"YAY!" my fox says !!!

When I left you last time, I was starting to work on row 11, that  was completed in a blink of the eye …

Then followed : row 12 …

row 13 …

and row 14 …

….  and these pics show you the muzzle's details developed little by little ….

…. and then the last row, # 15 was DONE ……

I think I can share with you some exhaustive facts about this piece of work, as promised last time we met !!!! ;oD

The original design is not mine. In fact, the inspiration comes from a pencil case named Freddy the Fox Zipper Bag/ Case/ Pouch (here) handmade by tinymeat . I made a sketch on a squared paper, that had gone under some changes from the original :

• I preferred to use just a pale orange for the fox, no yellow added
• the top of the tail has one more square/pixel
• the ears have a different shape (but same number of squares/pixels)
• blue eyes instead of black ones
• the point of the chin is white, no orange
• I've added the word FOX
• I decided to change one orange square/pixel into a white one, for the top of the fox chest
• I reduced the columns from 22 to 21, just avoiding a neck for the fox

This piece of fabric measures : 70cmX50cm,  with a base made with 21 granny squares (as each row) and columns of 15 grannies each. There are 315 granny squares in total.

Colours used : hot pink (background, 197 squares)

                        orange (main colour for the fox, 63 squares)

                         black (paws/legs, nose, letters, 38 squares)

                         white (tail, muzzle, belly, chest, 15 squares)

                          blue (eyes, 2 squares)

This is the scheme followed ( I started to work from the base to the top, from left to right ) ;

If you prefer, you could add some extras like a blue sky, some clouds or green grass ….

In the above option, the numbers of the grannies for the background can be reduced to 170, adding 27 green ones instead !!!

Each granny square is made of just two rounds and one colour each time, as follow (US crochet terms) :
make a slip knot on the hook, chain 4 and slip stitch in the first chain to form a ring.
first round : chain 3 and crochet 2 double crochets (you have your first shell), (chain 3 + 3 DCs)* 3 times, chain 3 and slip stitch in the top of the first "chain 3" of this round.
second round : with the same yarn chain 4 and in the first corner : 3 DCs, chain 3, 3 DCs, chain 1. Repeat from the first 3 Dcs to chain 1 for the following two corners.  In the fourth corner : 3 DCs, chain 3, 2 DCs and make a slip stitch in the 3rd stitch of the first " chain 4". Fasten off.
I made a photo tutorial for a basic granny square, but this was intended for a multicoloured one !

The granny squares have been joined little by little, using the classic join as you go method. If you need any good tutorial to look at, I suggest you the ones from here, here, here, here and a video found here !!!!!

All the tails from each granny, were trimmed while working. I started to trim after each square was done, but this way was too slow. So I decided to trim groups of tails ( more or less, 6 squares at a time) and it was mandatory to complete this work at the end of each row. If not, I didn't start a new row !!!!
If you need some good tips, have a look here !!!!

At this point you have all the informations you need to crochet your own fox, but I know that the curious ones would love to have an idea what I'm going to do with my fox….. ;OD

Well, at this right moment I know what my fox will be, but…..
I need a new blog post to reveal this last step !!!!!!

You can find the other foxy posts just browsing here, here and here !!!!!

xxxx, Alessandra

Today I join : Link your Stuff ! and Craft Schooling Sunday  and a new one : yarn it all ! !!!!