Literary Yarns

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a lot more yarn.”

Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl and proposes marriage. Girl declines because boy is a jerk. Boy says, “CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.” Quick-witted and good-natured, Elizabeth Bennet dismisses the perks of financial gain and refuses to settle for anything less than her match, in smarts and heart. Though Mr. Darcy makes a horrible first impression, eventually he wins Lizzie over.

MATERIALS

• Size E and size B or C crochet hooks

• Worsted-weight yarn in brown, cream, and spring green

• 6-mm black plastic safety eyes

• Fiberfill

• Tapestry needle

• Hair spray, optional

• White embroidery floss

• ⅛″-wide white ribbon

• Hot-glue gun

• Brown thread or fabric glue, optional

• Polypellets, optional

NOTES

Work in continuous rounds unless otherwise specified. Use a size E crochet hook except when size B or C is noted.

Make Lizzie a little Mr. Darcy using the variation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on here.

Round 5: [Sc 4, sc 2 in next stitch] 5 times, changing to cream yarn in the last stitch. {30}

Round 6: Sc 9, sc 2 in next stitch, sc 3, changing to brown yarn. Sc 6, sc 2 in next stitch, sc 9, sc 2 in next stitch, changing to cream yarn. {14 cream + 19 brown = 33}

Rounds 7–9: Sc 14, changing to brown yarn. Sc 19, changing to cream yarn. {14 cream + 19 brown = 33}

Round 10: Sc 9, dec 1, sc 3, changing to brown yarn. Sc 6, dec 1, sc 9, dec 1, changing to cream yarn. {13 cream + 17 brown = 30}

Round 11: [Sc 4, dec 1] twice, sc 1, changing to brown yarn. Sc 3, dec 1, [sc 4, dec 1] twice, changing to cream yarn in the last stitch. {11 cream + 14 brown = 25}

Round 12: [Sc 3, dec 1] twice, sc 1, changing to brown yarn. Sc 2, dec 1, [sc 3, dec 1] twice, changing to cream yarn in the last stitch. {9 cream + 11 brown = 20}

Round 13: [Sc 2, dec 1] twice, sc 1, changing to brown yarn. Sc 1, dec 1, [sc 2, dec 1] twice. {7 cream + 8 brown = 15}

Fasten off and tuck in the end. Attach eyes between rows 8 and 9 (three rows below the hairline), approximately 6 stitches apart. Stuff head firmly with fiberfill.

Fasten off and leave a tail for sewing. Flatten the bun and sew it high on the back of Elizabeth’s head.

To make Lizzie’s flower: Using white embroidery floss and a B- or C-sized hook, make a magic ring, and [ch 3, sl st into magic ring] 5 times. Pull the center of the magic ring closed.

Cut a 5-inch length of ribbon and wrap it around Elizabeth’s hair bun. Either glue in place with a hot-glue gun or tie it off and tuck in the loose ends. Sew or glue the flower to a spot of your choice along the ribbon.

Cut a 2½-inch length of brown yarn and split it in half lengthwise. Thread one of the half-strands through a single stitch at the point where Elizabeth’s hair and face intersect (A). Tie the half-strand to the stitch, leaving a length to dangle from the side of her face, and tuck the loose end back into the head (B). Repeat on the other side of her head, and trim as necessary. You may isolate the wisps and spray them with hair spray to prevent fraying and to help them hold their shape.

Cut four 5-inch strands of brown yarn. At the row where Elizabeth’s forehead and hairline meet, insert a crochet hook into a stitch immediately to the right of the center of her forehead. A smaller hook may be easier to slide under a stitch. Yarn over the hook with the midpoint of one of the four strands (C), pull up a loop, and then wrap the two loose ends over the hook and pull them into a cow hitch knot (D; see here).

Repeat on the stitch immediately to the left of the previous stitch and in the two stitches in the row immediately above it (in her hair; E).

Split the yarn strands lengthwise to make Elizabeth’s bangs fuller, then lay them over her forehead and over the hair wisps to create her swept-back bangs. Leave her hair as is or secure the ends of the bangs to the sides of her head, either with small stitches of brown thread or fabric glue (F).

Round 13: [Sc 2, dec 1] twice, changing to cream yarn in the last stitch. Sc 2, dec 1, sc 2, changing to spring-green yarn. Dec 1, sc 2, dec 1. {6 spring green + 5 cream + 4 spring-green = 15}

Hold the body upside down and look for the “skip” on the row of stitches in the back loops. This will be the back of Elizabeth’s body. Using spring-green yarn, start 5 rows from the skip and create a surface chain around the body. {25} (See here for more on surface chains.)

Then continue to use the spring-green yarn to crochet the following along the surface chain:

Stuff the body firmly with fiberfill, or fill with polypellets first and then top off with fiberfill. Align the cream parts of the body piece with Elizabeth’s face on the head piece. (This will become the neckline of Elizabeth’s dress.) Sew onto the head using a whipstitch. If you’d like to keep the color consistent on the neckline, sew the head and body together using the spring-green yarn tail from the body, switch to a strand of cream yarn when you reach the neckline of the dress, and then resume sewing with the remainder of the spring-green yarn tail.

With spring-green yarn, ch 8. Fasten off, leaving a tail for sewing. Sew the chain along the neckline of Elizabeth’s dress, sewing onto only one side of the chain’s loops.

Cut a 12-inch length of ribbon and use a small amount of hot glue to attach the midpoint to the center of Elizabeth’s body, where her skirt starts. Secure at a few more points along the sides, and tie the loose ends in a bow in the back. Trim excess.