Luigi - (Original Pattern by WolfDreamer)

Finally! My latest amigurumi project complete.

My goal is to make a Luigi and Daisy for my dear friends Alex and Kait who were recently married.  I wanted to make them as "kissing dolls" - you know, where they have magnets and they stick together?

I've made Luigi first because I found this lovely pattern for him. (Original Pattern Here) Let me say that I love this girl's patterns. She has some of the best designs out there, and best of all - they are FREE! I'm a huge fan. You should go browse her blog. Just...finish this first. ;)

I have been unsuccessful in finding a Daisy pattern, so I figured I would make Luigi first and them modify the pattern and attempt to make a Daisy. We'll see how that goes.

If you follow the link above to the original pattern, I'm going to post photos of the parts and the assembly, and my general experience with the pattern.

SETUP - yarn, hook, modifications
I used a G hook, and mostly Red Heart worsted weight yarn. My white was actually a baby yarn of worsted weight and my peach is Country Peach by Simply Soft (by far, the best skin tone  I have found.) I used a brighter green and a brighter blue than the original pattern used, but I like the overall product.

For the magnets, I'm using magnet dots that I picked up from the craft section at Wal*Mart. They seemed strong enough to penetrate felt at the store, so we will see how they do in the dolls.

HEAD
First component is, of course, the head (using my peach). Pretty straight forward. My only modification to this pattern was to use the invisible decrease stitch instead of the normal decrease. (Basically, it's a decrease single crochet using the outside loops only.)

As someone said - it sorta looks like an onion...oh well.

When stuffed firmly, I feel like this head is to round for Luigi, so I unstuffed it a bit. As I ended up doing with most of the parts. Firmly stuffed would have been great for Mario, but since Luigi is a bit gangly I found firmly stuffed parts made him a bit fat. Of course, that may be my definition of firmly stuffed, or a difference in stuffing.

NOSE AND EARS

Second and third and  the nose and ears. Again I used the invisible decrease and saw less "puckering" than with a standard decrease. The ears took a little bit of shaping, but I like the final product. You'll notice here and throughout that I use extremely long tails. I prefer to sew things together with yarn instead of thread, thus I keep the tails long to use to attach the pieces together in the end.

Nose. 

Ears.

MUSTACHE
Next is the mustache. Adorable!

Mustache - not cinched in the middle yet.

Mustache with nose. For the effect, ya know. ;)

BODY

Next, the body. Again, I overstuffed at first. It looks odd without the head or the arms, but I have faith in the pattern.

Body standing up

Body laying down.

ARMS/HANDS

Next are the hands and arms. I chose to try the thumbs. I like the way they turned out. I think if I had used normal acrylic yarn instead of baby yarn for the white, the thumbs would have more definition. But, I still prefer the version with thumbs than without. 

I decided here that I wanted to make the hands be able to be held between Daisy and Luigi. The "hands" of each arm have magnets in them.  It was here when I realized the magnets didn't work. =(

The arms side by side.

Another view of the arms.

SUSPENDERS
Next is the suspenders. Super cute and super easy.

Suspenders for the overalls.

LEGS/SHOES

Next come the legs and the shoes. These can get really round if you let them. I suggest lightly stuffing them. I used a lighter brown than the pattern used, but I like it overall.

Legs with shoes attached.

HAT

Next came the hat, which is by far my favorite part of this pattern. When I started it, I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, but it's perfect. I love it. 

I cocked the brim a little bit for the picture. I'm not really sure why. It's very  easily molded, and I like that for this pattern.

LOGO

Now here's the hat logo. I did this differently than the pattern suggested, because I cannot begin to describe to you how much I detest working with felt. For this, I crocheted the white part as instructed, then took my green yarn and double it up and "embroidered" the "L" onto the logo. This ensures the  green matches the uniform and it gets rid of my felt issue.

Logo - I love it!

SIDEBURNS AND HAIR

The pattern instructed to use brown for the sideburns. But this bothered me because the mustache is black. Since my brown was much lighter than the original pattern, I used black for both of these. If you use a dark brown, this probably wouldn't matter quite so much.

Sideburns. So little!

The hair automatically turns itself into a semi-circle. This will come in handy with assembly!

EYES

Here's where we get to my biggest modification. Because, again, I hate hate hate felt.

For this, I used a size 5 hook (itty bitty) and embroidery floss. Black, dark blue, and white. 

Row1: 8 sc in magic ring -  change colors to blue

Row2: 2 sc in each sc, change colors to white

Row3: 2 sc in each sc, join 

This gives a perfect circle, but you can elongate it out to an oval. I also put a fleck of white in the pupil.

This picture sorta sucks, but it's all I have at the moment. You'll see them again with the finished product.

ASSEMBLY 

First, I pinned everything together. This lets me get a general idea of placement. 

This is pinned together and shows everything but the eyes. I think its cute!

Another view from the side.

First, I attached the head to the body by sewing together using the tail from the head. Then I attached the hat. I had to double sew around the neck, then push some stuffing into the neck area. This makes the body a little thinner and helps support the neck and keep his head from lolling so much.

Next came the hat, then the hair.

Then the nose and mustache.

Then the eyes, ears, and sideburns.

Then I attached the arms, right at the neck to hide some of the unsightly stitches between the green and the peach.

Then the suspenders, which I sewed on in the front and back (the criss-cross in the back.)  To keep  them secured in place, I attached them with a little embroidery floss on the shoulders. I found small, yellow buttons and sewed them on the front with white embroidery floss as well.

Last but not least, I attached the legs.

And this is the final product!

He's not a fan of standing up straight unless he's propped up, thus the odd leg positioning.

Finished product with better lighting and better positioning.

Back of Luigi!

FINAL THOUGHTS

When I do my Daisy, I already know of some modifications I plan on making. Some of the attachments were more difficult than I thought they should be, and based on some other patterns I have worked, I think I can combine some techniques and make a smoother product. I think part of it is based on my own technique. I'm not great at sewing things together without leaving seams. I will also probably use a lightly smaller hook as the "g" leaves pretty good sized gaps for me. (See his butt...) 

Overall, this was a fantastic pattern and lots of fun to make! However, I would recommend it if you are a complete beginner.

Molly, jobs, and up and coming projects - a tale of caution for dog owners everywhere.

Ack! I have been neglecting my crochet for the past month or so.

This is largely because I am on the hunt for a new laboratory. Which is good because I no longer have to deal with a completely incompetent boss who blames all of his problems on me.
But its bad because it sets back my thesis time.

I've been working on a photography blog as well. You can see that here: http://thephotodoctor.blogspot.com

My next projects include two baby blankets (for little boys, suggestions would be great!) and an amigurumi version of my dog Molly.

Molly is a dachshund, which means she's got a susceptibility to having back problems. (That whole long and low thing, I guess.)  She ruptured as disc in her back the week before Christmas and I about died, because this dog is the closest thing I have to a child.

TO ALL DOG OWNERS. LET THIS BE A TALE OF CAUTION.
Molly jumped up on Jamie (my fiance) Monday afternoon and yelped, like something bit her. We wrote it off as nothing. The next day she didn't want to jump up on the couch or bed and was a little sluggish and seemed to be in a bit of pain. We assumed she sprained something and moved on. Wednesday morning she couldn't walk.

I rushed her to the vet, who sent me to the emergency surgery vet, whom I didn't know (or trust).  Dr. Dismukes turned out to be a very down to earth but personable sort of guy. He gave it to me straight - because Molly had no feeling in her back legs, she only had about a 50% chance of regaining the ability to walk. In a matter of 5 hours or less, my baby went from being in slight discomfort to being possibly permanently paralyzed.

That afternoon she had surgery, which went well. We were told the rupture had actually spread across 3 vertebrae, (T10-T12 if you're medically minded).

The next morning, Dr. Dismukes called me bright and early with amazing news - she could feel!! He was excited and hopeful, but still guarded.

As of today, we are 6 weeks out of surgery and Molly is walking a little wobbly, but completely on her own. We have to fight her to keep her from trying to jump and climb stairs. She's back to her old self and I couldn't be happier.

We saw Dr. Dismukes today and he called her a little miracle dog! He couldn't believe how well she had been doing, and I can't even explain to you how blessed I feel.

My goal is to make Dr. Dismukes an amigurumi version of Molly, as my little thank you to him. We see him again in 6 weeks, so that gives me time to try and work up a decent pattern. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Family and friends, thank you so much for your support over the holidays while we were dealing with a poor, sick puppy. I have felt so much love from you guys.

And so has Molly. :)

Molly, pre-traumatic experience from April 2010. Gotta love those big blue eyes. (And yes, she is a pure blooded doxie! From the humane society no less!)