Squeaky Snakes: A Softie Pattern In the Making

I'm fascinated by how ideas evolve. I little while ago I described how my turtle pattern changed over the course of five years, eventually resulting in Scooter the Turtle and today I have another example to share.

Right after I finished the manuscript for The Artful Bird I began to experiment with designing new animals. I knew I was ready to move on from birds, but I wasn't sure where I was heading. I remember feeling really at odds, and I even wrote about it at the time. I like to know where I'm going!

 In those at-loose-ends exploratory months I made a coiled snake that I was pretty happy with. I'd just found a big box of vintage wool scraps at a church rummage sale and one of them made ideal snakeskin.

A few months ago, when I finished the manuscript for my second book, I was at loose ends again, not sure what to do next. There was a ruthless studio cleanout right then as I was trying to organize my thoughts and choose the next direction. Many, many toys I'd made over the years and hung onto for no particular reason went into a garbage bag, but I hung onto the snake because I liked him.

He was the start of an idea, like a placeholder.

And now is his time to shine! I took him off the shelf a few weeks ago, pulled out his pattern envelope, and started again. One coiled snake became three snakes: a coiled one, a curvy one, and a basic one.

I knew I wanted a snake with an open mouth because open mouths seem tricky to make, but they're really not hard once you see how the pattern pieces are designed.

A big head with silly eyes makes these snakes look more like friendly babies than scary, venomous predators. Perfect.

A few years ago my mom gave us two plush snakes with squeakers in their heads and they have proven to be very entertaining toys for all three of my girls. The snakes have squeaky conversations, sneak up on us and then squeak in our ears, and generally are a lot of squeaky fun. So the new snakes have squeakers in their heads and I now stock 3-packs of squeakers in the shop.

They're Squeaky Snakes! and they're perfect for Halloween fun.

P.S. Please note that my pattern prices will be set at $9 each beginning on Monday, September 17. If you'd like to get a pattern or two at the old $6.50 price you've got just a little time to grab one!