It’s time to start preparing some upcoming birthday gifts for children whose birthdays all cluster together. The first gift was inspired by this flickr photo of crochet pencil cases.

My pencil case was intended to look like a monkey but the more I stare at it, the more it looks like a koala! Or a creature with a smiley badge attached to its nose.

Construction:

• I used 1 ball of Moda Vera Pure Wool (100% wool, 50g/80m)
• Crochet with a 3.5mm (US E) hook
• The main body was made with US single crochet / UK double crochet
• The ears were made amigurumi-style (approximately two-thirds of a sphere each)
• The nose was felt with a little stitching and stuffing
• The eyes had a felt circle sewn to the fabric and then a button sewn through both the felt and the fabric
• The lining and zipper were sewn together using a sewing machine
• The zipper and lining were hand-sewn to the pouch

Things I learned:

• Estimate yarn requirements before starting a project – I intended to make the pencil case taller, like the one I was inspired by, however I was running out of yarn and I hadn’t made the ears yet. In hindsight, I should have had two balls of yarn. I think the end result would have looked more monkey-like if it had been taller.
• Sketch features before making them – I should have traced out the shape of the pouch and drawn the nose, eyes and ears to get a sense of how their size, positioning and style would work together. In hindsight, with the shape of the pouch, I think an oval (wide) “snout” could have worked well, the nostrils could have been more circular, and the mouth should have been smaller and a bit higher up.
• How to join crochet pieces with a whip stitch seam – I found a tutorial which includes the whip stitch seam and a few other joins over at Crochet Today.
• How to make a zippered lining for a crochet pouch – I found a great tutorial from chocolate mints in a jar.