Once upon a time, I started playing Magic the Gathering. (By once upon a time, I mean approximately one year ago). We immediately became obsessed with the game, bought tons of cards, built many decks, and bought loads of dice.
I love dice. I am a die-hoarder. I love the pretty ones, the interesting ones, and the boring ones. I’m always finding more that I want. It’s a problem. With that comes the question: where the hell am I going to store these things?
About three months ago, I made this dice bag. It’s simple, it’s cute, it’s functional. The next game night, I pulled out my dice bag, and my friend Rob’s eyes lit up. “Angie, can you make one for me?”
Usually I don’t make things for people on request, but Rob is an awesome human, so I agreed. When I sat down to make him his bag, though, I got smacked in the face with an IDEA. What about a CTHULHU DICE BAG?? I quickly texted Rob, asking him if he liked Cthulhu. He responded in a Lovecraftian language that implied he was into the idea.
I messed around with a few different designs, trying to find the best way to accomplish it. Here’s what I ended up with.
Materials
You can use any weight yarn with a corresponding sized hook, it will just affect how big your dice bag is. Rob’s Cthulhu was made with 4-ply yarn and a 3mm hook. I made mine with chunky weight yarn and a 4.5mm hook.
Remember: when making bags and amigurumi, it’s important to use a hook that’s smaller than you’d usually use to get that nice tight texture!
Pattern
This pattern uses US crochet terms, but just remember that every “single crochet (sc)” is a UK double crochet (dc). That’s really all you need to know for this project!
Body
Working into a magic ring, 5sc.
Round 2: 2sc into every stitch (10)
Round 3: *1sc, 2sc into next stitch* Repeat ** to end (15 stitches)
Round 4: *2sc, 2sc into next stitch* Repeat ** to end (20 stitches)
Round 5: *3sc, 2sc into next stitch* Repeat ** to end (25 stitches)
Round 6: 1sc into every stitch
Repeat round 6 until the body stands about 2.5 inches tall.
Head
Work 7 stitches, chain 18, and join (without twisting!) to the beginning of the round. This is to create the head hinge for opening the bag. It will feel fiddly at first, but don’t worry you’re probably doing it right!
Round 2: Work one sc into every stitch around, including the 18 chains from the previous round. (25 stitches)
Repeat round 2 six times.
Round 9: *3sc, decrease* Repeat until end of round (20)
Round 10: *2sc, decrease* Repeat until end of round (15)
Round 11: *1sc, decrease* Repeat until end of round (10)
Round 12: *decrease around* (5)
Bind off and weave in end, being careful to sew up the gap at the top of the head.
Tentacles
Now for the fun part! For this part of the project, we’ll be working back into the first round of the head to create the tentacles and the loop for the button closure. You’ll be working into the 18 stitches at the bottom of the head that create the hinge for the bag, the same 18 stitches that started off as the chain in round 1 of the head.
Step one: Join yarn into the first stitch. Chain 15. Starting in the second chain from the hook, do 14 single crochets back up to the top, and sc into the same stitch as the 15 chains. Sc into the next stitch. (One tentacle made.)
Step two: Into the next stitch, Chain 10. Starting in the second chain from the hook, do 9 single crochets back up to the top, and sc into the same stitch as the 10 chains. Sc into the next stitch. (Second tentacle made.) Repeat step two.
Step three: 2sc, chain 10. Join chain into the next stitch to create the button loop. 3sc.
Step four: Repeat step two twice for two more tentacles.
Step five: Chain 15. Starting in the second chain from the hook, do 14 single crochets back up to the top, and sc into the same stitch as the 15 chains. (Final tentacle made!)
Bind off and weave in ends.
And that’s all there is to it! Like this project? Here’s an image for you to pin!
Now for the boring self promotion stuff – if you follow GamerCrafting on Facebook, you’ll have access to some sweet exclusive deals on hand-dyed yarns and more cool stuff. And if you follow GamerCrafting on Bloglovin’, you’ll never miss a free pattern post.
Go forth and game!