Freebie Friday: Totoros

One of my favourite animation studios would be Ghilbi studio - and though many will favor Totoro from that studio as one of the best, I personally love Ponyo...this isn't saying that I don't like Totoro, I just think Ponyo is super cute and it being a different version of the Little Mermaid rates it higher in favor for me. Maybe its because Ponyo was the first movie I saw and first love is hard to replace.  HAVING SAID THAT , I could never pick a favourite from that studio...it definitely makes some adorable movies that grabs your heart strings like a new born baby.

ANYWAYS.
I only watched Totoro for the first time sometime late 2013(yeah I know its pretty bad) and of course fell immediately in love with these imaginary creatures. That CAT bus?! OMG. and the kid?! urgh! so cute....so of course I was on a mission to expose everyone who didn't know anything about the studio to its awesomeness. Last November sometime, a dear friend of mine was "force exposed" to Totoro and fell madly in love and demanded that I crochet her a little Totoro for "forcing" Totoro on her and to improve my crochet skills. I had some gray and pink and red yarn left over from a failed cat cave endeavor (my cats didn't grasp the concept) and thought why not?
As you can see, Totoro doesn't look great in pink and googly eyes are just not becoming...but it is recognizibly Totoro and the recipient was thrilled so that worked out. :D

Since then , I have collected many Totoro patterns, made freely available by generosity of very talented people. There are tons more but here are some of my favorite patterns.  I've tried most and the large set of 3 I am currently in the process of THINKING about attempt again as the first turned into a dud :S and you know that thing about first impressions? its true, I love this pattern to pieces but I have yet gotten over the initial fail (he has tiny lazy eyes and his fluffy belly is not even and, oh the list goes on...!  maybe 2016 will be better time for this, now that I have a few more projects under my belt...I tried to make this after only making a couple of projects and I had no idea that not all yarns were created equal).
 This is the only picture of the previously mentioned failure. Even so, look how FLIPPING ADORABLE it is!!!I still can't get over how PERFECT this looks with the teeny white one sitting on the leaf on the giant one...<3
I think its such a GREAT design  that captures the "details" of each creatures so well - and I really will try it again. The lady who came up with this (Lucy Ravenscar) also has a free patterns section filled with cute little designs, generously shared on her blog here.
2016, LESSSSSS DOOOOO DIIIIISSS!!!!!

This EASY BREEZY & super adorable Totoro is what I should have started with...but I didn't. This is shared by Mei at Amigurumei. She has a growing list of Free patterns on her blog as well, and they are really easy breezy. I made a Molang and Purin not long after and it turned out just ADORABLE...apparently, they're bunnies... ?






Laast but not least.... this fabulous pattern set from Sharon Ojala. I love this Cat bus... its the nicest one (in my humble opinion) out there so far and it LOOKS simple to do. LOVE it more because Totoro and the gang doesn't fit in it :D
I DID attempt the Blue Totoro shown here, but I don't seem to have a picture to share - and it really shouldn't be shared.... I was JUST trying to see if I can make this - so I used what I had which was gray and PINK with googly eyes. Which turned out rather hideous but, the pattern is super easy to follow. There is also a Grey Totoro I haven't tried, but its supposed to be smaller than the blue one(because after my attempt at the blue one, my ego exploded and I went charging headlong in to making the giant set by Lucy - so the failure with that set was a good wake up call in some ways ,lol deflated my ego quite a bit).

Well that's all folks! I hope you do give it a go and let me know how it goes! till next time,

Happy hookin'!!!!