Master Yoda

"Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is." ―Yoda, to Luke Skywalker^[src]

This project came as a request/commission from a friend for her husband's birthday this year. He is a big Star Wars fan... heck, they had Darth Vader at their wedding. Yeah. 

We started off, like I do, cruising Etsy for a crochet pattern for a Star Wars character and quickly decided that Yoda was the most recognizable and the cutest in crochet. I decided to go with the pattern from Inner Child Crochet for My Friend Yoda. I chose that one because most were creating a pretty small Yoda (like 5 inches tall) and I wanted mine to be a bit larger like something you could actually play with. When he was all done, he is about 8.5 inches tall, and perfect for hugs.

The pattern was fast and simple and came with came with the full body, belt, hooded coat and a light-saber. I already had every color I needed, including a very excellent green for his skin that I found in the bottom of my bin. I had only part skeins of each color but that turned out to be more than enough. (I might make a second one for me :P)

The only changes I made were minimal. Instead of the simple black eyes they used, I used a pair of 12mm black safety eyes and affixed them before stuffing the head. Once stuffed, I first used a bit of the same green yarn to embroider a large bump with two smaller bumps to the side for a nose. Then, I used a darker green to embroidered his wrinkled brow, outline the nose and give him a grin. 

Aside from that I decided to leave off the light-saber and instead give him his cane. I did this for two reasons: The cane is his original prop from the films and I felt like it was from his time as a wise teacher, and this Yoda is a gift to a teacher... more meaningful I feel.

Since the cane was not part of the pattern, I will share what I did to make it.

Cane:

In dark brown like belt. 

Magic Circle with 5 sc.

Sc around until reach the height you like (about 15 rounds)

Then do 2 sc in each, 10 sc.

One more row of sc around. 10 sc. 

Bind off and leave a long tail. At this point I inserted a folded pipe-cleaner into the center so that if you like it can be a crooked cane, but also to keep it from curling or being floppy. Once you have your core in, fold the top in half and sew it up to make the handle. I then put it up to his actual hand and took the tail over, secured it and went back over again to make a little strap so that it can actually stay on his hand or be removed. It can also be tucked under the sleeve to give the illusion he is holding it. :)

Really, really freaking cute. I kept laughing while making it and that is always an excellent sign.
Total time to completion: 12 hours.