At-At Walker

I am so excited to make this pattern. It is the AT Walker pattern by Krawka on Etsy. I bought the pattern with a bit of gift card money because it is so damn cute. I had no idea who I would make it for, but I knew I would make one. With the new movies coming out, it was super fun and timely to make for a good friend's new baby. If only I could have figured out how to make it go "pew-pew." Maybe I'll add a voice box next time.

For the At-At I bought one skein of charcoal and one of dusty gray, both Red Heart Super Saver. I thought I would have enough make two at the same time, but it turned out I actually had to order more of the dusty gray direct from Red Heart! So I ordered two extra skeins so I can make Sophie cough*myself*cough one.

All the parts are pretty straightforward to make, there is just a lot of them. 50 to be exact. The only real thing I thought I might have changed was the way to start each straight piece. Instead of working sc into a chain, I bet it might have been a bit easier to sew later on if I had started with a foundation row of single crochet. Just a slightly different technique really...

Really this pattern was easy to make up. I kind of lost my excitement wading through the many different crochet squares, but once I started assembling, all that joy upon seeing the pattern the first time came back. I actually started giggling as I sewed the legs on, and you know it's a good pattern when that happens.

One other note, she had used sport weight and a 3mm hook, I used worsted weight and a 4mm hook, so I think mine came out a slightly bit bigger. This AT-AT stands 12 inches high from base of feet to top of back and 15 inches long from front of cannons to the butt.

Sophie for scale.

I might have to make the next one in time to take it to see Solo with me...

Difficulty: Easy
Time to complete: 50 hours

TCU Horned Frog

A good friend recently had a baby. As big fans of TCU, they used to attend nearly every game and really love their "frogs". I find it kind of serendipitous that this project followed so closely after Reveille the second as they are both school mascot projects.

I tried to find a yarn that was really close to the TCU purple and settled on Lion Brand Heartland in Hot Springs. I really liked the heathered look of the purple with a touch of black and felt it would be perfect for my toy. As this is for a baby I also needed something soft, but easy to clean. I also picked up some 9mm safety eyes and a couple of 38mm jingle bells. I wanted the toy to jingle gently when shook to be like a little rattle, but also something you could use to make noise while watching the game.

I used the Texas Horny Toad pattern by My Fingers Fly on Etsy. Over all the pattern was pretty fun to make up. I really loved the look of the spikes along the back and that when you seamed the back and belly together, you used that join to add more spikes to the toad. It was perfect.

I do think that the head was a bit too small as written and a little flat too, so I made my own up. I didn't write it down of course, but worked in a spiral from the nose point out to the back of the head, and used her back half of the head pattern to finish it. The look of the back post double crochet to make the face ridges is awesome. And I tried to add spikes around the face like the TCU mascot has with the two large horns over the eyes and on the top of the head.

Head from the pattern itself. Kind of flat and small...

my new and improved head

When stuffing the body I put one bell inside it, and the second into the head so it make a gentle ding ding noise when shook, perfect for a baby fan.

For a gross frog that shoots blood out of its eyeballs, I think it came out pretty cute and it would make a totally fun thing to help get the kids into the college football fandom.

Completed Size: 12" nose to tail, 8" wide in the belly
Time to complete: 15 hours since I reworked the head
Difficulty; Easy +

Reveille the second

Back in 2012, I made a Collie dog like the mascots of Texas A&M. Its owner, having loved her own, asked if I would make a second for a baby shower she was attending. I was happy to oblige and happened to have all the colors and stuff I would need on hand. As before I used the same pattern, Abbey the Collie by Nattypat and changed up the colors and made the neck fluff a bit larger like a collie dog.

This time I got a bit ambitious with the coat and added three browns in addition to the white and really tried to place the colors along the face and neck like a real dog. I did think about brushing out the yarn but thought it might be a bit too fluffy. Once again I sort of winged the cape and added the Texas A&M logo.

before trimming the fluff

I am pretty happy with how this second one turned out and it's kind of nice to see the differences and change in skill from 2012 to today. Video below to see the full turn around.

Difficulty: Easy
Time to complete: 10 hours

Dragon Doll

Following along with the Mushroom Folk, this pattern is another by Lalylala on Etsy, specifically Dirk the Dragon.

This guy was also made with a 3.75mm hook and used some of the leftover white, red and brown sock yarn from the mushrooms, with the addition of the stunning green, which I kind of splurged on. Since it was going to be so much of the toy, I really wanted a nice yarn and settled on Madeline Tosh Twist Light weight in Jade.

The the body parts were a breeze to make up, especially after the mushrooms. The only part I struggled with was the back spikes since a surface slip stitch is hard for me to do. Still not sure I got it as straight as I would have liked but in the end it turned out great. The spikes on the back, mirror so nicely those ear which might be the cutest I have ever made.

Since this one was going to live in the same house as the white portobello mushroom guy, I decided to make the scarf out of the same brown so they would coordinate a bit more. The scarf is simply three rows of double crochet worked along a long chain, about 23 inches long. With a little fringe at the ends. With the cheek blush he's really something special.

The finished doll stands about 14 inches tall.
Time to complete: 20 hours