Torquil

Allow me to introduce another special member of the family...


This is Torquil, the Earth Knight.

The pattern came from a book I received as a gift: Creepy Cute Crochet, by Christen Haden. This book was awesome: apart from the super cute patterns, I learned some invaluable lessons from the incredible attention to detail, the neatness and stitch choices within some of the more advanced patterns, and especially the exquisite finishing touches. This is not a book for absolute beginners, there are some real challenges here, but I would recommend it to anyone who likes crocheting small, cute, and occasionally creepy (though I'd be more inclined to call them geeky, not that I mind) amigurumi.

The Three Heads of Allen

The last however many months have been filled with the humdrum activities of daily life in the suburbs, which I tolerate, the most noteworthy positive things being our holiday to Japan, I turned 30, my niece turned 1, and we moved into a bigger place.

Craft wise, the usual ebb and flow has occurred. I finally completed what was once my secret Christmas project for Nick somewhere between then and now, which was... a crochet Cerberus! This project was ambitious in many ways, and as usual, slowed to an extra crawl in the construction stages, but I made it! Cerberus was dubbed by his new owner: “Allen”.


Big props to MrsThallium for sharing her wondrous pattern, and Suncatcher Eyes, well, for the eyes.

Post Cerberus, I spent our mild winter making winter woollies for various people. I became obsessed with variegated yarn for a short while, since it makes things look more interesting than they really are, and the changing colours and textures kept my attention span in check. I have been particularly digging on tweed yarn, of which I originally bought a skein of the most hideous colours I could find for some hobo gloves for my brother. I then actually realised that it is gorgeous to work with, and can look very cool in the right context. A beanie for each of us followed, though I finished my own in the last week of “cold” weather we had, so didn’t actually get a wear in. Whoops.


I’ve more recently fallen back into amigurumi, and taken the daunting step into using purely my own patterns, rather than the splicing together of all the wonderful patterns out there. Who knows how it will end (or if it ever will).