Two new friends to start the year… Ampharos and Umbreon

January 7, 2018 | heyheygav

Hey hey crochet lovers, and a happy new year to you all. One of my 2017 resolutions was to create something every week, and I acquitted myself pretty well with 24 crocheted Pokemon, two Porgs, six Christmas gnomes, and three sewn garments. Not quite the 52 creations I hoped for but an excellent haul, as our cluttered spare room attests to.

Now that the calendar has flipped forward to 2018, I’m renewing my commitment to creating something every week and I’ll attempt to blog my progress weekly too.

For week 1 of 2018, I bring you my two latest creations – an Ampharos completed at the end of December and a coordinating Umbreon that ticks off my first project for January. Both followed patterns from Linda Potts – the fabulous WolfDreamer, who has published an superb range of Pokemon patterns.

Ampharos was a fiddly pattern but worth the effort

Pattern: Free from http://www.wolfdreameroth.com/2009/11/ampharos.html

Yarn: yellow, black, white and red cotton DK

Hook: 3.5mm

Height: 25cm

Umbreon reminded me how little I enjoy working with black yarn

Pattern: Free from http://www.wolfdreameroth.com/2010/08/umbreon-plushie.html

Yarn: Black and yellow cotton DK

Hook: 3.5mm

Height: 20cm

I already have my next project well under way, and would have finished it by now had I not run out of yarn. I’ve also made a start on a new challenge, which I can’t wait to share with you soon…

Danger! Danger! High voltage! It’s Voltorb and Electrode

December 15, 2017 | heyheygav

Hey hey crochet lovers. With so many Pokemon to choose from, I’ll take inspiration where I can get it to guide me to my next project. The last makes off my hook were a family of Christmas gnomes, and the red and white cotton I used for those was really nice to work with. Electrode and Voltorb were the perfect pair to pick to keep using the white and red cotton, and it doesn’t hurt that they’re super quick to make either.

Electrode and Voltorb lent a hand with the Christmas decorating by powering the fairly lights

The Voltorb pattern is another from Linda Potts, AKA Wolfdreamer, who has designed a fabulous range of Pokemon. I find her patterns work up easily and look great, so I’d well recommend them. Not that you can go far wrong with a sphere though…

Voltorb is a quick make with just a little needle-felting required

For Electrode, I simply added a few extra increase rows to the Voltorb pattern to create a larger sphere. As my increases are still much neater than my decreases, I swapped the yarn colours round too, so I could keep the neat rows in white where they would be most visible.

Electrode is a bigger and cheekier version of the Voltorb pattern

Pattern: Voltorb pattern from http://www.wolfdreameroth.com/2009/04/voltorb.html

Yarn: Red, white and black Patons DK cotton

Hook: 3.5mm

Pika pika – it’s Pikachu!

May 10, 2017June 4, 2017 | heyheygav

Hey hey crochet lovers. I hope you and all the cuddly creatures in your life are keeping well. My next little friend is a critter I created for another little friend in my life – one of my good friend’s lovely Pokemon-loving daughters. The challenge was to create her favourite Pokemon for Christmas and needless to say, what little girl doesn’t love Pikachu.

There are a lot of Pikachu patterns out there – seriously there are so many! – but I’m really happy with the one I choose, as it’s very true to Pikachu’s proportions and was well written and easy to follow. To give his tail some structure and keep the lightning bolt sharpness, I sandwiched the two layers of yarn with a little Soft and Stable bag interfacing in the middle.

The great news is that the recipient absolutely loved her new friend – complete with needle-felted Pokeball. I’m so pleased I could be a little part of her Christmas.

Pattern: FREE from http://www.wolfdreameroth.com/2009/03/psyduck-with-pattern.html

Yarn: Yellow and black DK cotton

Hook: 3.5mm

Finished size: 25cm high