A very crochet-y (and a little bit horsey) update

That's crochet-y, not crotchety.  :)

We had a few family birthdays here this weekend so I have some more, "no longer surprises," to post in the way of crochet.

First up, I made my sister an Amigurumi pony to match her young Irish Draft Sporthorse, Fionn.

This is Fionn. He's three and half and just beginning his education under saddle.  Being a cold-blooded sort of horse, he still has a lot of growing to do even though he is already huge, so sis is taking it slowly to look after his growing joints, as you should. 

And this is her My Little Fionn:

I'm still having so much fun messing with this pattern by Ahooka that was originally for making mini unicorns!

Jen also received her Granny Square Afghan, in the colours of her family's  favorite Aussie Rules football team, the Fremantle Dockers.  I couldn't hide it from her totally since she was going to catch me crocheting it at some point, so I basically just told everyone I wasn't saying who it was for.  It was kind of a badly kept secret.  :)

 

I'd originally planned to alternate the more and less detailed squares, but when laying out the complete squares ready for joining, I decided that was too 'bitty,' so I swapped things around and came up with this pattern instead.  I was much happier with it and only had a few extra squares to make. It was worth it!

For my mum I had other gifts, but I also made her one of these Mini Rainbow Owls, in Freo Docker's colours just for a little extra prezzie.

 

Yes I've already made her an owl before, this one, but she does love them.

I've already begun my next Granny Square Afghan.  This one is for my oldest niece on my side of the family.  She loves blues and purples, so this is my colour choice for hers.  I'm loving using them, especially that lovely teal.

It's always fun to start using a new set of colours, and it really does help to love them yourself, because you're going to be looking at them for quite a while if you are making an afghan!

Last but not least, I made myself a little present too.  Finished him just this morning! From the same pattern as Mini Fionn above, this is Mini Sleipnir.  Sleipnir is Odin's eight-legged horse, born from Loki who became a mare as part of one of his usual plots and who had an unforseen consequence to his trickery!

I got the idea to make him from this charming drawing by Mark Neumayer that I found by accident while googling images one day!

 
I based him on the same pattern as the one for Little Fionn, and also on the Norwegian Fjord horse, a Norse breed that is known to be at least 2000 years old. I gave him the traditional mane haircut too, if a little more overgrown and wild.  :)

Pic from here at Animal World. 

See, he even has the traditional dorsal stripe of a true dun:

 

I might have a go at an Odin to ride him next.  I won't have a pattern so I'll be flying by the seat of my crocheting pants.  We'll see how that goes!