Okay, I have very few crochet skills, and even fewer reading-a-crochet-pattern skills. This is more a rough approximation of the pattern, rather than a faithful interpretation, but I’m pretty pleased with him!

I used the Manos del Uruguay or the actual structure of the Grootling. It’s left over from one of my earliest knitting projects, a scarf that I don’t think ever got worn. I didn’t have much left, though, so I was pleased to find a leftover bit of Noro Kureyon in a brown/green colourway that matched almost perfectly. I used that for the vines, and for a couple of branchy bits attached to the top of the head. I used the Koigu for the leafy bits.

One note: I had to stuff the trunk very firmly to get it to support the head, but the stuffing shows through the crochet fabric. The vines (crocheted directly onto the surface, rather than chained and sewn on) do help cover up the worst holes, but I really should have used a smaller hook or found dark stuffing somewhere.

I had no pipecleaners, and they’re getting harder to find because of safety concerns, but I had superfine jewelry wire, so I twisted together a bunch of strands of that to make the arms. Improvisation for the win!