craft

I finally finished the 3 dolls that my friend commissioned me to make! Each will be gifted this Christmas to a niece or nephew, and each represents the Asian Zodiac animal for his/her birth year. What a neat idea, right? I hope the kiddos like them! I’ve always wanted to make all the Zodiac animals so this was a good motivator to get me going on this project. I don’t foresee myself finishing all 12 animals anytime in the near future, but I think I’ve got a pretty good start already. Let’s see, the 12 animals are the Rat, Cow, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig.

My plan is to eventually make new Zodiac versions of each animal. In the meantime, I can use existing dolls to represent the animals… ie. Mochi or Wasabi for Year of the Rabbit would work nicely! I’ve got a long way to go to make all the signs. No worries though! As long as I’ve got the animal done for the current year, I’m happy. Which animal sign are you? I’m a Cow (ok, that doesn’t sound so nice) and my husband is a Tiger. According to the horoscope, I am supposedly hard working and persistent. Hmmm I’m not sure if that’s completely accurate! My tiger husband is supposedly confidant, courageous, and dynamic. That’s probably true. But I’m not really one to be superstitious!! 🙂

Jolly the Snowman, Jingles the Reindeer, Pepe the Penguin

Presenting my 2012 holiday collection! Jolly the Snowman, Jingles the Reindeer, and Pepe the Penguin! These little guys all sit at about 7″ high. Little Jolly was the first creation..I just love cute little snowmen, so he was a no-brainer for me to make. Jingles came next. Originally named “Rudy,” he was a bit more of a challenge. I wasn’t quite sure how to make his antlers, but with some experimenting, I think it came out alright. I had a bag of jingle bells that I had bought maybe 3 years ago that I have never opened! I am thrilled to finally put them to use! The ribbon around the neck is also something that I saved from a previous Christmas present. I had been holding onto for a few years now. It’s funny how things come together. I knew everything would come in handy one day! Anyways, a day before I was ready to post “Rudy,” a great amigurumi designer Josephine Wu (from a Morning Cup of Jo creations) debuted a reindeer with the same name! What a coincidence! So on the recommendation of a lovely Facebook fan, I ended up selecting “Jingles” and I think the name fits wonderfully for my little guy!

The penguin is my most recent creation. I wanted another character that reminds me of wintertime and I came up with Pepe. Other characters I considered but didn’t become reality were an elf and a gingerbread boy. Maybe next year, for the 2013 holiday collection! Pepe was a lot of fun to make. I toyed with the idea of using a different color for him, something unusual. I thought of using a light blue, or a purple.. but ultimately I decided to stick with classic black. I have never made anything using black yarn before. It makes photographing a little bit harder, because details can be lost in the darkness. I love how colors just pop against his black body and white eyes. I didn’t think I could go wrong with any color for his hat and scarf set. To keep it festive, I chose Christmasy red and green. I think purple would look great too! In general, after I make a doll, I pretty much have no interest in repeating it again…so I don’t think I’ll see how well other color combinations might work. That’s why I LOVE seeing pictures of other crocheter’s finished dolls from my patterns. It’s so much fun to see the creativity and liberties that others use to modify my patterns to create their own visions.

These three patterns are available in my Craftsy shop, Etsy shop, and on Amigurumipatterns.net! Only $3.99 each! Make your own version today!!

Happy Holidays 2012, everyone!! Peace!!

Tag: craft

Asian Zodiac Animals

My Holiday Collection