This is the 2nd construction toy digger that I have made. My first was done in felt this time I crocheted one. I admit to after finishing him realising I had missed a step but I’ll explain that later.
The yarn for this project is a mixture of different 8ply/DK acrylic yarns I had in my stash. In Australia we call it 8ply but many places refer to it as DK weight. The pattern I used was a free one on Ravelry called Digger Loader. The pattern is in US terms. I won’t say it is the easiest pattern to make so if you were to crochet a toy for the first time I wouldn’t try this one. I found some of the instructions a little confusing, a typical pattern might say
Row 1 – Increase every 4 stitches until you get back to the start of the round
Row 2 – Turn work and slip stitch around the entire row back to the start of the round
But in this pattern the instructions would be
Row 1 – Increase every 4 stitches until you get back to the start, turn work and slip stitch around the entire row back to the start
This isn’t one of the actual instructions but an example of how some instructions are combined into a single row which makes it very wordy and hard to keep track of where you are up to if your brain likes simple instructions like mine does.
The other thing I found difficult with this pattern was colour changes for all the windows. When you were crocheting the windows in white you were carrying the base colour under the white along the work so you could pick it up again on the other side of the window to continue on with the row. No matter how much I tried I couldn’t hide the orange base yarn behind the white. I have crocheted over the ends of my yarn on previous projects but this was more difficult. In the end I made the windows separately and stitched them on.
This toy is made up of lots of little components that you attach on afterwards. I struggled making the little buckets that go on the front and back. I couldn’t get my head around the instructions so I just made my own that were a similar shape. The step I missed was I think you were meant to stuff the wheels before sewing them on. I never stuffed them I just attached them. They are three-dimensional so you do have some space in which to add stuffing. These are ok they just look a little floppier than they are supposed to.
I gave myself months to make this toy and I started strong on it but put it in the too hard basket once I got to the more difficult instructions giving myself days to finish it before I had to post it off. Despite the issues I had I did enjoy making this. I love the wheels. I had a bit of fun and took a photo of him at the construction site at the side of our place when he was done. It was a spur of the moment decision to run down there in my pajamas after the worksite had closed for the day to take the photo. I am that crazy person who doesn’t care what the neighbours would think just so I could take some fun photos.
Cassiy
stitchnsewcreates 