Ren & Kishan crochet {a semi-tutorial}

Long long ago, in the world known as Facebook, I posted this picture of Ren and Kishan….

 

That picture got so many comments and requests for more information. Here I am to answer all inqueries!!

I drummed up this idea when I wanted something cute and little and, obviously, Ren and and Kishan. I’m pretty good at following patterns (and pretty terrible at coming up with my own) so after trying to make it work and failing completely at it, I searched around and found a pattern for sale on Etsy by One & Two Company. There is a regular website too if you aren’t on Etsy. She has got some very adorable patterns! I purchased the Tiger Applique. The beauty of DIY is that you can make it how you want to. While she recommended specific colors in her pattern, I already knew what I wanted and shopped accordingly.

It is with her permission that I share some in progress photos with you. I will not be sharing the specific pattern because I have high respects for those who make these patterns and want to support small business. The link to the pattern is in the paragraph above if you’d like to go and purchase it!

 

 

First step is gather your supplies. I used yarn from Caron Simply Soft that I found at JoAnn’s. This yarn feels really nice and… soft! The colors are White, Black, and Charcoal Heather. If I were purchasing again… I’d pick a lighter gray. Not much lighter but I’d like a bit more difference between the black and gray when I’m working on Kishan. Oh! I forgot to add Kishan’s eye yarn which was some gold my friend had (because all my yellows were way too yellow). You can also see the spare blue yarn I used for Ren’s eyes. I can’t remember its name because I bought it a few years ago, but I believe it’s Red Heart and could very well be called Cobalt!

You’ll also need a blunt needle (like one you’d use for plastic canvas), a stitch marker (I love stitch markers! I lose my count all the time and these save me frequent), scissors, and a crochet hook appropriate for your yarn choice. I used a 4.5 mm.

Um, I also forgot to include the paracord and felt that I used to finish it with. Although there are many other things you could use… I’ll get to that later.

Got all that?

End of round 1. This would be charcoal gray if I were making Kishan.

 

End of round 2. See the stitch marker? Saves me every single time, I tell you.

End of round 3.

 

End of round 4. At the end of round 4, you are pretty much done with this part but you aren’t done yet so you don’t join the yarn. What I did was….

 

… take the stitch marker and slip it into the loop where my crochet hook was. Now I am free to work other colors without fear of my hard work coming undone.

 

Now we turn our attention to the ears! I used the charcoal heather for Ren and black for Kishan’s ears.

Two ears! Doesn’t it look so much more like a cat now?

 

Now you go back to the original color, take out the stitch marker, and finish round 6. Oh yes, and when I was going around the ears, I only grabbed the back loop. This helped the ears show a bit more than if I grabbed both loops.

When you get to right about here…. (descriptive, I know), change out your crochet hook for your blunt needle.

 

This is my favorite way to end crochet work because it hides where you’ve ended really well. Take your needle from front to back in the next stitch.

 

And then take it back through the loops of your base stitch… it should look like all your other crochet stitches except you’re sewing it instead of hooking it. Hopefully the pictures show what I mean!

And it’s hidden! Tada!

 

Have you ever done a magic ring? Mine looks like this with the tail of the yarn in the front and the long part in the back… go youtube it if you have never tried it before!

 

Magic rings are used when working in the round. Instead of making your stitches in one stitch that gets harder and harder to do because there is less space to do it in, you have plenty of space and then pull the tail tight to close up the circle.

 

Two tiny little nostrils. (I’m nothing if not delicate.)

 

Stitch ‘em together with your needle. Nothing fancy, it will mostly be hidden anyway.

 

So recap: we’ve got our main face piece and our snout piece now with two long ends (because I’ve weaved the other ends in).

Attach the snout!

Using the blunt needle, add stripes! I used the same color as the ears for the stripes–charcoal heather for Ren and black for Kishan.

 

Add a nose! Again, use the blunt needle. I used black for both Ren and Kishan.

 

Add eyes! I used a french knot. Blue yarn for Ren, gold for Kishan.

Almost done! The front looks so good. But I’m always curious how the back looks of other people’s work.

I uh knew that I’d be hiding this hot mess so I just double knotted everything and cut it down. If I weren’t planning on hiding it, I would have weaved in all the ends which would have been a pain with these colors. (Everything shows up through white and you barely use the blue!)

That is where the paracord and the felt comes in. I cut the felt to the shape of the head using white for Ren and black for Kishan.

Now, I used paracord because it’s what I had on hand (my friend’s hand, actually. she had a ton of paracord begging to be used). Another option is key chains that you could quickly sew to the back of the applique.

The paracord ends had to be melted together before being hot glued to the back of the applique. Then I hot glued the felt and called it done.

Actually, I called it done several pairs later…. I did an assembly line type thing. I would work up all the main body pieces, then all the snouts, then attach all the snouts in pairs before attaching the pairs to the main body piece…. you get the idea!

And that’s how you do it. Once I learned the pattern (the first one took the longest by far), they were a quick workup. It took me 1 1/2 hours to make this Ren but I was also taking pictures and watching American Idol at the same time.

Hope you enjoyed this little craft! Let me know if you’d like to see them as continued prizes whether as stand-alones or in prize packs.