Kingfisher crochet pattern
Today I get to restart working full-time at PlanetJune – I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed it!
I wasn’t sure what to do first – I feel like I’m months behind on everything – but then yesterday, we were lucky enough to glimpse a very special bird: a kingfisher. Please excuse the quality of these pics; it’s a tiny bird and we couldn’t get close without it flying away… I snapped these at full 18x zoom:
It seemed like a sign that my first order of business should be to publish my kingfisher pattern, don’t you agree? You may notice that the colours and markings in the photos above don’t quite match my design below: was saw a Malachite Kingfisher (common here in southern Africa) but the breed I designed is the Common Kingfisher (the UK variety) who’s more teal coloured than blue, and doesn’t have a red beak. And now onto my design…
I designed this Kingfisher pattern last year. It was first published in Inside Crochet magazine, but written in UK crochet terminology and missing all my step-by-step assembly photos. Now I’m publishing it in standard terms and PlanetJune format!
This bird can stand all by himself, without using any wires or internal armatures to strengthen him, so, if you omit the safety eyes, he’d be a kid-friendly toy as well as a decorative piece.
I’m particularly proud of this design because I incorporated a clever new method I developed to make the orange/blue stripe on the body match on both sides (as amigurumi-style stitches don’t stack on top of each other, if you crocheted both sides the same way, one side would slope up and the other would slope down).
The Kingfisher crochet pattern is now available to purchase in my shop. I hope it’ll be the first of many PlanetJune bird designs…
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T said
Beautiful!!!!! Perfect your work. I loved.
Richard Rose said
A very nice looking bird. By the way, those of us that learned to crochet outside of America think of the UK crochet terminology as standard. It’ you Americans that are different. 🙂
June said
No insult intended to Brits, Richard (I’m actually one myself!) The internet has really complicated these things – I long for a day where all crochet terminology is standardised…
As far as I know, only the UK and Australia use British crochet terminology, and the rest of the world uses the alternative (that I also use), hence I call that one ‘standard’ as I assume it’s used by more people. To confuse the issue even more, I write in British English (‘colour’, not ‘color’) so I don’t want to tell people my patterns are written in US style – maybe I should call it ‘PlanetJune standard’ to avoid any offense 😉
Melissa said
What a lovely sign. 🙂 I hope you’re loving Africa, I’m jealous!
June said
So far, so good! There’s a lot to get used to, and trying to stay cool in this suntrap of a flat when it’s 28 degrees outside is not easy (I miss my air conditioning – I’m sweltering!) but I can’t really complain when it’s all so beautiful 🙂
Judy Carlson said
I always wondered where one could get the Kingfisher pattern! I often see Belted Kingfishers fishing the creek by my place. Very cool birds!
June said
Ah yes, and the N American belted kingfisher is different yet again – much larger and coloured grey/blue and white. It’s amazing how much variety there is in nature when you start looking!
Jana Hunter said
Oh, he’s beautiful! I may switch the colors around to match the South Africa variety as I love South Africa! You are going to find SO much inspiration in the wildlife there! There is a kind of bird that rides on the back of impalas (I think) some kind of animal! I think I have a pic of it in my thousands of SA pics! I will have to browse through them to see if I can find it and send it to you. My dear friend, Martin, in the UK, is a bird lover! I may have to make the UK one for him first. He has a birthday coming up at the end of this month! Have to see if my deposit made it to the bank first, and then I’ll be back for him!
June said
I think the bird you’re thinking of is called an Oxpecker! I haven’t seen one in real life (yet!) but I’m a big fan of David Attenborough so I know quite a lot about African wildlife already from his documentaries… although there’s nothing like seeing nature in person. I’m seeing new (to me) birds practically every day at the moment – it’s wonderful 🙂
Morgan said
I love birds and I am very excited that you will be designing bird patterns. I look forward to seeing them!
June said
Yay, I wasn’t sure there’d be much demand for bird patterns, but I’m really pleased with the response I’ve had so far! More birds to follow (and if anyone wants to request their favourites, email me!)
Else said
Delightful bird, June! Best wishes to you in S. Africa! 🙂
June said
Thanks, Else!