Tontu from Hilda

Boy I have been making quite a few Hilda inspired things lately. Today's post is on Tontu, a nisse or house spirit from both the first and second season. As a character I was not sure I liked him at the start but he's grown on me, and his design is too perfect for crochet to not have made one. The tricky part was finding the right yarn.

I used Bernat Pipsqueak in Chocolate with a J 10mm hook for the head and tail. This yarn is kind of hard to work with but the fact that it's a big circle made it easier since you basically have to feel the stitches and not actually see them. The softness and fluffiness was too perfect though, and the color was close enough.

The body and nose are done in Red Heart Soft in Off White, 4mm hook. The slight sheen and tight wind gives it a nice contrast to the head fluff. For the sweater I chose Big Twist Soft in Gold, 4mm hook. 

Most of my patterns start out with a very basic shape sketch, that way I can plan how I want to build the parts. I started with the legs since that would be a good way I though to get the size right. I've done these kind of feet and arms so often I didn't even write the pattern out. It starts with a short chain and working an oval around it, two rows of 18 around that oval or so. Then three rows with a decrease toward the long end so that the leg is 12 sc around... I worked two legs then joined them together in the middle and working around the outside of both so that they would be seamless into the body. 

The arms are simple tubes, a magic circle with 6 sc, then 12, two rows of 12, then one row with a bobble stitch as the thumb and sc around with a decrease. Arms are 10sc around up to a shoulder then stitched shut and sewn onto the body. From the legs through the torso is a simple working around, then up where I wanted the shoulders to be I did a few decreases on the outsides to try to get a slope to shoulders into the neck, which I left pretty big so his head might not be too floppy. (It is anyway.)

The tail is again a long tube shape, think it was 8sc around. I made the tail bulb end separately. That is also a small circle and in the middle I did four bobble stitches to try to get that sculpted poof look. Not sure that was too successful, but it's better than a basic ball for sure. I used the fur yarn to sew the head onto the body and same with tail bulb to tail, helped make that seam hidden and fluffy. 

The sweater was a total fluke. I have not made any clothing that fit anyone as of yet. Shawls totally don't count cause they don't have to be fitted. I picked Big Twist Soft yarn in Gold, also using a 4 mm hook. 

I had one real goal with the sweater: get that knit look. I cannot knit, so I used the "waistcoat stitch" to get it close. You work into the vertical legs of the sc stitch to get that V shape. I made three tubes, one for the body, and two for the arms. Then I joined all three pieces together like I did with the legs, but at each join area I did a decrease on the front and back to get that sort of raglan taper. I worked two rows of back loop double crochet on the ends of the sleeves and sweater and did four rows around the neck. The back loop gives it that horizontal lined look, which I thought contrasted nicely and made it look really finished. 

Obviously this didn't fit over his head, but the neck was wide enough to get the tail, legs, and finally arms into it. Sure he has to get dressed weird, but it looks great.

I really love the scale he came out to be... as I feel its pretty close to "life" size.

Difficulty: Intermediate (to hard if you have trouble with fur yarn)

Time to complete: 12 hours

PS. Super cool that I can share stuff like this with the creators... 

https://twitter.com/khyarete/status/1343269341295505413?s=20

Alfur from Hilda

Do you watch Hilda on Netflix? If you don't, get on that. 

We've probably watched the first season four times through now, heading into a fifth as we countdown the days till Season 2 premiers. Our three year old girl loves it. I wanted to crochet a tiny Alfur, but the more I thought about it, the less I thought that would work very well. I considered Sculpy clay too... but of course decided to go and learn a new skill: Needle Felting. 

I ordered the Clover needle felting pen tool and a multipack of unspun wool that had the red and white colors I liked. I also ordered a set of leather finger covers and a needle felting mat from Amazon after I stabbed myself many many times the first few attempts. I basically just read a bunch of blog posts by others and watched a few you tube videos.

I made a yellow ball. I know... wow right. But then added another and worked up a few tiny eyes and a beak and voila! A fat chick spirit from Spirited Away! Then I tried out a sort of fuzzy ghost, which was cool to leave part of it unspun and unfelted to give it that wispy ghost look. More recently I'm trying to make a character from a webcomic I like, but am not sure how it't turning out...

These experiments helped get me a bit of confidence, but of course I couldn't just stop with needle felting... of course not. I decided I wanted him to be able to be posable. That meant needle felting the body around a skeleton. I attempted to make my own armature with beading wire, and while it looked ok, it was not the right color, nor very sturdy.

this black wire was way too thick

So I decided to outsource the skeleton to a friend who does paper flowers. I figured she would have a better knowledge of wires and could wrap it in black so that it would look correct to the character. 

my attempt

I sent her my rough drawing, a picture of what I had come up with, and an idea on scale and she sent back like the perfect thing. Shoulders can move a little and the wire is tough enough that a bend will stay in place. She also coated it in clear modge podge which should keep it safe should when I pose him in the leaves and stuff. Of course I forgot to take a picture of the new armature sans felt...

wrapped skeleton

With a round head, cone shaped body, cone hat, two small ovals for hair poufs and two long ovals for ears... I had me a little Alfur! The eyes, eyebrows and smile were tricky... But the pen tool has three needles, which can easily slide out, so I was able to use one needle for these small parts. Just takes patience and a lot of poking. 

Got to say... all that poking is nice and cathartic if you manage to not stab yourself...

Difficulty: Easy

Time to complete: about 4 hours

The Creature

Back in 2008, I put up a short post about an Illustrator drawing I did of the Creature (from Samurai Jack, season 3, episode 33, a cartoon by Genndy Tartakovsky). With the recent news that the show is to return this year, I thought it might be fun to revisit this character. Also, if you have not watched this show, GET ON IT. It's seriously great and has some excellent stories. If you need further proof know that it is the only instance in which the font Papyrus does not drive me up a wall. Yeah.

The Creature, as it is called, is the most obvious of references in this episode to the works of Hayao Miyazaki, which is chock full of them. Itself being a parody of the noble Totoro, of which I have great fondness. The episode itself is sometimes called the Crystal of Cagliostro, a reference to the film, the Castle of Cagliostro, which was Miyazaki's feature length directorial debut film.

So, for this post, I decided to try to make a crochet plush of the Creature. The picture above is very similar to the scene where one of the characters meets Totoro in the forest for the first time. The creature does seem to get a bit smaller as the episode progresses.

First things first was to find all the colors I would need. A teal for the main body, a light teal for the belly, light blue for the belly details, darker blue for the arms and ears, yellow for eyes, dark pint for mouth, pink for tongue, white for teeth, a little green for his head leaf things, and black for embroidery. I decided to also pull a little light yellow to maybe make a pair of those butterflies that fly around his head.

Most colors I just had bits of on hand but I bought a new skein of With Love by Red Heart in Blue Hawaii (a teal color) for the body to make sure I had enough for all the parts. I also use Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in Sky Blue (in the Nautical color series that was discontinued) for the lightest bits, and Red Heart Soft in Teal for the darkest bits.

For a simple looking creature, he actually had a lot of parts and I wanted to get some of the larger details right. I first set about making a body shape that I think felt right as I was making this up as I went along. Of course, once I had him mostly finished at the end of this process I realized I could have made his belly and lower body a bit larger. The face is made up of eight parts, which then get some embroidery to really pull it all together.

The ears were a bit of a challenge, since I wanted to keep the shape and colors correct. So they are made from two parts that snug together and then get sewn down. It was also important to me to get them to face the right way once sewn on.

The arms are a fairly simple shape and I kept the increases to the edges to give it a flatter shape in the upper arm. A few lines to get the fingers and they were complete.

I had originally thought to do the arms and legs from the same pattern but the arms are a solid color where as the legs have two colors. So these are made from two shapes that get sewn together and stuffed. I then added the foot pad and a little embroidery for the toes and toe pads.

I also went back and watched the episode to make sure he had a tail, which I remembered him having, but he does not in fact have. It is instead a light peach bare butt. This thing is pretty funny looking. So I made nice peach oval and sewed it in place.

As I started stuffing and sewing the pieces down he really started to come together. The little bits of embroidery really help and I'm so happy with how all the colors look together.

Finally I decided to make him the three head leaves and two flies, which are seen fluttering about his head. Since the leaves stand up on his head, I stiffened them with a mixture of water and glue.

While letting the leaves dry I was able to put all the rest of the parts on and get a good look at my Creature. He's really spot on I think, except being a bit short, but really cute.

With the leaves added, he is complete. I kept thinking about ordering another voice box for him, as he makes some truly great sounds in the episode, but for now I have other items to be moving on to.

Finished!

Difficulty: Intermediate
Time to Complete: 35 hours
Finished Size: about 13" tall and 10" wide
As with Lion and Blathers, the Creature has a full pdf pattern and if you would like it feel free to email me a request.

Christmas Stockings

Christmas stockings are one of those things that everyone seems to have, but most are so impersonal it seems. I've had our blank red and white stockings from Walmart on hand for a while now with the intent to customize them with felt... but I never seem to get around to it. This week I decided to change that.

I bought different sheets of felt at the same time as the stockings, so when unpacking my Christmas decorations it was all right there.

I had initially thought to use embroidery thread and sew the felt down, but as that would take more skill and time than I currently had, I reached for the Fabri-tac glue. This stuff is amazing for felt and yarn.

I had ideas in mind already: Lovecraft-y tentacles for the hubby and a christmas Totoro for myself.
I sketched out the shape of the stocking on some old sheets of packing paper and then drew out the design I liked in the space. Then I cut out the template shapes onto the felt and cut out the felt shapes. After about two hours I had most of the large pieces and details cut, with more time for all those tentacle dots.

You might notice that the totoro in the picture above has an embossed pattern in the gray. I decided I didn't like how it looked and simply flipped the shape over and use the plain back.

This whole project was fairly quick and simple, and the certainly look much less boring on the wall now.

Of course I could go back and add embroidery in the future too...

Time to complete: 5 hours + drying time
Difficulty: Easy

Halloween Costumes 2015

I always like to do a post for Halloween. It's the best holiday.

On Friday my husband's school also let seniors and teachers dress up. He actually suggested Greg Universe, Steven's dad from Steven Universe the cartoon. Greg is a pretty low effort costume. So I quickly worked up a black t-shirt into a Mr. Universe shirt seen in the episode Lion 3, by making a stencil out of paper and an xacto knife and then using some acrylic paint on it. (You can make acrylic stay on clothing by heat setting it with an iron.) Along with some ripped jeans, his hair down, and some sandals, he looked the part. He took my Lion with him to school.

paper stencil

finished shirt painting

But I also wanted to share what his mom made for me: A Lion Hoodie!
Lion is also from Steven Universe and I had the idea to turn a hoodie into a costume, which turned out to be harder than I thought. I bought a 2X pale pink Hanes hoodie from their website. I still feel like it might be a little small but it fits ok. We used it for the base and then got 2 yards of this really soft swirl fur stuff in pink from Joann's. I really like how it isn't long hair-fur that will get matted, but short roses of really soft fur. Seriously, people kept petting me.

I'm really awful at sewing and of course I had no pattern to go from. So I started just pinning it around the hood to see how much I had to work with and if I could kind of just shape it as I wanted on the hood itself. This might have been easier on a mannequin I think. About an hour into pinning I realized I would need more help. Thank goodness my mother in law lives nearby and has access to a really good sewing machine, since mine was not going to get through this much fabric.

trying to lay out the fur onto the hoodie directly

bear served as mannequin

pink felt shapes were stuffed, the idea was to add it under the fur

We decided to use the extra yard of pink felt I bought for ears and a tail to also make petal shape pillows to stuff with fluff and add between the hoodie and fur to give it a full shaped look. Then we could tack the petal shapes to the hood and then cover with the fur to make it look right.

Unfortunately, once we sewed the shapes, stuffed them and put them under the fur it was all so heavy and fluffy that the hood no longer even worked as a hood and it just pulled itself off my head.
It took a few evenings of work, trial, and error to figure it out.

In the end we decided to go back to the original idea, of just sewing the fur down to the body of hoodie in ways to get the overall shape of Lion's mane, which is a big sort of star shape, rather than try to make 3D shapes coming off the head. We did add a little stuffing in places between the hoodie and the fur. And once the ears and tail was added it was pretty cute. The only place I helped sew is the pink bulb on the end, which I hand sewed down onto the tail.

I got a pair of Hanes light pink sweatpants at Walmart to complete the outfit.

I even made a little Lion Licker to keep in my pocket. If you don't know a "Lion Licker" is an ice cream treat Lion really likes in the show. It is hand sewn by me, as you can tell, and made out of felt. I added a little slit to the back side so I can keep stuff in it if I want to... like headphones... or candy corn. Not long after having this thought, I added a cotton lining to the inside for that very purpose. Took me about 3 hours of sewing to get this done.

So there you go. Another year of super fun costumes.
What did you go as?

Toothless

Seen HTTYD:2 yet? It is in all seriousness one of the prettiest movies I have seen in a while. And by far and away the best sequel I have seen in just as long. I will for sure be buying it just to pause and look at all the dragon designs they crammed into this movie. I loved spotting some of the dragons from the Book of Dragons that Hiccup read through in the first film. Anyway.

My sister in law had minor surgery last week and in her delirious state asked that I make her a Toothless... I had this pattern for Toothless by Sarah of Sarselgurumi on file since the first film but never got around to making any.

This pattern is really very good. Easy to follow and simple to make. I used Patons Metallic black yarn which I didn't know existed till I found it in Michael's. The yarn, I figured, might be a bit of a challenge for two reasons: It is very slick (but that turned out to be just fine) and instead of being round, it is a flat yarn. This means that some stitches come out large and open if it is turned on its side, or really tight if it is flat to the hook. It is also on the thin side of "medium" weight yarns. It certainly was not like a regular Red Heart worsted weight would be.

The thinness, coupled with the fairly small 3.75 hook, caused my Toothless came out on the small side compared to others I have seen made online. However, like I had hoped, the metallic sheen of the yarn coupled with the smaller sc stitches really gave Toothless the shiny scaled appearance I had hoped for. He catches the light quite handsomely. It also on the more expensive side of yarn pricing, but you only need one skein and the effect was worth it. He even feels scaly when you pet him...

So cute.

The toes were a little confusing until I realized they were popcorn stitches, and even thought the pattern did not say to, I knew that I could pull it closed and add a slip stitch on top to make the next row around easier. Also, if possible, I should have tried to find black polyfil to stuff this guy with. I had a few larger holes from the yarn and the white filling showed through easily. I tried to compensate by stuffing him less firmly than I would otherwise, again helping to make him smaller than he might have been.

The wing pattern was also really cool. I had no idea in my mind how to make these but I just followed it along and was shocked at how cute they turned out.

Wings

Instead of making him an uninjured baby, I gave him his tail prosthetic fin by making one in red yarn. I sewed it to the tail along side the regular fin. It was here that I got to see just how much smaller using the metallic yarn was making it. In the picture below the two closest to my thumb are the pattern as written in the metallic black and standard red worsted. The black is like 80% of the Red. So I made a second black fin to match in size to the red one by adding anther row of sc around the outside after the end of their fin pattern.

Tail-fin size comparison.

The hardest part for me was sewing on the ears and 6 small horns on to the head. I must have attached the head crooked since there was less room on one side of the face than the other. So my toothless looks like his head is cocked to the side listening to strange noise. It is a happy/cute mistake. Lucky.

No Face.

I used a light lime green felt for his eyes, black for the pupils and a little spot of white for a highlight. I glued it down since last time I sewed felt onto crochet it came out all bubbly. The pattern mentioned that Fabri-tac glue worked well, but I had Tacky-glue on hand any used that. Came out ok.

Done! All the pieces whipped up quickly and total time to completion of the crochet parts was about 5 hours. Plus the detail work for the eyes, plus assembly and sewing time, and I'd say he came in at around 8 hours total. Skill level... moderately easy, but not a beginner because it's a very detailed pattern for being so small.

Update: A much prettier photo was taken by Toothless' owner:

Update2: Measurements are: 6 inches tall with an 8 inch ear span. 7 inches from front legs to tail tip.