Kendoka with shinai

-

Strolling through John Lewis in search of some embroidery yarn to make frienship bracelets, I stumbled upon this brilliant book by Kerry Lord showing you how to crochet a mini-me. The book gives you a basic and an advanced doll pattern as well as a variety of outfits and accessories, so you can make a chef, princess, pirate, astronaut etc. Because my husband is a keen kendoka, I thought it would be nice to crochet someone in a hakama and gi holding a shinai. 

kendo kendoka amigurumi doll crochet toy
I had to improvise the arms, all of the clothing and the accessories, but Kelly Lord's doll patterns are incredibly cute and a bit ragdoll-like. The way she managed to crochet the hairline into the skull so the hairs don't contrast when you sew them in later is truly inspired :-) 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Miro the Ant (free pattern)

-
Image
This ant was the first amigurumi pattern I ever wrote, around 3 or 4 years ago. It is made of simple spheres sewn together to resemble an ant's body. Simple, but effective, if I may say so myself. Whether anyone is interested in crocheting ants is a completely different matter :-) The yarn used was some acrylic DK knitting yarn with a 3.00mm hook in dark brown for the body. The eyes and anteanne are made from SMC Catania cotton in white and black with a 2.5mm hook.   Head and body (make two):   With brown yarn, start a magic ring R1. 6sc in ring (6) R2. 2sc in every sc (12) R3. 2sc in every 2nd sc (18) R4. 2sc in every 3rd sc (24) R5. 2sc in every 4th sc (30) R6. 2sc in every 5th sc (36) 7.-11. 36sc (36) R12. sc2tog every 5th and 6th sc (30) R13. sc2tog every 4th and 5th sc (24) R14. sc2tog every 3rd and 4th sc (18) R15. sc2tog every 2nd and 3rd sc (12) R16. sc2tog every 1st and 2nd sc (6)   End with a slip stitch in the 1st sc and fasten off. Leave plenty of yarn for sewing. Tail
Read more

Domo (free pattern)

-
Image
This large amigurumi of Domo (the official mascot of Japan's NHK network) is the second pattern I ever attempted to design. He's basically a long cube with legs, so simple enough :-) I'm still debating whether I should give him a small crocheted guitar to play with.  Domo is made of SMC Catania cotton yarn by Schachenmayer (2.5 mm. hook) in the 157 Marone colour. His eyes are 18mm safety eyes and his mouth is made of felt scraps. He's roughly 10 inches tall, so you can scale him up or down by choosing a different type of yarn. Because Domo is so cartoony, I would suggest something smooth like mercerised cotton for a non-fuzzy effect.   Body: In brown, chain 46.   Row 1: sc in every ch (45) Row 2-12: sc in every stitch, ch 1 and turn (45)   From this point on, start crocheting in rounds.   Round 13: sc in every stitch of row 12, sc 3 in the corner, sc 11 in the short sides of the first 12 rows, sc 3 in the corner, sc in every ch, sc 3 in the corner, sc 11 in the shor
Read more

Witch with black cat

-
Image
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 h
Read more