The Crushed Cultist

This poor guy is based on the Cultist Crusher trophy artwork from the MMORPG Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates. Y!PP Oceanmistress Artemis kindly said I could post this pattern as long as I put the plug there, so now you can make your own little cultist so you can crush him and hug him and squeeze him and love him and call him George. Not that I call mine George.

Notes:

• The little guy isn't as hard to make as he might appear. The basic body is easy, but the little details make the cultist!
• The spear and eyes are made from polymer clay. It's inexpensive and easy to use, but I won't go into details here about how to condition and work with it, baking instructions, or safety instructions.
• Safety eyes don't really work with this guy because it's easier to sew on the face paint after the head has been stuffed. You can use polymer clay like I did, or use felt, or embroider the eyes on.
• After the second leg is made, the two are worked together straight into the body.
• I didn't keep track of how much yarn I used. However, in this sport/DK weight, I didn't use more than 70 yards (64m) of the green. White, red, and blue were less than 10 yards (9m) each.
• Doll pictured using sport weight for body is about 4 3/4" (12cm) tall, not including hair or spear.

Materials:

• Green, white, red, and blue yarn, or whatever you have in your stash.
• Hook to produce a tight gauge with your chosen yarn.
• 2 12mm gold-plated jump rings for the earrings
• Polymer clay in brown, silver, and black for the spear and eyes
• Iridescent paint for the eyes (optional, but maximizes that glazed look)
• Fiberfill
• White craft glue
• Black yarn for embroidered details
• Yarn needle

Abbreviations (standard American crochet terms):

• sc - single crochet
• inc - increase (two stitches in one)
• dec - decrease (one stitch in two)
• ss - slip stitch
• dc - double crochet
• trb - treble crochet
• ch - chain

Directions:

Head:

6sc in magic circle using green yarn

Row 1: Inc around (12 st)

Row 2: (sc, inc) X 6 (18)

Row 3: (inc, 2sc) X 6 (24)

Row 4: (2sc, inc, sc) X 6 (30)

Row 5: (inc, 4sc) X 6 (36)

Row 6: (3sc, inc, 2sc) X 6 (42)

Rows 7-16: sc around

Row 17: (dec, 5sc) X 6 (36)

Row 18: (2sc, dec, 2sc) X 6 (30)

Row 19: (dec, 3sc) X 6 (24)

Row 20: (1sc, dec, 1sc) X 6 (18)

Row 21: (dec, sc) X 6 (12)

Firmly stuff most of the head here

Row 22: dec X 6 (6)

Fasten off. Add a little stuffing if necessary.

Legs/body:

First leg: 6sc in magic circle in green Row 1: Inc around (12) Row 2: (inc, sc) X 6 (18) Rows 3-9: sc around Fasten off, cut yarn Make second leg same as first, but do not fasten off. Row 10: Holding legs side-by-side, do 4sc through both legs (see Figure 1.) Then continue clockwise working around both legs in rounds. Row will end in the middle of the back. (28 st) Rows 11-17: sc around. Firmly stuff legs and lower body here. Row 18: (dec, 2sc) X 7 (21) Row 19: (dec, 5sc) X 3 (18) Row 20: sc around Firmly stuff most of body here Row 21: (dec, sc) X 6 (12) Fasten off. Add stuffing if necessary.Arms (x2): 6sc in magic circle in green. Row 1: inc around (12) Row 2: (inc, 3sc) X 3 (15) Rows 3-4: sc around Row 5: (dec, 3sc) X 3 (12)

Rows 6-7: sc around

Row 8: (dec, 2sc) X 3 (9)

Rows 9-10: sc around

Stuff arm.

Row 11: (dec, sc) X 3 (6)

Fasten off. Add stuffing if necessary.

Face paint:

6sc in magic circle in white.

Row 1: inc around (12)

Row 2: (sc, inc) X 6 (18)

Row 3: (inc, 2sc) X 6 (24)

Row 4: (2sc, inc, sc) X 6 (30)

Row 5: (inc, 4sc) X 6 (36)

Row 7: ss, ch 3 for 1st trb in 3-trb cluster, ch 3, ss in next sc (made 1st ear), 2 ss, ch 2, 14dc, ch 2, ss in next sc, 2 ss, ch 3 for 1st trb in 3-trb cluster, ch 3, ss in next sc (made 2nd ear), ch 3, 13 trb, ch 3, ss in 1st ss, fasten off.

Belly paint:

In white, ch 6. Skip 1st ch from hook, 3sc (1st rib made). ch 6, sk 1 ch, 3sc (2nd rib made). ch 3, sk 1 ch, 2sc, ss in next ch. (Bottom point made.) Ch 4, sk 1 ch, 3sc along center line, towards top. (1st rib on other side.) Ch 4, sk 1 ch, 3sc. (Last rib made). 2sc on center line to end (starting chain), fasten off.

Skirt:

In blue, ch 24. In ea ch, starting in 2nd chain from hook, ch 4-6 (vary the number as you work to make the skirt uneven), sk 1st ch, ss back to original chain).

In red, ss across the top of the skirt.

Hair:

Loop red yarn around your thumb about 12 times. Carefully pull off, and cinch around the middle using blue yarn. Knot the blue yarn and secure with some glue.

Eyes:

With black polymer clay, make a little ball about 15mm across. Carefully cut in half without distorting the shape. Bake according to package instructions. After it has cooled completely, apply the iridescent paint.

Spear:

With brown polymer clay, roll out a thin "snake." Cut to about the length of your doll's head + torso length (so about 5" (12.5cm) in sport weight). Carefully flatten one end slightly.

Roll out a thin sheet of the silver clay. Cut 2 elongated triangles under 1" (2.5cm) long. Sandwich the flattened shaft end between the two triangles, then carefully join the two triangles along their long edges. Bake according to package instructions.

Assembly:

Sew the head onto the body using whipstitch, matching the openings.

Attach face paint to head using backstitch.

Sew the body paint to the torso using backstitch.

Sew the arms onto the body.

Sew the skirt around the torso with the red yarn using small stitches.

Sew the tuft of hair on the head just above the face paint.

Embroidery details:

With black yarn, sew little Xes at the end of each limb (over the magic circle).

With black yarn, sew on the mouth.

With blue yarn, sew the "lightning bolt" leading down from the hair.

Open the gold jump rings slightly, then run each under one strand of each ear's paint. Close the jump ring and apply a little glue for security.

Glue the eyes to the face.

After all the glue has dried, it's time to spear the guy. If it's too difficult to push the blunt end of the spear through the stuffed head, you can take a crochet hook about the same width and push that all the way through at a suitably jaunty angle to make an opening through the fiberfill. Then remove the hook and push the spear, blunt end first, through the opening made by the hook. Keep your fingers over the exit hole to hold in any fiberfill that tries to escape.

And you're done!

August 2009

This pattern for "The Crushed Cultist" is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Finished objects made from this pattern are for personal use only (to keep or to give as a gift). Because of the derivative nature of this work, neither the pattern nor objects made from the pattern instructions can be sold. Please contact me by sending an email to gmail.com user knittincrap if you have questions.