My husband, Shelby, is the best. Since the start of Squirrel Picnic, he’s had to put up with crochet squirrels coming on vacation with us, weekends sacrificed to endless crochet craziness, and a living room that is almost always covered in yarn. He’s also been my best adviser, weighing in on everything from yarn color to construction. He has a very good mechanical mind. For these and so many other reasons, I am very pleased to be able to dedicate Make It! Challenge #8 to him — it’s well deserved and long overdue. And, yes, he advised me on everything for this project, even coming with me to the yarn shop to pick out zombie colors.
As you could probably already guess, for this challenge Shelby asked me to make him a zombie version of myself (a zombie self-portrait if you will). I set my heart on a few details from the start: an exposed brain with a flap of scalp, an eye that could pop out of the socket, and an arm that’s been cut off at the elbow. Of those three details, the eyes were the hardest, and I’m still not thrilled with how bug-eyed my zombie looks. So when I decided to make a zombie version of my husband to accompany the zombie version of me, I chose to simplify the construction of some of the details. Before I knew it, I had two very different patterns. The bodies and appendages are basically the same, but details like the eyes, brain opening, hair, and limbs are more complicated on the girl zombie. Have fun picking and choosing which details you like between the girl and boy zombies to make your zombie uniquely your own.
As a final note, I should mention that this pattern doesn’t include how to make clothing for your zombie. However, at the end of each pattern, I’ve listed links to the free sewing patterns I used to make my zombies’ clothes. Most 16” to 18” doll clothes patterns will fit your zombie, but do a fitting with the pattern before you start. There are a lot of free American Girl Doll clothes patterns online, and from what I could tell, most of them will fit your zombie with minimal tweaking.
As I type this, our zombies look very cute sitting on the couch together and holding hands. I’d love to see pictures of your zombies too! Send them to squirrelpicnic{at}gmail{dot}com or share them on Facebook.
Squirrel Picnic 
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