10-11-2015

Crocheting together with single crochet. I tried join as you go, but couldn’t figure it out. I need to be a little more skilled at crochet before I have the patience to try that!

The diagram is very clear about where the pieces go. And, for the life of me, I kept putting them wrong! I should never listen to myself when I say, “OK, I get it!” When it is something new! Visual learner, Kinesthetic learner, auditory learner--I’m a mistake and re-do it learner!

11/28
Almost done! Just need to wash and full a little, make the ears, stuff, put on the last motif, sew on the ears and think about a tail. Ok, that doesn’t sound so close to done as I felt! What a lot of work this has been! But so cute I think I will believe it to be worth it! :-)

12-01-2015

Finished! So stinkin’ cute! Once I was done putting all the pieces together except the last one (and one side of the last round to make the stuffing hole bigger), I hand washed roughly with lots of agitation in hot water. There was some bleeding of the dye and some grime from the yarn (yarn stores get dusty and so do my shelves). I kept washing until it I could see that the stitches were starting to “melt” into one another in the way that I like. It didn’t totally close up the holes in the crochet, but it made it all look nice and tidy and a little fuzzy. There was some shrinking, but not too much. Since the seams didn’t shrink as much it gave a little more definition to his shape--the top of shoulder hump, the puffy cheeks. When dry I stuffed with wool quilt batting that I had from processing some free fleeces. I have been using it for various purposes other than a quilt. ;-)

It will be awhile before I will attempt another one of these, but I think I will do it. I think it would be a great “project on the side” using scraps and with no real deadline. Having a little basket of these on the go would remind me of my grandmother crocheting bedspread motifs. A nice warm memory!