The Adventures of a Mad Lady: Plants vs Zombies Edition

My brother Al is a big fan of the game Plants vs Zombies, and one day he decided to ask me to make him one. I do make amigurumi (toys) every once in a while but not at this level of detail. I put that project on hold for a while until his birthday was getting close and I did not know what to get him. I decided, hey I have one month before his birthday, I definitely have the time to do this. I even have the yarn already.

Speaking of having the yarn already, I remember going to Walmart one day and seeing all the Redheart yarn on sale. I bought a skien of every color. Including the strange green that my husband held in his hand asking: "Where would you ever use this Ugly color?!" 

Anyways back to the Zombie, I looked online for a pattern since I had no time to come up with it myself, I had a one week of unpaid vacation and this had to happen now or never. I came across a pattern on Ravelry by AradiyaToys.

I started making the toy with my size 4 yarn but it looked like it was going to be very big. I decided to go with size 10 crochet thread instead and 1.00 mm crochet hook. 

For reference, this is the size 1.00 mm crochet hook

 Making these itty bitty fingers was so hard

I did end up spending my whole vacation time on making this, but what a rush. Finishing something with this much detail was a first for me and I was proud of myself. I did have to pay the chiropractor a visit couple of times a week for a month after this but it was worth it, and I would do it all over again


Patter by : AradiyaToys on Ravelry
Materials Used:
1.00 mm Crochet hook
electric wire (fro legs and foot)
artiste #10 crochet thread in colors: Hemp, Aspen, Papaya, Fudge
Aunt Lydia's  #10 crochet thread in colors: Dark Royal, White
knitpicks Curio #10 crochet thread in color: Hollyberry
Cotton thread (Friendship bracelets thread or embroidery thread) in pink and black 

How to Make a Detachable Fur Pom Pom for your Knitted or Crochet Hat

I don't know if you guys got to watch Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, but I remember the first thing I noticed was the hat. I decided I have to have it, I mean I have to make it. I found a video on YouTube that helped me make it, and it was fun (How to Knit a Gilmore Girls Inspired Hat | Netflix + Knit).

The problem that I faced was the pom poms, I wanted to make it my self and I wanted to make it detachable. Making the pom pom detachable makes it easy for me to wash the hat. Here is where the engineering cap comes out. I decided to use size 10 snaps to attach the pom pom to the hat.


How to make a fur pom pom and attach a snap to it:

Material: 

• Fur fabric : I buy mine from JOANN. 
• Size 10 snaps: I used to buy them from JOANN but then I had to switch to bulk from here .
• Very strong thread: I used and upholstery thread such as this.
• Poly-fil  to stuff the pom pom.
• A sharp needle to sew the pom pom. 
• A cutting tool to cut the pom pom circle: I use a rotary cutting took like this. You can use scissors too but I found it  harder.
• A card board jig the size of the pom pom diameter especially if you are making more than one.

Cut a circle (4 in for a nice big juicy pom pom).

Use a heavy thread to do a running stitch all around the perimeter of the circle

Cinch the thread to close the pom pom, stuff with poly-fill before completely closing. It will be hard to keep the pom pom shut, you will have to stitch across couple of times to secure it shut.

Now, if you did not want to make a pom pom you can start with one that was ready made and start here.

The snaps are made of two parts as seen in the picture below. I suggest to use part 1 on the pom pom and part 2 on the hat. Why? I found out that if I used 2 on the pom pom the fur would sometimes get in that well and prevent the two parts from snapping tightly. It is up to you though.

Stitch part 1 on pom pom and part 2 to hat.

Stitching the snap to the center of pom pom with the thread that was used to close the pom pom.

Stitch the other part on the hat using the same heavy thread. You can try to match the color of your hat, but it is not important it will be covered anyways.

Ta da!

I hope this was helpful. I have made so many (30>) hats with in the last three months and I have used this method on all of them.