Crocheted Cerberus, Cupid & Psyche

by Regine May

Five years ago, my little girl was off sick from school, and for no particular reason asked me to make her a sheep, just like that. I had some balls of wool left over and my mother’s crochet hook. I made her something that didn’t really look much like a sheep without really knowing what I was doing, but she loved it anyway. I had learned how to crochet as a child, but had not done much since then. Not only did she drag the sheep everywhere with her, she also wanted me to crochet her some more toys. So we were both hooked.

Over the years, she set me challenges: a Dalek from Doctor Who but in purple; a rabbit; a unicorn; a Cerberus. The great thing about crochet is that you can create three dimensional things really easily. If you know what it looks like, you can make it up from the simplest of stitches: single crochet stitches going round in circles, increase or decrease as needed. It became a lot easier when I discovered stitch markers to help me counting the rounds. The website ravelry.com is great for tracking down patterns if you do not know offhand what a pangolin looks like; on the whole I follow published patterns, but I have adapted and designed patterns of my own, too (for example Cupid and Psyche, for which there just was no pattern available – though Psyche really does not look like she could make Venus jealous of her beauty).

Crochet is incredibly relaxing and toys work up quick, as I don’t have the patience to knit sweaters. A ball of wool and a crochet hook do not take up much space in a bag. Making the occasional mistake doesn’t really show in a crochet toy, either, especially when it will be loved by enthusiastic children anyway. I have now made toys for quite a few of my daughter’s friends, too.

When my crochet addiction became known at my work as well, I started to make good luck presents for my PhD students when they went for their vivas: a fan of Queen got a Freddie Mercury, and a student of revenge tragedies got a dragon for her Medea chariot. Anything to take the edge of the stress for candidates and supervisors! The Cerberus also got used as a prop for the Classics at Leeds public and interactive performance of Cupid and Psyche in 2016 during the Light Night arts event which takes over the city of Leeds for one night only, so it even managed to support my research and outreach work. Crochet and Classics can go together in the weirdest of ways.