OMGurumi Simon / Simone
Last month I made Bridget the Elephant for North Tahoe Knits and received a Simon the Sheep kit in return.
Making the pieces didn't take much time at all, but then they all went into a bag. You see, I really, really don't like sewing up stuffed animals. I'd rather set in sleeves and weave in ends than sew an animal together. But this weekend I decided that Simon waited long enough, so I dumped out the pieces and brought up the TOFT UK videos for guidance.
While I was laying out the pieces, I wondered why I made 3 ears. I had to read the pattern again to before I realized that one of the bits was a tail. Oops. I guess it was quite a while since I put Simon away. The sewing didn't take too long. The head, body, and legs all went together like the elephant so that was a repeat of what I had already done. Positioning the ears was key to making Simon look like a lamb and the pattern photo helped with that.
Before too long Simon was assembled, albeit naked and blind.
Next came the fleece. Ugh. It was easy in theory--*chain 8, sl st to body 2 sts away, repeat from *--but in practice it was slow going. The yarn is DK and the hook is 3mm for a firm fabric, but that meant the "sl st to the body" was a pain. Then, the fleece pattern should be somewhat random. Yeah, I don't do random well. Anyway, the fleece took a while and after that was finished I let Simon rest for the night.
It was a conscious decision to not put the eyes on until morning. I think the eyes alone determine how a friendly or cute stuffed animal looks. It's so easy to get the eyes wrong--too high, too low, too slanted, too far apart, or too close together can make a stuffed animal look mean, rat-like, or just plain goofy. As it was, I had to do Simon's eyes twice to get a look that I was happy with.
Overall I thought the project was a success... except... except for one thing. Simon? No. This is not a Simon, this is a Simone. Yes, that's the finishing touch, Simone.
Apparently she likes it too.
Making the pieces didn't take much time at all, but then they all went into a bag. You see, I really, really don't like sewing up stuffed animals. I'd rather set in sleeves and weave in ends than sew an animal together. But this weekend I decided that Simon waited long enough, so I dumped out the pieces and brought up the TOFT UK videos for guidance.
While I was laying out the pieces, I wondered why I made 3 ears. I had to read the pattern again to before I realized that one of the bits was a tail. Oops. I guess it was quite a while since I put Simon away. The sewing didn't take too long. The head, body, and legs all went together like the elephant so that was a repeat of what I had already done. Positioning the ears was key to making Simon look like a lamb and the pattern photo helped with that.
Before too long Simon was assembled, albeit naked and blind.
Next came the fleece. Ugh. It was easy in theory--*chain 8, sl st to body 2 sts away, repeat from *--but in practice it was slow going. The yarn is DK and the hook is 3mm for a firm fabric, but that meant the "sl st to the body" was a pain. Then, the fleece pattern should be somewhat random. Yeah, I don't do random well. Anyway, the fleece took a while and after that was finished I let Simon rest for the night.
It was a conscious decision to not put the eyes on until morning. I think the eyes alone determine how a friendly or cute stuffed animal looks. It's so easy to get the eyes wrong--too high, too low, too slanted, too far apart, or too close together can make a stuffed animal look mean, rat-like, or just plain goofy. As it was, I had to do Simon's eyes twice to get a look that I was happy with.
Overall I thought the project was a success... except... except for one thing. Simon? No. This is not a Simon, this is a Simone. Yes, that's the finishing touch, Simone.
Apparently she likes it too.
Labels: amigurumi, animals, crochet, Lake Tahoe
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