Crochet Grogu and Disney Visit

After two years of pandemic, we finally got to go back to Disneyland/California Adventure. I dusted off my Baby Yoda, put him in his harness and loaded him into the car.

Squee! I’m ready!

I also made a crochet lovey and he got to go too.

Don’t forget me!

My husband got us a reservation at Paradise Point, a Disney hotel, and we were super excited. He said every room had a nice view, either of the pool area or the parks. We packed our bags and were off on our adventure.

The Hotel

When we arrived, I carried my doll in his sling to check in, and the nice lady who helped us loved my Baby Yoda. That was a really nice start to our day.

During the check in process, she informed us of some “things”. She let us know that none of the hotel’s restaurants were open, but we could have room service from the other hotels. We probably weren’t going to eat there anyway, so no big deal. She then proceeded to let us know that the pool was under construction and that we could use the pool at the Disneyland Hotel instead and could take a shuttle. We probably weren’t going to use the pool anyway and certainly not if we had to take a shuttle to get to it.

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Crochet Baby Yoda Has Ears

I finished his ears and couldn’t wait to share. I’ve been walking around the house holding him like a baby.

It’s almost a shame I have to make him a little outfit. I kinda just want to make him a little diaper. His head wobbles a little because the head is heavier, but it’s perfect because it makes him feel MORE like a baby.

I worked his ears a little differently than past dolls I made. I used two strands of yarn for the green part and one for the pink part. That gave me three strands of yarn total, which made the ears stiffer.It also made the pink part smaller than the green part. I had to stretch it more to make it fit. This made it curl in a bit, which is what I wanted. These ears are stiffer than previous ears, but still flexible. I like it.

Even though I don’t want to dress him, I guess I better.

I started his outfit, and as happens sometimes, I chose a yarn ball I thought would last for the entire outfit. It didn’t. I got that yarn from a yard sale or something like that–many years ago–so I can’t get more. I had to rip it back and choose another, bigger ball. This time I picked something I can get more of. I never learn. 🤣

Crochet Baby Yodas at Yosemite

Friends or enemies?!

I was fortunate enough to visit Yosemite National park with my siblings and sibling-in-law on a camping trip. My brother was able to snag reservations to Zion, Mesa Verde, and Yosemite, all before the pandemic. Apparently, Yosemite was super hard to get. Reservations would sell out within seconds of opening. He kept trying and timed the system just right and managed to grab one for this past weekend.

As the pandemic hit, the reservations were canceled with first Zion and then Mesa Verde. We were crossing our fingers that Yosemite would happen. As the date got closer, they did close most of Yosemite down, but our reservation at Upper Pines remained active. Then, they canceled half of the Upper Pines reservations. Ours was one of the lucky few that did not get canceled, but we kept watch to see what would happen. The week before we were set to go, Yosemite started slowly opening back up–with many restrictions–but opening nonetheless. That was such good news because it meant that our reservation would probably hold–and it did!

I took so many pictures of our adventures, but I almost didn’t take any pics of the Baby Yodas. Months ago, I had made a Darth Maul/Baby Yoda hybrid for my brother and my sis-in-law had crocheted him a Baby Yoda. He carries them in his car, and they went on the trip. It was on the last day that my sis-in-law said I should take pics of the dolls (action figures!) before we left, and I mean literally before we left! We were packing up to leave! I thought it was a great idea.

They didn’t do any hiking, being snug and forgotten in the car, but they were there with us and deserved their own photoshoot. 🙂 If you’d like to see more, check out my Instagram account at @yochetcrochet.

I see you!

I think they’re friends.

I loved being at Yosemite! Can’t wait to go back someday!

I’ll post another entry of my adventures with my siblings but if you’d like to check out pics now, head over to my Instagram @yolihikingandoutdoors.

Finishing My Crochet Book Amidst Pandemic

I hadn’t planned on doing a post on the pandemic that’s hit the world, but I thought about how I’ve enjoyed (maybe enjoyed is not a good word) reading other bloggers posts about how they are doing, what’s happening where they are, or what they are doing to keep from going insane. So I thought I’d share a little bit of my Coronavirus story here in Southern California.

First and foremost, in case you were worried, I have plenty of toilet paper. Right before (and I mean RIGHT before) everything went down, I had purchased one of those big packages from Costco, along with a big package of paper towels. I got it home and  realized I already had a bunch of toilet paper I had already purchased, and felt dumb for buying more when I didn’t need it. But then everything started to go nuts, and I was very happy I had my supply!

Crochet Baby Yoda For Me!

I made a few more crochet Baby Yodas, both small and medium, but I made one final large one that I’m going to keep. I can feel the eye rolls, especially from those that know me, but I’m serious, this is it. 😉 I went all out on this one. I even ventured out and bought some nice yarn to make the outfit (using coupons of course), even though I had plenty of yarn already. I’m sure I can be forgiven for a little indulgence. The new yarn was so soft! I had to do it, I had to!

Every single one of the previous dolls had something different I experimented with, be it the hands or feet, or trying out a different way to make the face or ears. All that helped me choose my favorite features and combine them into this doll. But keeping with tradition, I tried something new with the feet. I am super happy with how they turned out. My hubby absolutely loved the hands and feet. No, he doesn’t get this one! But I will share it with him. 🙂

I want to take my baby to Disneyland the next time we go. I even made him his own Mickey ears so he can enjoy his day! Hubby started grumbling about me taking this one to the park as soon as he saw me making the Mickey Ears. He knew he was doomed and there was no way this Baby Yoda was staying home. Up until then, he had hopes that I wasn’t going to take the doll with us. He was very proud of me for the reaction I got with the other dolls at the park, but he didn’t necessarily like all the attention. I totally get it, but I still want to take this one at least once.

I’m ready for Disneyland!

I also made him the ball he plays with on the show.

The ball is removable.

And now I’m DONE with making Baby Yodas. At least for now…

And just for a little perspective on his size…

This is the original face. I didn’t like it so I changed the eyes and smile so he’s a little different in this picture than in the ones above.

Scrap Yarn Crochet Baby Yoda

Some of the kids at work have seen my Crocheted Baby Yodas. Naturally, I have some fans of the show and they wanted me to make some dolls for them. I looked in our yarn box and only had two greens. One was a frog green (like the kind you find in a crayon box) and the other was a small ball of mint green repurposed from a blanket my mom had made. It was a tiny ball. I had a full skien of the frog green yarn, but I wanted to experiment using up scrap yarn, so I chose the baby mint green and a blue that came rescued as well from that same blanket. For the ears, I used pink, but the only pink we had was a bright, bold pink. What the heck, why not? This was an experiment anyway. I had more of the blue so that was going to be for the parts that would be under the doll’s outfit since I had more of it. The mint green would be for extremities, like the tips of the hands and feet, the ears and the head. I was pretty sure I would have enough and if I didn’t, I was going to improvise. 🙂

Luckily, I didn’t run out of the mint. Here he is in his scrappy goodness. But he cleans up well once he’s dressed. 🙂

The clothes really do make the difference! Even with those bright pink ears.

Crochet Baby Yoda Craze – Me Too!

My husband LOVES Star Wars and couldn’t wait for the Mandalorian to come out on Disney+. We both loved the show, but that Baby Yoda though… he is sooooo darned cute! I immediately thought of crocheting one but didn’t jump on it quick enough. I blinked my eyes and pictures of crocheted Baby Yodas were everywhere! Even my sister-in-law finished one before me, even though I started first! She doesn’t even like to make crochet toys. Her’s is super cute too.

I took way longer than I should have to finish it, but in my defense, I sat around a lot daydreaming on how to make the perfect replica. I made up my own pattern and looked at a ton of photos, both crocheted and actual shots from the show. After much frogging, I finally got something I liked. The face was the hardest because I couldn’t decide on how much detail I wanted to attempt. I made and unmade the face quite a few times, but I had to stop at some point and just let it be.

Eventually I was done, or as done as I was going to be and here he is!

AND he stands on his own. That was a happy surprise. 🙂

Honestly, I can’t say I’m completely satisfied with it (mainly the face), but when I took him to work to share with a friend, everyone went nuts. So I guess he’s alright. 🙂 And I’m working on another one trying to make it better. We’ll see…