Llewelyn

As promised, I am back here again to share more up-to-date crafty stories. It's 1st of March tomorrow. In Wales it is a nationally celebrated St. David's day. I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to crochet a dragon toy (the red dragon being the national symbol of Wales). 

So here he is. Meet Llewelyn :) 

He received his name after a medieval Welsh ruler - Llewelyn the Great. A Welsh dragon needs a good old Welsh name, won't you agree? :)

To make him I used a pattern from Kornflake Stew. Originally he is Django, the dragon. But my aim was to make him as Welsh-looking as possible :)

I decided he will be made with Scheepjes Riverwashed yarn, shade: Nile. This two-tone yarn is just perfect to make a red dragon. The cotton red core of the yarn is blended with some yellow/orangey fuzz giving it a fiery look. Its yarn weight is sport/baby so it gives a nice size. The toy is about 35-36 cm tall. Not too small and not too big either. Just right.

The Red dragon of Wales despicted on the flag is all red but I didn't want Llewelyn to be entirely red as it would be a bit bland. I wanted some contrasting horns, spikes and wings but at the same time not to be diverting from the Welsh colours either. Another Scheepjes Riverwashed yarn, shade: Seine has worked really well here. The core of the yarn is red but the outer green fuzz gives a nice contrast. So this way I could have my cake and eat it :D :D :D

I was pleased to see how these two shades work well together in this dragon.

I modified his wings a little. I made them a bit larger and one row longer. I know they are meant to be grotesquely small and this is part of his charm but those in the pattern were way too tiny for him.

A little tag attached. The crafter's signature, saying "mine!" :)

The Daffodil pin - another symbol of Wales. Love daffs - the sign the spring is on its way! 

His feet really amuse me LOL They are more like trotters than dragon's talons :))))

Thanks to his feet and a short tail he can stand on his own!

Oh dear, I think he is a bit sad...

Now with his mates :) Better.

The End

Have a nice week and don't forget to say hello :)

New projects in the making! Coming soon!

Oleg, the bear

Hello world. Wow, it's been ages since I came here to post and so much has changed since. I must admit I feel a bit guilty about neglecting this blog. But... It's a new year, new beginning. Let's see if I can keep this blog going for the next months! Wish me luck! 

Well, I am into crochet now. Very much into crochet. The past two years I've been honing my crocheting, learning new techniques, pushing my skills forward and trying new things. And I am so loving it! It is truly amazing what you can make with just yarn and a crochet hook. And it is so rewarding too!

2020 may have been a c**p year for many of us but for me, weirdly, it was also one of the most intense productive years, devoted entirely to crocheting. Many new crochet pieces have come about and I'm intending to show them here in a form of "a blast from the past" blog posts with a little story behind them. I will be blogging about my current work to keep it up to date. 

Here we go, my first crochet piece of 2021 - Oleg, the Polar bear.

There is always the first time for everything and this is my first crocheted polar bear :) I named him Oleg because of his Russian "ushatka" hat, which makes me think of frosty winters in Siberia.

Originally this bear is called Girolle and the pattern for it comes from Kornflake Stew designer from Etsy. As far as I know, it was published as a limited edition in a form of a Crochet Box a while ago and it was also published as a pattern in Crochet Now magazine, issue 51, available only digitally now.

The original pattern recommends using some Bergere de France yarn but there was no chance of me finding it online or spending a fortune on it. I decided to find my own replacements and it worked out well. I used Drops Safran cotton yarn in exactly the same colours. Voila! 

I loved working with this cream coloured cotton yarn and combining it with the oh-so-trendy mustard and teal. As it is fine in yarn weight, the bear turned out small and cute. About 15-16 cm in height.

For some reason the pattern for this bear doesn't tell you to give him ears! That cannot be! A polar bear with no ears! I decided to give him a pair of small ones even though he hides them under his hat.

Quite pleased with the final result :)

As this is such a sweet design, I'll probably be back to this pattern sometime as I already have a certain idea for it. Oleg the bear will be back, but in a slightly altered form :)

If you wish to find out more about this bear and other beautiful Kornflake Stew designs, join us in this Facebook group for the fans of K.S. patterns! :)