I received a new commission from a friend, for his father who loves a certain comic... Found this pattern for
Harold the Tiger by Lottie's Creations on Etsy. If you do a search on Google you can of course find some free ones, but we liked the look of this one best and the price was right.
Yarn used: Red Heart Soft in Tangerrina, Black, and White.
Hook size H8/5.00mm
I used a thicker yarn and larger hook, than called for, to make a slightly larger toy than the one the pattern showed as reference since I wanted it to be huggable.
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| Head and Body |
I only made a few small changes to the pattern: First, I made the ears one row longer so that I could stuff and sew them a little easier. Second, around the tummy piece I did a row of single crochet around the outside ,since I dislike the ragged ends formed by turing rows (see the picture below).
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| Left is the turning rows. Right is with the edging. |
Overall this pattern was really simple and easy to follow. I really liked the link they included to
Needle Noodles blog for a less noticeable color change. I used the first technique. Perhaps because I am left handed I needed to turn my work inside out when done to get the pretty side on the outside of the piece. I also kept the yarn going when working the stripes on the arms, legs, body and tail, which meant no constant trimming of ends, as it was all inside the pieces.
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| Muzzle, Arms, Legs and Tail. |
I can't help but think maybe there is a better way to do the muzzle. I thought maybe the muzzle would form a kind of mustache shape for cheeks or something, but it didn't. It formed a kind of long oval tube, but perhaps just a flat oval might work better. I had a lot of trouble sewing it into place and stuffing behind it.
Nose and eyes are felt attached with Fabri-Tac glue. It was my first time to use that glue and it is awesome and dries super fast, so you better know where you want it to go, but so much better than Tacky Glue for felt to yarn. The mouth is a simply embroidery with yarn.
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| Ready for adventure! |
Time to completion: 12 hours. Color changing is a little time consuming and sewing it all together once again was hard for me. I hope I can get better at that, but I had to replace the ears twice...
Difficulty: Advanced easy...
Verdict: Very very cute and huggable.
Size: Ears to Butt 11in, to Tail End 15in
Update: I made a second Harold for someone else from the same skeins from this project and still had yarn left over. So, if you have leftover colors on hand including a good amount of orange, you can probably finish him with no problems.
Update 2: You can see images of the
second and third Harolds here!
Update 3: I made a fourth... This time from all Red Heart Super Saver in Black, White and Carrot and a 5.00mm hook. With those yarns, he was the largest by far, sitting from his butt to ears at 15 inches tall!
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| Left is the second one made, Right is the fourth. |
