Since my last post about the Clara character from the Nutcracker Crochet kit, I finished the second character, the Nutcracker. My practice from last time meant I had an easier time with the crocheting on this one, although there were more external cosmetic elements in the pattern that I struggled with. The kit comes with the appropriate yarn for the first two characters, so that's what I used for the black, white, red, tan, and gold yarn.
When I started with the legs things seemed to be going very smoothly, and I thought I was going to end up zipping through the project at lightning speed, but I ended up getting hung up a few times while trying to join the legs together – I kept thinking I was missing stitches or miscounting so I ended up backing up and restarting a few times, I think I was having a hard time keeping track of details with the bright white yarn. Eventually I got past the tricky part and things seemed to flow more smoothly.
From there, I felt like all the “structural” elements went pretty well.
I also thought the embroidery-thread smile went OK, but I worried that things were starting to get away from me a little bit with embroidering on a white yarn mustache.
This pattern called for extending the coat downward from his waist from some half-exposed stitches, similar to Clara's skirt, and I found it easier this time, probably because I had practice with the last one. I think the belt and gold uniform highlights worked OK, too.
The hat was trickier. On the transition from the top of the hat to the sides I had a hard time figuring out if the way I was doing it was making it inside-out or outside-right, but I think eventually figured it out. I don't think I did the greatest job sewing the hat to his head, though, partly because I was worried about trying to get the hat to keep its shape while also hiding where I was doing the attachments.
Constructing the arms went fine, but I also struggled with getting them sewed onto the body. While the “connected on” look is actually a smart design choice for something that's supposed to be evocative of a traditional nutcracker, I tend to get nervous about using my judgment rather than an explicit pattern for things like deciding where to connect things (and I also think my “sewing on” technique could use some work).
The pattern then calls for looping lengths of yarn through the crochet fabric and then untwisting it to individual strands for the hair and beard. As someone with a long beard of wavy hair I have to say it makes a lot of sense to use individual yarn strands for this, but I'm not sold on the idea of trying to do it after the body has been stuffed and other cosmetic elements have already been attached (especially since the hair is supposed to attach at the base of the hat, which I was already iffy about). It seems to me like there may have been an opportunity to get the cool untwisted-strands effects with some more hidden attachment points while we still had access to the inside of the head.
Despite the challenges and my second-guessing about the cosmetic elements, I enjoyed working on this one, especially since I felt like the actual crocheting part was easier this time after dealing with trying to recall or relearn my skills on the last one.
The materials that came with the kit only guarantee enough yarn to make the first two figures, although there are patterns for more characters in the instruction book. But I looked through the other patterns and my supply of yarns from other projects and I'm pretty sure I'll be able to complete a few more of the characters with what I already have, so I'll likely make a few more (especially since working on these Christmas-themed characters is helping me get into a holiday spirit).