There’s been a population explosion of colourful copies of Cyrus the Cyclops in my studio over the past week. Something of a monster baby boom in fact.

I absolutely loved making these. This was one of those patterns that really flowed and came to fruit with hardly any hitches at all. I had a definite idea in my head, which I doodled down in my trusty graph paper notebook. I’ve been buying loads of these from Tiger every time I find them in stock. I Love a good graph paper notebook as they’re perfect for scribbling columns of pattern formulating numbers in but they can be so difficult to find here in the UK. I think it’s more of a continental thing really, so hooray for Tiger!

This pattern just screamed out to be worked in all sorts of bright and cheery monster colours and before I knew it I had another couple of cyclopes hanging around on my desk, admiring their pen and ink portraits. And that wasn’t to be the last of them either.

The weather has been soooo cold around here lately that it’s been a case of donning slipper boots, fingerless mitts, woolly scarves and several layers of leggings and jumpers to keep my body temperature up while I’m spending such a lot of time being perfectly stationary apart from the minor waggling of a crochet hook and the occasional reaching over to the coffee table to grab a pair of scissors or a new ball of yarn. Even with the central heating ticking away in the background it’s difficult to eliminate drafts and cold spots in this creaky old Victorian house, and I’m a terrible one for feeling the cold anyway.

Thankfully I often have the additional warmth supplied by the close proximity of the cats who treat me like a human hot water bottle whenever the temperatures plummet.

What snuggly winter bliss! Yes, my lap is under there somewhere, but it just got a bit trickier to reach for those scissors!

Cyrus is one of those sweet and simple patterns that really shouldn’t have taken me too long to write. Well, those of you who know me know that once I start crocheting anything that I love I find it really hard to know when to stop. The truth is I just cant wait to see what the next one will look like with all his minor variations of stripes and colours. As soon as one was off the hook I found I’d picked up another ball of yarn and was making 6 sc into the second ch from the hook and starting all over again!

At least I know the pattern has been tested to within an inch of its life! I’m also intending to do a few more fairs and events this year so these will come in handy as future stock for the craft circuit rounds. I’m certainly not going to have to worry about an under-stocked stall if I carry on at this rate.

A tray full of monsters makes the perfect cat bed… apparently. Though I can think of comfier looking places myself. I think the kitties just like to get right in the way, especially if they haven’t been petted for a while due to their owners obsessive obsession with her new designs. Tut tut.

Much as I love the therapeutic crocheting of round after round of bright spirals there is always the dreaded sewing up to be done. It was somewhere around this point in time that I looked with dismay at all those spidery yarn ends and wondered, not for the first time, why oh why didn’t I deal with them as I went along!

My monster pencil case seems to share my open mouthed horror at the task ahead. Or is he just smirking at my idiocy?

A good few hours, and rather a lot of episodes of Bagpuss later (I stumbled upon the entire two series on Amazon Prime and couldn’t resist a trip down memory lane!) all my monsters were fully assembled and fidgeting about waiting to cause a bit of monster mayhem.

Can you guess their favorite game? It’s ‘I Spy With My Little Eye’. Although there is actually nothing very little about each of their eyes in proportion to their bodies, they do like the fact that I Spy is always played with reference to just the one eye, of which they are obviously very proud owners.

When I was little I always used to wonder why it was only the one eye we spied with but now I think maybe the Cyclops invented the game. This lot took to it like it was in their genes so you never know, it could be the truth.

The photo shoot was fun as these guys and gals are always smiling and love to strut their stuff in the bright lights.

They’re also very good at balancing (with the help of a strategically placed pin or two).

After all that it was back to the desk and the computer to get them their little spot in the listings limelight.

You can find the pattern in any of my online shops but if you like buying patterns in a bundle with the yarns to make them then check out my LoveCrochet shop where I have recently spent many hours updating all my listings to include either the exact yarn colours or those that are the closest match – depending on the availability of their yarn stock- to those I used in my patterns. It’s not strictly necessary for any of my designs but if you like to get the whole lot together and maybe aren’t so confident at substituting your own yarn then this might be something to consider.

Making myself do this for most of my pattern collection has made me much more organised when it comes to cataloging all the various yarns that I use. Even if you don’t get the bundle from LoveCrafts and want some advice on the best yarns to use for any particular pattern of mine just give me a shout. I have notes on nearly all my yarn choices now and I’m always happy to help 🙂

Well, it’s time to say goodbye from me and my wonderfully woolly wide eyed friends.

 

This time they’re off to play ‘Bye Bye With My Little Eye’ which is a new game we invented where all the mischievous monsters get to take a long, restful nap while I get on with some other work!

And while they are quietly drifting off to a single lullab’eye’ I’m off to finish testing Drake the Dragon’s pattern for the upcoming Fantasy Creatures book.

We’re having so much snow here at the moment that I shall be glad of a few more fire breathing dragons to help keep those drafty old Victorian House chills at bay.

Keep warm and wonderful, wherever you are!

Cyrus the Cyclops Pattern can be found on * Etsy  * Ravelry  * LoveCrochet *