On the go #17: KPop Demon Hunters – The Derpy Spinoff
Roughly in parallel with my knitted Huntrix jumper, another KPop Demon Hunters idea started to nag at me. While I was knitting stitch after stitch, something completely different was quietly brewing in the back of my mind… something involving crochet hooks, stripes, and… a tiger.
A few years ago, I came across an absolutely brilliant Cheshire Cat Halloween project on Ravelry by Healexis.
I thought it was such a fantastic idea that I promised myself I’d make something similar one day. The only problem is that I’m not really the type to dress up for any occasion. My knitting and crochet projects tend to lean towards the practical, which honestly often stops me from making something purely “for fun”.
But then came the KPop Demon Hunters hype. And with that hype, an adorable, slightly silly Derpy tiger. Suddenly, that Cheshire Cat project jumped right back into my head.
It would be easy enough to turn the Cheshire Cat into a Derpy Tiger version. Okay, granted, the chances of me ever wearing something like that outdoors are slim, but at home? Why not? It could be a wonderfully warm and cosy cardigan for cold days!
That immediately meant a first deviation from the original inspiration. If I wanted to make something warm, perhaps I shouldn’t aim for short sleeves, but rather for a large, loose cardigan. My brain switched into design mode and started imagining a top-down raglan cardigan in double or half treble crochet, with stripes for the tiger look.
I made a swatch with a stripe pattern I quite liked, but I wasn’t sure if I’d have the patience to keep it up for an entire cardigan. Meanwhile, I kept looking at images and fanart of the Derpy Tiger, and two things kept standing out to me:
- The stripes on its back form more of a triangular shape along the spine.
- The belly is lighter and has a leopard-like pattern.
That got me thinking. Maybe I could make the front panels half as wide as needed, and then extend the width with an extra broad button band in the lighter “belly colour”, where I could work in a leopard pattern. And at the end, I could add a hood — with ears, eyes, and a snout — to complete the vision.
As often happens, I then fell down a Pinterest rabbit hole filled with crocheted cardigans, jumpers, and shrugs. Until suddenly, I started being shown a series of ponchos. When I saw these versions by Anna Haakt, something clicked in my head: a poncho in granny stitch would be perfect for those triangular tiger stripes!
Okay, the direction of the triangle doesn’t quite match, but the reference would still be clear enough I hope with the right colours and once all the other details come together. The only thing I found a bit of a shame with this new idea was that I couldn’t immediately see how to include the belly pattern.
So I found myself torn between two ideas: do I go for a loose cardigan in (half) treble crochet with a wide button band and leopard belly, or a striped granny-stitch poncho with a hood?
I went back and forth for weeks, until I got tired of overthinking and my hands were ready to get moving. At that precise moment, the poncho won the battle and that’s the project I’ve started working on.
To be continued!
Cheers,
Charlotte
