You all know by now that I’m obsessed with making dolls of famous people and then giving them to said famous people, right? That is the biggest thrill to me! Well, when I made characters from Willy Wonka I never really thought about giving those dolls to the real people from the movie, until this weekend!
There are some movies that I’ve watched since I was really little that I can pretty much recite line by line. The old Rankin-Bass “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer“, “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure“, and “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” are three that come to mind. Willy Wonka is just one of my favorite things. I’ve made amigurumi Oompa Loompas, a blueberry Violet Beauregarde, and most recently Willy Wonka for Inside Crochet magazine. The others are sketched out in my notebook but have yet to be realized in yarn (all of which I’ve already purchased)!
I heard about the Austin Comic-Con last Friday. When I googled it, the first thing I read was that the Wonka kids were going to be there, along with the guy that played Chewbacca, Peter Mayhew, and Jake Lloyd, who played little Anakin in Star Wars. I knew the whole family had to go!
On my way out the door, I grabbed a handful of business cards and the Oompa Loompa and Violet Beauregarde I had made. I was so sad I didn’t have a Charlie Bucket, Mike Teevee, and Veruca Salt!
As soon as we entered the Convention center, the first tables we walked past were the Wonka kids! We walked right up (why wasn’t there a line?!) and I told Paris Themmen (Mike) that I had brought gifts. I handed the dolls to him and he laughed out loud and thought they were really cute. In turn, he signed a picture for me and he and Peter Ostrum (Charlie) took a picture with my Oompa Loompa.
Julie Dawn Cole (Veruca) was at the next table. She was really interested in the dolls and told me she was a “ferocious knitter.” I told her she needed to learn to crochet too! She posed for photos and took a little video with the dolls. Ignore all my nervous giddy laughter and excitement!
Denise Nickerson (Violet) wasn’t there when we first got to the show so I went by later. She told me she just loved the dolls and had gotten so many compliments on them. I blabbed on and on about how we all love the movies so much and how I loved her in the Brady Bunch (she had a part as Pamela, the daughter of one of Mike’s work associates–I’ll get into my Brady Bunch obsession another time).
These were some of the sweetest people! All of them were so nice and answered all of my dumb questions, posed for pictures, and were so genuine. Hooray for spreading the Amigurumi Love!
” over and over (and over and over). Its one of my top 5 movies of all time, for sure, and never gets old! 
craftyiscool 