No. 18 - Crochet Merida

This one is for Sophie, who turns ten on 1 May!

Made with DK 100% acrylic yarn using a 3.75mm hook.

Didn't follow any pattern, but used the same stitch configuration as the mermaids for the head shape. Shaped the body according to pictures of Merida I found online, and trimmed the collar and sleeves accordingly.

Attaching hair is always a pain for me, and this one was a little weird at the top (you can't see that in the photo) but whatever, I'm glad she's done! Depending how you style her hair her look changes. Right now she looks a little angry to me...

I inserted a circular disc at the bottom (a giveaway pin from the frog farm Rachel visited) and crocheted over it to give her a stable base. Otherwise, with that heavy head of hair, she will keep falling over when you try to stand her up.

Intend to make her a bow and arrow set eventually.

I really love the original Merida's fiery character and hair, her deep velvety dress with gold trim. She seemed like a good candidate for a crochet doll as her dress is relatively simple but distinctive, and the hair... I could unravel the yarn into really curly strands just like the real Merida, but that makes the strands quite weak and they can get pulled apart. I might still do that.

(no. 15 will be updated - it's a gift for someone and I don't want them to see it yet, in case they stumble upon this blog)

No. 17 - Crochet Sun Hat for Leia

Friend is going to have a baby girl! She'll be half Hawaiian, so I thought a watery / surfy colourway with Hawaiian state flower (yellow Hibiscus) would suit. I like a dark brim for good shielding from sunny glare.

Made using DK 100% acrylic yarn (machine washable), 4mm hook.

Didn't follow any pattern for the hat, just winged it more or less to get the size and shape I had in mind.

For the yellow hibiscus I adapted a tropical flower pattern from Little Monkey's Crochet. I like the petal shapes, but used two different shades of red for the center, and didn't do further embroidery in the middle.

No. 16 - Set of Six Crochet Coasters for Karen

I used the same pattern as the trial coaster, but added a final round of slip stitch to finish off the edge, making it firm and neat.

Made them using a 3.75 mm hook, with Red Heart Miami 100% cotton yarn.

These were given to a friend who performed a small treatment for me at her aesthetic clinic and refused any payment. I posted the set to her before taking a photograph - the picture above is courtesy of her, after she received it in the mail.

No. 15 - Crochet Mermaid

Rachel liked the mermaid I made for 2nd niece, so I made her this one for her birthday. I used a different yarn for her skin, for a darker skin tone. Stylecraft Special DK, in 'stone.'

No. 14 - Trial Crochet Coaster

Wanted to make a coaster for ever so long. I had even bought the yarn for it some time back but no chance until today. Followed a relatively simple pattern I found online.

Used Red Heart Miami 100% cotton yarn for this, with a no. 4 hook.

The finished piece has two major errors:

Firstly, the initial number of double crochet stitches is one short of the total twelve that the pattern indicated, so the error got magnified as the number of rounds grew, and whole thing is a little smaller than it should be.

Secondly, one of the three dc groups in round 3 has four dc instead.

But I'm happy to have managed to add a final round of my own, and that it looks even enough without any obvious gaps. I needed to because the pattern was written for dk yarn and this is a 5 ply yarn, so it wasn't large enough without the final round. I think I'll add a further round of slip stitches to neaten the edge and make it a tad bigger.