Strong B ad (i make crochet fun!)
afan pattern by Aleta Fera
Nota bene: This is, of course, a fan pattern and not to be sold, manufactured or used for anything that would take money out of the hands of the Brothers Chaps. They own this character. I owe them too much laughter to rip them off, and if you're making this, I bet you do, too. Don't try to sell one and wreck it for the rest of us. SIZE one
FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
Height: 10 inches Width (boxing glove to boxing glove): $6\,4/2$ inches
MATERIALS
Worsted weight yarn in red, beige, white and black. I used Cascade 220 superwash for the red and Patons Classic Merino for the other three colours. (The Classic Merino beige is called “camel" and may be the ugliest shade they produce. Makes great toys, though.) 3.75 mm crochet hook felt for face in black, white, light blue and neon green sewing thread to match felt soft stuffing (you may wish to use lentils or rice to add weight to his bottom so that he can check emails more naturally) GAUGE is unimportant, as long as it's tight enough that the stuffing doesn't show through.
RESOURCES
http://www.homestarrunner.com http://www.hrwiki.org
PATTERN
Head
With red yarn, make a magic ring loop and crochet 6 stitches intoit. Tighten the lp until it disappears. R1: 2 sc into each sc around. (12 st) R2: [sc, 2 sc in next sc] repeat around. (18 st) R3: [2 sc, 2 sc in next sc] repeat around. (24 st) R4: [3 sc, 2 sc in next sc] repeat around. (30 st) R5: [4 sc, 2 sc in next sc] repeat around. (36 st) R6: [5 sc, 2 sc in next sc] repeat around. (42 st) R7: [6 sc, 2 sc in next sc] repeat around. (48 st) R8-14: sc 48. R15: [6 sc, dec 1] repeat around. (42 st) R16: [5 sc, dec 1] repeat around. (36 st) R17: [4 sc, dec 1] repeat around. (30 st) R18: [3 sc, dec 1] repeat around. (24 st) R19: [2 sc, dec 1] repeat around. (18 st) Stuff head firmly. R20: [1 sc, dec 1] repeat around. (12 st) Add last bit of stuffing. R21: skip 1, sc 1. Repeat 6 times. Fasten off and weave in ends. Body With black yarn, make a magic ring loop and crochet 6 stitches into it. Tighten the loop until it disappears. R1: 2 sc into each sc around. (12 st) R2: [sc, 2 sc in next sc] repeat around. (18 st) R3: [2 sc, 2 sc in next sc] repeat around. (24 st) R4-7: sc 24. Switch to beige yarn. R8-10: sc 24. R11: [2 sc, dec 1] repeat around. (18 st) Stuff body firmly, adding lentils or rice if you wish to add more weight to this part. R12: [1 sc, dec 1] repeat around. (12 st) Add last bit of stuffing. R13: skip 1, sc 1. Repeat 6 times. Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing the head to the body. Weave in other end. Arm (make 2) With red yarn, make a magic ring loop and crochet 4 stitches into it. Tighten the loop until it disappears. R1: 2 sc into each sc around. (8 st) R2: [sc, 2 sc in next sc] repeat around. (12 st) R3: [2 sc, 2 sc in next sc] repeat around. (16 st) R4: [3 sc, 2 sc in next sc] repeat around. (20 st) R5: [3 sc, dec 1] repeat around. (16 st) R6: [2 sc, dec 1] repeat around. (12 st) Stuff the boxing glove. R7: [sc, dec 1] repeat around. (8 st) R8: [2 sc, dec 1] repeat around. (6 st) Change to white yarn. R9 & 10: sc 6. Change to beige yarn. R11-14: sc 6. Fasten off,leaving a long tail for sewing. I used the yarn tails to stuff the arm, as it's pretty skinny. You can draw other yarn scraps through the arm as wellif you don't have enough from the hand. It's also kind of gross, with the long red and white strips poking out the end of the yarn, like his limb was torn off by a zombie. Strong Bad would have wanted it that way. Leg (make 2) Leaving a long tail for sewing, with red yarn, chain 6 stitches. Join into a circle on the first round. R1-4: sc 6. Switch to black yarn. R5-9: sc 6. Fasten off leaving a long tail for sewing. Stuff in the same way you stuffed the arm.
Foot (make 2)
With white yarn, make a magic ring loop and crochet 6 stitches into it. Tighten the loop until it disappears. R2: [sc, 2 sc in next sc] repeat around. (18 st) Switch to red yarn. R3: sc 18 through back loop. R4: SC 18. R5: [1 sc, dec 1] repeat around. (12 st). Stuff foot firmly. Again, lentils might be a good choice if you want his feet to dangle down. R6: [sc, skip 1] repeat around. Fasten off and weave in end.
Lace-up panel
Chain 12. Starting in second loop from hook, sc 11. Fasten off leaving a long tail for sewing to the head.
FINISHING
Sew the head onto the body. I had to do a few rows of stitching to secure it, as the head is so much bigger than the body...make sure it's not too floppy before you stop sewing! Sew the feet to the legs so that the boots point outward. Sew legs and arms onto the body. Sew the small lace-up panel to the back of the head, and using black yarn, embroider the laces. Leave two tails and tie them into a bow at the back. For the face, I knew that if I tried to stencil or be exact, I would drive myself insane, so I just cut out the pieces freehand until it looked about right. If you're of a more precise turn, you can use one of the many pictures on the Homestar Runner Site (or the Homestar Runner Wiki) to print out and guide you. Or you could use disappearing ink to draw before you cut. I used this picture as my guide --->
Imagine each of the shapes overlapping, and it makes it easier. Here is a rough guide to the shapes (the best I could do with the drawing function in Word). This is not sized to the toy, so please don't use as a stencil!
Also, the white shape is only approximate (not pointy enough!) and you don't need two full circles for the eyes. But! The best part about felt is that there's a certain amount of leeway for sloppiness, as you can move the felt a little when you sew it on and no one will se that it's not perfectly flat to the head. Sew the black shape first, then the white, then the blue shield, then the green eyes, using matching thread. Cut out a slightly curved rectangle for the mouth and sew it on. Enjoy...Send pictures to rocketbride $@$ gmail.com... Just don't let him start checking your email.
ABOUT THE DESIGNER
Aleta's dream is to have her spelling and grammar mocked by Strong Bad (but since she's an English teacher, she may not make enough mistakes). Her ex has more of the DVD's and t-shirts than is really healthy. Her four-year-old knew how to sing the Trogdor song before his second birthday.
