I am so excited! My first ever, 100%, totally created from MY brain by MY fingers, amigurumi crocheted critter – Snippy the Snail!
As those who are familiar with Happy Whosits may already know, Sue originated Happy Whosits and I joined her about 12 years ago. My forte was Christmas ornaments and other holiday decorations. Then I added baby blankets and crocheted dishcloths. I started making some of the simpler stuffed animals a few years ago, with Sue providing the instructions. She encouraged me to try creating some of my own critters.
I’ve had the idea for a snail in my head for awhile (actually, since Acorngirl told us the story of her pet snail saving her life at one of our monthly etsy street team meetings – but that’s another story). I did a search on etsy to make sure the idea I had wasn’t something I had seen someone else do that had gotten stored in my subconscious. It wasn’t, so I started the design process.
I wanted the snail to be somewhat realistic, so I looked at a lot of pictures of real snails. I can’t draw worth a darn, so my design process is to pick up some yarn, and a crochet hook and start crocheting. It also involves a lot of ripping out and trying again, as well as discarded pieces and parts, and scraps of paper where I write down the pattern as I go.
I determined that the shell should have the look of circular ridges, and I wanted it to be perpendicular to the snail itself. So I played with several different crochet stitch combinations until I found one that produced the look I wanted. Once I had a shell I was satisfied with, I turned to the snail itself.
I decided I definitely wanted the snail to have antenna rather than the trademark Whosits hair. The next hurdle was stuffing him, but also making him stable enough to stand up. So, after playing around with him some more, he was flat enough on the bottom to stand on his own when his shell was attached.. But then, his head being bigger and heavier than his tail, he kept falling on his face! So I made a few more adjustments, and behold, Snippy was born!
As if you can’t tell, I must say I asm very proud of Snippy. He is cute and he is unique. Now I am off to try creating a sister for Snippy!
Eileen
As those who are familiar with Happy Whosits may already know, Sue originated Happy Whosits and I joined her about 12 years ago. My forte was Christmas ornaments and other holiday decorations. Then I added baby blankets and crocheted dishcloths. I started making some of the simpler stuffed animals a few years ago, with Sue providing the instructions. She encouraged me to try creating some of my own critters.
I’ve had the idea for a snail in my head for awhile (actually, since Acorngirl told us the story of her pet snail saving her life at one of our monthly etsy street team meetings – but that’s another story). I did a search on etsy to make sure the idea I had wasn’t something I had seen someone else do that had gotten stored in my subconscious. It wasn’t, so I started the design process.
I wanted the snail to be somewhat realistic, so I looked at a lot of pictures of real snails. I can’t draw worth a darn, so my design process is to pick up some yarn, and a crochet hook and start crocheting. It also involves a lot of ripping out and trying again, as well as discarded pieces and parts, and scraps of paper where I write down the pattern as I go.
I determined that the shell should have the look of circular ridges, and I wanted it to be perpendicular to the snail itself. So I played with several different crochet stitch combinations until I found one that produced the look I wanted. Once I had a shell I was satisfied with, I turned to the snail itself.
I decided I definitely wanted the snail to have antenna rather than the trademark Whosits hair. The next hurdle was stuffing him, but also making him stable enough to stand up. So, after playing around with him some more, he was flat enough on the bottom to stand on his own when his shell was attached.. But then, his head being bigger and heavier than his tail, he kept falling on his face! So I made a few more adjustments, and behold, Snippy was born!
As if you can’t tell, I must say I asm very proud of Snippy. He is cute and he is unique. Now I am off to try creating a sister for Snippy!
Eileen
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