The Ugly Duckling Swan

I guess it is a bit of a spoiler if you haven't read the book but The Ugly Ducklingdoes become a swan. So I needed to make one to finish my set for the book.

The pattern comes from one of my favorite amigurumi series Zoomigurumi 6and I wrote previously about making the cygnet for the book set.

One of the biggest challenges for me with this ami was getting the swans wings to set right as the wings can create balance or set the swan to tilting. They are significantly heavier and harder to balance than any of the duck wings I'd makde previously. Not hard to make but more challenging to attach.

The Ugly Duckling Cygnet

The Ugly Ducklingis the last project I will be working on for this October birthday box. The book I chose is a Caldecott Honor book and the pictures are just beautiful. When I started the Make Way for Ducklings project I wondered if there was another book/story that I could send with it that would make use of the duck/bird theme. When I started looking at books I came across a classic fairy tale and then just had to choose which edition I wanted. There were several options but the illustrations in this edition sold me.

I had originally considered adapting the duckling pattern for the cygnet but then I came across a child/adult swan pattern in Zoomigurumi 6so I went with that set. There are slight differences in construction that actually fit in neatly with the story of what the differences are between a cygnet and a duckling.

At this point I need to make the swan and finish the barn and I'll be done with birthdays for October. I still am working on Halloween and then I'll need to move on to Thanksgiving and Christmas.

For my own notes I used Mary Maxim's Baby's Best Yarn and a D hook for the body and cotton dishcloth yarn for the beak. I don't buy Mary Maxim's yarn that often do to shipping costs but I'll be looking for my next free shipping coupon to buy more of this yarn as I really liked the texture and the way it worked up.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

I mentioned in a previous post I got distracted with new ideas for the birthday box and thus it went out a week late. Well this was one of the culprits. I came across two competing patterns for Goldilocks and the Three Bearsamigurumi sets. I'd already done puppets but the sets were both in their own ways interesting.

The first was from Amigurumi Fairy Tales: Crochet Your Own Enchanted Forest and I found the bears to be intriguing. These bears had personalities and props. They weren't random bear patterns thrown in to fit the fairy tale theme.

The more challenging issue was Goldilocks. I began to feel I was trying to cast a part in a play or movie. I liked this one's hair but the rest just wasn't right for the part. So I went back to hybrid design. Once Upon a Time... in Crochetalso had a Goldilocks set. The bears were fairly generic but the hair design for Goldilocks was something I hadn't encountered before and I liked it. Unfortunately I only liked the hair part of the Goldilocks pattern. The rest didn't work for me. I still liked the body from the Amigurumi Tales book better. Normally a switch out isn't much of an issue however, there was a slight problem the dolls were not exactly compatible to exchange in a one for one manner. So I kept the head and body from the Amigurumi Tales book and modified the hair from the Once Upon a time book to fit. I also brought along her porridge bowl. Goldilocks, the fish, the basket, and the apple are all done in sport weight yarn. The bears were done in worsted weight yarn.

In notes for myself regarding the bears if I make them again I'd ignore pattern and opt for a more traditional round ami head. After making the first one I thought it would be odd to correct it on the other two and I was rushing to finish, but I'd not make them this way again. I wasn't crazy about the bump at the top of the head due to smaller initial increases. This is something easily fixed.

As you can see I forgot Baby Bear's snout and I had already inserted the saftey nose when I realized my mistake. The challenges of late night crochet on a deadline. I had already attached his head when I realized what I had done so I didn't redo it as I'd have risked destroying his lower half as well as having to remake his head.

Note to self this went out with hand puppets and
Believe Me, Goldilocks Rocks!: The Story of the Three Bears as Told by Baby Bear and Goldilocks and the Three Bears

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 Little Pigs Finger Puppets

The Three Little Pigs was my literary theme for that summer bday I keep writing about. I'd made these finger puppets before and they had been a hit so I decided to try them out again. This time I added a bag as I've learned small things get lost easily.

I've been making this pattern for several years and sadly, it no longer appears to be available for purchase. You can find the listing on Ravelry here. I give you that information so you can contact the designer and find out if she'd be willing to sell the pattern again.