Halloween Baby Yoda In January

What I have here is a post I was going to publish in October. Better late than never!

I’m back at work and making toys again for the kids. After being gone for over a year and a half, I peeked in the yarn drawer to see what I had to work with. It wasn’t much. The kids helped me decide what to make (as usual). I had a lot of orange in the drawer, so something Halloweeny was in order. They also liked my Baby Yodas so that’s what we would start with.

I thought I could pull this off with the colors I had. After all, my Darth Maul themed Baby Yoda for my brother was a huge success. How hard could it be to make him pumpkin themed? Well, not hard, but also, I’m not sure I succeeded. Ah well, the kids liked it anyway as a toy for the prize box, and that’s all that counts, right?

No matter how much time has passed, and even though I was dealing with a new batch of kids, they have an abundance of opinions and suggestions for my work. It’s not always favorable either. Things like, “Baby Yoda’s not orange. His eye is funny. What the heck is that?”

That’s what makes it fun. In that spirit, here he is from start (in the classroom) to finish (in my garden).

His left eye was funky, but I fixed it later.

What do you think? Would you recognize him as a Baby Yoda? Or is he just a wannabe?

Octopus Crochet Hat for Daughter

One of the things I love about crochet is being able to create something meaningful out of my own vision or someone else’s. My daughter wanted an octopus hat she had seen all over the internet. She asked if I could make her one. After seeing a few different variations, I felt confident I could come up with something.

Of course, she had her own design in mind. It made it both more challenging to meet her vision, and easier because I had a road map to follow. She is an artist and drew up exactly what she wanted. It was VERY specific. Most of the time, she ends up creating works of art herself just trying to show me what she wants. Do I sound like a proud mama? I definitely I sound like a proud mama.

I worked at trying to get something that would look like what she wanted. There were a few false starts, but I eventually found my flow.

I got the colors right. And did I mention she created a piece of art just to show me what she wanted?

And the final product! Since I don’t have this pieces any longer, I had to borrow from my account on Instagram (@yochetcrochet). The big doll wore the hat beautifully.

Ignore the books. They were for a bookstagram challenge. 🙂

Would you wear something like this? I wouldn’t, but my daughter insisted she would. Not sure I believe her. 😂

Conclusion: I was very happy with the outcome, but there are things I would do differently if I ever make it again.

Blue Crochet Mermaid Doll

I went traipsing through my drafts here on WordPress and one of my drafts was from 2019! I wanted to write about a blue mermaid doll I made as a stash buster at work. I had a lot of blue yarn and decided a mermaid would be perfect.

Well, as I stared at that old draft, which was just a title and a description, I pondered whether it was worth the effort to dig up the old pictures, try to retrieve the old memories, and actually try to write it up now that the doll is long gone (a student picked her from the prize box for his little sister).

The answers is yes, she deserves her moment in the sun, or in this case, blog. I guess there isn’t much to tell. I had a lot of blue yarn I had received when my mom passed away. I had unraveled some unfinished pieces that were destined for the trash. A doll was a perfect way to save all that yarn and honor my mom at the same time.

I don’t have many pictures of her but here she is in all her glory.

When I first imagined what she could be.

I took her to the Renaissance Fair!

Umm, that’s all I have! I guess I didn’t think much about taking her picture at the time, but you get the idea. 🙂