TMNT Inspired Afghan

I am not a pattern writer, but this is pretty simple and straight forward.  SC Full size afghan with stripes same color as masks.  Make a giant pair of eyeballs, eyes with an attached mask and then applique to your afghan.  I have included my instructions for my own use and if you want you can use them too!  Please be kind and do not resell the pattern, but feel free to sell anything you make!  I hope at the least, you are inspired to come up with something unique!  :)

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After conducting research online for TMNT things to crochet for my 7 year old grandsons, I decided to come up with my own version of a TMNT inspired afghan.  The yarn I chose was Medium Thyme Green in conjunction with the TMNT stuffies I made for them, these will be part of their Christmas presents for Christmas 2015.  The afghans are full size since I wanted to make sure that they are indeed large enough and the boys are growing SO fast!  Did I mention they are identical twins?  Well, indeed they are so what is made for one must also be made for the other.  You know what they say; double trouble or, in this case, double the afghans!

The afghan is a basic SC 251 stitches across and will be approximately 300-320 rows when complete.  I started at the top with 26 SC rows of green and then incorporated my first mask.  I then have 64 SC rows of green between each color change.  To date, I have about 10 skeins of Medium Thyme Green invested in the first of two afghans.  That's a lot of green!

Eyeballs -- Make two -- black, MR 10, join to first stitch with slip stitch, SC 1 and SC all the way around, sl stitch join and add mask color to the black of the eye and SC BLO all the way around,, slip stitch join, finish and set aside.

Whites:
Make two -- Chain 16. Skip first stitch and HDC in next              two stitches, DC in the next 5 stitches, Tr in remaining 8 stitches to the end.  Tr 3 more times in the last stitch (you will have 4 total TR stitches in last stitch).  Now, work the other side in reverse .... Treble 7, DC-5, HDC in last two stitches.  Join Mask color to corner of whites of eyes and SC...when you get the big round end, 2 SC (increase) in two of the end stitches so that your eye will not curl.  When you get to the point in the whites of the eye that you wish to attack the eyeball, place eyeball, pin to hold in place and SC through all layers of eye to secure.  We will sew the other part of the eye later, but this will ensure a solid join that will last forever.

Mask-- the mask colors are red, orange, purple, blue

Once you have made the eyeballs, you have made the whites of the eyes, in the corner of the whites slip stitch with your mask color to change colors.  Now, single crochet all the way around the eye (don't forget to position eyeball when you get to that point, pin and crochet through all layers to attach).  Once you have gone around the entire white portion of the eye with your mask color, single crochet one time and then sl join to the other piece of eye whites and continue to SC all the way around.  Once you are in the corner and have completed your SC begin a row of DC starting with the SC between the two white portions of  the mask.  On the big part (with all the trebles) of the DC round, at the end DC twice in one stitch, DC, DC twice in same stitch, DC, DC twice in same stitch and continue rx   DC all the way around until you have completed the first eye and are now back in the center (top) where the SC stitch resides between the two eyes.  TR in that stitch and resume DC all the way around the second eye, slip stich to center SC, cut and finish.  If you mask ensemble is curling, do not fret, you sew it down and that will eliminate any curling. ;)

Blue, Red, Purple, Orange Masks added!  Almost done!

One Blue Eye  complete!

In progress!

To applique the masks with eyes, pin to coordinating stripe on the afghan, thread a needle with white Yarn or (hopefully) you left a long enough tail to secure the whites of the eyes to the afghan.  You should have already finished the eyeballs by hiding the ends after you finished sewing the black and colored rounds to the whites.  You really only need to secure the larger of the two ends as that is the only area that has a tendency to bulge out.  Once secure, remove all pins and take the long piece of yarn from cutting your mask when you finished and applique around the mask to secure entire ensemble in place.

To make the ties:

SC 8 out of same color as stripe and mask, SC in 2nd chain from hook, HDC , DC, TR crochet and then DC, HDC, SC.

Ch 3, repeat on opposite side. SC in 2nd chain from hook, HDC, DC, TR crochet and then DC, HDC, slip stitch in last chain.

Ch 1, SC in next 2 st, 2 SC in next 4, SC in next 2, slip stitch

Ch 2, now working other side, SC in next 2, 2 SC in next 4, SC in next 2, slip stitch.
SC in each stitch across, SC and slip stitch into last st., Chain 2, SC in next ST on opposite side, SC in each stitch across. SC and Slip st last stitch.

Tie off and weave in ends.  Leave a tail long enough to attach and applique to afghan.

Single crochet around with one SC in between the two pieces of white/eyeballs.

Attach the eyeball by single crocheting through all layers at the top or bottom depending on what direction your eye is looking

You wll secure the rest of the eye later, but for now and forever it will remain in place!  

This is a yarn threader and it is awesome!

Now to SC around the second eye portion

and here I am attaching the eyeball by SC'ing through all layers.

In the end, you will end up with something that looks like this!m  This mask portion has a round of SC and then a round of DC with a TR at the top in between the two eyes. ;)

Before you attach the mask, weave and hide all the loose strings leave everything in the back where nobody will see!

I love this yarn threader!  It enable me to thread my yarn on a much smaller needle to perform sewing requirements or to just hide my ends.  It's inexpensive, but a very valuable tool!  

My grandsons favorite turtle dudes are the blue mask and the purple mask.  So for the sake of argument on whose is whose, I placed their favorite color turtle mask at the top and also put a border of their favorite color!  In this case, one is blue and one is purple.  It ttwill be a cinch to tell them apart..

So, I added Ethan David's name to his afghan.....

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       c

Spiderman Inspired Afghan

This was not an easy start for me.  I started and about the time it would start to look like something, I ripped it all out to begin again.  I was having a hard time understanding the transition to the next row.  Well, I am proud to say that I have finally figured out what works for me on this pattern and I understand now how the pattern grows.  I also figured out how to add black so that it sits on top of the afghan rather than just a row incorporated into the afghan.  By having it as a raised row, I think it will look more like my vision of a web.

So to add the black as a ribbed row or a row that sits on top of the afghan you very simply need to slip stitch between the double crochet stitches.  You will use the post of each DC to secure the stitch in place.  It is also advisable to do these rows as you go and to pull each one up a little so that it feels more like you are single crocheting.  You can tighten if necessary after making the stitch, but it goes a little faster if you loosen up and pull the stitch up and hold with your thumb at the base.  I hope that makes sense.  I think it will once you begin.

Progress

Spiderman Inspired Afghan Pattern <-----------Pattern is here or you can always find it on Ravelry. com here --------> Spiderman Inspired Afghan Pattern on Ravelry.  If you check Ravelry, you'll be able to get all kind of ideas on what others have produced with this pattern.  Have fun and enjoy the looks you'll get from your littlest spiderman fans.  Your little guy will think you are a virtual genius!  ha

Day 3 of my Spiderman Inspired Afghan  It is about 26" in diameter now so I would surmise that I am approximately 50% complete, however, as the rounds grow bigger, the rounds will consume more time to complete.  Nonetheless, I am well pleased with the speed in which this particular afghan is coming together!

Day 6-ish Progress

At this point the rounds are going slower but the diameter is growing quite nicely.

I have no idea how many days I have been working on this because I put it aside for several days, but it is 48" around now and I have removed my center ring of webbing and added a big ole spider instead.  I saw this on another afghan on ravelry.com and that is where the inspiration came from.  Love how this is turning out, but it is quite large now.  It takes me a day to get two rounds added, but really that is half a day because that's about how long I work on it at a time.  So I guess you could say it takes a couple hours per round now.  ;)  I think my grandson will love this at Christmas and I am really excited to see his face light up!  

This is the spider I created for the center.  No pattern I just winged it.  I made a chain of 11 and then added sl, sc, hdc, dc, tr.  I added about two of each and on the last stitch I trebled 7 times to make the turn to the other side and then did the same stitches in reverse order.  I used the G hook for the body and then switched to an E hook.  I kind of eyeballed a head and slip stitched at the head/neck area to add the legs and then I just kept measuring the center area of the afghan until I had each leg in place and the desired length.  I then appliqued this to the center of my afghan using black upholstery thread.  I wrapped the thread around the head area and tied on the back side of the spider to secure it in place.  For legs, if you want a bend in your leg, start a new thread and start at your bend.  Secure the bend in place so that you will be able to move the rest of the leg to make a sharper bend on your leg and finish the applique process.  I hope, if you are making this afghan these tips will somehow help you to make your own awesome spider!  Good luck and I cannot wait for my little superhero to see this on Christmas morning!  :D

First twelve lines of webbing are in place....tick tock tick tock....getting closer to the finish line!  Woohoo!

....and on the 16th day of April 2015, I have finished!  I inserted 24 lines of webbing instead of the 12 that wss suggested in the pattern and i think it looks much more web like.  Spider is in place and I think he looks pretty great too.  All that's left now is to finish hiding those ends and wait patiently until Christmas!