Singing Crochet Chickadee

In the Spring and Summer the cedars trees in my back yard are full of little Black-capped Chickadees flitting about singing their lovely song.  But during the Fall and Winter months they become scarce likely ranging farther out for food.  I miss seeing them and so does my cat who watches them from the window sill.  It inspired me to crochet my own little chickadee.  And to make it entertaining for my cat as well I incorporated some sound.  I used the circuit board from a Plant Pal moisture meter inside the chickadee and the sound is turned on when the bird sits on a metal plate.

Step 1: What you will need

Crocheting the chickadee

• Yarn (weight 4) in black, grey, white, and off-white (you will also need a pot of strong coffee -see step 2 )
• Crochet hook 2.5mm
• Yarn needles
• Eyes
• Regular sewing needle and thread
• Stuffing (I used leftover scraps of yarn)

Electronics

• Singing plant moisture meter
• Soldering iron
• Wire
• Neodymium magnets (I got mine on Ebay)

Perch

• Piece of wood and a drill
• Floral stem wire
• Brown yarn and 5.5 crochet hook
• Sugru and small piece of metal
• Brown paint
• Wool roving (of pet fur) for felting berries
• Kool-aid to dye berries

Here is the nomenclature that I used for the crochet pattern (these are US stitches see link for conversion to UK):

            Rnd         round
            ch(s)       chain stitch(s)
            sc            single crochet
            dc            double crochet
            hdc          half double crochet
            trc             triple crochet
            sl st         slip stitch
            st(s)        stitch(s)
            sc2tog    decrease by crocheting 2 stitches together

Comments

[craftpro]

LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ChrysN]

Thanks!

[LauraLauraLynn]

Your bird is adorable! Looks like your cat really likes it too.

[ChrysN]

Thanks. Yes, my cat really likes it.

[dozer789]

Nice instructable, and great job on winning in the contest!

[ChrysN]

Thanks!

[SlickSqueegie]

Very well done! Congrats on your grand prize :)

[ChrysN]

Thanks!

[poofrabbit]

Congratulations on being a finalist in the fiber arts contest!! Good luck to you! I'm so excited this is in the finals, I voted for you, I can't crochet...wish I could but I can't..but I so appreciate the work it takes and this turned out so so lovely!

[ChrysN]

Thanks! Crocheting is a lot of fun and easy to pick up, you should give it a try if you have the time (of course that is the hard part -finding the time, there are a lot of things I would like to learn if I only had the time).

[Mr.Sanchez]

Voted !!Good Luck.

[ChrysN]

Thanks!

[Penolopy Bulnick]

That is adorable! I miss hearing Chickadees all the time :)

[ChrysN]

I didn't realize you don't get Chickadees in California, how sad.

[Penolopy Bulnick]

Well, they might be out here. But it's not the same as living in the country in Minnesota. My grandma would sing back to the chickadees. Chickadee-dee-dee-dee :)

[amandaghassaei]

so cute!

[J-Five]

I better not make one of these, because our 2 cats would attack it!!!

[patthepicturelady]

Want to try something new

[naomifair]

Brilliant! I love seeing new ways to hack things. Your Smaug instructable made me want to join instrucables. Thanks!

[Moogieof4]

Cute, clever and I loved seeing your cat on the video jump up on the table to investigate. :)

[ChrysN]

Thanks! I was going to re-do the video because I have the TV on in the background but I don't know if my cat would do that again.

[flyingpuppy]

How adorable!!

[Ninzerbean]

This is amazing!

[mikeasaurus]

I really like this, and could totally use it during the dark winter months that lie ahead. 

^{_{Also, please stop reading my mind on project ideas and posting them before me; amazingly}}

[ChrysN]

Really, what were you going to make?

[ewout]

damn these are cute...

[ChrysN]

Thanks!

[iceng]

This is ... so well made !

In addition to all the yarn work, you add electronics to it ! !

and then you MODIFY it and add a magnetic chirp switch ! ! ! .

Girl ( or if you like polite Lady ) you are on Fire ! ! ! !

A

[ChrysN]

Magnetic chirp switch -that makes it sound like I know what I am doing not just winging it!

[poofrabbit]

This is adorable! So perfect for bird lovers!