You know you’re a child of the 80s if you….spent hours addicted to the platform game Lemmings.

For those of you who didn’t whittle away large chunks of your day playing this PC game, the concept was to persuade a line of green-haired little people to make their way to the target whilst avoiding fires, blades and gaping holes. For those of you having a nostalgic moment, you can play the game online here.

Crochet fans can now recreate the game at home with this free Amigurumi pattern from PlanetJune. She’s even uploaded the patterns for each of the different tools for the little fellas.

Mama Mia! One of the most famous gaming characters on the planet has been recreated in crochet form.

This Mario Amigurumi has been created by WolfDreamer off the Hook as part of a set of SuperMario characters including Goomba, Luigi and the Mushrooms.

This is a free pattern, so you can get cracking on creating the whole cast of Super Mario, which would go nicely with the Mario wall decals we covered recently.

Wolfdreamer has some great dork-inspired free patterns, including several Sonic and Pokemon characters, so it’s worth a bookmark.

The latest animated series to get a big screen makeover is Astro Boy, a sort of modern take on the Pinocchio story. The film follows Astro Boy, a robot created to replace the son of a scientist who died in a tragic accident, rejected for his lack of emotions.

The original Japanese Manga TV series of Astro Boy was shown back in 1963, and various versions have been seen across the globe since.

The craft community are clearly fans of the robot boy too, and Etsy seller CraftyisCool has created a pattern to make the Astro Boy Amigurumi ($5) on the right.

You can find more information on the animated movie here.

Fancy giving your progeny a passion for crafting? Have a look at these craft kits for inspiration.

Step-by-step Sewing

This Mini flower and butterfly cushion sewing kit (£6.96 from Baker Ross) on the right will teach your child the basics of sewing, allowing them to create their own flower or butterfly cushion.

The needle is plastic and the shapes are pre-cut, so the set is safe for little hands too.

Crafty creations

This Crafty Apron set on the left (£11.99 from minimakers.com) comes with various bells and whistles to allow your child to create an apron suitable for baking or safely storing scissors, knitting needles and various other crafty supplies. It’s suitable for 7 years and up.

Clever crochet

Perhaps they would prefer a craft where they can make their own Amigurumi?

This Crochet Art kit on the right (Amazon for £9.77) has enough wool and supplies to create a coaster, handbag, place mat or belt, and eventually their own cuddly toy.

The kit is simple enough for a child of 8 years plus to pick up, and there are plenty of tutorial books available too.

Nuts about Knitting

Think they’d prefer to try knitting? They could try out this Knitting for Kids – Starter Gift box on the left.

The set comes with a 99-minute DVD, animated story to help with the learning, three different coloured balls of wool, knitting needles and a tutorial from seven-year-old knitter Ryan Anderson. The gift set is available from Amazon for £12.98.

Potty about Pirates

All a little too girly? I spotted this ‘Create Your Own Pirate Kit’ on the right on littlecraftybugs.com for only £1.99.

The kit comes with everything you’ll need to create a hat, flag, eye patch, moustache, sword and treasure chest.

If, like me, you’re extremely disorganised and you’ve left most of your present  shopping to the week before Christmas, you might want to consider getting a little crafty.

I loved the Ewoks in Star Wars, so this crochet Wicket the Ewok Amigurumi really caught my eye when I was reading through Geek Crafts.

It’s by mum and crafter Lucy Ravenscar, and she’s shared the PDF pattern, so you can create him at home.

Have a browse through the rest of her patterns too, they’re all influenced by her children’s requests.

• More free patterns on Dork Adore
• More crochet on Dork Adore

Crafty geekness is nothing new to us at Dork Adore.

We’ve already looked at how you can make Bella’s gloves in Twilight and found some Where the Wild Things Are crochet patterns.

Doctor Who fans take geek crafting to a whole new level, thanks to the hundreds of characters and monsters that make such great DIY projects.

CraftZine have the pattern to make these adorable Adipose Monsters on the right (also known as the Living Fat)

For those with a sweet tooth,  Flickr user alicia rae has created this Dalek cupcakes for the last Doctor Who finale.

Never have I wanted to exterminate a cupcake more.

The demand is so high for Dalek based cake products that they’ve created a Flickr pool for all the monstrous masterpieces.  Have a look at this realistic looking Tardis birthday cake from Dooogewalah.

The wartime Keep Calm and Carry On poster seems to be everywhere at the moment, and there are plenty of variations on the theme.

This Tardis based version is definitely one of my personal favourite alternative versions though, even if they have pushed their luck a little with the length of slogan.

Grab a decent frame and you’ve got the ideal present for a Doctor Who fan.

You can buy it from Etsy seller Tuffin Industries for $10.

Fancy making your very own Doctor Who and Tardis, to go with the Adipose monsters?

This Amigurumi Doctor Who and Tardis is based on the very first Doctor, William Hartnell.

The crafter who created this, piexelatedmushroom, has kindly shared the crochet pattern, which you can find on her website.

She’s included the patterns for several of the doctors on the right hand panel, along with the Tardis.

She’s also currently running a blog giveaway to win a hand crafted plushie from her shop of the most recent Doctor, David Tennent, in his famous  spectacles, tweed jacket and red trainers.

Finally, thinking ahead a few weeks, we’ve got a festive Dalek!

Sporting a festive red hat, the Dalek can hang from your tree and freak out your family.

It’s from Etsy store HeadofHeather for $8.

The store also offers these ghoulish Ood earrings. Nice.

First things first, “Knitted Character” is quite clearly crocheted and if you’re a crafty type (like me) that probably bothers you every single week (a handy reminder that crafty types nearly always need to get out more).

Thankfully, the people who actually made the original Knitted Character toy are equally pedantic, and take the trouble to point out the crafting faux pas on their website. Cloth-Ears sell the Knitted Character (and a bunch of his friends) for £10.99.

However, there’s a bit of a waiting list – unsurprisingly – and if you’re really desperate for your own yarn bunny, some eBay sellers have cobbled together an approximation of the Knitted Character that almost passes for the real thing (if you squint).

If you fancy making one yourself, a pattern like this Amigurumi Crochet Bunny Pattern is a good place to start as is this Easter Bunny Pattern.

Then, all you need to do is add the nose bit (which you can copy from this amigurumi piggy pattern), make the ears a bit thinner, and add in some pink stripes.

If anyone finds an actual pattern for the Knitted Character out there, please let me know!

It’s times like this that you have to get down on your knees and thank the internet for being so marvellous.

After all, how else would any of us get to see this amigurumi pattern for Max and one of the monsters (Carol aka Moishe) from Where the Wild Things Are?

The patterns cost just $5 each (though you cannot sell the finished products). They’re available from Etsy courtesy of the very clever Allison at Crafty is Cool.

• More Crochet on Dork Adore

True Blood is a great source of crochet crafty goodness thanks to an embarrassment of afghans, which seem to adorn every sofa on set.

And if you’d like to get yourself kitted out with Lafayette’s chosen granny blanket, the kindly Betty McKnit has added a free pattern to her Ravelry page.

Or, for those without a Ravelry account, you can get it direct here: Lafayette’s Afghan.

• More True Blood on Dork Adore
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