OddsSprogs/Jaiye P. Cordory - Ghost Dog/Zero Crochet Kit - Review

 Happy Halloween!

I have some spooky/thematically appropriate crochet kits that I wanted to complete and review for this month but...time got away from me and now here we are, Halloween itself, with no spooky posts! 

I'm hoping to rectify that, though, and make multiple posts tonight as I have, in fact, completed some Halloween appropriate kit, the first of which is the Ghost Dog/Zero from The Nightmare Before Christmas crochet amigurumi kit by Jaiye P. Cordory, or OddsSprogs on Etsy.

The Nightmare Before Christmas is a quintessential Halloween movie/property, though, oddly enough, I don't think Halloween itself factors all that much into the story. There's only one song specifically about Halloween, and the rest of the plot centers around Jack's plot to usurp Christmas. It's always spooky, yes, but not really about Halloween.

Regardless! One of my favorite characters from the movie is Zero, Jack's faithful ghost dog who also has a glowing pumpkin nose and who serves as a creepy-version of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

Zero seems pretty easy to make since he's basically a sheet with a cartoon dog head, but he's actually a little more complex since his body and nose have a very specific shape. I was very impressed with this kit/pattern as OddsSprogs really nailed Zero's silhouette, and in a very easy to understand pattern. This kit was a little expensive for me at a total of $36.73, but that's because it was shipped to U.S.A. from the U.K. The kit itself was $20.53, shipping was $13.68, and I paid $2.53 in tax. For how good the pattern is, and the final amigurumi, I think it was 100% worth it.

Along with the pattern booklet, this kit includes 100g of Stylecraft Special DK acrylic yarn in white, enough of red, yellow, orange, and black yarn for the details, a metal 4.00mm crochet hook, a stitch marker, and a bag of stuffing. All included materials in this kit are of great quality, though I did substitute the hook with one of my own (I prefer hooks with wider bases, though the included hook is quite serviceable). 

I had more than enough materials to complete the project; I was worried that there wouldn't be enough white yarn to complete Zero, but I ended up with some left over, so it wasn't a concern. 

Look. At his. Cute face! I know I've already mentioned it, but the pattern for Zero's face is very well-written and well-thought out. Even the little wrinkles in his nose are part of the pattern; I did not have to manipulate Zero's nose to make it bend and wrinkle like that.

The most difficult part of this project was making sure his mouth looked right and that his eyes were in the correct position, as a large deviation would make his look off-model. I 'traced' out his mouth with pins first, and then backstitched it using the included black yarn. I also tested placement of the eyes by pinning them in place first.

I made some slight changes to Zero's nose, but this was more due to personal preference than any issues with 'accuracy' since his nose differs a lot between the movie and artwork.

I'm also really impressed with the shaping/pattern for Zero's body. It would have been really easy to just make it as a square or a rectangle, but the shape is very on-model and really adds to the overall silhouette and design of this amigurumi. At first I was unsure of open spaces since Zero is a solid-color sheet, but I think they were necessary for both the shape and so the body was more malleable (more solid crochet pieces are stiff).

I really can't say enough nice things about this kit and pattern! My Zero/Ghost Dog turned out so cute and cuddly, and I am just so impressed with shaping of the face and body (I'm sorry for being redundant!). The kit is a little pricey due to the international shipping, but I believe that OddsSprogs sells the pattern on its own, so if you're interested, I recommend checking their Etsy store out!

<3 Thank you for reading!