More Elinor photos.

First of all, maybe I have to explain: why make a ponified Elinor Dashwood? She isn't even necessarily my favorite Austen character (though she is of the ones from Sense and Sensibility).

Well, it was one of those weird things my brain did....quite a while ago now I dreamed that I was traveling, and I had with me a crocheted pony I had made that was supposed to be Elinor Dashwood. Because I remember colors from my dreams (however dreams may work, however your brain deals with those random neuronal firings), I remembered her as being pale peach with a turquoise mane and tail. Yes, oddly specific, and not colors widely worn in the Regency era I suspect, but whatever.

Eventually, I bought yarn - Big Twist Premium, a rather tightly spun yet soft acrylic - in the colors for her. (And fortunately, as I blogged about last week, I bought two of the peach color - this is a thicker yarn so there's slightly less yardage per skein, and I needed just a bit more from the second skein for the fourth leg).

So I don't know. I decided a little while back I wanted to make her and I started, and then I crocheted faster and harder when I realized I was running short, just in case I'd have to make a run to the JoAnn's for more - not sure if I'd get the same dyelot because it was about a year ago I bought the yarn - and then I couldn't get down there because it was nasty hot and I didn't want to drive in it.

I finished her last night:



It took a long time to do the mane; it is a pretty complicated style (and is perhaps more Early Victorian than truly Regency, but it's cute, so I don't really care).

I had to think hard about her eye color. My first thought was green, but that didn't work. And I tried gray and lavender and even some "weird" colors sometimes seen on Ponies (like pink) but finally decided that brown was the only one that really worked.



I like it. I think it was a good choice.

And yes, I see know, her eyes are slightly wonky (the position of the eyeshine is off). In person it's not so egregious and it took a lot of work to get these eyes as right as they are, so I'm not going to change it.

Her "cutie mark" is a sheet of drawing paper being sketched on. I didn't try to make a representational sketch, just had a "line" drawn on it by the "pencil":



It's mentioned in the novel that Elinor draws as a hobby, and it's implied that she's a better artist than many young women who sketched merely to show off their graceful hands.

And no, I don't think at this point I have plans to make a Marianne pony (though you never know) but her mark would have to be either a piano or a music book, since she played.

(If I *did*, I think I'd get two other colors of the Big Twist. Part of it is that it's a fairly nice amigurumi yarn - I also made Keroberos out of it - but also so they'd match more in size)

One thing I have noticed that "worsted weight" acrylics differ a lot from brand to brand, and how big the ponies come out (and how fat) varies a little. Also how tight the stitches are - the Big Twist is a slightly fatter yarn so there are fewer gaps between the stitches and I think it looks better. So I did a line up of some of the ponies I've made. I *think* I remember what yarn I used for each one:

 


Okay. Let's see:

Fluttershy was some kind of Bernat yarn, maybe Super Value. She came out a little smaller and thinner than some, but she was also the first one I made.

Spitfire was made of Vanna's Choice, which is another good amigurumi yarn because it's a little fatter. Her head is a little wider than some other ponies'.

Elinor is probably the fattest of the ponies; she is made of Big Twist but I think I also stuffed her more fully.

Folio is made of Heartland, a fairly basic worsted-weight acrylic, except it's slightly heathered.

Horsey McHorseface is of  Wool-ease Correction: Red Heart Soft.; again, he's a little smaller and skinnier than some of the ponies.

Colgate/Minuette is made of Red Heart (Super Saver, I think); she came out a little bigger and rounder.

I also like that that line up shows some of the facial differences. In some cases (like Fluttershy and Spitfire) I was trying to capture an expression like the pony would have on the show - the others (Horsey and Folio and Elinor) I didn't have to worry and could just kind of take my own way with the face. (I admit Minuette doesn't much look like herself on the show, but I made her back before "Amending Fences" when Minuette was just a barely-glimpsed background pony).