Pokemon #58 - Growlithe [Part 4]

So growlithe isn't progressing as quickly as I would like him to but we will continue on with this! There's only the legs, tail, stripes and chest bushy part to go. This is pretty much the home stretch.

And we copy the legend again and off we go!

Legend (This is all US crochet terminology)
* SC - Single crochet
* SC2tog - Single crochet two stitches together
* SCx[A] - Single crochet A amount of times
* [SCxA]xB - repeat whatever is in the bracket B amount of times
* [A]SC - single crochet A times in the same stitch
* LS - loop stitch
* SS - Slip stitch
* HDC - Half double crochet
* CH - chain
* When I write my colour change, I will write "change to <colour>", that means the next stitch is the new colour.
Eg, SCx3 (change to white) SC
It means on the last stitch of the x3 you will change to white and the SC is the first stitch in white.
* The number in the brackets is how many stitches should be in that round

This is what we have so far!

Front Legs
Round 1. In the 2nd ch from the hook, SCx6 (6)
Round 2. 2SCx6 (12)
Round 3. [2SC, SC]x6 (18)
Round 4. SCx18 - use the back loop only for this round then go back to both loops (18)
Round 5. SCx18 (18)
Round 6. SC2togx4, Scx3, 2SCx4, Scx3 (18)
Round 7 - 16. SCx18 (18, 10 rounds)
Stuff and sew onto the body at an angle. The top of the leg will ligh up with the orange/white line on the body.

The front leg has the top part line up with where the orange joins the white.

Don't worry about that slight weird join at the front with the colours, the front fluff will cover that up.

Sew down where the orange meets the white so that the leg stars where it should. 

It helps to turn the body on its side and lie the plush down. That way the leg positions itself naturally and you can just pick up where the stitches need to be to sew the leg on.

This is what the leg should kinda look like when it's sewn on. The top meets in like a triangle shape. 

I just wanted to show you how I pick up the stitches with this photo. 

And here I'm trying to show how I follow where the leg should meet the body and tack it down that way. 

And we have a growlithe with two legs.

Back Legs
Round 1. In the 2nd ch from the hook, SCx6 (6)
Round 2. 2SCx6 (12)
Round 3. 2SCx3, SCx3, 2SCx3, SCx3 (18)
Round 4. [2SC, SCx2]x6 (24)
Round 5. SCx24 - use the back loop only for this round then go back to both loops (24)
Round 6 - 7. SCx24 (24, 2 rounds)
Round 8. SCx4, SC2togx4, SCx3, SC2tog, SCx5, SC2tog (18)
Round 9 - 12. SCx18 (18, 4 rounds)
Round 13. SCx2, 2SCx2, SCx4, 2SCx2, SCx2, 2SC, SCx4, 2SC (24)
Round 14. SCx24 (24)
Round 15. SCx5, 2SCx3, SCx2, 2SCx3, SCx11 (30)
Round 16 - 17. SCx30 (30, 2 rounds)
Round 18. [SC2tog, SCx3]x6 (24)
Round 19. [SC2tog, SCx2]x6 (18)
Stuff the bottom of the leg firmly but only half stuff the top bulby part of the leg. The reason for this is you want to half squash the top part to sew it down to the body. This one isn't attached at the same level as the front leg, it sits two rows higher into the orange.

Sorry the following photos are a little bit strange. My camera went a bit...awkward and I'm not sure why. But anyway, photos.

The top half of the leg should only be half stuffed and pressed in so that it sews on similar to the front leg. 

The back leg should be sewn on a few rows higher than the front leg was. 

Sew on the same way as the front leg by picking up stitches where the leg and body meet. 

Sew along a slight diagonal line where the leg meets the body.

Ignoring how absolutely ugly this photo is, this is what it looks like sewn on completely.

Tail
In round 2 - 3 you want double the length of loop stitch than you normally would for the design of the tail.
Round 1. In the 2nd ch from the hook, SCx6 (6)
Round 2. 2LSx6 (12)
Round 3. [2LS, LS]x6 (18)
Round 4. [2LS, LSx2]x6 (24)
Round 5. [2LS, LSx3]x6 (30)
Round 6 - 13. LSx30 (30, 8 rounds)
Round 14. [LS2tog, LSx3]x6 (24)
Leave a long tail. Now you have an ugly mess ball. But use the same technique as used for the mohawk and you will have a bushy tail.

You get this really strange mess of yarn loops. It's okay. It will look better I promise.

I started by separating out the really long loops. Wanted to deal with those later. 

I first cut the shorter loops and brushed them out. Then I trimmed up the ball part of the tail.

The longer loops at the top, keep them long as you want the slightly folded part of the tail to really stand out. The strands just below that, I cut a little shorter to really highlight the long folded over hair part.

Then I continued with the styling; trimming the fur, spraying it with hair lacquer, blowdrying, straightening and all that jazz.

Stuff and sew on.

And with that, all we have left to do is the front fluff and the stripes and the little baby is complete.

When I sewed on the tail, I picked up the stitches that are right below the last loops. So that there isn't anything showing at the base of the tail.

This is what the baby looks like done. I like the way the longer loops fan down for the tail. 

Aaaand a slightly top angle. 

He's so close to being finished now! Hang in there!

Now we have the stripes and front fluff to go! Hoooome stretch.