Two posts in two days? Unlike me! 🙂 But I wanted to do something to commemorate the solar eclipse that’s happening tomorrow. I happen to live in the path of totality (well, 99% totality), and it seems that we got the last few pairs of eclipse glasses in the country. All that’s left to do is find a good viewing spot amongst the hundreds of tourists that have flocked to the city. 🙂

Instagram has a special sticker for the solar eclipse, and I thought it was the cutest thing ever. So I had to make a commemorative amigurumi inspired by it.

You could also modify this to make a lunar eclipse – just put the sun in front of the moon! 😉 I’m kidding. I know that’s not how lunar eclipses work, hehe.

Here’s the super cute sticker that inspired this. I can’t handle how adorable it is! ^__^

Materials

• Worsted-weight yarn in light yellow, gold, and light gray. I used a mix of acrylic yarns like Red Heart Super Saver and Caron Simply Soft.
• G (4.00 MM) crochet hook. I’ve been loving my new Clover ergonomic one…it saves my wrists!
• 3 x 6MM safety eyes (you only need one for the sun).
• Small amount of thin black yarn to embroider the mouth
• Polyfil stuffing
• Stitch marker
• A pink crayon for the blush (optional)

Notes

-I use US crochet terms in all my patterns.

-This is worked in amigurumi style, so don’t join your rounds.

-There are some strange construction steps, but I’ll walk you through them. 🙂

Here’s the view from the back. I wanted it to look more realistic (well, as realistic as amigurumi can get) by having the sun entirely visible from this angle.

Sun

Circles (make 2 in light yellow)

1: 6 sc in a magic ring

2: 2 sc in each st around

3: *sc 1, 2sc* around

4: *sc 2, 2sc* around

5: *sc 3, 2sc* around

6: *sc 4, 2sc* around

Fasten off, invisible join.

Joining the circles

Hold the two circles together with the right sides facing out. Using gold, join to the stitch after the one you fastened off. You’ll be stitching through both circles. *Sc 5, 2sc* 4 times. Now switch to crocheting only on the BACK layer, so the front one is left unworked. *Sc 5, 2sc* 2 times. You’ll have a little opening. Sl st to join.

Ch 2, dc in next st. Ch 2, sl st in top of dc. Ch 2, sl st in next st.

*Ch 2, sk 1, dc in next st. Ch 2, sl st in top of dc. Ch 2, sl st in next st.* Repeat between * and * all the way around. At the end of the round, fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing.

With the hole facing to the right, attach the eye between Rounds 3 and 4, one stitch up from the center. I waited to embroider the mouth until I’d sewn the sun and moon together.

Moon

Circles (make 2 in light gray)

1-6: Work as for Sun.

Hold the two circles together with the right sides facing out. Using gray, join to the stitch after the one you fastened off. You’ll be stitching through both circles. *Sc 5, 2sc* 4 times. Now switch to crocheting only on the FRONT layer, so the back one is left unworked. *Sc 5, 2sc* 2 times. You’ll have a little opening. Sl st to join. Fasten off, leaving long tail for sewing.

With the hole facing to the left, attach the two eyes between Rounds 3 and 4, one stitch down from the center. I waited to embroider the mouth until I’d sewn the sun and moon together.

Essentially, the moon and the sun are the same in this pattern except for which side the hole is on.

Assembly

Stuff the insides lightly, on the side away from the holes. We’ll add more stuffing as we sew.

Slide the sun and the moon together so they look like a solar eclipse: From the front, the moon should be overlapping the sun, and from the back, the sun should be overlapping the moon. Basically, you don’t want the sun sandwiched inside the moon, because that’s not astronomically correct: the moon does not gobble up the sun during a solar eclipse. 🙂

Sew the front edge of the moon to the sun with the gray tail. At this point, you can add in some more stuffing – you want it to be evenly distributed through both circles. Then flip it over and sew the sun to the moon with the gold tail. I left the sun rays loose and just sewed through Round 7.

Last, embroider mouths with black yarn. I decided to add some blush on their cheeks with pink crayon for some added cuteness. 🙂

Now you have your own solar eclipse to commemorate this amazing event!

***

Are any of you planning to watch the eclipse tomorrow? Remember your eclipse glasses! 🙂 Hope you’re having a wonderful day!