Last week Master Nine (!) had a Star Wars themed birthday party, and I thought I'd share with you how I made the favours - chupa chups dressed as Jawas.

You'll need:
black felt
brown felt or woollen material
yellow paint
needle and thread
chupa chups or other lollipops



Step one
Cut out a shape like this from your brown material. The split between the head and body is a slit, not an actually wedge removed, like it appears here. I made 8 in total, hence the production line look in some of these photos.


The slit should line up with the other side of the "hood" when folded over.

Step two
Cut out a large square of black felt for the face. It should be at least as large as the top of the lollipop. Lay the felt and wool and lollipop as shown in the lower photo. Fold the top of the hood over the lollipop.




Step three
Pinching the hood closed, and making sure to tuck all the face edges in, secure with needle and thread. Catch the bottom part of the felt square but leave the top free, only tucked in.



Fold the cloak flap over and sew it down, all the way around. Sew up the back of the hood.




Step four
The hood will pull back, and the "face" flip forward to remove the lollipop. If you take care, you should be able to replace the lollipop over and over. Paint some eyes on with yellow.

As you can see, I'm done. Finished. Finito. Tassels and all. Only now Master Four wants one to be "just like Daddy". Oh, and once Master Nine heard his brother was getting a kid sized one, he wanted one too. No rest for the wicked! Think I might give myself a little rest, before embarking on a double scarf quest!

All over bar the shouting now. I've finished the knitting, but as you can see, I have a lot of ends yet to weave in, and the tassels aren't done yet either. But, it's full length and my DP loves it. He's taken to wearing it around the house (and once to the library) despite it's unfinished state, because we've had a recent cold snap, and "It's so cosy and warm". I'm just grateful he really is going to use it, even if it does mean I have to sneak it off him and work on it while he is sleeping.

Getting down to the nitty gritty end now. With 882 rows done, there is only 158 left to go, meaning if I do just 12 rows a day, I'll be done by the 21st! (remembering that these posts are written a week in advance, in case I got sick or busy or something)

So, dragging my feet a little this week, and it took a real effort of will to get myself caught up to the end of the green, where I wanted to be this week. Three quarters done - it's a nice feeling!

Still plugging along. The massive heat and being sick has put a brake on my speed, but I'm still on track to my goal! Still need to hit around 90 rows a week, which puts me at 13 a day, so not a terrible set back. I've had to start rolling the end of the scarf I'm not working on, so I can cart it around easier, and keep it on my lap still. Whatever works hey?