There is this Tin Soldier in my city (New Westminster), listed as the World’s Largest Tin Soldier in the Guinness Book of World Records (you can really compete in anything eh?), containing a time capsule which will be opened next week.
I haven’t lived in this city long but I thought it would be cute to crochet a miniature version to bring to the event. I thought it would be an easy creation but it proved to be harder than it was. There are many parts of the tin soldier design I don’t like so maybe in the future I will re-jig the pattern.
Materials:
- Worsted weight yarn in red, yellow, blue, beige
- 3.5mm hook yarn
- 4mm eyes x 2
- Darning needle
- Polyfil stuffing
Arms (make 2)
Start with beige
1. MR (3)
2. Sc, inc, sc (4) – change yarn to yellow
3. in FLO, [2 sc, inc] x 2 (6)
4. Left arm* 2 sc, change to red, 4 sc (6) right arm* 3 sc, change to yellow, 2 sc, change to red, 1 sc (6)
5 – 11. Sc (6)
Boots (make 2)
We’ll be start with the boots and working all the way up
Begin first leg in black
1. Ch 6, in the second chain from the hook, inc, 3 sc, 3 sc in the last chain. Turn your work to the other side, 3 sc, sc in the last chain (12)
2. 4 sc, 3 dec, 2 sc (9)
3. 2 sc, 3 dec, sc (6)
5. in BLO, sc (6)
Leg
Attach blue yarn to first stitch of round 5 in the boot (in the BLO stitch)
1. [sc, inc] x 3 (9)
2 – 15. Sc (9)
F/O and repeat this with the other boot but do NOT F/O the second time. We will be joining the legs together.
16. 1 sc, join in the 8th stitch of the first leg, 8 sc, 9 sc back in the first leg (18)
17. [7 sc, dec] x 2 (16)
18 – 19. Sc (16)
20. [6 sc, dec] x 2 (14) – change to yellow
21 – 22. In BLO, sc (14) – change to red
23. in BLO, Sc (14)
24.[6 sc, inc] x 2 (16)
25. Sc (16)
26. [7 sc, inc] x 2 (18)
27. Sc (18)
28. 8 sc, sc join in the 3rd stitch of the first arm, 5 sc, 8 sc on the body, sc join in the last stitch of the second arm, 5 sc, and finish off with the 2 sc on the remaining stitches on the body.
29. [dec] x 15 (15) – change to yellow
30. [sc, dec] x 5 (10) – change to beige
31. [sc, inc] x 5 (15)
32 – 33. Sc (15)
34. [sc, dec] x 5 (10)
Jacket Bar
Turn your soldier upside down and in the FLO in round 21, attach red yarn
1 – 2. Sc (14)
3. [6 sc, inc] x 2 (16)
4. sc (16)
5. [7 sc, inc] x 2 (18)
6. sc (18)
Hat
1. in red, MR (8) – change to yellow
2. in BLO, inc x 8 (16) – change to red
3 – 4. Sc (16) – change to yellow
5. Sl St the round (16)
F/O
Glue the hat onto the head, or you can weave it in.
Grab yellow yarn and give it the details on the arms (3 Vs), some buttons in the front. With red yarn, you can give it a stripe down each side of the pants. Finally with a grey yarn, make a little circle on the belt.
Grab some embroider thread in black and red and give it a moustache and a smile (I realized this was hard to do given how little stitches were available). I put in 2x 4.00mm eyes and used a red marker for the cheeks.
