Monster of the Month - March

 

Here is my third monster in my 2024 "Monster of the Month" series. Enjoy! 

March

Monster

Design by Elaine Okupski

Of Penguin Place Crafts

Made with worsted weight yarn and an F hook, the March Monster is about 6” tall and 9” wide. I used 1.1 oz of the main color and .4 oz of the accent color, plus a few yards for the tongue.

Fingers (make 6)

R1: In MR: 2 Sc in body color, 3 dc bobble in accent color, 2 sc in body color (5)

R2: Sc 5 (5) (For more “definition” to your fingernail, do a BLO sc over the accent color stitch.)

R3: Sc 4, inc (6) FO for fingers 1 & 2 of each set. For the third finger of each set, continue on to round 4.

R4: Making sure all your “fingernails” are facing you, work 3 sc on one finger, 3 sc on second finger, then 6 sc on third finger. Work 3 sc  on center finger, then 3 sc on the next finger (18).

R5:*sc, dec* x 6 (12) Add stuffing to fingers.

R6: *sc, dec* x 4 (8) Add stuffing to hand.

R7-9: sc (8) FO, leaving tail to sew. Add stuffing to arm.

 

Feet: make 2 with accent color

R1: 6 sc in MR (6)

R2: inc x 6 (12)

R3: *sc, inc* x 6 (18)

R4: *sc 2, inc* x 6 (24)

R5: BLO sc (24)

R6: *sc 4, dec* x 4 (20)

R7: *sc 3, dec* x 4 (16)

FO, leaving tail to sew to body. Stuff feet before sewing to body.

 

Body: in body color

R1: 6 sc in MR (6)

R2: inc x 6 (12)

R3: *sc, inc* x 6 (18)

R4: *sc 2, inc* x 6 (24)

R5: *sc 3, inc* x 6 (30)

R6: *sc 4, inc* x 6 (36)

R7: *sc 5, inc* x 6 (42)

Sew feet to bottom of body, with the inner part of each foot between R1 & R2.

R8-14: sc (42) At round 12, make a 5-dc bobble at the center front for the nose. If using safety eyes, insert at round 12, two stitches from the nose.

R15: *sc 5, dec* x 6 (36)

On round 16, make the ears. To find the location for the ears, fold the body in half and mark the side stitches.

R16: *sc 4, dec* x 6 (30)

Ears: At marked stitch, ch 7. Starting in 2^nd ch from hook  sc, hdc 2, dc 3, sl st in same chain as last dc.

R17: *sc 3, dec* x 6 (24)

R18: *sc 2, dec* x 6 (18)

R19: *sc, dec* x 6 (12) Stuff well

R20: dec x 6. FO, leaving short tail to weave through stitches and pull closed.

 

Horns (in white or accent color)

R1: 4 sc in MR

R2: inc, sc 3 (5)

R3: inc, sc 4 (6)

R4: inc, sc 5 (7)

R5: inc, sc 6 (8)

R6: sc (8)

FO, leaving tail to sew to head.

Optional hair:  cut 8-10 strands of yarn and loop through top center of head, between ears. Separate strands

 

Tongue:

Ch 6. Starting in 2^nd chain, sc 4. 3 sc in final chain. Work 4 sc in back side of chain. FO, leaving tail to sew to face, 3 rows below nose.

 

Eyes:

With black, sc 4 in MR

With red: BLO, inc x 4 (8)

With white: Leave a long starting tail to make an accent on the black of the eye. BLO: *sc, inc* x 4 (12)

FO, leaving a tail to sew to face.

 

Assembly: Sew arms to side of body, even with nose. Sew tongue to face, 3 rows below the nose. Sew eyes to face, 1 stitch away from the nose, with the center of the eye even with the nose. Sew horns to head, next to ears.

 Many thanks to Strawberry Bonnie for testing for me!

April 2024 Goals

 Okay, I didn't finish February's goals... finished 3 out of 4

I didn't finish March's goals.... finished 3 out of 4

The last full week of March, I only had one item from the list finished... so I made myself a challenge... If I accompished five tasks, I would give myself permission to purchase a pattern I've had my eye on... So I needed to finish the #amibookchallenge dragon from my March list... Make my March monster... publish the February monster pattern, finish the ankylosaurus I was making for the #MYC324, and get an Etsy sale, I could buy the pattern for the Emotional Support Chicken... and I did! 

So I'm going even bigger with April! 😁😁10 points! 

I figure if I can knock out five items in one week to meet a challenge, I can do 10 items over the course of the month. 

So here goes! 

1) #amibookchallenge - Random number generator picked my book of reversibles by KnotMonster, so I'm going to make a reversible penguin! 

2) #MYC424 - Once I get my yarn from this month's mystery yarn challenge, I'll make at least one item from the yarn. DONE - made an Emotional Support Chicken

 

3) Artist's Choice bag - back to this again! Back in December, my husband made several bags of yarn in colors that went together... Here is this month's color collection, from which I will make at least two items. DONE

Project #1 - Ace the Ankylosaurus (Ace stands for Artist's Choice Edition)

 Project #2, spiked turtle

 Project #3 - Chameleon

Chubby Bear (a free pattern from LoveCrafts) finished off the blue and green, so I'm declaring this part of the challenge DONE! 

4) Bought, not made pattern... Charlie Horse gets bumped up again... since I didn't do it in February or March! 

5) Yip Yip - a new pattern I found on YouTube... I want to make two more, then get an Etsy listing up with them. 

 DONE!

6) Emotional Support Chicken - DONE

7) Monster of the Month

8) Ankylosaurus

 DONE

9) Ballerina Kitty - DONE

10) 5 new Etsy listings - 1) Yip Yips, 2) Mushroom Ducks

Monster of the Month - February

 Well, now... this one took a while! I finished version 1.0 on February 10th. 

I wasn't quite happy with the bend of the neck. My original drawing had the neck bending down more. And I had originally planned for the arms to be no-sew. 

So I made version 2.0 on March 12 - the neck bent a little more, but I made it with a boucle yarn which made counting my stitches difficult, so the size of the neck/head varied... And oops, I sewed the eye on the wrong side! My color changes are showing! 

My granddaughter Aliya drew me a color sketch for version 3.0 when I was visiting her March 15-17, and I finished up her monster on March 20.

She explained to me that the white stripes should be green, and the eye should be yellow instead of orange.

I still wasn't happy with this version. I used short rows for the neck, and thought it would be very difficult to write up as a pattern, and it wouldn't be as beginner-friendly! So I made one more...

I used ombre, so I didn't have to worry about color changes. I finished this one up on March 21... 

So, here goes... I made my monsters with worsted weight yarn and an F hook. (Well, the green/orange monster did use two strands of lighter weight yarn for the orange). It takes less than 2 ounces of yarn total, so you can pull some small balls from your scrap bin. I would recommend sketching up your color scheme before you start, so you can plan out how many rows of each color you will have for your stripes. 

We start at the bottom, making one leg, then the other, and join the legs to continue on with the body. 

Leg: start with main color

Round 1) 6 sc in MR (6)

Round 2) inc x 6 (12)

Round 3) *sc, inc* x 6 (18)

Round 4) sc 6, inc x 6, sc 6 (24)

Round 5) sc 10, dec x 2, sc 10 (22) The decreases opposite your starting point shape the foot.

Round 6) sc 9, dec x 2, sc 9 (20) 

Round 7) sc 8, dec x 2, sc 8 (18)

Round 8) sc 5, dec x 4, sc 5 (14)

Round 9) sc 3, dec x 4, sc 3 (10) (for my pink/green monster, I started stripes here)

Rounds 10-13: sc (10)

For leg one, you finish off after round 13.

After leg two, continue on to Body: 

Round 14: ch 4. Starting in the back of leg 1 (the beginning of the round), sc 10 around leg 1, then sc in each chain of the connecting chain. Make 10 sc around leg 2, and 4 sc in the back of the connecting chain. Place your stitch marker in the center of the back (2 stitches back) to keep your color changes centered on the back. 

This varies from how most bottom-up amigurumi with shaped feet are made... usually you would sc over to the side of the foot before chaining, and join to the side of foot one. I wanted my monster to have his feet facing outwards. 

As you continue working on the body, change colors as you indicated on your color scheme sketch. Stuff as you go. It is easiest to stuff the legs before you start decreasing on the body.

Round 15: *sc 3, inc* x 7 (35)

Round 16-17: sc (35)

Round 18: *sc 4, inc* x 7 (42)

Rounds 19-21: sc (42)

Rounds 22-33 (12 rows) - decrease at sides, adding arms (see below) around row 31

You are decreasing two stitches on each row, at the sides of your monster, working your way down to 18 stitches. 

Arms

At row 31 (give or take a row... depending on your stripe pattern. You want the arms to be your main color.) At the each side of the row, work your arm: ch 20, sl st 3, *ch 4, sl st 3* twice (you must made three fingers), hdc in each remaining chain. 

Rounds 34-37 (4 rows): sc (18) 

From this point on, use only the body color.

Neck shaping

Rounds 35-54 (20 rows): sl st 3, sc 3, hdc 6, sc 3, sl st 3 (18)

Your hdc should fall on the side of the neck. Make sure you do your slip stitches loosely, so you can crochet easily into them on the next row. Stuff as you go.

Round 55: *sc, dec* x 6 (12)

Round 56: dec x 6 (6)

Finish off, leaving a tail. Using a yarn needle, weave your tail through the front loops of round 56. Pull to close. Tie off and weave in your yarn end. 

Eyeball: with white (or, in the case of Aliya's sketch, yellow)

Round 1: 5 sc in MR (5)

Round 2: inc x 5 (10)

Round 3: sc (10)

Finish off, leaving a tail to sew to head. 

Place a safety eye in the center of your MR. I used a 9 mm safety eye for most of the monsters, but for Aliya's monster with the yellow eye, I went with a 12 mm eye.

Sew eye to head 4-5 rows from the end, adding a bit of stuffing. I found it was easiest to sew the eye on halfway, push in a little stuffing, then finish sewing.

He's done! If you're on Ravelry, I'd love to see your version of Mr. February! Or you can tag @penguinplacecrafts on Instagram! 

March goals - 2024

Here we go again... it's March! Easter is four weeks ago, so I'm making butter lambs like crazy. I have two craft shows (3/16 & 3/23). I have stuff I planned to do in February, but never finished. So, here we go with some loosely-planned goals.

1 - the #amibookchallenge - I plan on making the dragon from the book Adorable Amigurumi - DONE

2 - Monster of the Month - I still need to publish the pattern from last month, but I have a new sketch for this month's monster. February pattern - published! March monster - done! 

March Monster v 1.0

3 -  Purchased, not made - still planning on making Charlie Horse... Oops, didn't get this done (again)... moving to April! 

4 - #MYC324 - I will be receiving a package of yarn from another crafter, and will make items from that collection of yarn

 The yarn

 Project #1

Project #2 was finished in April, but I figured she still belongs here! 

5 - Clear the tray - I have a 15" x 20" tray next to my chair with scrap yarn. It is overflowing. I want to work it down to a nice, neatly organized tray, so I need to use up a lot of scraps! 

Made over 20 items, and the tray is still pretty full: 

Butter lambs - 6

Jelly Bean Bunny - 2

Mini Hippo - 1

Coffee Cup - 1

Pop Mushroom Frog - 1

Cheeky Beakies - 4

Stingray - 2

Donuts - 3

Chameleon - 1

Catnip Mice - 2

Monsters - 3

I kept going with this into April, making three messy monsters (my Mr. Ugly monster pattern). Aaahh, the box looks so nice now! 

February Goals - 2024

 Okay, I'm actually getting my goals set up early: 

1) #amibookchallenge - My wheel name picker picked one of my newest acquisitions, KnotMonster Breakfast! - DONE

I made the milk carton! 

2) I also want to make a pattern that I have purchased, but never made... PJ Pals, Charlie Horse got picked. I got the pattern in 2017. It's an adorable horse in unicorn pajamas. 

Pattern Link

Didn't get around to it... so it's getting moved to March. 

3) Monster of the Month - I am designing a monster (I already have the design sketched out) that is pink with green stripes. Once I have it designed, and the pattern typed up, I will make a second one to check my pattern, and eventually put it up on my blog as a free pattern.

Here is version 1.0, along with the sketch I worked from.

4) Scrap Yarn Challenge: my recent yarn gift (here is a video of the unbagging) left me with a big tray of scrap yarn, so one of my goals for February is to use it up! DONE! 

It took hours to untangle and wind this bag! 

The finished scrap yarn tray. The largest cakes were moved to storage bins, so my actual "use this up" tray is about half this size. 

First I made a couple of mushrooms: 

 

 Then a platypus

 

Since there was so much red in the box, I brought a skein of red fun fur from my stash and made an extra furry monster! 

Then it was back to mushrooms... pop mushrooms, a free pattern (Crushy Mushy) by crochet_crochey on Instagram. 

Next up, a pink turtle!

I must have been hungry... I made a Cherry Chip donut! 

Then I played with the dinosaur pattern from the book Tiny Toys to Crochet, and made this dude. I played yarn chicken and lost... so his legs, arms, and tail are a slightly different color! 

I pulled the brightly colored yarns and made a rainbow chameleon: 

He's probably my favorite of the projects I made... 

Then I really burned through a lot of tiny balls of yarn with a scrappy snake. 

Then I pulled up the Mini Monster pattern from my friend Katie at Yarn Society... 

Then I made a chicken... and made her a little carrying pouch with a patch that says "emotional support chicken"

I cut out a leather piece from an old purse, and my husband did the lettering with his wood-burning equipment. 

The yarn supply was getting pretty low, so I made up a few little balls... I will have them on my craft tables for $2 each or 2/$3... I think I have about 10 in stock now.

I thought I was done... but then I found a half-finished turtle. I ran out of green yarn and forgot about it... So I pulled out some more green and finished it up, for project #17: 

5) Artist's Choice Bag - My husband made up bags of yarn for me in coordinating colors, so I will be working on using up one of those bags. Projects will probably be pretty colorful, as I think I'm going with the bag that has orange and purple! 

Project 1 was a hug monster, pattern by Yarn Society

2nd project was Pixie the Robot, a free pattern from Lion Brand yarn

I also used the yarns in another robot, with more colors added: 

6) Mystery Yarn Challenge - I participate in this YouTube challenge hosted by Lori the Armchair Chef. Here's the yarn I got this month: 

The first project I made from the yarn was an airplane from the book Tiny Toys to Crochet.

Then I made an African Flower Turtle (Pattern)

 I ended up making four projects with the yarn.

7) Publish one paid pattern - since I didn't get that done in January... didn't get it done in February, either! 

8) 15 Etsy listings (updated or new listings) - oops, haven't been keeping close track of this one! 

      1. Pop mushroom 2. Chameleon 3. Hug monster 4. African Flower Turtle 5. Chicken 

      6. Jelly Bean Bunnies 7. Planes 8. Robots 

9) Use up 5 yarns from my Ravelry Stash

2/22 update. My progress on my goals has been slow, as I got a big custom order (for a baby blanket). I'm hoping to have that finished this weekend, and do a mad dash to finish up as many of my goals as possible!