Totoro again!!!

After another hard day of work today we've decided to watch My Neighbour Totoro again as it's such a lovely film.  Here is the mini Totoro I made recently:

At work they ran out of jobs for me to do so I was assigned transferring questionnaire results into a spreadsheet and then making pretty graphs so they can be presented some time next week.

I love Venice, even though I've never been, and so when Mum and Eve went shopping in Chester a few weeks ago they got me this little porcelain mask as it looks a bit like a Venetian mask:

As well as some books to read on the long train journeys to work every day.  I've almost finished the first one though so it looks like I'll be asking them for more books soon.

Mini Soot Sprites

This is my very first pattern.  I was trying to find a pattern for Soot Sprites from the Studio Ghibli films and was unable to find anything small enough so I just made it up.  I ended up making 4 of these adorable little Soot Sprites – using up the remains of my supply of this wool.

Hope you enjoy making this simple project as much as I did.

You can download the PDF here.

Need:

·         4 mm crochet hook.

·         About 2.5 metres of fluffy or novelty yarn – I used Sirdar snowflake (which has been discontinued) but Sirdar Snuggly Snowflake or another novelty yarn would work just as well.

·         Stitch Markers.

·         A small amount of stuffing.

·         10mm googly eyes (or similar size)

Tips:

As the yarn was fluffy, I couldn’t really see the stitches so I used 6 stitch markers with one in a different colour to mark the start of the row.  This enabled me to see where I was meant to be putting my crochet hook so I could get the right number of stitches.  This worked perfectly until the final decreasing row where it became too fiddly.

As this pattern uses novelty yarn, in order to ensure that the finished soot sprite is fluffy you could fluff it up as you go along (like I did) or turn it inside out if you prefer the way the inside looks.

Pattern:                    (English terms used)

Row 1: dc 6 in a magic ring                                                                    (6 stitches)

Row 2: increase in every stitch                                                            (12 stitches)

Row 3: dc in each stitch                                                                          (12 stitches)

Row 4: decrease around and stuff (not too firmly)                      (6 stitches)

Row 5: decrease until hole is closed up and slip stitch to end

Fasten off and weave in ends

Other ideas:

You could use pipe-cleaners to create little arms and legs for the soot sprites.