Saturday, September 10, 2011

My Advent Calenders

                                                                                                                 COMPLETED: 20  GOAL: 649


I've always been a bit crazy about advent calenders. Around the holidays, I drag them all out of storage and display them around the house. The kids enjoy running around the house, changing dates, opening doors and of coarse eating the goodies they find inside. For the last couple of years I've created advent calenders for them. The first year was very simple. I used a box and created small compartments within the box with strips of cardboard. Instead of the box lid. We made one out of tissue paper and I glued it to the top of the box. I marked each compartment with a number (1-24). Every day the kids would bust open the tissue paper over the right compartment and get their treat. The second year I made the calenders out of a couple of sheets of poster board. I cut out the shape of a Christmas tree and then cut out doors. I glued the second piece of poster board on the back. The kids got to decorate the tree with stickers, glitter, markers whatever they wanted. When they were done, I put 2 or 3 Pokemon cards or WWE wrestling cards behind each door, sealed the doors closed with stickers, numbered the doors and the calender was ready to go. This year I'm going to stay with the Pokemon theme. But instead of the Pokemon cards, I'm crocheting one character for each day. Once all the Pokemon are done, I'll wrap and number them and this years calender will be complete. So far I have completed 8 of the 24. I've been concentrating on the simpler Pokemon, because of the time restraint. Below I've listed the ones I have made so far with a corresponding link or else a patten.



Sudowoodo, Wobbuffet: http://shedko247.wordpress.com/


Wailmer, Diglett, Cherubi: http://nanettecrochet.blogspot.com/

Foongus: http://zaphod-beeblebroxie.deviantart.com/art/Tamagetake-plushie-pattern-196263669?q=boost%3Apopular%0pokemon%20amigurumi&go=89

Oddish: http://wolfdreamer-oth.blogspot.com/

Spoink: I found the original pattern for Spoink at the following site. http://bizzycrochet.blogspot.com/2007/05/pokemon-spoink-look-alike.htm
I've modified it a bit and have written the pattern below.



SPOINK
Materials: F Hook, Light gray yarn (I used med gray), small amount of pink yarn for ball and cheeks and small amount of black and white yarn for eyes and nose.
Body:
Begin with 6 sc in magic ring (6)
Row 1 - 2 sc in each sc around (12)
Row 2 - sc in next sc, 2 sc in next sc, around (18)
Row 3 - sc in next two sc, 2 sc in next sc, around (24)
Row 4 - sc in next 3 sc, 2 sc in next sc, around (30)
Row 5 - sc in next 4 sc, 2 sc in next, around (36)
Row 6-11 - sc in each sc around (36)
Row 12 - sc in next 4 sc, decrease over next 2 sc, around (30)
Row 13 - sc in next 3 sc, decrease over next 2 sc, around (24)
Row 14 - sc in next 2 sc, decrease over next 2 sc, around (18)
Begin stuffing if you have not started.
Row 14 - sc in next sc, decrease over next 2 sc, around (12)
Row 15 - decrease over next 2 sc (6)
Row 16 – decrease over next 2 sc (3)
FO and sew closed.
Tail:
Begin with 4 sc in magic circle (4)
Row 1 – sc in each sc round (4)
Row 2-146 – sc in each sc around (4)
FO
Insert a piece of wire or a pipe cleaner in tube and sew end closed.
Arms: Make 2
Ch 4, sc in 2nd chain from hook, hdc in next chain, dc in last chain. Ch 4, sc in 2nd ch from hook, hdc in next ch, dc in last ch. FO leaving a long tail. Fold pieces over and sew sides together leaving bottom open. You can lightly stuff arms or not.
Ears:Make 2
Ch 3, sc in 2nd ch, hdc in last ch. FO
Nose:
Ch 4
Row 1 – Sc in next 2 ch, 3 sc in last ch. Working on opposite sides of chain in loops. Sc in next 2 ch and 3 sc in last ch, join. (10)
Row 2 – Ch 1, 2 sc in next 3 sc, sc in next 2 sc, 2 sc in next 3 sc, sc in next 2 sc, join (16)
Row 3 – sc in each sc around (16)
FO and lightly stuff.
Assembly:
Sew tail to bottom of body. Twist it to form a spring. Attach arms to sides of body, just below halfway. Attach nose to front of body, between the arms. Attach ears to top of head. Attach pink ball between ears. Embroider eyes and nose with black and the cheeks with pink. I made a small french knot for the whites of the eyes.

Next Blog: Rotom, Surskit