Creatures

Creatures are the type of project I struggle with. It doesn’t matter if it is knit or crochet I find them frustrating and ridiculously fiddly. My first attempt at making a creature was a little stuffed elephant for my nephew. It was several years ago and I can laugh about it now…

I was determined to make this elephant. I was a new knitter so I specifically chose to crochet the creature because I felt more comfortable with crochet at the time. I sat down on my couch and followed the pattern carefully, or so I thought. Every few rows I would end up with too many stitches or not enough. In my naivete I would just make an extra stitch or make a decrease at the end to ensure I ended with the right amount. After several hours I started to feel a little uneasy but talked myself into finishing because maybe stuffing would make it look better. Stuffing only made it worse. What I ended up with was no elephant. It was a fairly accurate representation of the male anatomy. I didn’t continue much farther. This first attempt ended up a dog toy.

Fast forward several years and my sister-in-law is close to having her twins. I want to make them something special. I know I will never have time to make two baby blankets so I opted for little “snuggle buddies” that are essentially a small rag/blanket with an animal head on top. This time I thought I would have better luck because the project was knitted. In the end, they came out pretty cute even though I almost pulled all my hair out trying to avoid what I now call the “elephant disaster”. I think it took me longer to put the little creatures together than it did to knit the pieces.

Today, I just finished making a stuffed monster (the pattern is called Kuddlezilla if you want to look on Ravelry). I made the little guy for my dad for his birthday. He won’t wear hand knit socks, hats, or sweaters but I still wanted to give him something that I made. What better than a Godzilla like monster to sit on his desk at work?

This crochet project went fairly smoothly. I learned a lot about making a crochet creature from my “elephant disaster” and was careful to ensure that I followed the pattern exactly. I am proud to announce that this monster actually came out looking like the picture and not at all like something that could be found in a sex shop. Patience and endurance paid off.

I am glad that I conquered my fear of creatures but I am sincerely hoping to never be compelled to make another creature again. The knit and crochet work is so complex and vexatious on top of the assembly process. My friend Susan loves to make creatures. What she produces is truly amazing. She finds it to be a stress reliever because she can’t think about anything besides the tiny thing in front of her. I love her, but I think she is just a little crazy. If I ever talk about making another creature, please, someone, remind me how painful the process is for me.