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Joyfully Geeky Crochet- Creating a TARDIS

Creating a TARDIS (correctly using capitals now after previous admonishments by my pedantic husband) has, I can confidently declare, been my second favourite present make ever (only bested by a crocheted honeycomb frame made for my bee-keeping mother). It may indeed have a wibbly-wobbly roof (angle of the above picture is flattering!), cheerfully wandering letters on the 'police box' signs and a tendency towards a leaning base, but I am sadly very proud of my little blue box. Part of the pleasure definitely comes from anticipating the look on my brilliant Dr Who-loving friend's face as he opens the box it's travelled north in. Concerned about any misunderstanding, I've taped an 'it's not shoes!' note to the top so as to avoid even momentarily confusion when presented with a peppermint green Clarkes box. Once he fights his way through the swathes of bubble wrap (it was a big box), he'll be the wondrous owner of this mini delight.

I'm thrilled it's turned out so well but I don't claim any credit for the design. The search for crochet Dr Who & TARDIS patterns yielded a surprisingly high number of finds from the fairly dodgy to the wonderful. This pattern is by Sara's Crochet Couture on Etsy http://www.etsy.com/listing/87244613/crochet-tardis-doctor-who-pdf-pattern , I chose this one as it seemed the most pleasing with nice straight sides (lots of others seem to bulge out like they've been oddly inflated, I can't imagine The Doctor would be very happy) and a strong structure. Also, the alluring words 'This TARDIS is very easy to make, even for beginning crocheters' promised a project that wouldn't necessarily end in frustrated tears (lets never speak of the crochet sushi rolls episode again....) And so it proved, the pattern really was straightforwards (apart from the roof which was a bit trickier) and the windows introduced me to a clever and neat way of changing colour which I'll definitely work into future projects. Insert photo..... Hobbycraft clearly knew of my intentions and got in some perfectly coloured blue yarn which seemed to vindicate the project and armed with my newly borrowed fab crochet hook (3.5mm, see previous post), it didn't take too long to do.

If crochet isn't your thing or you don't fancy making this but still love it as much as I do, then you can buy a completed one from the same Etsy shop. In addition, I've promised my friend mini figures of the 11 Dr Who's (Matt Smith is the 11th, keep up occasional watchers!) to be delivered at occasional intervals over the next year. I'm not sure all 35yr old men would be thrilled by this IOU but I'm hopeful that this one will be at the very least pleased & amused. To my mind, any time spent getting my hands on David Tennant, even a crochet version, can only be hugely enjoyable.

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