Mummy Elephant and Grunge Ted

First, a couple of WIP shots.

A pile of ears.  Four of them, because they're doubled up to stiffen them.

Grunge Ted in pieces.  I've been thinking that at this stage, I could change a few things and make a rabbit or a monkey.

And dressed and ready for his photo-call!

I'm really pleased with the way the skull-and-crossbones turned out.  I printed a design, used it as a pattern to cut out the felt and then drew on the details.  You can't see it here, but the felt has silver sparkles on.  And the little safety pins...  *squees*

And here's Mummy Elephant!

There's always been an issue with splaying-out legs.  Not so noticeable in the little ones, but Mummy does tend to sit on her belly.  Here's my solution.

A stitch to draw in the extra fabric between the sets of legs.  A little plastic surgery for Mummy.  It works quite well. 

Mummy Elephant is an order from a friend for her daughter's birthday.  I'm going to make a little elephant in white with yellow ears as the present from me.  Grunge Ted is for her son's nineteenth birthday - my solution as to what to do for a teenage boy when I crochet gifts for everyone.  I hope they like them!

Kindle pattern, Mummy Elephant and Grunge Ted

I've been pretty productive over the last few days, despite an attack of the winter sickness bug.  On Monday, I could barely manage a whole row of crochet.  Yesterday, I pretty much finished Mummy Elephant and Grunge Ted.  Got them stuffed and sewn up.

They're both still naked, though, so the next step is to get Mummy Elephant a bow to wear and to make a little t-shirt for Grunge Ted.  I've got a skull-and-crossbones image for the t-shirt that I'll print out and use as a pattern for a felt logo to sew on.  Pics when they're done!

Also, I've put what I hope are the finishing touches to the pattern I wrote out for the Sunshine Daisies Kindle Cover as I was making it.  I think it's as clear as it can be, although no one apart from me has road-tested it.  All the same, it's a PDF document now, and it's on my Folksy shop for sale.  http://folksy.com/items/3174058-PDF-Sunshine-Daisies-Crochet-Kindle-Cover-Pattern  Here it is.

Okay.  Off to make little grungy teddy t-shirts and elephant bows!

Meet Practice Ted!

Here's a cute little teddy!

As soon as I finished it, my husband claimed it for his car.  

The pattern's really easy.  All I did was draw a teddy shape on graph paper and work it in double crochet.  That seems to approximate to graph squares - not in size, but in proportion.  The ears were worked out as I made them, but they worked well, I think.  He did look rather like a gingerbread man without them.

I'm glad I made a practice ted, because there are some things I would change next time.  I did a little muzzle, which I wouldn't bother with next time - not effective.  And I'm wondering if his body's a bit long.  Maybe I'll make Grunge Ted a bit bigger, too.

Here's the wool I bought on Saturday for Grunge Ted.

Grey for the body, red for the little grungy t-shirt.  And then there's some white felt with sparkles for a logo for the t-shirt.  Pretty macho, no?  Possibly not, but I really can't bring myself to give my godson something I haven't made.  Not when I give everyone else handmade stuff.

Anyway, off to crochet an elephant's bottom, and work out how to convert an elephant pattern to a hippo one.  Shouldn't be impossible, I think.  I may be overconfident there, but I'll post pictures, disaster or no.

Headless Ted!

The Grunge Ted is developing well, and so is Mummy Elephant.

 A headless Ted, both sides done, still not decided what to do about the head.

 Side one, the front, with head.  I decided to work it upwards from the shoulders in the end, and put ears on afterwards.  I did consider making a circle for the head, but I thought it might look a bit too much like a gingerbread man.  This seems to be working.

And Mummy Elephant with two sides!  It's growing pretty fast, considering it's doubled from the original size and I'm working on the ted at the same time.

And look at this.  Remind you of anything?

Maybe it was only in the eighties and no one else would remember it now, but I'm sure that when I was at school we used a discus just like that, wooden and puck-shaped.  It never went very far when I threw it...

Grunge Teddy

It's an absolutely glorious spring day out there, and I'm going shopping for yarn this afternoon, which makes today even better!

I'm making a big elephant for my friend's daughter's birthday (for my friend to give her), and I'll make a small elephant from me.  I've been thinking about my friend's son, though - my godson.  He's going to be nineteen, and a crocheted something seems a bit silly for a nineteen-year-old boy.  On the other hand, a voucher for HMV or somewhere seems a bit dismissive when I'm doing all this crocheting for his sister.

I think I may have hit on a compromise now.  A Grunge Teddy.  He likes dark blues and reds, so I'm thinking of a stylised kind of teddy in dark inky blue with a red t-shirt on, and possibly a skull and crossbones on the t-shirt. Something kind of ironic, you know?

I've done a graph paper pattern.  The body's okay, I think, but I'm not really sure about what'll happen with the head.  I'll probably start at the shoulders and work down to the legs all in one piece.  The arms are going to stick straight out, so the body, arms and legs will all be in one piece.  Well, two, if you count the front and the back.  After that, I might start at the shoulders again and crochet in the opposite direction to make the head.  Alternatively, I might do a circle for the head.  Still thinking.

I've got some yarn that will do for a practice ted.  It's good enough to work with, but not so good that it'll be a disaster if I ruin it.  Sirdar 4 ply cotton in Walnut - not quite as nice a colour as it looked on the website, but pretty good for a teddy.  For the real thing, I'll get some dark blue or grey, some bright red for the t-shirt, and some white felt for the skull and crossbones.  There might be something extra in the way of chain or safety pins too - a Punk Ted!

Will post when it's under way.  Exciting!