Saturday 15 July 2017

Sunny amigurumi

June was a busy month for me, and as I result I didn't get to go to the cinema - hence there being no film reviews.

They were rather sparse in the run up to June, too, but there is a reason for that.

In June each year there is Sunnycon - it's gone through a few name changes over the years (Sunderland Anime Convention, the Sunnycon Anime Convention, and now the Sunnycon Anime Expo) but there are a few consistencies. Namely that the mascot is a red-haired cat-girl cosplayer called "Sunny", and that the last day features a charity auction.

One of my hobbies is knitting and crochet. Often at work you can see me on my lunch break, either writing a blog post film review, or working with some yarn.

Late last year I was struck with inspiration. I wanted to make a doll of Sunny, and have it sold at the charity auction. I got to work, doing a bit here and there, occasionally getting bored at taking a break. But, as time wore on and the deadline approached, I had to dedicate more time to finishing it.
That is why the reviews largely stopped.



It was worth it, though. The doll sold for £40, and to someone who does seem to appreciate it (he created a Facebook page, featuring the doll touring various locations in the North East)

The pattern was mostly adapted from "AmiguruME" by Allison Hoffman, so it would feel wrong to make it wholly public (buy her book!)
Nonetheless I would like to describe what I can.



Basic body:
The head, body and dress were all patterns in the book, except I added some red edging to the dress.
I also made a collar with a bell, using red embroidery thread, and a tiny bell.




Legs:
This was the pattern from the book, using white for the pants and flesh for the legs. At round 19 I switched to my own made-up pattern for the socks: It was the same pattern as before, but two rounds of white, two of black, repeated until the end.

Shoes:
I followed the pattern from the book, but I felt that the shoes weren't long enough, so I extended them by another 5 or so rounds. I used red yarn for the laces.



Tail:
Similar to the basic arm pattern, but smaller (6 stitches rather than 8) and no decreasing to make sure it's just a tube.
Stitched onto the backside of the doll around where the coccyx would be.

Skirt:
Following the pattern as in the book (except maybe increasing a bit more), except stopping half way and changing direction. After attaching to the waist, making sure the split is at the tail, sealed up the skirt above and below the tail.



Ears:
I spent weeks trying to get these right, but finally I figured it out - each ear consists of two triangles (one in pink and one in black) which are then stitched together using black yarn. Finally they are affixed to the head roughly along the line of where an alice band would be.



Arms:
These were the basic pattern, but ignoring the thumb.
The gloves were the same pattern, maybe with an extra stitch or two to make it a tiny bit larger (to fit over the existing arm)
The fingers of the glove were the fingers from the Simon's Cat pattern but roughly half the size.
I did try crocheting the pads, but found the finger ones were too small and fiddly, and the large one ended up adding too much depth. It's also for this reason that I didn't do colour changes to make the pads (i.e. on the fingers it was a single stitch, which looked out of place)
As such, the pads were pink felt stitched on with normal thread.

Bow:
This was the belt pattern, but extended both in width and length. After attaching it to the body, I formed it into a bow at the front, and stitched it in place.