A new blanket and Bellossom

January 11, 2018January 11, 2018 | heyheygav

Hey hey crochet lovers. I hope your 2018 is getting off to a good start. I’m keeping up with my creative resolution so far and this has been a busy week of crafting – assembling a new display shelf counts, doesn’t it?

Part one of the Solar System blanket CAL is underway

Before Christmas I signed up to the new Solar System Blanket CAL by Two Hearts Crochet, and the first part of the pattern dropped this week. This is a bit different to most crochet-alongs, with its geeky theme and in-the-round construction – both of which suit me down to the ground. I’ve made a good start on the first part, and with a weekly release schedule on new sections, I don’t want to fall behind!

My ticked off, completed project of the week is an adorable Bellossom Pokemon I started on New Year’s Day. The pattern for this doll is from Sabrina Somers, who also designed the Hoppip and Pikachu patterns I have made previously. I think her patterns are excellent as they’ve got a great cuddly feel to them and represent the intended Pokemon very accurately – a key criteria for me.

There are quite a few elements to this one with all the leaves and petals, but none of those elements are very complex, so it’s an easy enough pattern for someone with a couple of Amigurumi under their belt.

Pattern: Free from https://www.sabrinasomers.com/amigurumi/crochet-pattern-bellossom/

Yarn: Pale green Wendy cotton DK, bold green and yellow RICO cotton DK, Sirdar red cotton DK

Hook: 3.5mm

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

Bad to the bone… It’s Cubone

December 15, 2017December 15, 2017 | heyheygav

Hey hey crochet lovers. Take a browse through a Pokédex and you’ll find some strange back stories behind a few of the little fellows. Cubone has one of the saddest stories and tells of a Pokemon pining for its mother and weeping in memory when it looks at the moon. Some even say Cubone wears the skull of its own mother in memory.

Needless to say it’s cheery and whimsical details like these that made me choose Cubone for my next life study.

This was a delightful pattern to work on and has a lovely shape to it. Part way through it bears a striking resemblance to a Charmander, but once the tail spikes and skull slip in place, there’s no denying it’s a Cubone.

Pattern: $5 from https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cubone-pokemon

Yarn: russet and grey DK wool, cream cotton DK

Hook: 3.5mm

Go big or go home… It’s Snorlax

December 11, 2017 | heyheygav

Hey hey crochet lovers. This latest update has been a long time coming but I’m super proud to bring you the one, the only… Snorlax. It took me a full month to crochet Snorlax from start to finish, and that was with a few stops in between to finish some smaller pieces.

Testing out the first addition to the Cuddle Collection

For this latest critter, I stepped things up considerably from my usual palm-sized Pokemon. I like to think of Snorlax as part of the Cuddle Collection, and his special move – hug – is certainly effective.

My biggest Pokemon makes friends with my smallest

Pattern: http://www.miahandcrafter.com/atelier/snorlax-pattern/

Yarn: Patons navy, white and cream cotton DK

Hook: 3.5mm

Can I get a Woop, Woop! It’s Wooper

December 3, 2017December 15, 2017 | heyheygav

Hey hey crochet lovers. My apparent obsession with water type Pokemon continues with my next creation – the adorable, if a little dopey looking, Wooper.

This isn’t my most impressive bit of needle-felting – I don’t know why one simple smile proved so challenging. At least his little axolotol antennae worked out well.

Pattern: http://www.wolfdreameroth.com/2010/06/wooper-plushie.html

Yarn: Patons blue DK cotton plus a little dark blue and mauve yarn

Hook: 3.5mm

Twinkle, twinkle Omastar

December 1, 2017December 15, 2017 | heyheygav

Hey hey crochet lovers. It’s back to the water we go for the next tiny creation, and this one is particularly tiny. It was one of the quickest makes I think I’ve done, even with his little tentacles and horns. I needed something I could finish at this point as I was mid way through a very intensive and hefty make, which I’ll be revealing very soon,

Omastar is so tiny he makes Igglybuff look big!

Needle-felting the features onto such a small face was particularly challenging, and the star-shaped mouth gets a bit lost under his body but I swear it is there!

Though he may be but small, Omastar has a big personality.

Pattern: $3.99 from https://www.etsy.com/listing/457579946/omastar-amigurumi-crochet-pattern

Yarn: blue and cream cotton DK

Hook: 3.5mm

A Staryu is born

November 28, 2017 | heyheygav

Hey hey crochet lovers. With so many Pokemon to choose from, where do you even start with trying to crochet them all? I thought I’d try to focus on the original Kanto 250 for a while and Staryu seemed like one that wouldn’t take too long to pull together. And I don’t know why but I seem to find myself drawn to water and grass types.

This was a quick make and one of the few I’ve made that doesn’t have any needle felting at all.

Pattern: Free from Samantha Gibbs at https://xxbyamomentx.tumblr.com/post/149959770892/staryu-amigurumi-direct-pdf-download

Yarn: Sirdar orange, red and yellow cotton DK

Hook: 3.5mm

Taking it slow… Slowbro

November 27, 2017 | heyheygav

Hey hey crochet lovers. Back when I started crocheting Pokemon my skills were pretty basic and there were some characters I never thought I would have been able to tackle.

Slowbro is one of those that was on the ‘too hard’ list for a long time but I’m pleased I’ve got to the point were I’m that bit more fearless. This is still quite a complex make, with lots of individual elements and essentially two full characters in one – punchy pink Slowbro and the grizzly grey Shellder biting down on Slowbro’s tail.

It’s quite satisfying watching all the pieces of a new character coming together, and with Slowbro there are a lot of pieces to connect.

This Slowbro pattern is a commercial design, so there’s a small cost involved but I think it’s worth it for the level of detail and the clear instructions it offers.

Pattern: $5.99 from Eugene Lau – https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/470512752/pdf-pattern-slowbro

Yarn – pink, peach, cream and grey DK yarn, white, back, pink and red roving for needle-felting

Hook: 3.5mm