The Hobbit- Kili Amigurumi

After I've made Fili, it's time for his brother to join him! Kili is one of my favorite dwarfs in the Hobbit. Fili and Kili remind me of Fred and George in Harry Potter. They're always so full of energy, always making all sorts of mischief, and in general always so perfectly lovable.

reference photo

I was a bit nervous about his beard- how am I ever going to do that with embroidery without messing up his face? (I am not so confident in the embroidery department) I decided to tackle this with the method the Craftster user queenofcrows suggested to me, felting the beard on with shredded yarn and a felting needle.

I've also run into some trouble with colors. Like I mentioned in the last post, all the dwarfs require shades of brown, but the yarn I'm using has four to five shades of brown, and not one of the dark enough for Kili's hair. So to compromise and distinguish from other dwarfs, I used black for Kili's hair.

I'd put off finishing Kili for awhile while I rushed up to Taipei for a convention, so I had half of him lying helplessly on my desk for over a week XD

Kili about to get his beard and mustache felted on.

Shredding the yarn was slow work, but I had fun picking everything apart over an episode of Hannibal or two. I used a jar I had at my disposal to hold the shredded fibers. I only shredded a bit, and it was way more than I needed. I'm saving the leftovers for Thorin. 

It was my first time handling a felting needle, so I was a bit nervous about plunging it into Kili's face right away. I had to pull the fibers out a few times, but eventually it turned out the way I liked.

And here he is~ 

I'm not quite sure about his hair, but I decided to tie it up in the back. Seems to look better from the front that way =)

Details in the front. I think I ended up with a bit too much blue... meh O__o

Kili, at your service!

I don't think I'm completely satisfied with how he looks. I'll be tweaking things here and there, I guess. I'll put an edge of fur along the sleeves and hem of the coat. Do leave a comment and give some suggestions =)

If all goes well, next up will be Gloin and Oin~

One Hobbit, 4 dwarfs down, 9 dwarfs, one wizard to go!!

The Hobbit- Fili Amigurumi

First of the dwarf princes! I love Fili, but one look at his hair and beard gave me a headache. All those braids! But I can't let the hair (and beard) style daunt me now, otherwise goodness, what ever shall I do once I start on Nori?

I'm using mostly Ex991, a Taiwan-made, 100% acrylic yarn that I find to be perfect for amigurumis. It comes in a variety of colors, but since the dwarfs all have color palettes of earthy tones, I'm finding it difficult to get enough shades of brown. As a result, I compromised some of the color differences in the clothes, and changed the color of the boots.

Here's Fili's head when I'm stitching the hair on:

He looked a bit like Lord Elrond at first!!! Everyone told me he looked more elf than dwarf. I seem to have a knack for ruining the honor of all dwarf-kind. I sincerely hope I woke wake up to all my dwarfs attempting to strangle me someday.

The Craftster user queenofcrows left me the wonderful suggestion of using felting needles to apply shredded yarn to make the beard and stubble. I don't have a felting needle with me though, so I went and embroidered. It worked out okay for Fili, but I'll definitely try the new method on Kili. (I've got the yarn all shredded and stored away for later use~).

Anyway, here he is after growing a beard, hopefully less elf-like:

Then I did a bunch of slacking off before finally finishing the rest of him after half a season of Hannibal. (Spectacularly creepy show that gave me goosebumps, by the way. Love it despite having trouble eating meat afterwards.) 

The furry yarn used for his coat sheds everywhere!! It drove me absolutely mad! I believe I inhaled some in the process. All things aside though, I love working with different yarn, and this one is no different =)

Next up is Kili! I've finished about half as of typing this post up, but I've run out of yarn so it'll be awhile. Oh, and I also need a felting needle XP

I haven't decided on where these dwarfs will go once they are finished. I know for sure that I don't want them separated from one another, and that I'll be taking them to the movie premieres. So until the trilogy ends, I won't be parting with them just yet! Then again this is just the third dwarf, so I still have a long way to go before deciding things like these.

1 hobbit, 3 dwarfs down, 10 dwarfs, 1 wizard to go!