manta ray hand puppet

[firecat]

I made a toy for my nephew's 3d birthday. Despite his getting a mountain of other gifts, including a doll house and an OLPC computer, he actually played with the puppet a few times without being prompted, which made me happy.

Here's the Ravelry page for those of you who have drunk the Koolaid:
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/firecat/manta-ray

It's based on Manta Ray by Brigitte Read on the roman sock blog.
Size G hook
Yarn: The underside is bulky wool handspun by kiyowaramiyuki. The topside is Plymouth Outback Wool, colorway "Multibright". Both were acquired at yarn swaps.

Pattern modifications:

* I embroidered on eyes rather than sewing on safety eyes (didn't have any safety eyes, and thought it would be safer for a 3 year old)
* I didn't use internal pipecleaners (again, thought they might not be entirely safe for a 3-year-old)
* The crochetwork was kind of open and I thought stuffing would show. So I made it into a handpuppet rather than stuffing. There is a side benefit that it is more interactive this way.
* I attached the two halves with single crochet rather than sewing. (I suck at sewing.)
* I crocheted the mouth piece rather than sewing in a piece of felt. (I suck at sewing.)







This might be my last crochet project, since I discovered while doing it that I'm now faster at knitting than crochet.

Comments

[firecat]

I should have said something more like "Next time for a simple project that creates a flat surface like this, I will probably knit it instead of crocheting it." But yeah crocheting is better for some projects.

What do you mean about the user name thing?

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

It's a problem particular to me - I've sort of had two online presences, this one and my birthname, and I'm finding it harder to keep them separated, and I guess I've also got to decide if I want to keep them separated. Anyway, ravelry falls squarely between.

Oh, and now I've had a look at the original manta ray pattern, I think you improved it by making it a handpuppet. Very clever, and it really adds something.

[firecat]

I do understand about the online presences problem.

Thanks! I remembered how much I loved puppets when I was a kid and it seemed like it might work that way. If I were very clever, I would have figured out how to design it so you could operate the wings and mouth at the same time - with this shape and size, it's hard to do. Maybe next time.