: 2 sc in each of next 2 st, (hdc, dc) in next st, ch 1, (dc, hdc) in next st, ss in next st - end round here and FO.
Follow the rest of the instructions in the book to shape and attach the ears.

Start making the arms as described in the book, then after round 2 change to light beige yarn and work 6 x 2dc bobbles around. Change to dark beige yarn and work rounds 3 - 6 as in the book, miss round 7 and work round 8 as described.

To make the cowl neck collar using light beige yarn:
Ch 26.
Row 1: miss ch next to hook, sc in next 25 ch, ch 1, turn.
Row 2: sc in next 25 st, ch 1, turn.
Row 3: sc in next 25 st, FO.
Pin around the neck and top of the arms with the starting chain at the top. Overlap at the front as shown then sew in place. Fold over and secure the front with a couple of stitches.

I hope you enjoy making your own little Baby Yoda!

Star Wars Crochet in Spanish

I've recently been sent a copy of my Star Wars Crochet book that has now been published in Spanish. I can't speak Spanish myself, but here are all the details on the publisher's website.

Mi libro Star Wars ganchillo está ahora disponible en español. Todos los detalles aquí en el sitio web de la editorial: http://www.planetadelibros.com/kit-star-wars-crochet-libro-201117.html

Star Wars Crochet Kit

 

Well, my Star Wars Crochet kit is finally out, at least in the US.

The kit contains a book with the patterns for 12 Star Wars characters - Boba Fett, C-3PO, Chewbacca, Darth Vader, Wicket the Ewok, Han Solo, Jabba the Hutt, Luke Skywalker (Jedi), Princess Leia, R2-D2, Stormtrooper and Yoda - as well as the yarn, hook and eyes to make Yoda and the Stormtrooper.

 

The kit is published by Thunder Bay in the US, you can find it listed on Amazon, although it will be available in other stores. It's also due to be published shortly in Australia/New Zealand by Hardie Grant under their Chirpy Bird imprint. Hopefully it will be released in other countries too, but there's no information about that at the moment. It is listed on Amazon UK though, due out in May.

 

It's really exciting to see my patterns made into a book like this. I love the photographs of the characters, mixed with stills from the films in the book, and it was wonderful to be told that Lucasfilm were thrilled with the way the book came out!



Star Wars Mini Amigurumi

Well, I've finally done it! I've designed all my Star Wars amigurumi to my satisfaction, written up the patterns, photographed them, put the patterns together and put them all on Etsy!

I've been working on these little Star Wars guys on and off for a couple of years. Partly inspired by my and my children's love of Star Wars, and the way Star Wars Lego looks so cute, I realised that I wanted to crochet mini versions of all my favourite characters. It's taken so long because of wanting to keep them stylistically similar even though the characters are very varied. I also wanted them to be different sizes, so that Leia is taller than R2-D2, and Vader is taller than Han, for example, but not perfectly proportionally, or Chewie ends up being too tall. As it is, Yoda is 2.5" tall and Chewbacca is 4.5" tall, with the rest fitting in between them.

I made Yoda first, he's pretty simple and easily identifiable, then Leia (my favourite character, the one I identify with) whose iconic hairstyle is perfectly suited to be reproduced in crochet. Neither of these two had legs, Yoda with his robe and Leia her dress, so when it came to most of the other characters I wasn't sure how to make them. I knew I wanted them to have big feet, and to stand up easily, and so I made them without separate legs, but simply defined them with yarn afterwards, a solution which I'm really happy with.

Some of them took longer than others to perfect. I wasn't sure if C-3PO would work, but I was happy with him straight away. Vader, on the other hand, I just couldn't get right. His head, his face mask, how much detail to give him. Since his costume is almost entirely black it's very hard to define any details. I made him several times with a flat triangular mask and it wasn't until I made it more three-dimensional that I was satisfied.

The Ewok was tough, too. I made him in a completely different way with his hood as part of his head, which I thought I liked, but when I came to write the pattern up it just seemed too unnecessarily complicated. since I'd just been making my crocheted cork knights I realised I could use a similar technique to make a simple separate hood, which I much preferred.

Apart from fine-tuning his height, I liked my Chewbacca, which I made with an alpaca mix yarn then brushed, but I realised that finding that particular type of yarn might be difficult. So I also made him using a normal smooth acrylic yarn that had various different browns in it and which brushed up just as nicely with a wire pet brush.

Anyway, I'm very happy with the finished patterns. If they prove to be popular I'll have to work on some more characters - I think I'll do Boba Fett and Obi Wan next. If you want to see more photos, check out my Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/96575205@N00/), and if you'd like to buy any of the patterns just go to my Etsy shop (http://www.lucyravenscar.etsy.com/).

***Latest news July 2014***

 

Not all these patterns are available for sale now, as they are going to be included in a new Star Wars crochet book, due to be published Spring 2015.