I can’t spell it without help, and please don’t ask me to pronounce it out loud, but I’ve been dabbling in amigurumi the past few years–quick, portable projects with (potentially, anyway!) cute results–and this week decided to try my hand at a crochet-a-long (CAL) project: a snowperson!
(Her nose looks a tad bit on the large side–partly that’s due to the camera angle, partly that’s because it is kind of big. Counting stitches while listening to an audiobook or binge-watching Parks and Recreation on Netflix is not a strength of mine, obviously. Still, I’m pretty happy with how she turned out.)
She’s made from a Fresh Stitches pattern–the Snowman Crochet Pattern–which is kind of a crochet version of a Choose Your Own Adventure story. You make a basic snowman body (head, body, and carrot nose) and then decide which arms (stick or snowball), smile (“coal” buttons or embroidered), hat (top hat or beanie), and neckwear (long scarf or cowl) you want to give him or her. I went with snowball arms, button mouth (actually black “E” beads–you can’t really see them here due to the scarf), beanie, and cowl. Mini Moe #2 picked out the yarn for her fashion accessories, and we decided on heart buttons to decorate her body. Though most of her is stuffed with regular filling, the bottom of her body is filled with plastic stuffing beads to weigh her down a bit and help her to stand on her own better.
Though you can purchase the pattern on its own, I got it for free as a member of the brand new Fresh Stitches Ami Club. For $6/month, you get an exclusive pattern (December’s was a teddy bear, which I haven’t yet attempted, and January’s is an absolutely adorable dinosaur which I fully intend to attempt before my last semester starts on 1/30), access to club videos (one specific to that month’s club–the founder Stacey Trock checking in and talking about the upcoming schedule–and one that is a bit more general, explaining how to do a technique we need to know for that month’s pattern), a short, downloadable crochet ebook, a 10% discount on craft eyes from the Fresh Stitches storefront, and access to the member discussion boards. For December, we also had the snowman CAL, which started on December 15 and ends today, so that pattern was available for download in our member library as well. (2 patterns for $6? Can’t go wrong!) I think we’re having CALs every month, but since December’s doesn’t end until today, I’m not 100% sure since nothing has been posted yet about a January one. Fingers crossed, because this one was a lot of fun 🙂
So though I’m not ready to change the name of my blog just yet, I’m hoping to squeeze in a few more amigurumi projects between now and graduation (this summer, though, I’ve got some quilting I have to do! Mini Mac #2 and Mini Moe #2 both have quilts to be worked on). So stay tuned!