Meet our latest VLAD the Vampire Bat crochet toy. I made him for my son as a birthday present which I started back in February and only just managed to finish it in time for his June birthday. He doesn’t want to call him VLAD and has named him Batsy! I love the Lalylala patterns and have made the lamb before so I was keen to try another one. I don’t know what it was though but this one was hard going. Mostly I think it was the yarn which I found in a sale bin for $1 at my local craft store. Bargain I thought, I’ve been looking for a yarn with flecks in it to make the bat Lalylala.
The problem was that the yarn was horrible to crochet with and actually squeaked on my crochet hook with almost every stitch. It was like fingernails down a chalkboard and really made it not an enjoyable project to work on. Then there was the gauge issues and the head I had made nice and tight didn’t fit the black cap so I had to re-do that twice which was also painful. Always up for a challenge and not one to quit I plodded along and managed to finish it in the end. The cape was the best part to make as it was different yarn and the pattern reminded me of the sweet (and ) I made a few years ago. Batsy’s cape has press studs on the points and on his hands so that it stays on while he’s flying around. I do also have an extra head because of my gauge issues so I’ve technically already started another one, that is if the Lalylala heads are all the same!
Brand new lalylala crochet pattern 'VLAD the vampire bat' released! Happy Halloween!
The bow tie is adorable and frames his little heart shape face so sweetly. Of course bats like to hang upside down so it’s extra handy to have the snaps on the hands for the cape. The pattern is, once again, beautifully written with clear pictures and available in so many different languages which is fantastic. I did make a few modifications with only one layer for each ear instead of two as per the pattern and I kept the cape as one layer also. I steamed the cape collar with some starch so that it stays standing up like it’s supposed to. I love giving handmade gifts and Zenon enjoyed watching me make his toy.
He kept me motivated with lots of questions about when his bat would be finished. I teased him in the end and said I wouldn’t have it ready and then secretly finished it and wrapped it up for his birthday.
His reaction was priceless. Have you made any of the Lalylala patterns?
Are the heads the same? Which one is on your make list? Since 2010 my crafty mum blog – Craftsmumship has had loads of crafty ideas and projects that have inspired me in one way or another. I love exploring all kinds of craft, dreaming them up, starting them and hopefully finishing them. Most importantly I love sharing my craft with the world on a regular basis. With a family of 4 kids, a couple of alpacas, a dog, loads of chooks, a bunny and a husband, my heart is full. Xoxox I'd love to hear from you either by commenting on my posts or you can email me at.
And still insanely busy In between the holidays, a very busy time at work, getting sick a couple times, and having my birthday, I’ve been working on loads of little projects that just didn’t seem to want to be made into a blog post. Thus, I’ve decided to try and put them all in one. So here’s a quick overview of what I’ve been up to: I made a bunch of stuff to sell with Tegendraads at Gamepitcon last January. Finished work on the blanket I started back in October/November (still need to somehow attach the fleece that I bought for the back) Made some cute felt owls with a kit I bought way back at the Kreadoe Went to the Haakathon for the Dutch leprosy relief and made a couple ‘red cats’ Went to the opening of a new Crochet store by the girls behind Briljant Crochet (they seem to really be living the dream!) Made some cards with a kit I got for my birthday. And together with my friend Doretta, we taught two more people to crochet ^^ I hope they enjoyed it and are still working on their skills.
Right now, I’m working on Vlad the vampire bat by Lalylala. Using this: A ball of awesome ‘magic swing’ yarn from Briljant Crochet. It’s got a little sparkle mixed in it ❤ but I have to work it together with my normal yarn, which made for some hard work. Thankfully it's almost done now! Magic swing in action, it’s a lot of fun to watch the balls of yarn taking shape. After Vlad is finished, I’ve got a couple projects lined up already (african flower crocodile, a froggy coin purse, actually really finishing the blanket, maybe even start on another blanket with the Stylecraft CAL in April) I hope to be making more blog posts again in the future! I’ll probably elaborate a bit on the Haakathon in a later post ^^ Plus, something totally not crochet or craft related, I got a new fish tank!
What have you guys been up to? Cheers, Lydia. A while back, I joined a called Briljant (Brilliant) Crochet. The group was started by two very enthusiastic ladies who love to crochet so much they just had to share with others. They started organising Crochet Lounges, either evenings or Saturday afternoons when you could come in and crochet together with other people with the same interest.
Like the Hook-ins I go to every once in a while, except a lot closer to home ^^ I hadn’t had the chance to join in any of them though, since work and other obligations held a tight grip on my time. But at the end of April there was one that I just couldn’t pass up: a Lalylala themed Crochet Lounge. Some of you may remember that I made last year. He is one of the patterns in ‘‘ from Lalylala. I really enjoyed making him, even though there were some bumps along the road.
But I digress. Back to the Lalylala Crochet Lounge. The idea was that you’d pay a certain amount, pick the pattern you wanted, and come to the Crochet Lounge to pick up your kit to build your very own Lalylala doll. It was quite the task to pick out the pattern that I really wanted to make, up until the point where my eye fell on. I have no idea why, but I adore octopi. They are just too darn cute with all their squiggly legs and puffy bodies.
So the choice was made. I dragged along my friend Doretta from (Dutch blog!) who picked as her first Lalylala project. The project turned out to be a bigger challenge than normally is the case with a big pattern. But I believe the story is best told in pictures, because for once, I took loads of them while working ?. The happy couple with their pet elephant (that’s not weird at all!) Luckily, working on his girlfriend didn’t take me quite as long and I came prepared for any yarn-shortages. I ran into that lovely coral colour at the crochet lounge and instantly the idea of a little female Oleg popped into my head.
When I had to order more blue yarn, I immediately included some skeins of coral to make sure I wouldn’t run into the same problems again (Paul flashback. In the crochet world, you come across patterns that make you go: WHOA! I really need to make this one! Was such a pattern. I saw it on the Amigurumi Patterns.net and couldn’t resist making the purchase. It’s even designed by a namesake of mine ^^ The pattern itself isn’t too difficult, except for the collar that uses a backpost stitch. I’ve had my fair share of trouble with that one, but after some practise I managed to make it look right.
Another thing that can make it a bit hard to work on, is that it’s pretty much worked up in one piece. On the other hand, that does limit the amount of sewing you have to do, which is a good thing for me ^^” In the end, it turned out that I didn’t stuff the neck enough, so now he kind of hangs his head because of the weight from his toadstool hat. But I think that makes him look a little bit shy and a whole lot cuter ❤. Or just staring outside, thinking of how lucky he is to be inside with all this cold weather I love how, in the pattern, he’s made with yarn that looks kind of earthy. So I tried to find the right colours and succeeded with my first try!
A stand at the market had just the yarn I needed (Annell Rapido Plus) and I love the way he turned out. This was a heavier kind of yarn than was used for the pattern though. The main colour was said to need about 50 grams, which amounts to one skein most of the time, but I ended up using three skeins of 50grams.
For the other colours, one skein per colour turned out to be enough, luckily. Especially since it was quite a hassle to get my hands on the two extra skeins I needed. But I already vented that fruststration ^.