Did I mention the coral reef we are doing for The Snail of Happiness shop? No? That was remiss of me, then, and I will correct the error immediately. You can read about progress from the Snail herself here.
I crocheted an octopus. It took two and a half months. I had to fight it off my cheesecake one Friday morning. It keeps punching the corals*.
Thing is, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Octopuses live in coral reefs and are eye-catching (if there happen to be eyes to be caught). Rather nicely, the red yarn (possibly a mix of acrylic and wool) came from a stash that was destined for a skip and landfill, so it was particularly pleasing to find a good** use for it.
The head was crocheted in rounds, and wasn’t too bad although there was quite a bit of shaping, so rows with asymmetric increases and decreases, but I managed to reach the last row of that fairly quickly. Then came the tentacles…
With hindsight and a proper education, I should’ve spotted that octopuses have eight legs. Eight tricky, time-consuming, fiddly legs. After two, I was ready to accept that the thing could be displayed peering out from behind a rock. After four, I was questioning the wisdom of sticking so rigidly to the pattern. After eight, I decided that just as a peanut isn’t a nut, and a koala bear is nether a bear nor some kind of cola, clearly an octopus (from the Greek: octo (eight) + podus (foot)) was just another thing misnamed by scientists. I reached the end with more red yarn than sanity to spare.
Guess what? The white bit is done separately, and fits over all eight legs, including all the knobbly bits. I couldn’t give up now, I was in too deep, like an octopus in the Mariana Trench. The days, due to a misprint, turned into knights and disappeared to Camelot for the weekend. The knights turned into bears, and I knew that a) I needed a new keyboard and b) I needed more wine.
I did finish and have managed to disguise the fact that the bottoms of the tentacles really don’t match exactly with the tops. I like to think it gives my octopus a unique character, a nuance of mystery, an air of sophistication even. I know, however, it really just means I got it a bit wrong.
After this, I did a couple of corals, regular and unnuanced. Never again, Mr Octopus, never again.
So, I’ve started a Killer Whale…
oOo
* True story. Octopuses punch fish, sometimes for no apparent reason. All those bloody legs, I’m not surprised they get testy (tentacle-ally?!?). Odd socks must be a nightmare.
** This is a relative term, and the reader may feel another one is more appropriate.
Many other people contribute to Kate and Gun’s wonderful ScrapHappy every month – check out what they have been up to too!
Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Tracy,
Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, Edith,
Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Viv, Karrin,
Amo, Alissa, Lynn, Tierney and Hannah
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