A Rainbow Robin Unicorn (Pica Pau) for Claire

Just completed a slightly sparkly, pastel rainbow Robin Unicorn from Animal Friends of Pica Pau by Yanina Schenkel of Pica Pau (@picapauyan). Am slowly completing various craft projects that I've planned or are in various WIP stages, which I'd set aside in favour of the Chinese New Year kueh amigurumi special.

This latest one was a half-formed birthday present plan for my niece Claire, who will be turning 3 years old soon. Claire is at this phase where she adores pretty things, pink and pastel colours, rainbows and unicorns. So, I hope she takes to this pastel rainbow Robin Unicorn.

Robin Unicorn's body is made with a sparkly cream yarn (Bella Baby tizz 8ply) that I got on discount at Spotlight. Robin Unicorn was actually not part of the plan. Initially planned to make a sliceable, play food cake for her, based on the Funfetti Cake Slice by A Menagerie of Stitches. But when I saw the skeins of this yarn on the shelf at Spotlight (at 40% discount too!), I got inspired and jettisoned the cake amigurumi in favour of Robin Unicorn. I still like the sliceable cake idea though, so I'll save it for another occasion.

Pica Pau's Robin Unicorn (IG post)

Robin Unicorn's mane and tail are in pastel rainbow shades - pastel blue-green Scheepjes Catona No.385 Crystalline, light purple in No.226 Light Orchid, light yellows in No.522 Primrose and No.208 Yellow Gold, light blue in No.173 Bluebell, and light pinks in No.222 Tulip and No.238 Powder Pink. I already had most of the colours in my yarn stash, but had to add Crystalline and Light Orchid. They're not my usual colour shades, but my niece adores colours like them, and they complemented the girly pinks and blue I planned to use. Now that I've actually seen the colours and used them, I have grown to like them quite a bit, especially the Crystalline. Maybe time to incorporate them into some other crochet project...maybe crochet macarons?

Originally planned to make individual curly strands for the mane and tail, but the unicorn didn't turn out as I'd envisioned. So, I switched back to the pattern's mane and tail but incorporated the yarn colour changes, and added 10 more rounds to the mane so I could curl it at the end like the tail.

Pica Pau's Robin Unicorn (IG post)

The rest of Robin Unicorn parallel the shades I used in her mane and tail. The hooves are in Powder Pink, the horn in Lemonade, and the wings in Crystalline. Only the cheek blush is in a different shade, rose pink Scheepjes Catona No.409 Soft Rose.

Overall, making Robin Unicorn was not very difficult, but assembling her was somewhat challenging. Positioning the ears, horn, and wings was a bit of a struggle because the pattern didn't specifically state where to attach them. Regrettably, I've tried to attach them as symmetrical as possible, but I did not succeed.

Attaching the mane and tail was also a challenge, and took some maneuvering and contorting. At some point I thought I'd overstuffed them, but when I reduced the amount of stuffing, they looked flat. Fortunately I pinned it on to the body first before making the adjustments. Unraveling and reassembling would've been...ugh, let's not touch that topic. 

I packed Robin Unicorn's body and legs very tightly with stuffing though, so they are quite stiff. I'm a little apprehensive that my niece might not take to it because it isn't very soft, fluffy and cuddly. But I didn't want it to get all floppy over time.

Pica Pau's Robin Unicorn, my version in pastel rainbows and glitter (IG post).

Materials & Tools:

• Yarn - Bella Baby tizz in cream, Scheepjes Catona No.222 Tulip, No.238 Powder Pink, No.409 Soft Rose, No.173 Bluebell, No.397 Cyan, No.208 Yellow Gold, No.522 Primrose, No.403 Lemonade, No.226 Light Orchid, No.385 Crystalline.
• 3mm crochet hook
• Polyester fiberfill stuffing
• 12mm safety eyes
• DMC stranded embroidery thread No.310 (black)

Pica Pau's Robin Unicorn (IG post)