Ideas

Recently I gave my roly polys one look and started toying with the idea of hooking a whole lot of crochet objects for an art installation/exhibition, errr to sell and make some $'s. Of course it will mean re-looking patterns and colours and stripes and time and . . . and so forth. Here in Penang there are tonnes of little mini-markets and stalls selling a selection of inflatable objects to enjoy in the ocean and swimming pool.  I had already tried out the idea with the naff roly poly and found it to be a great idea except that I didn't plan on stuffing it with a plastic ball so the inflatable ball was just a tad too small for the crochet ball. I would need to plan better, but can you image the hooky possibilities by giving the below a stripey or knobbly or granny jacket of some hooky sort?  Meanwhile the roly poly pillow seats hooked for the kids are stuffed with the cheapest available pillows from Tesco's.

The Tween's Roly Poly

Oh noooooo I hooked 5 pentagons following the exact stripes as generated by the Tween and I for a Liquorice All-Sorts Roly Poly as posted here, and fell out of love with each and every pentagon almost straight away. The yarn was an identical match to the stripes, the outcome not-so. Smooth stripes don't always translate well into hooky crochet stitches, the pentagons were downright ugly. butt ugly.

Neither did the Tween enjoy the results and I then gave her a free hand in choosing new colour combinations for her Roly Poly Pillow Seat. She loves a sense of the absurd and also collects pictures painted on scrap wood and second hand tables. The below cat is painted on a side table, the other pictures on a wooden cube.

I will once again set out in my quest to refine the Roly Poly Pillow Seat idea. I have tonnes of ideas for many projects and also need to learn a great number of new stitches and patterns, but since I mostly hook in the car whilst waiting for the traffic lights to turn green, I am bound to the simple and mindless in the land of hooky.          

Roly Poly Pillow-Seat done!

Woo hooo my first Roly Poly Pillow-Seat is finished! The original idea was blogged by The Thrifty Fox and re-blogged here and I re-blogged about the same here. I think I found my "thing" - that is some"thing" that I enjoy making, seeing and displaying so much that I just have to make a few more, in all sorts of colour combos including a liquorice all-sorts black and white one spruced up with vibrant pink, orange and green stripes. Wherever I put the Roly Poly down, it just seems to fit right in. This one is destined for my boy's room but I just had to try it out in the kitchen and upstairs lounge area too. Our bedrooms are private space, hence me not posting photos of the Roly Poly in it's rightful place.

Looking back at the original article now, I think that I should have added more stuffing to it. I deliberately added less so that my boy would be able to sink in and read a book or play with his Lego, but it seems just a tad on the floppy side now. Tomorrow I will open one side and add some more stuffing; just now I want to keep on looking at it.

I used 100% acrylic yarn Made in Japan of dubious thickness.  Not all the colours were of the same weight either but I am just thankful that any yarn at all is available for purchasing in Penang.  I used a 5.00mm  Made in China hook (so cannot confirm whether the size aligns with hooks internationally . . . ) hooking the 12 pentagons needed to make the Roly Poly. Each pentagon measures 15cm from the center to any of it's 5 corners. 

I alternated US double crochet (dc), half double (hdc) and single crochet (sc) stitches at random and added texture by inserting the hook only in the back loop of the chain instead of into both loops on a few rows. I roughly used a row of dc only once per pentagon and hooked the pentagons with the majority of the rows in hdc's. The texture where I hooked via the back loop only was created mainly on the sc rows. The Roly Polys are not supposed to be looking too neat and perfect but more organic and handmade.

Basic Idea/Pattern:

To begin: Chain 4 and join to form a ring.

Round 1: Chain 3 and 14 dc into ring = 15 sts

Round 2: *3dc into 1 st, 1 dc in each of next 2 sts * repeat 5 times = 25 sts

Round 3 and all other uneven rounds: 2 dc each in the 2 chains that forms the middle stitches of the 3 dc of the previous round, 1 dc in all other sts

Round 4 and all other even rounds: 3dc in the middle chain of the 4 dc that forms the corner of the previous round, 1 dc in all other sts

Round 3 onward illustrated - It is only after hooking a few pentagons that I realised the below is the best solution in order to keep the corners neat and the shape flat. How you treat the corners also pretty much depends on whether you use US sc, half or double sc stitches. With US dc or UK treble stitches there is a very distinct middle, not so with half double.

||| \|/ |||  - middle 3 dc all in one chain to form corner of row 3

||| \\// ||| - middle 4 dc split between middle 2 chains to form corner of row 4

||| \|/ ||| -  middle 3 dc all in one chain to form corner of row 5

||| \\// ||| - middle 4 dc split between middle 2 chains to form corner of row 6 etc