Witch with black cat

As a child and young adult, I always wanted to learn how to crochet, but never had the courage to try it (my mother always said it was really difficult). As a result, I always muddled along knitting and embroidering (neither of which I was particularly good at), but never daring to venture into the magical realm of the crochet hook. Until I saw a book by the brilliant Dutch designer Tessa van Riest-Ernst with all these cute little crocheted monsters and creatures and I knew I had to get over my fears. And, as it turned out, my mother was absolutely demonstrably wrong and my love of crocheting was awakened. 

This witch with cat pattern was the final pattern in the book, and by the looks of it the most complicated. Again, it took me a few years to attempt it and I'm really happy with how they turned out. The cat, with its forlorn eyes, is especially amusing.  

I'm also really pleased with how the hair turned out, I was a little sceptical at first that it would cover the entire head. To make the hair fuller, I used an acrylic yarn rather than cotton.

For the rest of the witch, I used SMC Catania cotton yarn in the colours black (110), purple (113), pink (114) and apricot (263) with a 2.5mm hook. The hair was made using scraps of some DK acrylic yarn left over from another project. The body is stuffed with a combination of fiberfill and plastic beads so she can stand up on her own. The eyes are 6mm safety eyes.  

You can find this pattern on WoolyToons and I've also posted it on my DeviantArt, along with some other projects.