I recently discovered the blog of ‘Son’s Popkes’ http://sonspopkes.com/ and immediately fell in love with the gorgeous crocheted creatures Sonja van der Wijk designs. When a pattern for ‘Plubby the Puffin’ was published I knew I had to make it (especially as puffins are much loved coastal birds)! http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/plubby
http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/birdguide/name/p/puffin/
And here is the finished result perched happily on our local cliffs. I had a lot of fun making ‘Plubby’ and then photographing him on various parts of the cliffs along our beach. It was a very windy day and my children helped to keep him in position just long enough to be photographed!
He looks so at home on these cliffs but unfortunately we don’t actually get puffins along our part of the southern coastline of England. Puffins can be found in many other parts of the British coast during the summer months. My nephew Jacob is the lucky recipient of Plubby as my brother and sister in law visited Bempton Cliffs on a recent summer holiday http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/seenature/reserves/guide/b/bemptoncliffs/
They were hoping to see some puffins but missed them by only a couple of days as they had left to migrate south, so I hope my crocheted puffin is some consolation!
For a small project like this I tend to dig into my huge stash of yarn (currently stored under our bed) rather than buy the recommended yarn. I’m pleased with the colours but it taught me a lot about yarn quality as the black and white was difficult to crochet with, splitting easily as I crocheted. I’m also very aware that my chain stitch used for the beak could have been a lot neater, definitely need to practice that!! 😉
I decided to buy eyes rather than make them and knew what I was looking for. I visited a great yarn store in Shoreham, West Sussex.
http://www.shorehamherald.co.uk/news/local/shoreham-knitting-shop-celebrates-40th-1-4609565
http://www.englishyarns.co.uk/
When I walked in I was greeted with literally floor to ceiling yarn (a crocheter and knitters paradise) and I couldn’t have asked for better eyes! It’s a real gem of a shop and it was a happy shopping experience 😃
Such a great design and my crochet skills were stretched which is always good!
So, as we don’t get puffins locally, which seabirds do we get on our stretch of coastline? Well, we get a lot of varieties of seagulls of course, and here are a couple which were circling above us as I was photographing ‘Plubby’.
Which gives me an idea……to crochet a Seagull!
That’s a project I’ll share with you next week. In the meantime, Happy Crocheting….
Lucky to live close enough to visit the puffins!
Yes, although I’ve only seen one once before! Thanks for commenting
He turned out gorgeous and I love the pictures you’ve taken!
Great job 🙂
Thanks so much! All credit to your wonderful design. Can’t wait to see your upcoming Rhino pattern 🙂
Love your blog and wonderful photo’s! Jacob love’s his Puffin and so do we! ..Adored the photo’s of Ma & Pa their wedding day…You really do make wonderful things xx
Ahhhh, thanks Naomi! Very kind words and thanks for commenting xx 🙂
Very cute pattern of a very cute bird – Jacob is a lucky boy!
Ahhh, thanks so much 🙂
What a perky little character! Great photos.
Thank you! 🙂
loving the pictures with the handmade puffin.. love the shots. 😀
Thank you! 😊
Love the puffin! And the seagull on the other post too 😀 I may need to pop to Shoreham to see this yarn shop, I’m in Brighton and there aren’t really any great yarn shops, it’s a shame really!
I know what you mean. This one in Shoreham is great though.
That puffin is lovely! Great job done.. I’m busy sketching for my husband’s project. And main character will be a puffin.. So did the sketches, and now I should also try the crochet version 😊.
Thankyou for visiting my blog! Glad you like the puffin 😊
I LOVE puffins!! Great pics of your cutie ami 🙂
Thank you 😊
Hello there, kindred spirit! Thanks for following sultanabun. I can’t wait to see more of your projects. Lynda.
Thankyou so much! 😊
Wonderful crochet and presentation. I went to a local craft shop this past week because I am working on another shawl and I wanted all of the yarn…lol. I settled for enough for my shawl and some wool that was on sale.
Happy week and happy crocheting.
Thanks so much for the kind words 😊 Happy crocheting to you too!