#declan buchanan

Shoes: Hey, I remembered the different colored soles again! Declan is described as tall and thin, so like with Mini, I did another round of decrease at R7 of both shoes (sc in first 7 st, inv dec 3 times, sc in next 2 sts, join) to make his legs twelve stitches around. I then did R8 as straight stitching with the shoe color before I switched to the trousers. (The other thing I did, which I should have been doing long ago, was the round before I changed color, I did the sl st to join in the color of the next row.)

Trousers: Again, tall, thin Declan. Mostly I worked his legs the same as usual, just in rounds of twelve instead of fifteen, but I also made them longer, so they went from R9 (the hdc row for hem) to R34 before I joined them together. I only used a chain of three to connect his legs, too, giving his waist a circumference of 30 stitches as opposed to the usual 38. For the belt, I went five rows above the…well…groin, switched to the belt color, and did a round of fpdc around the round two below like I did with the hem of Joseph’s hoodie. Then I switched back to the trousers color and did a round of sc in the back loop of the fpdc and front loop of the last round of trousers. For the belt loops, every four or five stitches I inserted the hook into the row below the belt, drew up a loop, and then pulled the next stitch through both that loop and the loop already on the hook. (I was kind of pleased with that, actually.)

Shirt: Hey, kids, know what the difference between variegated, self-striping, and ombre is? Ombres go FOR-FUCKING-EVER before they change color! (: Oh, well, it worked out, I guess. I didn’t really vary him all that much here except that I just went straight up with rounds of 30 (and also made his torso a bit longer) before decreasing at the shoulders.

Head: I frogged it. Several times, actually. I wasn’t happy with my stitches and I definitely wasn’t happy with my initial color choices and I also did what I consider the worst attempt at “a sort of perpetual five o’clock shadow” in the history of crochet, and the second time I accidentally added an extra round of increases and several extra rounds in between the increases and decreases - as I put it in the official Realms of Peril & Glory Discord, “He head too big for he got damn he” (remember this meme, guys?) - but eventually I got it right. (Visit his page on my website to see rejected progress pics.) I added one (1) extra round between increase and decrease in the final version as well to give him a slightly longer face, and I think it worked. For the five o’clock shadow, I just used the hair color for part of his face in a pattern that looked and felt right to me, leaving space for the mouth. Once again, I used safety eyes; the pack I bought has basically clear eyes and a bunch of discs you can put behind them to customize the colors, so I decided to give him pink eyes like they’re bloodshot.

Hair: I tried a new technique here. For each stitch beyond the hairline, I did a two-strand puff stitch (insert hook in next st, yo, draw up loop, yo, insert hook in same st, yo, draw up loop, yo, draw through all loops on hook), and I really like the effect!

Arms: There was just enough of the next color in the ombre to make it almost all the way up both arms and I’m trying not to be annoyed about it. Anyway, I started his arms on a base of four sc instead of five, then otherwise proceeded the same way I did for Joseph and Monty’s except that I made them longer (29 rounds total, I believe).

Dress: Okay, this was actually a lot of fun. For the first time, I did the skirt part first! I wanted it to be a kind of classy, elegant ballgown of the sort that Annie’s goth little heart would thrill to and Chantal’s innate fashion sense would approve of, so I used a shell stitch. The pattern is as follows:

Skirt: Ch 79. R1: Sc in second ch from hook, [skip next 2 ch, 5 dc in next ch, skip next 2 ch, sc in next ch] 12 times, skip next 2 ch, 5dc in next ch, skip next 2 ch, join to first sc (13 sc, 65 dc). R2: Ch 3 (counts as first dc), 4 dc in same st, [skip next 2 st, sc in middle dc of shell, skip next 2 st, 5 dc in next sc] 12 times, skip next 2 st, sc in middle dc of shell, skip next 2 st, sl st in third ch (13 sc, 65 dc). R3: Ch 2, [hdc in next 11 st, inv dec] 6 times, sl st in first hdc (72 hdc). R4: Ch 1, [sc in first st, skip next 2 st, 5 dc in next st, skip next 2 st] 12 times, sl st in first sc (12 sc, 60 dc). R5: Ch 3 (counts as first dc), 4 dc in same st, [skip next 2 st, sc in middle dc of shell, skip next 2 st, 5 dc in next sc] 11 times, skip next 2 st, sc in middle dc of shell, skip next 2 st, sl st in third ch (12 sc, 60 dc). R6: Ch 2, [hdc in next 10 st, inv dec] 6 times, sl st in first hdc (66 hdc). R7: Ch 1, [sc in first st, skip next 2 st, 5 dc in next st, skip next 2 st] 11 times, sl st in first sc (11 sc, 55 dc). R5: Ch 3 (counts as first dc), 4 dc in same st, [skip next 2 st, sc in middle dc of shell, skip next 2 st, 5 dc in next sc] 10 times, skip next 2 st, sc in middle dc of shell, skip next 2 st, sl st in third ch (11 sc, 55 dc). R7: Ch 2, [hdc in next 9 st, inv dec] 6 times, sl st in first hdc (60 hdc). R8: Ch 1, [sc in first st, skip next 2 st, 5 dc in next st, skip next 2 st] 10 times, sl st in first sc (10 sc, 50 dc). R9: Ch 3 (counts as first dc), 4 dc in same st, [skip next 2 st, sc in middle dc of shell, skip next 2 st, 5 dc in next sc] 9 times, skip next 2 st, sc in middle dc of shell, skip next 2 st, sl st in third ch (10 sc, 50 dc). R10: Ch 2, [hdc in next 8 st, inv dec] 6 times, sl st in first hdc (54 hdc). R11: Ch 1, [sc in first st, skip next 2 st, 5 dc in next st, skip next 2 st] 9 times, sl st in first sc (9 sc, 45 dc). R12: Ch 3 (counts as first dc), 4 dc in same st, [skip next 2 st, sc in middle dc of shell, skip next 2 st, 5 dc in next sc] 8 times, skip next 2 st, sc in middle dc of shell, skip next 2 st, sl st in third ch (9 sc, 45 dc). R13: Ch 2, [hdc in next 7 st, inv dec] 6 times, sl st in first hdc (48 hdc). R14: Ch 1, [sc in first st, skip next 2 st, 5 dc in next st, skip next 2 st] 8 times, sl st in first sc (8 sc, 40 dc). R15: Ch 3 (counts as first dc), 4 dc in same st, [skip next 2 st, sc in middle dc of shell, skip next 2 st, 5 dc in next sc] 7 times, skip next 2 st, sc in middle dc of shell, skip next 2 st, sl st in third ch (8 sc, 40 dc). R16: Ch 2, [hdc in next 6 st, inv dec] 6 times, sl st in first hdc (42 hdc). R17: Ch 1, [sc in first st, skip next 2 st, 5 dc in next st, skip next 2 st] 7 times, sl st in first sc (7 sc, 35 dc). R18: Ch 3 (counts as first dc), 4 dc in same st, [skip next 2 st, sc in middle dc of shell, skip next 2 st, 5 dc in next sc] 6 times, skip next 2 st, sc in middle dc of shell, skip next 2 st, sl st in third ch (7 sc, 35 dc). R19: Ch 2, [hdc in next 5 st, inv dec] 6 times, sl st in first hdc (36 hdc). R20: Ch 1, [sc in first st, skip next 2 st, 5 dc in next st, skip next 2 st] 6 times, sl st in first sc (6 sc, 30 dc). R21: Ch 3 (counts as first dc), 4 dc in same st, [skip next 2 st, sc in middle dc of shell, skip next 2 st, 5 dc in next sc] 5 times, skip next 2 st, sc in middle dc of shell, skip next 2 st, sl st in third ch (6 sc, 30 dc). R22: Ch 2, hdc in front loop of each st around, sl st in first hdc (36 hdc). R23: Ch 1, sc in back loop of each st around, sl st in first sc (36 sc).

Bodice: I picked up the pattern as if R23 was R42 at that point and mostly continued as normal. I did try to give her a sweetheart neckline, though, so when I got to a point where I judged the plunge of the collar would come in, I switched to the skin color, did 3 sc in back loops, switched back to the dress color, 1 sc, back to skin, 3 sc in back loops, and resume dress color for remainder of round. The next round I just did expanded the stretch of skin by one stitch on either side and continued to do so until I reached the natural end of the dress.

When I reached the neck, I actually stuffed her from the bottom up. I then sewed on a base that was, essentially, your basic circle with a ripple effect on the outer rim because I had hoped it would make the skirt appear to billow. I don’t think it worked exactly the way I intended, but it works well enough.

And speaking of things that didn’t work exactly the way I intended but worked well enough…

…I put a magnet in Annie’s right shoulder blade, so she and Declan can share a dance in the closest approximation of proper ballroom frame that can be achieved through half-remembered long-ago lessons and a single YouTube video tutorial.

Head: I did what I did with Alice and stitched Annie’s scalp in her hair color, then used the loop method to attach hair all around her hairline. Once I had done that, I experimented with gathering it into a bun but settled for a high ponytail because it wasn’t quite long enough. I tried to give her a little bit of blood trickling out of the corner of her mouth, too. And the eyes…red (well, dark pink) just seemed too clichéed, so I went with gold.