Finally stopped stalling and finished this little guy. Something aggravating about assembling all of those itty-bitty parts. I think the hassle was worth it in the end as he’s pretty darn adorable.

I always thought the Shy Guys from Nintendo were cute--though I could never remember what they were called. I’d ask my husband about them, then he would start rambling on about how they weren’t really from the Mario franchise. I actually don’t like the Mario games (never could get very far (=_=) ), so it took me a little while to get that the Super Mario Bros. 2 game, in which the Shy Guy debuts, is just a re-skin of a different game. Wherever they’re from, the Shy Guys are too cute.

So on to the pattern itself. It’s not too difficult, but for some reason I had problems with a lot of the pieces turning out correctly on first attempts. I needed two different browns for the belt and mask band, but only used the one dark brown I had on hand. Likewise, his pants should have been a darker, traditional blue, but I used a blue that I had bought for a Wooper plush. Don’t see any reason to buy a skein of yarn for one little project.

I decided to switch it up by splitting the yarn and crocheting a lighter, thinner belt. I like the result, and wish I had done the same for the mask band, but I was surprised at how difficult it was to pull the yarn apart.

I didn’t like the original pants and shoes, so I decided to make up my own design. Basically I crocheted miniature baby booties and sewed/squashed them onto the bottom of the body.

I had the most difficulty with the mask and I still am not happy with the results. I whipped stitch a pair of freehand-cut, black felt ovals to the mask. Two tries before I got the eyes stitched in the right place. I originally had a small oval mouth, but after that wasn’t positioned correctly the first time, out of desperation to finish the project, I replaced it with a quick French knot. Ironically, it seems to be in correct proportion to the eyes.

My son’s eyes lit up when he saw the finished Shy Guy and asked to have it--this after receiving a giant amigurumi pea plush from me this morning. After I said it was for me, he then asked if I would make him one. I refused. (~.~;)