Mini Squirtle Squad Crochet Pattern

I haven't been crocheting so much lately, I've actually been on a cross stitching kick - but during Squirtle community day I had to make a pattern!  I've got it pretty much perfected (I think!).  I forewent safety eyes on this one, and instead used stiff felt and felt glue to make him those classic Squirtle Squad sunglasses!  I had to make Ash's squirtle, of course, because his glasses are way cooler than the round ones.  You can make whatever shape glasses you'd like, as well as use safety eyes instead!  

Materials

White felt

Stiff black felt

Felt glue

Scissors

Poly-fil or other soft toy stuffing

Yarn needle

3 mm crochet hook

Brown yarn*

Cream yarn*

White yarn*

Sky blue yarn*

*These colors are for a regular squirtle.  For shiny squirtle you will need green, very light blue, white and cream yarn.  All yarn used was Red Heart brand, worsted weight.

Crochet Terms

MR- Magic Ring
SC - Single crochet
INC - Increase
DEC - Decrease
PC - Popcorn Stitch
F/O - Finish off
Sl St - Slip Stitch
DC - Double Crochet
FLO - Front loops only
Number in "( )" at the end of each line is the total number of stitches that should be on that row

Work this pattern in ROUNDS.

Head (in BLUE yarn)

Row 1: Magic Ring 6 (6)

Row 2: *INC* 6 times (12)

Row 3: *SC, INC* 6 times (18)

Row 4: *SC, SC, INC* 6 times (24)

Row 5: 24 SC (24)

Row 6: 24 SC (24)

Row 7: 24 SC (24)

Row 8: *SC, SC, DEC* six times (18)

Row 9: *SC, DEC* 6 times (12)

Finish off leaving sphere open, with a tail to sew the head to the body later.

Arms (in BLUE yarn)

Row 1: MR 4 (4)

Row 2: SC, INC, SC, INC (6)

Row 3: SC 6 (6)

Finish off, leaving a tail for sewing later.  Make two arms.

Feet (in BLUE yarn)

Row 1: MR 4 (4)

Row 2: *INC* 4 times (8)

Row 3: *SC, INC* 4 times (12)

Row 4: SC 12 (12)

Row 5: *SC, DEC* 4 times (8)

Finish off, leaving a tail for sewing later.  Make two feet.

Shell (in BROWN yarn *GREEN if shiny*)

Row 1: MR 5 (5)

Row 2: *INC* 5 times (10)

Row 3: SC 10 (10)

Switch to WHITE yarn

Row 4: Work in FLO *SC, INC* 5 times (15)

Row 5: *SC, SC, INC* 5 times (20)

Finish off, leaving a tail for sewing later.

Tail (in BLUE yarn)

Row 1: MR 6 (6)

Row 2: *INC* 6 times (12)

Row 3: *SC, INC* 6 times (18)

Row 4: SC 18 (18)

Row 5: SC 18 (18)

Row 6: SC 18 (18)

Row 7: *SC, DEC* 6 times (12)

Row 8: SC 12 (12)

Row 9: SC 12 (12)

Row 10: SC 12 (12)

Row 11: SC 12 (12)

Row 12: SC 12 (12)

Row 13: SC 12 (12)

Row 14: SC 12 (12)

Finish off, leaving a tail for sewing later.

Body (in CREAM yarn)

Row 1: MR 6 (6)

Row 2: *INC* 6 times (12)

Row 3: *SC, INC* 6 times (18)

Row 4: *SC, SC, INC* 6 times (24)

Row 5: SC 24 (24)

Row 6: SC 24 (24)

Row 7: SC 24 (24)

Row 8: *SC, SC, DEC* 6 times (18)

Row 9: SC 18 (18)

Row 10: *SC, DEC* 6 times (12)

Row 11: SC 12 (12)

Finish off

Assembly

Stuff both the head and body firmly (but not overstuffed!).  Use the tail of yarn you left on the head to sew the head to the body.  

Take the shell and use the tail of yarn on the shell to sew it to the body.  Use a bit of stuffing to fluff up the shell middle before sewing it completely closed.  I place the shell top a row or two below the neck, and make the bottom of the shell almost even with the bottom of the body.

Next, sew on the legs and arms.  I place the arms 3-4 rows down from the neck, and the top of the legs 7-8 rows below the neck.  Just sew them wherever it looks right!

Before you sew the tail to the body, you have to tack it into place to make the swirl.  Stuff the end ball of the tail lightly, but not the shaft of the tail.  Leave that empty. Take a bit of matching blue yarn and tack the ball of the tail to the shaft.  I usually place my tack in the second or third row down of the tail, and roll it down the shaft to a place it looks right.  It should look like the photo above with a straight length left on the tail.  Once the tail is tacked into place for the swirl (sometimes I tack in two or three places to make sure it stays), sew the end of the tail to the back of the squirtle under the shell.  

For the glasses, use the black stiff felt to cut out whatever shape glasses you want.  To add the reflection, cut out strips or triangles of white felt and use felt glue to glue it on.  I let it dry with the strips too large, then trim them down.  Use felt glue or black thread to attach the glasses to your squirtle.  

Voila! Squirtle! 

Needle Felting Amigurimi Faces

Since I started participating in #crochetgo, I've been crocheting with a lot of my free time (of course I've been playing Warcraft Legion as well...). So, I decided it was time for my amigurumi's to get kicked up another notch, and started doing some more advanced patterns. I fell in love with the bulbasaur pattern I found by aphid777 on DeviantART (which can be found here!) so I decided to make him!  Overall, the pattern is well written.  It could use a bit of polish, but I got through it ok!  His face is needle felted and I liked the look, so I decided to needle felt mine as well!

There's a few problems with needle felting for me.  Firstly, I'm allergic to wool.  Hives are not fun. Gloves and tweezers make it harder to work, but for me they are a necessity. As long as I don't touch it much or for a prolonged period of time, I'm good!  Second, there is only one hobby store that carries the supplies in my town, so I have limited resources.  Online shopping fixes that, at least!

For felting you'll need wool roving, a needle felting tool (mine is called a needle felting pen), and your amigurumi!  I generally also like to have a photo reference of the character to get the expression right.

To begin, take the base color of your eyes and start there.  I take the wool and roll it into the general shape of the eye, then place is it on the plush and stab just a few times to be sure I like the placement.  Once I'm satisfied, I stab it in!  Don't worry about completely filling it in at this point.  You'll be layering.

You'll want to get both eyes even during the base color.  Otherwise, you'll have a lot of pain and suffering later trying to make your poor amigurumi not cross-eyed!  Here I have my bulbasaur's eyes shaped the way I wanted them.  Make note that when you stab in your wool, it will shrink a little bit as it's compacted.  Take your time, make your eyes bigger as needed.

Here's where the layering begins.  Bulbasaur has red eyes, with no black pupils, and white reflection in his eye.  So we'll start with red, then move on to getting the reflection correct after.  Just like with the base colors, do both eyes and make sure you like it before you move on! As you layer up, you'll notice that it is a little harder to push your needles in.  Use some force, you won't do any damage (except maybe to your fingers! Keep those out of the way!).  The barbs on the side of the needle is what makes the wool tangle and stay in place, so you need the needle to go in at least past the barbs.

Here you can see what I mean by rolling the wool into the right shape before you poke at it with your stabby tool.  This would be the last step for bulbasaur's eyes, but most characters would have a pupil and then the reflection.  Once this part is done, now would be the time to fill in any spots that are see-through, or fix any shapes the you are unhappy with in his eyes.  I decided to make his eyes larger at this point.

I also needle felted his spots, nose, and his toenails - his little toes are my favorite part!  When you're completely done, you'll need to reshape his head and legs a bit by smooshing them around.  Unless you pull hard at it, the wool should stay in place if it's properly stabbed in.

What if I mess up!?

That is the question! And, I did mess up.  The photos with the pattern show black outlining around his eyes, and I wanted to do the same.  I felt like it gave him more expression.  So, I tried it!  Guess what?

BULBASAUR HAS EYELINER!

I hated it.  It had to come off, but I had never taken off anything I had felted before.  I took a chance, grabbed my seam ripper and a pair of tweezers, and carefully took off all the black with no problems.  I had to clean up and restab the eyes a bit, but they looked better than before I had even put the black on.