Chibi Totoro Free Crochet Pattern

I am making as many of the studio Ghibli characters as I can. My kids and the cousins are mad on all things Spirited Away, Totoro and so on.  I'm starting off with the Totoro characters as they are pretty simple shapes.  Although I (rather ambitiously) want to be able to fit all the Totoros inside the cat bus... we'll see how that works out.  So here is my pattern for Chibi Totoro

Equipment:

4mm hook
white aran weight yarn (only a small amount, 50g would be ample)
large darning/wool needle
scissors
black thread
pink thread (optional)

This arrangement is my preferred set up for amigurumi. Now, everybody has slightly different tension etc so hook size and yarn weight can and should be altered to what you get the best result with.

This pattern is written assuming you have a basic knowledge of crochet techniques because 1) I'm not a good enough crocheter to explain things that well and 2) this is the first pattern Ive ever written out properly so will probably not be that great. Please feel free to try it out and give me feedback on how terrible it is.  It's the only way I'll learn!

I haven't told you how to end the rounds because it is up to you.   You can either slip stitch into the 1st stitch of the round and chain one or (as I do because then you don't get a seam) use a stitch marker and work in a continuous spiral.

Method body/head

Making a starting ring in your preferred fashion, you can magic loop if you like.  I chained 3, slip stitched into 1st chain to form a circle.  DC 7 into ring.

Round 1, DC 2 into every stitch around (14)
Round 2, (1DC, 2DC in next stitch) repeat to end (21)
Round3, (1DC, 1DC, 2DC in next stitch) repeat around (28)
Round 4, (1DC, 1DC, 1DC, 2DC in next stitch) repeat around (35)
Round 5,6, 7, 8, 9,  1DC in each stitch around (35)
Round 10, (DC5, DC2 together) repeat around until last 6 stitches DC4, DC2 together(29)
Round 11,12, 13,  1DC in each stitch around (29)
Round 14, (DC4, DC2 together) repeat around (25)
Round 15, 16, 1DC in each stitch around (25)
Round 17, (DC4, DC2 together) repeat around (22)
Round 18, 1DC in each stitch around (22)
Round 19, (1DC, 1DC, 1DC, DC2 together) repeat around (17)
Round 20, 1DC in each stitch around (17)

At this point stuff Chibi Totoro quite stiffly.

Round 21, (DC2, DC2 together) repeat around
Round 22, DC2 together all the way around and sew closed.

Ears,  make 2

Ch5, slip stitch in ch1 to form a ring.

Round 1, 2DC in ch1 and ch2, 1dc in each other ch around (9)

Round 2, 3, 4, 1DC in each stitch around (9)

Round 5, DC3, DC2 together DC4 (8)

Round 6, 1DC in each stitch around (8)

Round 7, DC3, DC2 together, DC3 (7)

Round 8, 1DC in each stitch around (7)

Round 9, (DC1, DC2 together) repeat around and sew to close

Tail

Chain 10, slip stitch into ch1 to form a ring.

Round 1 and 2, 1DC in each stitch around (10)
Round 3, (DC3, DC2 together) twice (8)
Round 4 and 5, 1DC in each stitch around
Round 6,( DC1, DC2 together) repeat around and sew to close.

Making up

Assemble your Chibi Totoro using the darning needle to sew the ears in an upright manner on the head. lightly stuff the tail before sewing on.  Use black thread to sew on eye details and pink thread for optional blush marks below eyes.


Patterns for Chuu Totoro, Oh Totoro and Cat Bus are coming soon!

xoxo

P.S. (Do what you will with my pattern, I couldn't really care less.  If you do reproduce it online it would be lovely if you would link back to this dismal little blog here, many thanks!)

Crimblemas times and other festive tidings.

Christmas this year held a mixture of emotions for me.  On one hand it was the first year that Spike had a real sense of the build up to it and got excited, what with being in nursery and taking part in the nativity.  Spike really is so lucky to be in such a fantastic Nursery now.  They really do all that they can to make everyday as special as they can for the children.  I think childhood should be as full of as much magic and wonder as possible and this year he was really tapping into it all.  However, This was also a time of changes for us.  First Christmas not living in Llangybi, first Christmas Spike getting picked up by his Dad to go and stay with him for a few days and also the longest time I've ever been separated from Spike.  He, however has had a whale of a time and THAT is what is important.

Spike met Father Christmas in nursery and also Mrs Christmas came in and made Gingerbread men with them. One day they had to clean up reindeer poo in nursery as Santa's Reindeer had made a terrible mess and also they had a fab end of term Christmas party.  This year I also got to go to Spike's first nativity play.  I was the mum filming the entire thing whilst also singing along to all the songs and doing all the actions.  Spikey was SO GOOD! No melt downs, or freezing and thankfully no planking.  He sang and danced and clapped his way through the entire thing. I was busting with pride.

                                       

This was Spike's costume for the Christmas Nativity. He was one of the 3 Kings/wise men.  Spike however was adamant that he was a Knight. Infact the only was I could get him to agree to wear the costume and attend the Nativity full stop was if he could be a Knight. So I crocheted him a Knight helmet rather than a crown and prayed the teachers wouldn't mind.  No one said anything so I think I got away with it.  I made the costume itself out of a pillow case and some scrap fabric that my Grandmother gave me.

Sam here is helping me write the Christmas cards.  A friend sent me a link of advice for people spending their first Christmas as a single parent.  One of the items that really struck a chord with me was establishing some new traditions.  I suppose it gives you something to focus on and work towards and also a new sense of identity.  I wanted our traditions to incorporate our extended family as much as possible so it was kind of perfect for us that in the week running up to Christmas we had the cousins Tomski and Umska to hang out with us EVERYDAY!

                   

  

Here they all are doing Christmas Crafts! Tomski made a star to go on the top of our tree as we didn't have a topper and people generally seemed a little displeased with me unceremoniously plonking a toy dalek on top.  We did salt dough ornaments, glitter stars, reindeer's and robins.  We sang Christmas songs and had a new Film to watch and goodies to eat on Christmas eve in our new pyjamas.  A Christmas eve box is definitely a little tradition that I will continue.

This year I made the boys a stocking each. They can hold about half a dozen small toys plus some chocolates and an obligatory Clementine in the toe.  Despite sharing a selection box between two of these stockings for the boys I am befuddled to tell you that neither one of them touched any chocolate over Christmas.  If Spud didn't look so much like me and Spike wasn't so weird (like me) I would be seriously wondering whether they had both somehow been switched at birth.  Anyway, back to the stockings.  I love them, they're so traditional looking and I'm thinking that each year I can add  bit to them, like the Boy's names, some snowflakes etc another little tradition to add to our festive season.

We trimmed the tree all together.  We never had a tree in Llangybi as our living room was quite an odd shape which made festive feng shui far more bother then it was worth. Especially considering we spent the actual main part of Christmas over my parents anyway. Last year I did feel a bit glum about no decorations so I crocheted some sparkly snowflakes to hang in the windows and from the beams.

Christmas Morning! Thanks to our wonderfully generous family and friends the boys (as usual) had lots of lovely presents to open. We have been on pretty meagre rations toy wise since leaving Llangybi so it's been nice to be able to reclaim play time some what.  As usual the kids tore into the presents quicker than I could note down which present came from which relative but they've all been a massive hit!

Spud with the train that his lying Aunty Hannah said didn't come apart.... it actually comes apart into approximately 10,000 pieces. Luckily those pieces are then building blocks that can be made into a tower and so forth. *shakes fist at Aunty Hannah*

This was their main present from me. Trains + Dinosaurs = two happy boys.

My beautiful sister with Spud on Christmas morning. We all hung out and exchanged pressies in the morning and nicked bits of bacon off the turkey as it rested in the kitchen.  Then Ruth went home to have dinner with her family and after dinner Mikey went over his Dad's.  It was all different and strange but still very good.

Hope you all had a good Christmas and a Happy New Year!

xoxo

Homework already?!

Spike's nursery send homework assignments home on a Friday for us to do over the weekend. Admittedly at first I was ever-so-slightly horrified. Home work at this age? According to Alfie Kohn who wrote “The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing,” a close look at all the research available contradicts this practice. In an e-mail regarding homework for young children,“No research has ever found any benefit. It’s all pain and no gain.”

I was relieved to discover that at Spike's nursery the assignments are very relaxed and there is plenty of scope to adapt it to his particular learning style. An absolute must for Spikey. The assignments centre around a teddy bear called "Ginger". 

The first week there was a small paragraph to read about Ginger, her family and where she lives. A picture of Ginger to colour in and reference was made to a poem called "teddy bear, teddy bear". A quick Google search soon found it for me. We started with the paragraph, which he enjoyed. We expanded on it talking about Ginger's house, what it looks like; her family and friends and the games they play. Then we did the colouring. This was over in a flash, he just does not care for colouring at all. He did enjoy getting a scissors and chopping the picture to bits. The best bit for Spike was the poem. We were able to get up and put actions to it, I videoed it and he was really proud of the results.

The second week Ginger bear shows us what a good listener looks like and we have to talk about this and show that we can be good listeners too by sitting still, looking, being quiet and of course listening. The poem wasn't as good this week. It was hard to put actions to it and Spike kept going off on tangents and reciting the one we learned last week. The poem was about what a teddy bear is for (cuddles, tickles etc) so I went and got his big blue teddy bear and acted out the hugging and other actions on it. This sustained his interest for about one and a half recitations until he took the teddy off me and started acting out last weeks much preferred poem instead. Well you can't win them all. 

As long as I am able to introduce the activities in a gentle play based way I have no objections to Spike's "homework" assignments. If we had physical sit down pen/pencil in hand stuff at this point it would be way too much. So far I think his school definitely seem to have the right approach. 

By Command of Her Royal Highness Mountain Mumma.

Apparently because I've started a blog I think I'm the Queen!!!! Or somebody important or something?!?!? Not a terminal underachiever with an interest in writing and a want of keeping in touch with dear friends and family who do not live locally,  as I had thought. Ha! But what do I know anyway?  I think, certainly to a bystander, there have been many Queen-like qualities to my demeanour over the years...

•  Such as being up to elbows in the droppings of various animals on a daily basis. 
• Or the birth of my first child while the entire staff of Neville Hall came to look at my cervix, including (seemingly) the catering and janitorial staff.
•  Rolling through an enormous stingy nettle patch into a boggy ditch trying to catch a psychotic Goat.
•  Wetting myself every time I sneezed or coughed for two months after the birth of my second child. 
• Traipsing across country in a barely maintained vehicle with two small children to provide personal care for my ever dementing Grandfather.
•  Skinning and gutting the various game that was often for dinner or sorting the various carcasses that came back from the slaughterhouse for customers.
• Getting up at all hours of the night to settle/feed my children and/or goat kids/lambs/puppies/kittens/rabbits kits or whatever other infant animals I've hand reared over the years. 

I think all of these are exceptionally Queenly behaviours. Coupled with the jaunty angle of my wave as I cruise through the local Hamlet, throwing the local peasants a few shekels as I pass. 

"Oh Katherine" They say. "You are indeed a kind and benevolent ruler" Of course they are always careful to never look me directly in the eye.

"Thank you kind subjects" I reply, "Now be gone, your destitution is offensive to my eyes!" And my golden carriage majestically departs.

There's a moral here somewhere, maybe several. 

1) Be kind with your words. You never know how much someone might already be hurting.

2) Be careful with your words. You never know if you have been privy to the whole story.

3)Select your words wisely. The fewer you carelessly throw around, the fewer you might have to choke back down one day.

Right, I'm off to eat some swan and beat my servants with the carcass.

See you later underlings!

Favorite Places

Mwnt

This is our obligatory seaside escape. My parents have a static caravan here and we don't get out here as often as we should. The views are absolutely breathtaking, it's the most beautiful

 part of the Welsh coastline (in my humble opinion).  The wildlife is abundant, Cardigan bay has

 Europe's largest population of bottle nose dolphins and there are fantastic boat trips to see them and quite possibly the cheekiest Seals in the UK.

 This is Poppit sands. Dog friendly and close to the beautiful little town of St Dogmaels. 

Spike in the Autumn sea at Aberaeron. Makes me chilly just looking at it.

Just before Granny turned up with the Fish and Chips Mmmmm...

Spud doesn't find pebble beaches the easiest to toddle on.

But dozing in the Mei Tai is a win!

Bellevue

I spent most weekends here when my grandparents lived here. I later moved here with my 

parents when they bought it off my grandparents nearly 10 years ago and am back here now. It's almost worth it just for the views!

 Spring is beautiful when the blue bells are out.

In the snow

View from the top

spike and his cousin out for a walk.

I have so many excellent memories attached to Bellevue. All the family gathered around one of my grandmother's buffets. Sarcasm turned up to 11 and the knob snapped off. My Grampy berating BT for making a customer service call during an international rugby match. "Don't you know there's a game on?!" Were his actual words. I kid you not, it was brilliant.

More favourite places to some soon...

Stay at home mum to single mum.

End of an Era.

A seven year relationship has come to end. It had ups and downs, laughter and tears and produced two beautiful little boys. I became a stay at home mum which definitely appealed to the suppressed recluse in me. Also, having that time with the boys was fantastic. We would go for long rambling woodland walks, have picnics by the river and have brilliant messy play sessions. Of course we are still going to do all those things but the upheaval of having the parameters of our existence totally shifted has been overwhelming at times. The boys and me are now living with my parents whilst I get myself back into work.  Thank goodness for family who have all been completely wonderful. Getting back into employment is massively daunting and at first I was floundering. I HAVEN'T WORKED FOR 5 YEARS WHAT THE HELL AM I GOING TO PUT ON A CV?!?!

Luckily I was able to compose myself and gather my thoughts. My ex-partner and I started a business. As he is completely phobic to anything technology related, whatever fell into the category of requiring the slightest knowledge of how to turn a computer on became my domain. Thankfully as we started the business 5 years ago not 500 years ago this meant quite a lot of stuff became my responsibility. Turns out I have picked up life skills despite being ONLY a stay at home mum. Yay go me!

I am already incandescent at the assumption that because I have happened to blast a couple of kiddos out of my hips it necessarily follows that my brain has turned to jam and I am going to have to perform messianic miracles during an interview process to get an employer to look twice at me. Seriously?! "Work" is going to be a breeze. Granted I was doing kids and small holding and joint ex-partner business venture... But the child/house thing alone is insane. My house perpetually looked like it had been robbed, they hadn't found anything worth nicking and so they trashed it a bit more in spite. Either that or I was failing spectacularly at a game of Jumanji. Actually that's just kids isn't it?

As for the kids. Spike (eldest, 4yrs old, carries slugs in his mouth and lines up small plastic animals) and Spud (18months, enormous, likes quavers and dancing) are adjusting to recent life changes well. I'm eager to make the transition as smooth as possible. Spike has started in the local nursery and seems to be settling in well. Apparently the first day he growled at everyone but now he is giving everyone a hug before he leaves so that's progress in anyone's book, says I!  Spud is Spud. He's cuddly and lovely. Everyone reassures me that he is at the age to be minimally affected and to be honest, as long as everyone puts their egos second and the boys first there is no reason for either of them to be irreparably scared for life.

Spike's Birthday

Birthday times were spent with immediate family. Granny, Pops, the cousins, Aunty Ruthy and Aunty Hannah.  Spike is a massive Bing Bunny fan and these have gone to bed with him every evening since he got them.  

Had to include this one. Emily getting massively involved with the cake. Fantastic!

Both boys are big Thomas and Friends fans so this was a bit of a tactical present really. They both love pushing the trains around the tracks and it takes a surprising amount of dexterity to push the carriage down and release it in the right way to make the volcano glow and dragon roar.  Bound to be some motor development going on there!

I usually do a home made cake but opted for a shop bought Thomas and Friends one from ASDA this year.  The kids loved it and I just didn't have the time or energy for homemade this year.

Had to include this. Hilarious.

All pooped out. Bless.