Fax the shadowraven

While reading Harbinger of Justice by Andrew Watson, I got the unstoppable urge to crochet a raven, since one of my favourite characters in the book is a shadow creature whose prefered form is that of a raven. Since it was also almost Halloween and a raven would fit in well with the rest of my fall/Halloween decor, I happily gave in to that urge.

At first glance I found quite a few raven patterns online, but they were all rather cute or doll-like versions of ravens, while I actually wanted a more realistic version.

For a moment I thought I would have to come up with something myself, but then I suddenly came across the design by I crochet things, which was exactly what I had in mind! Plus, the pattern was completely free on her blog! Awesome!

For the experienced crocheter and maker of amigurumi this was a fairly easy pattern to make. The explanation is not always completely clear, but easy to deduce from the context, if you have crocheted amigurumi before.

The result is also great!
For the yarn I chose a black Zeeman Julia as the main colour and gray Zeeman Royal for the legs and beak.
I considered a moment whether I should also use Royal for the black, but I found the halo effect of the Julia that leans a bit more towards anthracite than pure black, very beautiful and fitting for a shadow raven. Shadows are not always pitch black after all.

The only adjustment I made to the pattern is that I gave my raven a tail. This was not only necessary for me to complete the look and get the right silhouette, but also helps to straighten and balance the stuffie so that it doesn’t keep falling on its beak!