Sonic the Hedgehog

One thing that amazes me about my three children is just how different they are from each other. They may share the same squinty eyes, freckles and long piano playing fingers but their preference in food, say, just highlights my point.  For instance, my first born loves spicy meat: pepperoni, sausage and tacos. My girl has a sweet tooth and would prefer hot tea (cream & sugar, please) with graham crackers. My youngest would eat peanut butter and honey sandwiches morning, noon and night.

I love to find that their differences show up in their play as well. My eldest is fairly well-rounded: he loves riding his bike, writing stories, playing sports and video games. My girl is a bit more focused: it's all about animals with her, but any and all animals will do. My youngest, however, is even more singular. When he likes something, it is utterly and completely exclusive. He has gone through a few phases in his life. First there were cars. This phase started with chubby cars his little fingers could maneuver and grew to the smaller hot wheels and finally the Disney Pixar Cars.

Then came Mario. Oh, Super Mario! With his dazzling invincibility star and awesome fire power, this character bordered on obsession with him. The games were just the first of it. Soon after he was dressing like Super Mario, overalls, mustache, gloves and all. Then it was the figurines and plushies that thankfully coincided with the retail Mario craze so many things were purchased at birthday and holiday times. But his focused fixation changed this past year.

It's not Mario anymore. It's Sonic. Move over Nintendo, Sega is taking over. But, alas, I have found that either we are ahead of the craze or the Sonic thing is just not going to make as big a splash with retail. What's a Mom to do when birthdays are coming and there is nary a Sonic to be found? Peruse the web and land on Wolfdreamer's website, of course! She is amazing. If you haven't happened upon her website, you must stop everything and go here now. The woman is a magician with amigurumi. The things she has created from scratch and put up for free almost single-handedly inspired my blog. She is a perfectionist and her capabilities seemingly have no end. Just check out her pattern list. It is nothing short of incredible. It is in her wealth of creativity I have often found solace to my restless hook hand when I need a character to crochet. It is here I found Sonic the Hedgehog.

Crocheting the pieces was simple enough with her easy to follow patterns. Putting the 24 seperate pieces together was what took the majority of my time and energy. I followed her tips and made sure to pin first. Then there was the repositioning and repining and looking at it for days at a time until I couldn't stand it any longer and finally decided to start stitching. I was quite pleased with the end result! My only tiny addition were the buckles for his shoes that are chain stitches sewed onto the shoes in a rectangular shape over the white stripe.

My baby got his Sonic on his birthday and his face let me know that I had done well. He now sleeps with his store bought Mario plushie and his mommy-made Sonic, one in each arm reminiscent of Andy with Woody and Buzz. I wonder what the two rivals do when he's off to school and they are left on his pillow?

You got it ace, let's race!