April--Crochet Horsie

Finally finished! I'd been wanting to make a horse plushie for a while, and now that I've improved my crocheting skills considerably, I decided to give it a try. I made up this pattern completely from scratch, and it wouldn't be easy to write it down--a lot of it was completely on the spot, deciding where to increase or decrease. As a result, the proportions are a bit odd, but I'm proud of it anyway!

I'm going to call her April, after a horse I used to ride back when I was taking riding lessons (which I hope to do again someday soon!) April was a really fun horse to work with, but more than a little nuts. She was about the same color as this, but with a coppery mane and tail, and ridiculously tall. She loved to jump and would nearly run away with you if you weren't careful, but I learned more from riding her than any other horse, and gained a lot of confidence, too! So I suppose a cuddly toy is a nice tribute, although she'd probably kill me if she knew she was being compared to something cute.

A few details: Made with a little more than one skein of Lion Brand Homespun, Sierra color (I was trying to use it up, but I had to get another ball, grrrr… ) and off-white Caron Simply Soft for the mane and tail. Oh, and the hooves are Homespun, but the Roccoco color. She's 11 inches tall, 16 inches from nose to tail, and stuffed pretty firmly, so she stands up pretty well although she's nice and squishy, too.

I'm now working on a mountain goat plushie, but work has stalled due to a major redesign of the pattern, which has resulted in me frogging a good chunk of the most recent work. Now I have to gather the courage to forge ahead…