So as I mentioned in my last post, I got hooked on Amigurumi a couple of years ago around xmas time.
Over the next few months I tried out some animals from the same book I got the hippo and giraffe from this post - I started with the hippo, then I tried an elephant (I don't have pictures of either of these guys unfortunately, since I gave them away before I thought to take a picture), and they were very sweet.
But as the holidays started to approach, I began thinking of what awesome amigurumi I wanted to make for Deep that year, to follow-up on the Squid Thing and the little jellyfish. I started searching online for amigurumi patterns and inspiration.
I discovered this blog, Geek Central Station, originally because of the tutorials and free patterns, and then I became obsessed with all the amazing little characters this girl and her boyfriend make. I think I read every single post in her blog at the time (and unfortunately, it looks like she hasn't updated her blog at all since then).
Some of the little dudes (as she calls them) are from games or movies or TV shows that I'm unfamiliar with, but the little Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Firefly, and Futurama characters are so excellent! Honestly I think I spent an entire day reading her blog, always wanting to see what she created next! The crochet part of her little dudes are actually pretty simple (they're almost all the same, with a few exceptions), it's the amazing felt clothing and Sculpey accessories that really make them special. If you want to check them all out, here is the link to all her posts labelled "amigurumi" - keep hitting "older posts" when you get to the end of the page, there are a LOT of pages of posts
http://geekcentralstation.blogspot.ca/search/label/amigurumi
I toyed with the idea of making Luke, Leia, and Han - and started making Leia from her pattern, but I was surprised by how large it was turning out. I tend to like amigurumi best when they're tiny enough to fit in the palm of your hand, so I gave up on that and decided to keep looking for something different.
Around the same time (leading up to the holidays last year) I was looking through the knitting and crochet books in Chapters, looking for inspiration for a gift for my friend Jenn (again, names are changed for privacy); who was also into crochet, and had also started making animals from the same pattern book I was using. Suddenly I found this book called Creepy Cute Crochet, and knew I HAD to get it for her. Not only were they super cute, but she also has a younger sister who has a sort of morbid sense of humour, and I knew she would want to make a least one of these little creatures for her sister. In fact, she ended up making one for each of her sisters :)
One of the patterns in this book was for a "Cthulhu" (something I hadn't heard of before at the time - you can see what it is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu) which is some sort of creature with tentacles coming out of its face. When I saw the little crochet version in this book, I immediately thought "If I made that in pink yarn, it would be a perfect little Dr. Zoidberg from Futurama! So I made a few notes from the pattern in her book, so that I could make a little Dr. Zoidberg - we love Futurama, and have seen all of the episodes several times now.
Turned out that I had some intense pink yarn in my stash at home already, so I whipped up a little Zoidberg. I know, I know, he doesn't have enough face-tentacles, but really, how was I supposed to fit more tentacles on that tiny face? Also, I probably should have attempted to make little claws for his hands, but that seemed like a lot of work... by the time I was at that stage with this guy, I was more excited about the other character I was making (see below), so I wanted to spend more time and energy on that one, rather than trying to figure out claw-hands.
I made his little lab coat out of felt, and his little stethoscope (which even comes off) and his adorable anime-style eyes, out of Sculpey - both material choices were of course inspired by the Geek Central Station characters. They're nowhere near as precise and amazing as the ones those two make, but I think they're not too bad for my first amigurumi with clothes and accessories!
The design for the Sculpey eyes also came from the Creepy Cute Crochet book - it's part of what makes those characters so amazingly cute. I had learned my lesson from the first burnt botton-eye from the Squid Thing the year before, so I made several pairs of eyes (in different styles, including the big ball style from Futurama) and cooked them REALLY slowly in the oven, so they wouldn't burn, and then tried the various different styles on him, but non really worked except these ultra-cute ones, so I went with them, even though they aren't terribly accurate to the show.
Since his body is essentially a ball, he had a tendency to tip over, so I added some poly-fill pellets at the bottom to make him a little more stable. In hind sight I probably should have added more, since he's still pretty tippy - but then Zoidberg is pretty bumbling and klutzy, so it sort of works. Right?
I still wanted to make a Star Wars amigurumi - Deep loves Star Wars, much more than he likes Futurama. So I started poking around online for other star wars patterns, and I came across a free pattern for R2D2 - and I started making him... I was about half way through when I stumbled upon this post - for a much more amazing R2D2, so I immediately tracked down the creator on Etsy, ordered the pattern, and started over.
It's actually amazing how many Star Wars patterns there are on Etsy - I particularly like this set. Ah well, maybe another year. By the time I started over with this new R2D2 pattern, I was really cutting it close. In fact, even though I had the crochet part (which is fairly simple, except the legs, but they're pretty quick too) done a couple of days before xmas, I spent all day on xmas eve doing all the fiddly bits with felt and beads and silver ribbon that make this guy really special.
Again, I was very thankful for the way Deep is quite oblivious to what I'm working on 90% of the time, since I was doing all of this while sitting in a chair next to the couch he was on, while we watched movies all day. I just sort of twisted my body so that I was blocking what I was doing - got quite a crick in my back and neck as a result - but it worked! The pattern I had ordered had a page you could print out that had the exact size and shape of the little felt bits - I wish I had been able to use an exacto knife or something though, instead of scissors - those little pieces on the front were really tough! Anyways, here he is, definitely the coolest amigurumi I've made so far - this one impresses people more than anything else I've made. And so cute!
Here are all the amigurumi that I've given Deep (minus the little jellyfish which is still packed in a box so far - and Zoidberg's stethoscope seems to have gone missing too...) to date, all hanging out on a shelf together. Huge difference in size, huh?
Ok, back to working on this year's holiday presents. Posts about those to come after the 25th!
Keep crafting!
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