A little Christmas Star Wars Cheer

So procrastination has gotten the best of me and the rush to finish a few crocheted Christmas gifts has kept me without much sleep in the last day and night. I have finished one of the gifts today (after burning the midnight oil until about 6am and starting all over again at 11am today...whew!) This FO was well worth the hours of work and sleeplessness as this lil guy turned out awesome. This gift is for my brother who is one of the biggest Star Wars geeks I know, who just so happens to be one of the few loyalists who like and appreciate those adorable butt-kicking Ewoks of Endor from Return of the Jedi.

So you ask, what better gift for a fan of the Ewoks and a fan of the 6th installment of Star Wars....of course...an Amigurumi Wicket!!


The pattern I used was manipulated from an original pattern ("Wicket-the-Ewok") by Lucy Ravenscar found on Ravelry. The Pattern is also available at Craftster. I switched up a few things, just to make it my own and to adapt to my style of crochet.

This project was challenging in the following ways:

• The torso is worked in 1 piece from the bottom up. This is a different technique that was very effective for the shape of the lower body, but not one I am accustomed to using, I plan on using similar methods in the future for legs/feet. The single torso structure aids in stability and form.

Wicket Torso with toe detail

• The pattern called for using a 3 dc bob stitch for the hands/arms and a 3 dc pop stitch for the feet/toes. Both of these stitches were a first for me. I ended up scrapping the 3 dc bob stitch for the fingers/hands and utilized a basic arm in the round instead. The finger work was a bit cumbersome to work with and I felt they ended up a tad too busy. I kept the special stitch 3 dc pop for the toes as they were great for the balance and overall look of the ami

Standard Arms worked in the round

• There were 2 options for creating the face/head of Wicket. I opted for the more detailed and challenging of the two: Head #1 which uses embroidery detailing for the face and mouth. This was the most time-consuming aspect of the project, but all the time and effort that went into the detailing was well worth it! 

Wicket Head with embroidery detail

• There were 2 options for creating the cowl. I originally was going to move forward with using felt for the cowl, which would have been a bit quicker, and the color I had picked out was nearly spot-on...something just told me to go for the crochet method for the cowl. Even though the yarn I had in my stash was a dark burnt orange vs a lighter russet color (which is more accurate) I think it makes the Ami a bit more unique & crocheting it was a blast! The cowl was worked in 2 parts (front/back) then whip stitched together & slipped over the head (So yes...it can be removed!)

Wicket Cowl

Overall, I am super excited to give this gift to my brother tonight, as I know he will be excited! The only hard part is giving Wicket away, as he turned out so cute, & a part of me wants to keep him for myself....I guess I can always make another one!!

Wicket!

Wicket (Back view)

Now onto the next gift....

    

Thanks for reading!

WIPW: Week 24

Well...it has been a while since my last blog post (which was the week before xmas!) I took a much needed break from the crochet world, as I felt I was overworking myself to finish soooo many WIPs in the weeks leading up to xmas. I tell you , I crocheted down to the wire, i.e., xmas eve! I have not stopped crocheting by any means, but I have been fair to myself, by not imposing too many deadlines that are stressful! That being said, I have a few WIPs and FOs to share with you all this week :)

1st FO for 2011:
BUTTERFLY HAT

Well...I can't believe that it is a new DECADE! 2011...wow! There are quite a few bdays in my family in January (including mine ;) and that being said, a few gifts that just had to be made. The 1st of the projects I started on and finished within a day to get them ready for my Sis-In-Law's bday, which was on January 8th.

Her fav color is HOT PINK, so it was easy to choose a color scheme. I used Red Heart Shimmer in Hot Pink #1715.














The yarn is 97% acrylic and 3% metallic polyester.

Now, deciding on what to make her was a bit tricky. She loves accessories, and has been trying out some new short hair stylings. I immediately thought that she would look adorable in a 30s flapper/cloche style hat. I researched the MANY, MANY patterns that are available on Ravelry, and finally decided on Olivia's Butterfly by Valerie Whitten. The little butterfly detail would be adorable! I read over the pattern and realized that the hat was made for a child, so I had to tinker with the pattern a tiny bit to make it large enough for an adult size. It wasn't too difficult, as I just added 2 more rounds of increase to the pattern. For the finishing touches I added a pink crystal bead to the center of the butterfly detail, to add a bit more bling to the hat.

Here is a pic of it:

...and I was right....

It does look adorable on her.

My 2nd FO for 2011 came about the same night that I finished the butterfly hat. My Mother loved it so much, that I just had to whip up one for her. I received a red/black ombre hand-dyed wool yarn for Xmas, and figured it would be perfect for her. To add a little bling to my Mothers version of the hat, she requested I add random red sequins throughout the hat. I really enjoyed the effect.

Here it is:

Mothers Butterfly Cloche

3rd FO for 2011:

GIRLIE BOT

I decided to make a 2nd gift for my Sis-In-Law, something a little bit fun, that she could keep on her desk at work. Naturally I decided to make her an Amigurumi. There is a funny story behind the Ami that I created for her. For Xmas, she and my brother, picked out an adorable Amigurumi book on Crocheted Robots. It is called Crobots, and is one I have been wanting for a while now.

Before I got around to opening the package, I opened a package from my Mother that included, what else, the Crobots book. My Sis-In-Laws face nearly sunk to the ground. I mean of all the books on Amigurumi in the world, and they had both bought the same one. I thought it would be a nice tribute to make her one of the Crobots from the book.

It was easy to pick which one...

The Girlie Bot!!!

It was a ton o fun to add all the sequins, and seed beeds as embellishments on this little cutie!!! Again, I used pink/hot pink as the color pallette.

Here is the FO:

'Girlie' Bot

'Girlie' Bot side view

4th WIP for 2011:

BONITA HAT

My cousin Kims bday was Jan 18th, so I decided to make another Bonita Hat. I am just in love with the simple, but intricate styling of this hat. I decided to make her a sporty version of the hat. I had to frog the 1st attempt, due to a sizing error, so I am starting over. But I plan to alternate bands of hot pink/white throught the middle part of the pattern. I showed her a sneak peak of the hat for her bday when we went out to lunch together. I think she will like it.

5th FO for 2011:/

XMAS GIFT #8: (WIP)

CROCHET RING BRACELET

I am so glad I finally finished this WIP! I blogged about it back in December here. I have been working on getting it finished since October! A while back I made a ring bracelet for my Mother. My Aunt Joann really admired it when she saw the one I made for my Mom, that I had decided to make one for her for her Bday. That was waaaaay back in October. (YIKES!!!) I just got so wrapped up in the XMAS frenzy, that it got pushed further, and further back. Well, I am happy to say that it is finished, finally! I can't wait to get it to her.

Here is a pic of hers:

Crochet Ring Bracelet

I am pretty excited about a few upcoming WIPs I have planned.

Future WIP #1:
HAT/SOCKS

My Father's bday is at the end of the month and I plan to make him a lush hat out of some beautiful Pima Cotton I have my eyes on at the LYS. If I have time I also plan to make him a pair of socks to go along with the hat. He is newly retired so it would be a nice jesture to make him some comfy socks to lounge around the house in.

Future WIP #2:

FILMSTRIP BEANIE

My brothers bday is coming up in March. He is a photographer/filmmaker. He has been requesting a film strip inspired beanie from me ever since I started crocheting. I have not written up a pattern for a beanie hat yet, so this will be a challenge for me. I have some rough sketches done of how I want the beanie to look, and I think it will be awesome, if I can figure out the measurements/technicalities. Hopefully I will have something on this WIP started soon.

Happy New Year to all, and Happy Crafting!!!

Thanks for Reading :)