Shalock the Lion Hearted
Today, we continue in our Read Across America celebration with Shalock the Lion Puppet, from Shalock and the Cloud of Bad dreams. You can use this puppet for any lion you wish to make! I tried to make him in the likeness of this Shalock, from this book, for a very special reason. This toy lion gave me the courage to sleep through the night in my own bed, as a young girl who struggled with nightmares.
The Back Story
If you remember from Part 1 of our Read Across America Crochet-a-long, this featured story is a book written and illustrated by my father, C.F. Lawrenson of Asaph Waters Editions. It was written about my struggles with nightmares as a child, and how I used my imagination to overcome them. If you’d like to order a signed copy of the book, you can get one on his website HERE!
Shalock the Lionhearted, Puppet Pattern
Notes:
The body is worked from the top down, in the rnd, with no joining. The arms, ears, snout, and mane, are made separately and sewn on. The eyes are sewn on with black worsted weight yarn. Pictures below can give more details into the process.
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. Finished products made from this pattern may be used for sale. Please credit back to ekayg. Please direct any questions about the pattern to my email, ekaygcrafts@gmail.com . I will respond as quickly as I am able.
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 the gauge or go down a hook size.
Gauge: 6 sts across and 7 rnds down = approximately 2 inches
Materials:
Bulky Weight 5 Yarn:
Small amount of worsted weight black yarn for eyes, nose, and paws.
Crochet hook – H, 5mm – I used mine from The Hook Nook’s Interchangeable Designer Hook Set
Stitch marker
Tapestry needle
Scissors
Terms and abbreviations to know:
Magic ring
Rnd, rnds – round, rounds
St, sts – stitch, stitches
Sl st – slip stitch
Sk – skip
Sc – single crochet
Hdc – half double crochet
Dc – double crochet
Inc – increase, 2 sc sts in same st
BLO – back loop only
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.
Picot – creates a point
- Ch 3
- Sl st into 3rd ch from hook
Body
beginning at the head, with (A)
Begin with a 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
Rnds 5-7: sc in each st around; 24 sts
Rnd 8: (3 inc, sc in next 9 sts)2x; 30 sts
Rnds 9-12: sc in each st around; 30 sts
Rnd 13: (3 invsc2tog, sc in next 9 sts)2x; 24 sts
Rnds 14-15: sc in each st around; 24 sts
Rnd 16: (ch 7, sk next 4 sts, sc in next 8 sts)2x; 30 sts, counting the chs
Rnd 17: (sc into each of the 7 chs, sc in next 8 sts)2x; 30 sts
Rnds 18-30: sc in each st around; 30 sts
Fasten off and weave in ends.
Arms
Make 2, in color A
Arms begin by making 3 separate bumps for the paws. Fasten off the first two, and then continue onto the arm, connecting them all to the last one made.
*MAKE 2*
Begin with magic ring.
Rnd 1: 6 sc in magic ring; 6 sts
Rnd 2: sc in each st around; 6 sts
Do not sl st, but just cut yarn and pull through the final loop to fasten off.
*MAKE 1 more, but don’t fasten off*
Repeat rnds 1 and 2, place a stitch marker in the last st worked.
Rnd 3: continue on to sc in next 3 sts of the next “claw”, leaving other 3 unworked sc in all 6 sts of 3rd “claw” connecting back to middle claw, sc in remaining 3 sts of the center claw, sc in all 6 sts of the beginning claw; 18 sts
Rnd 4: (invsc2tog, sc in next st)6x; 12 sts
Stop here and flip the claws inside out, using the extra strands to sew the gaps closed. Then sew the black yarn between the claws of the paw, knotting off and weaving ends inside the paw.
Rnds 5-12: sc in each st around; 12 sts
Sl st to first st and fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Sew arms into the arm holes of the puppet with the paws facing out.
Mane
with color B
Ch 45, and sl st to first ch to join, forming a ring.
Rnd 1: ch 1, sc into same ch as joining sl st, (hdc, dc) in next ch, picot, (dc, hdc) in next ch, [sc in next ch, (hdc, dc) in next ch, picot, (dc, hdc) in next ch] 14x; 75 sts, 15 picots
Fasten off, leaving a very long tail for sewing. Sew the mane around the head.
Nose
in black
Row 1: Ch 2, turn and 3 sc in 2nd ch from hook
Row 2: ch 1 and turn, inc in first st, sl st in middle st, inc in last st; 5 sts
DO NOT TURN
Row 3: ch 1, sl st back into the same ch, ch 1, 3 sc into same ch, ch 1, sl st back into the same ch and fasten off. Leave a long tail for sewing. Use your beginning tail to weave the center part of your nose closed and shape it, so no holes show through. It should look kind of like a fidget spinner. 🙂
Snout
with color A
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: sc in each st around; 18 sts
Sl st into first st of rnd and fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Sew the nose onto the center of the snout, and sew the snout onto the lower part of the face, toward the bottom of the mane. You do not need to stuff it, as it will puff out naturally.
Eyes
in black
Sew the eyes about 3 rnds above the snout, spanning approximately 3 sts, with about 2 sts between them.
Ears
Make 2, in color A
Begin with magic ring.
Rnd 1: 6 sc in magic ring; 6 sts
Rnd 2: (inc, sc in next st)3x; 9 sts
Rnd 3: sc in each st around; 9 sts
Sl st into first st of rnd, and fasten off leaving a long tail for sewing.
Use color B to sew a triangle onto the front of each ear, as though the inside of the ears are darker than the outside. Sew the ears on the top sides of the head, in front of the mane. Weave all ends in, inside the puppet.
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