Decided to turn this into a hot pad.
This is a rather frustrating pattern. Turned out to be more complicated than I had realized. I ended frogging my first attempt because I had subconsciously treated it like an amigurumi project. The result was waaay too tight and small. Switched to a larger G hook and had to keep reminding myself to keep a loose tension.
This project doesn’t like me. It is very difficult to keep track of all the stitches. I messed up and had to redo nearly every row.
So far I’ve got the two head pieces finished, but they are still warping pretty badly. I’m going to block the pieces before I crochet them together. Hopefully that will do the trick because right now the head shape does not look like the project photo.
Update 12/14/2012:
Had to wait awhile to let the two pieces dry out after blocking. Then I forced myself to finish this.
So, obviously my version doesn’t look much like the pattern. I decided I did not want the enlarged part for the bottom of the reindeer’s face and switched it to the top section. I thought it would look more like a reindeer’s head, but now it looks like it has a really big brain due to the eyes and nose being a bit low.
Changed the expression up a bit. Tried to make it more kawaii, but I don’t think it worked.
So. Much. Crab stitch. Added a 12 CH hanger when I got the the middle section of the head while crab stitching the two pieces together. That was a little trickier than I expected since I was working clockwise due to crab stitch.
The ears were pulling away too much from the hot pad so I whip-stitched a row in the back to the crab stitch border.
Used hotter water than last time and I think I’ve finally gotten the bottom part of the head stretched out enough so the hot pad isn’t warping anymore.
Antler Notes
So the antlers are tricky. At first I was convinced there was an error in the pattern until I worked out.
On Row 2 after you’ve created the new branch with the CH 8 and completed the 6 HDC into the back bumps of the chain stitches, make sure to twist this branch and continue to SL ST back down the row towards the bottom of the antler.
At first I thought I was supposed to keep traveling up and around the top of the antler (like an oval), away from the bottom, but nope. After the branch is finished, you go back down the way you came.
Continue this way for Rows 3-4.
Also, keep a loose tension. Working with those chain bumps is not fun.
Update 4/5/2013:
Thought it was high time I got around to adding a photo…
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