FO: Luke's Christmas Present

Since this gift alone entailed so many items (and they're so cute!), I figured I'd put all these as one post together. Remember the awesome birthday present I made my nephew in November? Well I had more Star Wars patterns and I knew back then that I would be adding to his set for Christmas. Spoiler Alert - I still have patterns for more figures, so you will certainly see more of them in the future as well. I'm working through the patterns in (what I feel) is the order of character importance. The last set had all the main characters (Luke, Leia, Han, Yoda and Vader), so I added some of the supporting cast this time :)

I started off making the simplest pattern first, the Stormtrooper. He's a very basic shape and only 2 colors, so he went together in just a few hours. I know it's hard to see, but he has a bobble stitch belt too :) He is made with Vanna's Choice in white and black, and the only change I made to the pattern is the eyes. The pattern tells you to use safety eyes, but the troopers in the movie have these triangular eyes in their helmet, so I was trying for authenticity with these felt ones. He certainly looks meaner than the pattern, lol, but I like that it's more accurate.

C-3PO came next just because I already had all the yarn on hand to make him. The pattern suggests using a brown and gray variegated yarn for his belt, which I didn't have so I just went for a striped design and I really like how it turned out. I also made felt eyes to keep with that as a theme, and I made an orange ring because I feel that's an important part of his look in the film. I love that the pattern actually works a bend into the arms, so they stick out like they always do in the film. This was made with Vanna's Choice yarn in mustard and black with Patons Canadiana for the silver.

My next endeavor was Chewbacca. This pattern was really funny - at first I thought that you had to use fuzzy yarn - not so! You take a metal dog brush and brush the daylights out of the finished figure, lol. It was certainly the weirdest thing I have ever done to yarn, lol.  You have to get kind of medieval with is to really get it looking hairy - I'm kind of amazed it didn't rip it apart. This one ended up bigger than normal because I technically used a bulky yarn (Lion Brand Homespun in Barley), but I did use the same size H hook that I used on the rest, so it's a bit of a mystery. He definitely towers over the others though. His satchel is made from Patons Canadiana in Gray and Vanna's Choice in Rust.

Next up, R2D2 - where would the films be without him?! I always loved R2 as a kid, so I really wanted to do him justice. The legs are actually jointed, so you can move them to get him standing upright. The only change I made to the pattern is that I shortened his body by 1 row - it just seemed like it was too long. I made my R2 using Lion Brand Pound of Love in White, Patons Canadiana in Gray, and Premier Everyday Soft Worsted in Royal Blue. I also added a little French dot of red embroidery floss just because I wanted to :)

The final figure I made Boba Fett. He didn't come last because I was reluctant to make him, quite the opposite really. I know that little boys (and big boys) everywhere LOVE Boba Fett, so he was one of the first ones I planned to make for this set. My delay was caused by yarn choice - I had no idea that "Boba Fett green" would be such a hard color to find! I was sure I would have something in my stash that would work when I began, but the further I dug and looked through my Ravelry stash, the more I realized what a strange color green it really is. I'd always though olive green, but he has a decided amount of teal in his color. My husband would not accept the substitutions available in my stash, so he accompanied me to Joann's specifically to find the right green. He ended up being the one to pick the perfect color, lol. The green yarn is Patons Classic Worsted in Jade Heather (write this down if you plan on making him up, you will thank me later!). The pattern actually has quite a bit of literal "color work" for his face and accessories. It was time consuming to make him up, I won't lie, but I love how he turned out. The other yarns I used were all from my stash and included: Vanna's Choice in Mustard, Cranberry, Toffee, Black and Charcoal Gray, as well as Paton's Canadiana in Gray. I did change the pattern and make his cape bigger - I added length and width. I made the cape as the pattern is written and it looked puny, so this one is much more dramatic.

And there you have it: Luke's Christmas present :) I am really happy with how all of these turned out. I will confess that Luke didn't really seem too into them, but he was tired at the time. Toddlers, amiright? His mom loved them though, and I know his dad will be excited too when he gets to see them. These have now joined the rest of the gang in their special carrying bag. I'm excited to finish off the set for the next occasion - I think I have 4 or 5 more patterns to go :)

*If you want to make these yourself, you will have to wait until Lucy Ravenscar's Star Wars Crochet book is published later this year :)