Happy March!!
March is National Read Across America Month, in honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday, which is was March 2nd. It began in 1997, though I don’t recall participating at the school I attended until about 1998 or 1999, when I was a high school student athlete. They requested that some of the high school students make guest appearances in the elementary classrooms to read to the students. We were allowed to pick a children’s book we loved ourselves, or we would be given any Dr. Seuss book to read. I thought it would be fun to read the book my dad wrote and illustrated about me, Shalock and the Cloud of Bad Dreams. The only problem was, at that time, it hadn’t been published yet. My dad allowed me to take his large, original copy of the book, with his original watercolors, which is approximately 16×20 inches, and can stand upright on its own.
The Story Behind the Book
When I was a very little girl, about 3 or 4, I had traumatizing, recurring nightmares. Almost every night, my parents would hear my feet hit the floor and *thump thump thump* down to their room crying. One weekend, they went out of town and had to leave me with a sitter. They were in State College, PA, and came home with a stuffed lion for me from Penn State. I immediately named him Shalock, the Lionhearted. I pronounced it “Shah-lock.” I began staying in my own bed! I believed that he was chasing away my bad dreams. My dad, a high school art teacher of 34 years, and nature artist, originally wrote and illustrated this book in 1986. It took him about a week to write it, and a year to complete the illustrations. He sent it out to a handful of publishers. None showed an interest at that time. A lot of publishers have their own editors, writers, and illustrators on staff, and they don’t much care for a book coming to them completely finished, especially from an unknown author. He put it aside and focused on his own artwork and his busy, sports family. By 2010, the idea of publishing resurfaced, and he realized there were many more options for self publishing. He was a retired empty-nester, fully pursuing his art career, and had money saved up to invest in himself. He decided to go for it! Children all over, have been enjoying these books ever since.
As pictured above, the original stuffed lion still exists! He was made in the 80s, when things were made to last. He travelled to Buffalo with me for college, down to Charlotte, North Carolina, after college, where we began our family. He travelled back to Buffalo with us, and he has spent nights, at different times, with at least 3 of our children. He’s lived through dozens of washes, and he’s looking a little thin, but he’s still standing!
To kick off our Read Across America CAL, our first puppet pattern will be ME! Literally! This the little girl, Erin, in Shalock and the Cloud of Bad Dreams, based on my father’s illustrations. Bibbed overalls were all the rage in the 80s, and this outfit was depicted in a scene where I am trying to imagine all the fun things I might do the next day, to inspire sweet dreams.
Erin Puppet Pattern
Notes:
This pattern is worked from the top down, in the rnd, with no joining. The arms and hair are made separately and sewn on. The eyes are sewn on with black worsted weight yarn; the nose with matching skin color. Pictures below can give more details into the process. The Erin Puppet was designed in the likeness of the character Erin, from Shalock and the Cloud of Bad Dreams, with exclusive permission from the author and illustrator, C.F. Lawrenson. Finished items, in this exact likeness, from this pattern are for personal use only, not for mass production Rights to this design belong to C.F. Lawrenson of Asaph Waters Editions, exclusively.
Text and images copyright ©2020 by Erin Greene of ekayg, all rights reserved. No pattern may be reproduced or distributed in any form by any method without written permission.
Size: This is one size, fitting child through adult, but if you wish to make it smaller for a smaller child to play with, simply tighten gauge or go down a hook size.
Gauge: 7 sts across and 8 rnds down = approximately 2 inches
Materials:
Worsted Weight Yarn
- Skin color – approximately 40 yds
- Red – approximately 80 yds
- Blue – approximately 25 yrds
- Yellow – approximately 35 yds
- Small amount of worsted weight black yarn for the eyes.
Crochet hook size G – 4.25mm
Stitch marker
Tapestry needle
Scissors
Terms and abbreviations to know:
Magic ring
Rnd, rnds – round, rounds
Ch, chs – chain, chains
St, sts – stitch, stitches
Sl st – slip stitch
Sc – single crochet
Inc – increase, 2 sts in same st
Dec – decrease 2 sts together
Invsc2tog – invisible single crochet 2 together; this is essentially a decrease, but done in such a way as to make the continuous stitching smoother, and the decrease not as noticeable.
- Insert hook into front loop only of next stitch, DO NOT yarn over.
- Insert hook into front loop of second stitch.
- Yarn over. Pull through 2 loops.
- Yarn over and pull through last 2 loops.
Dc bobble – double crochet bobble
- Yarn over, and insert hook into designated st.
- Pull up a loop.
- Yarn over, and pull through 2 loops, leaving 2 loops left on hook.
- Yarn over, and insert hook into same st.
- Pull up a loop.
- Yarn over, and pull through 2 loops, leaving 3 loops left on hook.
- Yarn over, and insert hook into same st.
- Pull up a loop.
- Yarn over, and pull through 2 loops, leaving 4 loops left on hook.
- Yarn over, and insert hook into same st.
- Pull up a loop.
- Yarn over and pull through all 5 loops.
Body
in Skin color
Begin with magic ring.
Rnd 1: 6 sc in magic ring; 6 sts
Rnd 2: inc in each st around; 12 sts
Rnd 3: (inc, sc in next st)6x; 18 sts
Rnd 4: (inc, sc in next 2 sts)6x; 24 sts
Rnd 5: (inc, sc in next 3 sts)6x; 30 sts
Rnds 6-7: sc in each st around; 30 sts
Rnd 8: (3 inc, sc in next 12 sts)2x; 36 sts
Rnds 9-14: sc in each st around; 36 sts
Rnd 15: (invsc2tog, sc in next 4 sts)6x; 30 sts
Rnd 16: (invsc2tog, sc in next 3 sts)6x; 24 sts
Rnd 17: sc in each st around; 24 sts
Change to Red, and fasten off the Skin Color.
Rnd 18: (3 inc, sc in next 9 sts)2x; 30 sts
Rnd 19: sc in each st around; 30 sts
Forming the holes for the fingers.
Rnd 20: (ch 7, sk next 4 sts, sc in next 11 sts)2x; 36 sts, counting the chs
Rnd 21: sc in each of the 7 chs, sc in next 11 sts, sc in each of the 7 chs, sc in next 11 sts; 36 sts
Rnds 22-26: sc in each st around; 36 sts
Change to Blue, and fasten off Red.
Rnds 27-34: sc in each st around; 36 sts
Fasten off and weave in ends.
Arms
beginning in skin color
Begin with magic ring.
Rnd 1: 6 sc in magic ring; 6 sts
Rnd 2: (inc, sc in next st)3x; 9 sts
Rnds 3-4: sc in each st around; 9 sts
Rnd 5: dc bobble, sc in next 8 sts; 9 sts
Rnds 6-10: sc in each st around; 9 sts
Attach Red and fasten off skin color.
Rnd 11: (inc, sc in next 2 sts)3x; 12 sts
Rnds 12-14: sc in each st around; 12 sts
Fasten off, leaving long tail for sewing, and sew onto the arm holes, with the thumbs pointing inward toward the head.
Bib Overalls
in blue
Front Panel
Ch 15
Row 1: turn and sc in 2nd ch from hook and each ch across; 14 sts
Row 2: ch 1 and turn, dec, sc in next 10 sts, dec; 12 sts
Row 3: ch 1 and turn, dec, sc in next 8 sts, dec; 10 sts
Row 4: ch 1 and turn, dec, sc in next 6 sts, dec; 8 sts
Row 5: ch 1 and turn, dec, sc in next 4 sts, dec; 6 sts
Row 6: ch 1 and turn, sc in each st across; 6 sts
Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Sew the first row to the top blue row, and place the bib over the red of the front of the shirt. I did NOT sew the whole thing down, just the bottom.
Back panel
Ch 13
Row 1: turn and sc in 2nd ch from hook and each ch across; 12 sts
Rows 2-4: ch 1 and turn, sc in each st across; 12 sts
Do not turn or fasten off.
Ch 15, turn and sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in next 13 chs, sc 12 back across row 4, ch 14, turn and sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in next 12 chs, sl st back into last row, and fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Then sew the back panel to the back of the puppet, sewing the straps over the shoulders onto the top of the front panel.
Back of Hair
in yellow
Ch 13
Row 1: inc in 2nd ch from hook and sc in next 10 chs, inc in last ch; 14 sts
Row 2: ch 1 and turn, inc, sc in next 12 sts, inc; 16 sts
Row 3: ch 1 and turn, inc, sc in next 14 sts, inc; 18 sts
Row 4: ch 1 and turn, inc, sc in next 16 sts, inc; 20 sts
Row 5: ch 1 and turn, inc, sc in next 18 sts, inc; 22 sts
Row 6: ch 1 and turn, inc, sc in next 20 sts, inc; 24 sts
Rows 7-13: ch 1 and turn, sc in each st across; 24 sts
Row 14: ch 1 and turn, dec, sc in next 20 sts, dec; 22 sts
Row 15: ch 1 and turn, dec, sc in next 18 sts, dec; 20 sts
Row 16: ch 1 and turn, dec, sc in next 16 sts, dec; 18 sts
Row 17: ch 1 and turn, dec, sc in next 14 sts, dec; 16 sts
Row 18: ch 1 and turn, dec, sc in next 12 sts, dec; 14 sts
Sew onto the back of the head, sewing around the top and sides, but leaving the bottom open for the hair to have some movement.
Front of Hair
in yellow
Ch 14
Row 1: turn and sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in next 11 chs, inc in last ch; 14 sts
Row 2: ch 1 and turn, inc, sc in next 2 sts, leave rest unworked; 4 sts
Row 3: ch 1 and turn, sc in next 3 sts, inc; 5 sts
Row 4: ch 1 and turn, inc, sc in next 4 sts; 6 sts
Rows 5-13: ch 1 and turn, sc in each st across; 6 sts
Row 12: ch 1 and turn, dec, sc in next 4 sts; 5 sts
Row 13: ch 1 and turn, sc in next 3 sts, dec; 4 sts
Row 14: ch 1 and turn, dec, sc in next 2 sts, ch 12; 3 sts, 12 chs
Row 15: turn and sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in next 10 chs, sc in last 3 sts; 14 sts
Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Sew onto the front of the face, framing the face, and connecting to the sides and top of the back hair.
Nose
in skin color
Using your tapestry needle and skin colored yarn, sew the nose over about 2 to 3 stitches in the center of the face, around rnd 13. Wrap the yarn around this same spot about 3 to 4 times. Knot and weave in ends inside the puppet.
Eyes
in black worsted yarn
Use your tapestry needle to sew the eyes. Sew them approximately 2 rnds above the nose, over the span of about 3 sts, with approximately 2 to 3 sts in between the eyes. Knot and weave in ends inside the puppet.
You can do anything you’d like with this pattern! You can make it as the character from this book, or you can just make a generic character with different colors, just for play. You can even shorten the hair for a boy, if you’d like!
If you would like to purchase a signed copy of Shalock and the Cloud of Bad Dreams, from the author, visit his website at Asaph Waters Editions.
