Three Billy Goats Gruff Medium Goat

I'm continuing to work on my ami's to go with my The Three Billy Goats Gruff present. I only need to make the small goat after this and this gift will be finished.

Having made the first goat from Once Upon a Time... in Crochet already, I found the second went a bit faster. The yarn for this project and the troll was another of my targeted attempt to finish off stash yarn. This was gifted to me by a friend when his sister passed away and I've been dilegently working on using it up but it is all one color and there was quite a bit of it. It worked well for this project.

I went from an f to an e hook as the yarn is slightly lighter than the worsted I used for the "large" goat, so it made the second goat slightly smaller than the first goat without having to go to a really small hook. I'm thinking about trying the last goat in sport yarn so I don't have to go to a real tiny hook. I'll have to experiment to see what works best.

This is the project so far. I'm pleased with it and I think it will make a fun way to retell the story and I suspect the goats will end up on the play farm at some point and the troll could even become a farmer.

Three Billy Goats Gruff Troll

I mentioned in a post last week that I was working on a crochet play set to accompany a book gift of The Three Billy Goats Gruff and I'd completed the large goat for the set from Once Upon a Time... in Crochetbut I wasn't happy with my options for the troll from the book.

This is the beauty of making your own toys. You can mix and match as you choose and I found a free pattern for my troll here. This troll is extremely adaptable and customizable.

There is a whole series of videos for the creation of the troll that are extremely detailed. If you've never made an ami before this starts right at the beginning and takes you through step by step. I had the current video for the section I was working on loaded on my phone and I'd fast forward to the places where the techniques were new or different than those I am used to using. I'm not generally someone who uses videos, but I'd advise anyone making this pattern to be prepared to refer to the videos as not everything you need to make the troll is documented in the print pattern. You will need to see some of the videos for directions on how to complete certain parts of the troll.

While my hair differs from her hair options I learned a wonderful new technique for rooting the hair which I will be using for my hair projects now. I loved the tail and I almost thought of using the technique for the hair as a throw back to the trolls of my youth but I really liked the way the hair looked when I was done rooting it and I left it as it stood. The feet are not attached to the body but to the pants and that was a really interesting technique I'd never seen done before. I learned a number of new shaping techniques that I used on the ears and face. The nose is another unique technique that I'd not encountered before.

This is one of my favorite types of projects because I loved the finished product and I learned quite a bit by making it. After making this troll and seeing how cute he came out I couldn't resist picking up the Troll's version of the story Listen, My Bridge Is SO Cool!: The Story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff as Told by the Troll (The Other Side of the Story) to send with my gift. After all I'm sure this troll has something to say on the subject of goats crossing his bridge.

The Three Billy Goats Gruff Large Goat

I've long been a fan of giving gifts of books combined with themed toys that help kids act out the book as it is being read and retell the story long after they've heard it. My next project is to go with a gift of The Three Billy Goats Gruff (Paul Galdone Classics) for a summer birthday gift.

The pattern for the goats comes from Once Upon a Time... in Crochet: 30 amigurumi characters from your favorite fairytales a book I picked up with a couple of fairy tale crochet books that I'm finally putting to use. I found a free pattern online for a troll that has some unique techniques I wanted to try out so, I'm experimenting with that pattern first as I liked the troll better and I wanted to see if I could manage the challenges of the other pattern. If it doesn't work out I'll be back working the troll from this book. I'm sure I'll be documenting my journey at some point.

I haven't been working much from books lately and one of the challenges is keeping your page. One of the things I appreciated about this book was the end pages that bend in to create page holders.

The pattern calls for fingering weight yarn and C or D hooks for the goats making them around 4-4 1/2" for those of you interested in the pattern as written. I had no interest in making them that small and I also wasn't crazy about working in the round in such a tight area. There was also my quest to use as much yarn on hand as I can. Using worsted weight yarn to make the goats means not ordering more yarn and that is important to my goals of trying to use up yarn on hand.

I often read reviews where people say they don't like X pattern because they prefer X yarn. The reality with amis is that most can be adjusted to different yarns but it will effect size and in some cases textures and patterns created if there are yarn/hook changes, etc. In the case of the goats making them larger was not a huge issue. These will actually be about the size of the farm animals I made previously and something tells me they may end up on the farm play sets along with their journey through the Three Billy Goats Gruff so making them a compatible size was not the worse choice I could make.