bittybirds: the blog

I crocheted a group of animal puppets, amigurumi style, for my nephews. As you can see in the above picture, I made a tiger, a zebra, a bird, an elephant, and a lion. The boys adore The Lion King, Madagascar, and Dumbo, so of course the puppets were big hits.

The puppets were very easy to make. I used extra-thick Lion Brand Yarn (of course!) and crocheted and embellished them without using a pattern. Here’s what I did:

First, make a puppet body–the “blank slate” for any of the puppets.

1. Crochet a chain into a tight circle.
2. Single-crochet (SC) around the chain, increasing in every other chain.
3. Keep single-crocheting around in a spiral, increasing in every other stitch on each round.
4. Important note: Do not increase by putting two SCs in each stitch, or you will create a flat disc, not a puppet.
5. When you have created what looks like a little hat for your hand, and you can see it is going to be wide enough that it would easily slip over your hand, stop increasing. Just continue spiraling, but make a single SC in each stitch.
6. Stop when the puppet body is long enough to cover your hand.

Note that the birdie is much smaller–just a finger puppet. It’s a bittybird.

Then, create the ears.

• For the lion, tiger, and zebra, I crocheted two little discs each and attached them as ears.
• For the elephant’s ears, I made huge discs.

Make sure everything of this nature is attached really well, so that the puppets are safe for little ones to play with.

Embroider eyes using a contrasting yarn.

Then, create snouts/noses/beaks/mouths.

• I embroidered black noses and mouths on the lion and tiger, and a yellow beak on the bird.
• For the zebra, I crocheted another little hat-like disc for a snout, embroidered a nose and mouth on the snout, and attached it to the face.
• For the elephant, I made a long chain and then single-crocheted back along it once, to make it thick enough, and attached it to the elephant’s face.

Finally, embellish their bodies.

• I embroidered stripes on the tiger, radiating out from the face.
• Note that I did not embroider stripes on the zebra; instead, I alternated between white and black yarn so that the stripes were integrated into its body.
• For the zebra’s mane, I used black yarn to sew small loops along the zebra’s back.
• For the lion’s mane, I used fun fur, sewing it in long, loose loops radiating out along the face.
• I gave the birdie a pair of little crocheted wings, too—simple, skinny triangles.

The final step: Give the puppets to kids you love, and have fun playing!

Check out this BBC story about a cockatoo who became attached to a “nest” of Cadbury chocolate eggs (by coincidence, my favorite Easter candy).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/6541785.stm

Here is a picture of the pillow I made our friend Douglas for his 9th birthday, featuring an appliqued version of his cockatiel, Petrie. This was an easy, no-hemming-required project that didn’t take much planning. Made entirely of fleece, it washes well. It is also a nice, snugglable alternative to a stuffed animal.

Materials:

• textured blue fleece (enough to make a pillowcase)
• fuzzy gray fleece (a small amount)
• embroidery floss in orange, black, and yellow
• two white buttons
• pillow form (I used a half-sized pillow)

Instructions:

1. Cut out a cockatiel shape from the gray fleece.
2. Cut a piece of blue fleece large enough to wrap around the pillow. Do not sew it into a pillow yet, but figure out which side you would like to use for the front. Leave a generous amount for the short side of the pillow where you will sew button closures.
3. Pin cockatiel applique to front of the pillow.
4. Sew cockatiel in place, about 1/4″ in from the edges of the cut-out, and also sew a line in place to represent the cockatiel’s wing.
5. Use black emboridery floss to embroider eye
6. Use orange embroidery floss to embroider feet (I used a chain stitch) and orange cheek patch
7. Use yellow embroidery floss to embroider beak
8. Now, sew the blue fleece into a pillowcase. Leave one side open.
9. Carefully cut small buttonholes on the front of the pillowcase.
10. Sew the white buttons in on the back inside of the pillowcase, corresponding to the location of the buttonholes. Use the orange embroidery floss for cheery effect.

And, voila–a cheery, child-sized cockatiel pillow!

How many budgies have been declared “Young Cross-Stitcher of the Year”? At least one!

Spike the budgie is a clever little sew and sew — she can do STITCHING.

And the three-year-old bird is so darn good she has been voted Young Cross-Stitcher of the Year.

Spike spent months watching her owner Sandra Battye creating patterns before picking up a needle in her beak herself.

They are now birds of a feather and work on tweed and other fabrics together.

Sandra, 31, who nursed Spike back to health after a food allergy almost killed her, said: “She would sit on my shoulder and watch me for hours.

“One day I just sat and didn’t stitch. It seemed to frustrate her. Then suddenly she picked up the needle in her beak and began cross-stitching herself. I was staggered. Now I can’t stop her.”

Link | Via Craftzine

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The bittyball is complete! The admins even protected it so other people can’t scribble on it.

[Birdie fact: In their native habitat, cockatiels and budgies hollow out sections of dead trees to nest in.]

I’ve been working on a big drawing of Charlie. It’s easier to fix than the drawing of all three bittybirds! My progress so far:

(Click on any pic in this post to see a full-sized image.)