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.

Pattern and Yarn Giveaway

I'm involved with a massive new giveaway where you stand the chance of winning crochet and knitting patterns, and all sorts of yarn. It's been organised by Melody's Makings - just click to go to her page to find out what you need to do to enter, and to check out all the prizes on offer.

If you win my prize, you will be able to choose from the patterns in my Etsy shop and pick any you want up to the value of £13.20 (over $21). That means you'd be able to select 4 or 5 of my patterns, such as:

Flora the Elephant

Adorable Monster

Flappy Owl

Tooterphants

Finn and Jake

 Halfling

 

Elf

 

I hope you'll want to enter this giveaway, and if you do, good luck!

Yarnbomb Creatures

Back in June I posted about a charity yarnbomb that was taking place on 25th August. They were trying to break the world record for the largest display of crocheted items, in the process decorating the garden of a children's hospice. I managed to make a few things and send them along before I went on holiday, and I was delighted to discover that they smashed the record with 13388 items! The Craft Club have got lots of photos on their Facebook  page if you want to look, seeing so many adorable crocheted creations together is amazing.

Because I was a bit short of time, I found a few things I'd made previously and sent those along too, but I did manage to make a few new things. This little toadstool guy:

 

Three baby owls, using eyelash/fringe yarn:

 

 

 

And two Snorks, little friendly trolls, made using fun fur type yarn:

 

 



 



 



Alpaca Family Pattern

My Alpaca Family pattern, which previously appeared in Crochet Gifts magazine, is now available in my Etsy shop and on Ravelry.

With this pattern you make two sizes of alpaca, baby and adult. They've just been shorn, but they still have lovely floppy fringes. I used Stylecraft Alpaca DK, which is an acrylic yarn with 20% alpaca yarn in the mix, to give them a lovely soft feel. You can make them in fun bright colours, as I did, or use more natural shades.



 Make just one, a family, or a whole farm of them!

Exciting News!

Twelve of my Star Wars patterns are going to be appearing in a new Star Wars crochet pattern book! Published by becker&mayer! Books, it's due out in Spring 2015. I can't tell you much more than that at the moment, but I'll keep you updated with information as I get it.

I still have the five patterns below for sale on Etsy, just follow the link to my shop to see all the listings in detail.

The Craft Club Charity Yarnbomb

If you crochet or knit you've probably come across the concept of yarnbombing, where you decorate an outdoor space with a bit of crochet or knitting. I've always thought it was a cool thing to do, but haven't tried it myself yet. However, now I and anyone else who wants to can join in with a charity yarnbomb organised by The Craft Club in Essex. They are asking anyone who can crochet to try to help them break the world record for the largest display of crochet sculptures. They need 4061 items which will be displayed in the Little Havens Hospice Garden on 25 August 2014. Here's the details:

"We want to creater a magical garden scene for the children to discover, and so our theme is Enid Blyton's The Magic Faraway Tree stories. Any crocheted items that fit our theme would be welcome... woodland creatures such as hedgehogs, squirrels, rabbits and owls, fantastical characters such as goblins, fairies and troll, flora such as flowers, cherries, acorns, strawberries and mushrooms."

You can contact them for more information (see the poster above for the email) and you can  find them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecraftclubyarnbomb/timeline

I've got lots of free patterns that should be perfect for this, and most of them are small, so they'd be quick to work up. Here are some ideas, click on the patterns on the list to the right for the details of each pattern.

All the Totoros:

 

Mini Fuzzy-haired Troll:

Fierce Little Dragon:

Pet caterpillar or worm:

Tiny Rabbit:

Easter Bunny:

 Wizard's Owl:

Mini Frog:

I also have several patterns in my shop that would be good. I think I'll make a creature using the Little Folk pattern (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/85800576/pdf-of-little-folk-amigurumi-pattern-elf?):

There's also Flappy Owl (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/94316165/pdf-of-flappy-owl-amigurumi-pattern?):

The Wee Mousies (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/127288010/pdf-of-wee-mousie-amigurumi-pattern?):

Mother and Child Spirits (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/79959886/pdf-of-mother-and-child-spirit-amigurumi?):

Small Spirits (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/62106076/pdf-of-small-spirit-amigurumi-pattern?):

Halfling (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/150079653/pdf-of-halfling-fantasy-amigurumi?):

Or the Chubby Gnomes (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/71474468/pdf-of-chubby-gnome-amigurumi-pattern?):

I hope that's inspired some of you to make something (or things) to help with this, it'll be fun!

Hollywood Crochet

I'm afraid I haven't been updating this blog very often recently, but that's because I've been working on commissions that I can't talk about until they're finished, which is quite frustrating. Last year I worked on a pattern book, Hollywood Crochet, and created patterns for six Hollywood stars. There were some delays with the book coming out - it comes with the yarn to make one of the figures, and unfortunately there wasn't enough yarn in there originally - but now that's been sorted out and it's available to buy I thought I'd post about it.

The patterns are for Elvis (with yarn), Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, James Bond (Daniel Craig), and Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCapprio in their roles from Titanic. It was fun working out all the figures, particularly trying to do different styles of hair using various crochet techniques, and I was especially happy with the way Marilyn's iconic dress came out.

The book is published by Parragon Books, just search online to see where you can buy it depending on where you live.