I’ve been brainstorming new ideas for items to put up in my shop. Everyone seems to really like the Bellsprout and Oddish planters that I have up, so I was wracking my brains for more Pokemon that would look cute in planters.
I love both of these little guys, but couldn’t think of any other gen one Pokemon that I could put in a planter. I don’t know about you guys, but I really have a soft spot for gen 2 Pokemon. I love gen 1 but I think since gen 2 came out when I was a little older, I remember it better. Plus, I love the Johto region – and you got BOTH Kanto AND Johto in Gold and Silver. So I thought maybe I would move on to the next generation!
I really love grass Pokemon’s designs. I never picked the grass starters, though, because I was in it to win it and needed a good fire type. I usually didn’t include a grass type in my lineup either, because they have more weaknesses than other types and aren’t particularly strong. But it seems like the cutest Pokemon in the game were always grass, and I loved all of them!
So I started with one of the cutest ones that came to mind: Hoppip. I love how he’s neon pink and has ears AND squiggly leaves.
Something that I absolutely love about crochet is the versatility. Knitting is great for clothing items; in fact, I much prefer knitting to crochet when it comes to garments. Knitting doesn’t really allow much shaping, and to make three-dimensional projects, you have to either use magic loop or DPNs, and I’m pretty sure that DP knitting was invented by someone who hates knitters. I can’t work quickly and I drop my needles constantly during the first 3 or 4 rounds. Magic loop’s better, but it’s still fiddly.
Crochet isn’t like that. You want to make a sphere? Piece of cake. Triangle? Boom. Cone? Double boom. The sky’s the limit on shapes and textures; it’s all quite literally in your hands what you choose to do. When I “design” projects (I don’t really design – I usually just freestyle and hastily write down a pattern as I go) I think basic shapes. Hoppip here is a sphere, with two tapered cones for ears and four “nubbins” for feet. His leaves are wavy, so I knew I was going to have to make a shell stitch along both sides of a 8 stitch chain – I could crochet around the top of the chain and repeat the shell stitch along the other side.
It’s uncomplicated, which is perfect for me. The only trouble I have is if I don’t write down what I’m doing. Something that’s so impromptu like this has a tendency to be hard to replicate EXACTLY, and I like consistency. I’ve only very recently started writing things down, and that’s why I’ve been able to release patterns, which is awesome because I can finally answer yes when someone asks me if I have the pattern for a particular piece.
Ok, design process aside, I decided why stop at Hoppip? Why not make the whole evolutionary chain?
And lo, the Hoppip family was born. I’m pretty pleased with this initial go at them, but I think I might remake them using a smaller hook and some sport weight yarn. As much as I love worsted weight and a 5mm hook, when I’m working on small little chibis it’s really best to use a small hook and yarn. Cleans everything up.
I also want to experiment with spray painting safety eyes! I’ve tried it once before but it didn’t work – the paint slid right off and now I have a can of yellow spray paint that I can’t use and a Litwick with silly eyes.
That’s all from me! Cheers!
So cute!