A mum spends up to 80 hours making crocheted Halloween costumes for her boys - including Slimer, Pennywise and Predator - and they are epic. Stephanie Pokorny, 46, from Orwell, Ohio, US, has been making the stunning costumes for sons Jacob, 10 and Jack, seven.
The head-to-toe designs include all the intricate details of her kids' favourite superheroes and baddies. Made solely by hand using yarn, Stephanie takes requests from her children as far back in August before spending weeks making each eye-catching costume.
The kids then wear the costumes trick or treating and to school parties, where they've garnered plenty of interest from friends. Speaking about her creations - which have even featured in 'Ripley's Believe It or Not!', Stephanie said: "I really like being able to take something that you’re not going to be able to find anywhere else and create it from scratch.
"I feel really blessed that I have this skill. It makes me happy that I can do it for the kids."
A skill taught to her as a teenager by her grandmother, Stephanie picked up crocheting again when she had children and decided to make the Halloween costumes. Stephanie's first piece was going a character from Alice in Wonderland.
She then started making different costumes every year, based on what her kids were in to at the time.
She said: "When my youngest, Jack, could talk his first request was a mouse pizza design. As they got older they wanted more classic aliens, characters from Fortnite and films.
"Every single year since they’ve been old enough, they pick what they want. I give myself two weeks to make each one, and average 60 to 80 hours of work on each.
"So it means from the middle of September to end of October is completely manic!"
Stephanie creates the costumes using her kids as models as she goes along. The mum researches whatever character her kids want to be "from all different angles".
She then purchases the materials and starts creating the unique designs from the middle out. She said: "I start in and then once I have a little bit of the design, I’ll have the kids try them on.
"Then I continue the process and save the face and head for last as that’s the most exciting part. I'm yelling or jumping around when I’ve finished it!
"So are the kids - they want to run out the door and stand and wave at cars going by!"
Stephanie's says that she enjoyed doing the 'Slimer' costume the most, as her favourite colour is green. Her kids' top choices change regularly, with whatever the hottest characters at the time being their favourites.
When she's not busy making elaborate costumes, Stephanie spends her time running her business, Crochetverse, where she sells patterns for smaller scale costume pieces which allow people to create their own crocheted items.
She has had requests to make and sell her full crochet suits, but she said it's not something she plans to do. "I don't not make and sell any completed items," said Stephanie, who runs business Crochetverse.
"If I started taking commissions to make them then I'd have to have a strict plan that I have to finish by a certain date, and that’s not me. It's something that I did for us as a family and it seems to make other people happy too, which is great."
Stephanie's list so far of costumes she's made
- Xenomorph/Alien
- Garden Gnome
- Peely/Fortnite
- Slenderman
- Krampus
- Skeletor
- Slimer
- Predator
- Harry Potter
- Papa Smurf
- E.T.
- Absolem - Alice in Wonderland
- Pennywise
