FO: Shermy the Sheep

I finally managed to get pictures of my latest creation and my submission to the Ami-Along. It's a candy covered sheep!

I've had the Sherman the Sheep pattern from Monster's Toy Box ever since it was released, but I just never got around to making it up. A few weeks ago, I hit a thrifting treasure trove - about 30 skeins of brand new - with the labels - manufactured in the last few years - yarns ... and they were only 25¢ each! Some of the yarns were even ones I had always wanted to try out for animal making, so add those two aspects together and I couldn't load them into my cart fast enough. Take My Money! Anyway I've always wanted to get Bernat Dippity Dots, but I just couldn't justify buying yet another skein of yarn that I don't need at Joann's when I was trying to save money. Make the price 25¢ though, and I'm all there - I got 6 skeins of this yarn! Woot woot!

So, my awesome cutesy yarn to try PLUS the Ami-Along caused me to search through my patterns and I came out with the perfect combination - a very colorful sheep! I call him Shermy :)

Now, I had to make a few adjustments to be able to use this yarn on this pattern. The yarn is technically classified as Worsted weight, but in fact the white yarn strand is more like a sport weight - it's the fluffy dots that are worsted weight thickness. Since I wanted to make sure that my sheepy didn't leak his stuffing, I went down to a size F hook (the pattern calls for an H). I tried to use the thinnest yarn I had for the contrast that was still the right color, so all the beige is Red Heart Soft Solids in off white. The other issue (and one that I've read is common with others who crocheted with this yarn) is that the dots like to end up mostly on the  back of the stitches - so I actually crocheted this guy completely inside out.  I did my usual back stitch only, but instead of working around the outside of the circle I was creating, I inverted it and worked from the inside. This might not make sense unless you give it a try, but it worked really well for this project. Since the feet and head change yarn midway through, I crocheted his beige parts inside out as well. So if you're looking close at his stitches and wondering why he looks different, that's why.

There were still a decent number of fluffy balls that ended up inside his body, but the majority was on the side you see. I figure one day I can try to pick them out towards the front ... if I feel like it, lol.

The feet joining was s bit difficult to figure out with working them inside out, but we got there in the end and it was pretty smooth sailing after that. One thing to note if you use this pattern - you probably should weigh the feet down with poly pellets or something as the head tends to want to tip forward. This isn't a huge issue with the way he is shaped because his head is so low to the ground, but it is noticeable if your head doesn't end up perfectly level with the feet.

I used 12 mm eyes since I sized down in the hook, and while the pattern gives instructions for his nostrils, I felt he needed a cute little smile as well :)

And there you have it: Shermy the Candy Sheep :) I love how he turned out, but I will warn others wanting to use this yarn - it is a bit of a pain to crochet with. I'm hoping it works better for knitting.

It's been so long since I made a cute animal, and I'm so glad the Ami-Along gave me an excuse to get back in the game!