This week I worked on the second project from the Star Wars Crochet kit I started with last week, an Imperial Stormtrooper.

I saw from reading the pattern that this one had some color transitions in it, which was something I knew I wanted practice with. I think I did some of that well, but I still need some more learning and practice. I'm also still learning from the patterns about how different stitches can be incorporated to achieve interesting effects, such as the rounded bottom edge of the helmet achieved via several bobble stitches in a series.

I'm not sure I'm completely sold on the “mouth” design that the pattern calls for, but I can see how the pattern creator picked out the upside-down V as the key element to feature, and I'm not sure how I'd improve it. (Maybe if it was gray rather than black?)

There are a series of point bobble stitches around the waist for the stormtrooper belt, but they're kind of hard to make out in most photos (and, honestly, in real life) because it's hard to make out white details against a white background, but you can kind of see them in this one:

The basic structure the pattern calls for is a cone, and the legs are implemented by using yarn to sew the front to the back below the waist which creates valleys between the left and right halves (with bobble-stitch feet). I think that sort of worked with mine, although I don't think I got as sharp a definition between the legs as the picture from the book.

I had a really hard time with the arms. By this point in the process I thought I had a better understanding about how you were supposed to do the color transitions, but I'm also still not great at starting out the initial round(s), and the first color change happens between the first and second round so it was basically running two things I'm still not confident about into each other. Plus the initial round was in black yarn, so it was really hard to make out the details of the stitches I was trying to work into. I think one of them turned out much better than the other, so I at least feel like I'm learning. One problem is that I think i've been trying to keep the stitches too tight, the one that worked better was one where I kept things a bit looser.

And here's the finished project, standing with the Yoda I made last week.

Overall I'm reasonably happy with it. I don't think it has quite the “wow” factor as the Yoda, but I liked that I was able to practice on some things I wanted to learn, although I still think I have some more learning to do. I also appreciated that I gained some insight into the nature of how these patterns work, for example the increases are done in a way that leads the shape to expand in a spiral so that the start of the round isn't guaranteed to always be at the same position on the finished figure. In retrospect that makes sense to me but I had been naively assuming that the beginning/end of the round would always be at “the back” of the figure. Presumably you could create a pattern that had that property, but you don't have to. I find it conceptually a bit interesting that amigurumi crochet involves the 3D shape you're trying to create but it all gets mapped into a “linear” sequence of stitches. A good pattern probably takes account of both of those aspects of the craft.

What's next?

I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do next. The original kit only promised to include all the yarn you need for the Yoda and the Stormtrooper, although I think I have plenty of leftovers in those colors. There's also some yarn that I think is meant to be a fleshtone yarn for the human characters' faces. With that I have almost everything I would need for the Princess Leia, except for one round of gray yarn for a belt. I also ordered some extra plastic eyes from Amazon (not exactly the same size, but the set included a variety of different sizes that I thought would be good if and when I eventually branch out to other projects) and a “variety pack” of small yarns in different colors, although the yarn is a bit thicker than what I've been working with. I might try to see whether the thicker yarn works well with the crochet hook I've been using, and maybe mix and match that to try either the Princess Leia or the ROTJ Luke Skywalker. (The third project in the book is C-3PO but I don't think I have the right colors for him.) Or I might try to see if I can find some more yarn in the same size as what I've been working with, and continue that way. I still think it makes sense to try to keep learning from these patterns, but going farther afield is also an option. I am still enjoying the crocheting (although the frustrating parts are still quite exasperating, I'm pretty sure that's just part of the learning process though) so I'm definitely going to try to continue.