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I'm sure to some newer Sparklers, this looks a bit unusual coming from me, but I'm sure at least a few of you that have been around long enough remember that I do get a little mort Crafty on occasion , and more of you probably remember a couple of years ago when I posted Stellaluna (+ Time Lapse!) .

Both factors explain how we got here today. This little cutie, "La Luna Bat," exists and was made from my childhood love of Stellaluna, both the book and the Direct-to-DVD animation, and the fact that the DVD includes a "Create Your Own Stellaluna" Bonus feature. (And if you're as desperate to see this segment without re-buying the DVD like I was, because apparently at some point I moved it to storage and have no idea where it is, here is someone's very poor attempt at bootlegging it: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASq_Vy… )

Many years ago, late at night, I watched that DVD. I ate it up. I had started harboring a lot of bats fairly early on in life, and the vampire & fruit varieties were my favorite. Stellaluna was the best thing since sliced bread, as far as I was concerned. I wanted so badly to follow along and make my own Stellaluna doll, I raided the box of tissues in my room and did the best I could. I balled tissues up to make the "pom-poms" for the head & body, I used flat tissues in place of the felt for the wings, and I used notebook paper for the rest, including the eyes. I have no idea where the two tissue bats I made like that have gone now (they may have been thrown away at some point, but I kinda doubt it), but their existence and how they came to be has always stuck with me ever since.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, in the midst of the latest "Crochet Wave" that's hit me. For context, that just seems to be how yarn work comes to me: In waves. I'll do it like mad for a little while, then peter out and not do any for months, then come back to it again, rinse and repeat.

Anyway, it had recently occurred to me there might be a Reddit for Crochet, and there is ! And between already being back on a Crochet kick and seeing a few people post their own bat creations over there, something naturally clicked inside of me.

I think the only reason this never clicked before was because A. I had just never seen a Crochet bat before, at least not that I could remember, and B. A few years ago on a much earlier Crochet Kick, I tried my hand at Amigurumi--making little stuffed figures in Crochet--and did not have terrible success with it. I'd lose count of my stitches so easily and forget what row I was on and it was just kind of a big mess.

But since then, I've Crocheted a lot more (though I haven't posted much of it...which I should really change at some point...) and I've taken on more complex projects , and so I think it was finally time I tried Amigurumi again, and this time made a sort-of childhood dream of mine, to have my own handmade Stellaluna doll, come true.

And you know, I have to admit this was simultaneously a lot more simple and a lot more complicated than I anticipated--And not for the reasons you might think!

I think I've just in general gotten better at listening to what a Crochet pattern tells me to do and comprehending how the yarn is coming together, and now I also have the common sense to mark my stitches in some way so I can actually keep track of them. So actually making the individual pieces of my little bat was fairly easy.

The yarn/materials were also fairly easy. Our DollarTree just started carrying yarn and I was able to find two balls that were basically the exact colors I wanted a few days after I decided I wanted to pursue this project, plus the fluffy purple yarn I used for the bow, which I originally picked up primarily because I just couldn't help myself and not really because I had any plans for it. (The dangers of $1 yarn, people. ) And I already had the Crochet hooks I'd need. The only thing I didn't have/find were pre-made eyes, but I figured early one I could either use beads I had on-hand or yarn if nothing else, and we'll get to how exactly that played out later.

The complicated part was finding the right patterns and pieces I wanted to make to begin with.

You see dear Sparklers, I am in many ways a cheapskate, and I could not justify paying $5 for the popular, very cute bat pattern I saw most people using on Reddit. Especially knowing how many hundreds if not thousands of other Crochet patterns float around on the internet all the time for free. Surely, I thought, there had to be a still-very-cute bat pattern elsewhere for free. And that's where all the trouble started.

I was right; I did find a handful of other bat patterns for free that were still cute, but me being the finicky thing that I am, something was "wrong" with every one of them; "Head too big, body too small," "body too big, head too small," "shaped weirdly," "Why are the wings made of felt?" "Why are the wings so small?" "No, I don't want feet or arms like that..." And so on.

Eventually, I went looking over my favorite source to get Crochet Projects from, the JaydaInStitches Youtube Channel , and decided I'd try my hand at piecing together different parts of existing patterns/tutorials she had posted.

So, in roughly the order I used them, here's what I ended up piecing together:
Two "body" segments from the Pocket Pet Cat to make the head & body on mine (After stuffing both halves with some poly fiber fill I already had, I stitched the bottoms closed in a round shape instead of Jayda's rectangular shape, and then sewed them together)
One "arm" from the above tutorial to use as my bat's snout/muzzle. The only difference is I stitched a little pink yarn on the end to make it a true nose
The ears from the above tutorial, but I did not add pink thread at the end the way Jayda did

The bow from the Pocket Hello Kitty for...well, the bow. The only thing I did differently was instead of sewing the bow around my bat's neck, I added an extra string through it so I could tie it on, as I was afraid if I permanently sewed it on, I'd regret it later
And then the wings... I spent roughly a week stalled on my bat, on-and-off looking for just the right wing pattern, since Jayda unfortunately didn't have anything that was quite what I was looking for. Almost every single pattern I found was too small for my liking (and it did not help my tighter tension with the yarn means most of my projects turn out a bit smaller than expected anyway) and while I found one video tutorial that was the right size and the end product looked pretty much perfect, I had a really hard time following that person's quick tutorial style, and they didn't explain certain steps very well, so I had trouble making even one of the wings, let alone two.

In the end, I used the wings from This Dragon Pattern, since they were very clear and easy to follow, and then I continued the pattern on by trial & error to make them more to the size I wanted. And you can see the "full pattern" for the wings that I used here , which includes the original pattern's instructions, and then the steps I added to them, which I wrote down specifically in case I ever get crazy enough to do this again. But I will warn that writing patterns is not something I'm used to, so I apologize in advance if it's not as nice to follow as a pattern written by someone more experienced at it.

My only issue with the wings after that is (though you can't really tell from the photos) because they're both made the exact same way, you just flip one wing over, one of them has a better natural curve towards the rest of the body than the other. I could probably fix that by running a thin craft wire through the top of each wing so they're more poseable anyway, but I have thus far been too lazy to bother trying.

And aside from sewing everything together (which I did with yarn, a plastic yarn needle, and a very thin Crochet hook because I am allergic to sewing with thread like a sensible person), the only further additions I made were the feet and the eyes. The feet (Crochet language in-coming) were just two simple chains of 7-8 stitches that I stitched into circles, then sewed on, which I almost didn't do, but I decided if I didn't have a way my little bat could hang either from my finger or potential a wire or something for decoration, I'd end up regretting it.

I maybe should have sewed them on closer to the middle of the body rather than the front, since she does hang very back-heavy the way I've done it, but it's really not that big of a deal.

And then the eyes...I had originally pulled out a couple of black pony beads and was going to try sewing them on, but I realized I probably should have tried that before I stuffed & sewed the head, and couldn't think of a way after that point to attach them that wouldn't look really silly. So I opted instead to just make X-shapes, as if I was sewing on invisible buttons, with some black yarn. Not necessarily the ideal choice, but it worked well enough, I think!

But y'know, it still felt so warm and fuzzy when I finally finished her up. She's about 3.5 inches tall and fits perfectly in my hands, and her wings wrap around her almost exactly how I'd hoped. She's not quite Stellaluna, because my bat has a purple bow (among other things), but that's why I called her La Luna; she's part of the way there, and in many ways (as cliche as it is to say) she really is that childhood dream of mine come true.

And of course, it did feel good to finally have my first successful Amigurumi project under my belt, too.

I will also make a little disclosure though that I had a set of totally different photos I took about a week ago to show her off (which Members of my Ko-Fi page should recognize ) but about two nights ago as I started to prepare this post, I started having seconds thoughts about how good of photos they actually were (the clarity was good and you could plainly see the crochet work, but I mean things like the background and staging and all that, the more superficial stuff) and after a look around some of the finished crochet projects that have been posted here on dA before, I decided I could do better. So I ended up spending a couple of hours yesterday taking new ones and then giving them a little extra polish in Photoshop.

Oh, Fun Fact: In the pictures here where she's hanging upside down, I ran a black string through her little loop feet and tied her to that stool she's sitting on in the other pictures, knowing the string would blend right in with the black underside and make it look like she's hanging mostly by herself. I was quite pleased when I figured this out since I was having a hard time getting pictures I liked where she was hanging from my finger.

The nicer photos are such a simple thing that ultimately doesn't matter that much, but I'm glad I did it anyway. I recognize in the past I haven't necessarily taken the best photos or presented the photos I have in the best way when it comes to my more crafty projects, so I figured I'd at least try putting a little more care into that this time and see what happens. And even if it makes no difference to anyone else, I do just feel better knowing I took those steps to have a nicer presentation.

So what do you guys think? I hope you find her at least half as cute as I do! I don't know if I'll be making anymore, at least any time soon since I have other projects to work on/finish (Inktober, anyone?) and I've satisfied that main bat-making itch in my brain, but at least now I know that I can and I'm a little more confident in my ability to crochet & make amigurumi in general, which is always a plus.

But I think I've said all I have say about my little sort-of flying fox here, so I'll leave you guys to it while I hopefully get to work on today's Obscutober piece and don't have quite the trouble I had with yesterday's.

Photos & Yarnwork © me, MysticSparkleWings

Where to find me & my artwork:
My Website | My Book | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi | dA Print Shop | RedBubble | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram

Description
My Website | My Book | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi (Now with Membership Tiers for as little as $1 a Month!) | dA Print Shop | RedBubble | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram

I'm sure to some newer Sparklers, this looks a bit unusual coming from me, but I'm sure at least a few of you that have been around long enough remember that I do get a little mort Crafty on occasion , and more of you probably remember a couple of years ago when I posted Stellaluna (+ Time Lapse!) .

Both factors explain how we got here today. This little cutie, "La Luna Bat," exists and was made from my childhood love of Stellaluna, both the book and the Direct-to-DVD animation, and the fact that the DVD includes a "Create Your Own Stellaluna" Bonus feature. (And if you're as desperate to see this segment without re-buying the DVD like I was, because apparently at some point I moved it to storage and have no idea where it is, here is someone's very poor attempt at bootlegging it: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASq_Vy… )

Many years ago, late at night, I watched that DVD. I ate it up. I had started harboring a lot of bats fairly early on in life, and the vampire & fruit varieties were my favorite. Stellaluna was the best thing since sliced bread, as far as I was concerned. I wanted so badly to follow along and make my own Stellaluna doll, I raided the box of tissues in my room and did the best I could. I balled tissues up to make the "pom-poms" for the head & body, I used flat tissues in place of the felt for the wings, and I used notebook paper for the rest, including the eyes. I have no idea where the two tissue bats I made like that have gone now (they may have been thrown away at some point, but I kinda doubt it), but their existence and how they came to be has always stuck with me ever since.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, in the midst of the latest "Crochet Wave" that's hit me. For context, that just seems to be how yarn work comes to me: In waves. I'll do it like mad for a little while, then peter out and not do any for months, then come back to it again, rinse and repeat.

Anyway, it had recently occurred to me there might be a Reddit for Crochet, and there is ! And between already being back on a Crochet kick and seeing a few people post their own bat creations over there, something naturally clicked inside of me.

I think the only reason this never clicked before was because A. I had just never seen a Crochet bat before, at least not that I could remember, and B. A few years ago on a much earlier Crochet Kick, I tried my hand at Amigurumi--making little stuffed figures in Crochet--and did not have terrible success with it. I'd lose count of my stitches so easily and forget what row I was on and it was just kind of a big mess.

But since then, I've Crocheted a lot more (though I haven't posted much of it...which I should really change at some point...) and I've taken on more complex projects , and so I think it was finally time I tried Amigurumi again, and this time made a sort-of childhood dream of mine, to have my own handmade Stellaluna doll, come true.

And you know, I have to admit this was simultaneously a lot more simple and a lot more complicated than I anticipated--And not for the reasons you might think!

I think I've just in general gotten better at listening to what a Crochet pattern tells me to do and comprehending how the yarn is coming together, and now I also have the common sense to mark my stitches in some way so I can actually keep track of them. So actually making the individual pieces of my little bat was fairly easy.

The yarn/materials were also fairly easy. Our DollarTree just started carrying yarn and I was able to find two balls that were basically the exact colors I wanted a few days after I decided I wanted to pursue this project, plus the fluffy purple yarn I used for the bow, which I originally picked up primarily because I just couldn't help myself and not really because I had any plans for it. (The dangers of $1 yarn, people. ) And I already had the Crochet hooks I'd need. The only thing I didn't have/find were pre-made eyes, but I figured early one I could either use beads I had on-hand or yarn if nothing else, and we'll get to how exactly that played out later.

The complicated part was finding the right patterns and pieces I wanted to make to begin with.

You see dear Sparklers, I am in many ways a cheapskate, and I could not justify paying $5 for the popular, very cute bat pattern I saw most people using on Reddit. Especially knowing how many hundreds if not thousands of other Crochet patterns float around on the internet all the time for free. Surely, I thought, there had to be a still-very-cute bat pattern elsewhere for free. And that's where all the trouble started.

I was right; I did find a handful of other bat patterns for free that were still cute, but me being the finicky thing that I am, something was "wrong" with every one of them; "Head too big, body too small," "body too big, head too small," "shaped weirdly," "Why are the wings made of felt?" "Why are the wings so small?" "No, I don't want feet or arms like that..." And so on.

Eventually, I went looking over my favorite source to get Crochet Projects from, the JaydaInStitches Youtube Channel , and decided I'd try my hand at piecing together different parts of existing patterns/tutorials she had posted.

So, in roughly the order I used them, here's what I ended up piecing together:
Two "body" segments from the Pocket Pet Cat to make the head & body on mine (After stuffing both halves with some poly fiber fill I already had, I stitched the bottoms closed in a round shape instead of Jayda's rectangular shape, and then sewed them together)
One "arm" from the above tutorial to use as my bat's snout/muzzle. The only difference is I stitched a little pink yarn on the end to make it a true nose
The ears from the above tutorial, but I did not add pink thread at the end the way Jayda did

The bow from the Pocket Hello Kitty for...well, the bow. The only thing I did differently was instead of sewing the bow around my bat's neck, I added an extra string through it so I could tie it on, as I was afraid if I permanently sewed it on, I'd regret it later
And then the wings... I spent roughly a week stalled on my bat, on-and-off looking for just the right wing pattern, since Jayda unfortunately didn't have anything that was quite what I was looking for. Almost every single pattern I found was too small for my liking (and it did not help my tighter tension with the yarn means most of my projects turn out a bit smaller than expected anyway) and while I found one video tutorial that was the right size and the end product looked pretty much perfect, I had a really hard time following that person's quick tutorial style, and they didn't explain certain steps very well, so I had trouble making even one of the wings, let alone two.

In the end, I used the wings from This Dragon Pattern, since they were very clear and easy to follow, and then I continued the pattern on by trial & error to make them more to the size I wanted. And you can see the "full pattern" for the wings that I used here , which includes the original pattern's instructions, and then the steps I added to them, which I wrote down specifically in case I ever get crazy enough to do this again. But I will warn that writing patterns is not something I'm used to, so I apologize in advance if it's not as nice to follow as a pattern written by someone more experienced at it.

My only issue with the wings after that is (though you can't really tell from the photos) because they're both made the exact same way, you just flip one wing over, one of them has a better natural curve towards the rest of the body than the other. I could probably fix that by running a thin craft wire through the top of each wing so they're more poseable anyway, but I have thus far been too lazy to bother trying.

And aside from sewing everything together (which I did with yarn, a plastic yarn needle, and a very thin Crochet hook because I am allergic to sewing with thread like a sensible person), the only further additions I made were the feet and the eyes. The feet (Crochet language in-coming) were just two simple chains of 7-8 stitches that I stitched into circles, then sewed on, which I almost didn't do, but I decided if I didn't have a way my little bat could hang either from my finger or potential a wire or something for decoration, I'd end up regretting it.

I maybe should have sewed them on closer to the middle of the body rather than the front, since she does hang very back-heavy the way I've done it, but it's really not that big of a deal.

And then the eyes...I had originally pulled out a couple of black pony beads and was going to try sewing them on, but I realized I probably should have tried that before I stuffed & sewed the head, and couldn't think of a way after that point to attach them that wouldn't look really silly. So I opted instead to just make X-shapes, as if I was sewing on invisible buttons, with some black yarn. Not necessarily the ideal choice, but it worked well enough, I think!

But y'know, it still felt so warm and fuzzy when I finally finished her up. She's about 3.5 inches tall and fits perfectly in my hands, and her wings wrap around her almost exactly how I'd hoped. She's not quite Stellaluna, because my bat has a purple bow (among other things), but that's why I called her La Luna; she's part of the way there, and in many ways (as cliche as it is to say) she really is that childhood dream of mine come true.

And of course, it did feel good to finally have my first successful Amigurumi project under my belt, too.

I will also make a little disclosure though that I had a set of totally different photos I took about a week ago to show her off (which Members of my Ko-Fi page should recognize ) but about two nights ago as I started to prepare this post, I started having seconds thoughts about how good of photos they actually were (the clarity was good and you could plainly see the crochet work, but I mean things like the background and staging and all that, the more superficial stuff) and after a look around some of the finished crochet projects that have been posted here on dA before, I decided I could do better. So I ended up spending a couple of hours yesterday taking new ones and then giving them a little extra polish in Photoshop.

Oh, Fun Fact: In the pictures here where she's hanging upside down, I ran a black string through her little loop feet and tied her to that stool she's sitting on in the other pictures, knowing the string would blend right in with the black underside and make it look like she's hanging mostly by herself. I was quite pleased when I figured this out since I was having a hard time getting pictures I liked where she was hanging from my finger.

The nicer photos are such a simple thing that ultimately doesn't matter that much, but I'm glad I did it anyway. I recognize in the past I haven't necessarily taken the best photos or presented the photos I have in the best way when it comes to my more crafty projects, so I figured I'd at least try putting a little more care into that this time and see what happens. And even if it makes no difference to anyone else, I do just feel better knowing I took those steps to have a nicer presentation.

So what do you guys think? I hope you find her at least half as cute as I do! I don't know if I'll be making anymore, at least any time soon since I have other projects to work on/finish (Inktober, anyone?) and I've satisfied that main bat-making itch in my brain, but at least now I know that I can and I'm a little more confident in my ability to crochet & make amigurumi in general, which is always a plus.

But I think I've said all I have say about my little sort-of flying fox here, so I'll leave you guys to it while I hopefully get to work on today's Obscutober piece and don't have quite the trouble I had with yesterday's.

Photos & Yarnwork © me, MysticSparkleWings

Where to find me & my artwork:
My Website | My Book | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi | dA Print Shop | RedBubble | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram