I have to start with another “na-na na-na boo-boo” for all my friends back in Texas:
The sky has cleared, the mountains are now visible behind the trees, and we topped off at just shy of seven inches of light, fluffy snow. Local officials strongly recommend everyone stay off the roads today. With a view like this from the warm comfort of my parents’ living room, why would I possibly want to go anywhere else?
With that out of the way, on to the crafting!
Bright and early on the morning of December 1, Dear Roommie hits me with another unusual request:
Roommie: yo
can you crochet a squid?
me: Probably
(Why a squid? For a Secret Santa gift. Naturally. That’s all I got from her. I’ve learned to stop asking.)
me: What color?
Roommie: squid colors?
(Apparently in Roommie-world, squids are purple and blue.)
me: How big?
Roommie: ummm
maybe like 8″ with tentacles?
it would mostly be tentacles
(TENTACLES! …see, this is funny because there’s this spoof that someone did that’s Fiddler on the Roof, but about Cthulu… Yeah, that’s one’s pretty obscure, isn’t it?)
Yet again, I set to work and knocked the thing out in one night, because really what could be more fun to make than a blue and purple squid?
There was a good sale on Vanna’s Choice a while back, so I now have a sizable stash of yarn that is ideal for amigurumi. I similarly stocked up on doll eyes and stuffing at some point last year. The idea was that I could just make critters whenever the mood struck me, and this was an excellent proof of concept. I didn’t have to buy any new supplies for this project.
The real trick was figuring out how to make all those legs. I finally landed on an inspired little idea. I made a grey base in the round, starting with 8 stitches. The second round was 16 st (2sc in each st), and the third was 24 (2sc in one st, 1 sc in next). The next row was where all the magic happened:
1sc in st, ch 20, turn
1 sl st in each chain back to base, 1 sc in st from the original round
1sc in st
repeat that pattern around a total of 8 times (to make 8 legs)
Then I built the rest of the body from there starting with a sc up and down the top of the legs. The two long tentacles, purple fins, and eyes were added before I finished off the body.
Dear Roommie squee’d in delight upon first view of the unfinished bottom portion. I actually worried briefly for her health when I presented the finished product.
I think I’ll be making some smaller versions – maybe some anatomically simpler octopi – for general sale in the new year. We were discussing a little octopus with a tiny red bow tie for Valentine’s Day. Adorable, yes?
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