The Summer of Crochet: King Astro Star

Summer is 100 percent here. I learned this hard truth the other day when PECO, the power company in Philly, had to turn off the power to my apartment building to deal with yet another squirrel nest that started a small fire. You’d think they’d make their home in one of the many beautiful, shady trees that tower over the apartments, but no. They like to get into street lights and chew on wires.

Side Note: Yes, apparently I’m an old lady now, who has developed strong feelings about squirrels.

Anyway, PECO turned off the power in the middle of a 90 degree day. Everyone else is at work, so it wasn’t a big deal. Except me. It was a huge deal for me. I was in the middle of listening to The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan while I packed the Geek-A-Long Guild boxes. There is nothing more depressing than that sad sound power makes when it dies and the house becomes eerily quiet. I closed all of the blinds to help keep the sun out and tried to keep working in the silence, but it was killing me, both the quiet and the growing temperatures. So, I decided to do what any sane adult would do. I put on my bathing suit and went down to the pool for a couple of hours while I waited for the sound of 100 air conditioners kicking back on. While I was there, I put my time at the pool to good use — you know, other than knitting and soaking up some sweet Vitamin D — and photographed the next amigurumi from my growing collection of Sea Friends and Frenemies: King Astro Star.

If you haven’t already noticed, I am slightly obsessed with crocheting little sea creatures and giving them backstories. By the end of the summer, I’ll have an entire books worth of them and all of their stories will interconnect, because why wouldn’t they? Next week, I’ll be living every day like it’s Shark Week, since it’ll actually be shark week, and will add some sharp-toothed frenemies. But for now, King Astro Star is joining Lady Shelly Yertle and Octi the Fancy as another friend.

King Astropecten Articulatus, or King Astro Star to his people, is a kind and generous leader. With Queen Gwen by his side and the advice of Merlin the Marlin to aid him, King Astro established the round sand dollar table to ensure that justice and peace will prevail. Grab your crochet hook and join him in Oceanelot! You can download this amigurumi starfish pattern by clicking the buy now button below. This pattern is FREE during our Summer of Crochet event. No coupon code required! The $6 discount will apply automatically at check out. After September 4th, this pattern will become paid.

Astropecten Articulatus, the royal starfish, is actually a real thing. It makes its home in the West Atlantic from the east coast of the United States all the way down through Mexico and the Caribbean to Brazil. I didn’t want to do the expected orange starfish, and I found this guy in my search. They can be anywhere from bright blue to purple and have white spines, and he fit perfectly into the collection. I mean, come on. It’s referred to as the royal starfish after all. Plus, the addition of the picots around the edge to signify the white spines makes him 20 percent cuter.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWa4jCjBxaE/?taken-by=jac_attacking

If you’re new to crochet or maybe just a little rusty, you’re going to require a few skills to make the dashing king of Oceanelot. Click on the links below to learn.

1. How to make a slip knot
2. How to crochet a chain (ch)
3. How to Single Crochet (sc)
4. How to Single Crochet two together (sc2tog)
5. How to Double Crochet (dc)

In addition to the standard crochet stitches listed above, you’ll also need to know how to create a Magic Loop. Normally, I’m a big fan of the ‘ch 2, work X-amount of sc into the 2nd ch from hook’ method in order to make my starting ring to work in the round. Most of the time, this method is fine. Since, King Astro Star’s face is crocheted almost directly over the beginning of the round, I wanted to make sure it had a cleaner, tighter look. Check out the infographic below to learn how to make a Magic Loop (Ring) and click image for a larger view.

King Astro Star’s crown also calls for the triple crochet (tr) stitch, but we’ll go over that later. For now, order your skein of Skull Cave, Deepsea Speedo, and Invisible Jet and get started on this royal starfish!

~ Jac
Shark Week starts Sunday, but that day belongs to the Geek-A-Long from now until the end of time. So shark week will start on Monday here at Lattes & Llamas!