Carol Singing Amigurumi Mice

Fell in love with these mice the first time I saw them and decided to make three, not for blind mice! but for a carol singing trio.

The pattern is free from Sharon at Amigurumi to Go. Thanks Sharon x

https://www.amigurumitogo.com/2015/12/crochet-mouse-free-pattern.html

An easy pattern to follow but I must admit after making three bodies, three heads, six arms, six ears and three tails I couldn't be bothered making six legs! So I hit on this idea:

I cut three circles of card crosswise from a loo roll, about half an inch high and glued them to a piece of card. These were going to hold the bottom ends of the mice so they stood up without falling over.

I then covered these and the card with acrylic toy stuffing to hide them, you could use cotton wool.

I made a lantern free hand by just crocheting a tube, stuffing it and surface crocheting a few lines to suggest glass panels. The lantern holder was a flexible drinking straw crocheted over. This I glued to the base of one of the mice.

The music stand was again made free hand, a rectangle of crochet for the music and a shorter straw for the stand.

I'm so pleased with it, everyone loves it and it is a lovely Christmas decoration.

Happy crocheting!

Find me on:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/PookieDoodleCrafts
Twitter: www.twitter.com/Pookie_Doodle
Ravelry: www.ravelry.com/people/pookiedoodle

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

Nativity Crochet Figures Set Amigurumi

I wanted to make a Nativity Set and came across this pattern from 5 Little Monsters: https://www.5littlemonsters.com/2015/11/crocheted-nativity-set.html

It is a FREE pattern - thank you for that Erica! - I found it a really easy pattern to follow, it was very detailed in it's instructions.

I didn't make the animals but did make Three Kings, these were made using the Joseph pattern and using a variety of bright yarns - I made up a few hat designs and a beard for one of them. Each is holding a gift, again I just made up a few shapes and added some gold thread.

For the weighted bases I cut out discs of plastic from the backs of those small notebooks you can buy as it was more rigid than any card that I had. I also sewed a small stitch through the centre of the disc to the base of the figure, to stop it moving about.

For the actual weights I filled those small plastic money bags that you get from the bank with gravel, folded over the top flap and then wrapped sellotape around to secure it and make sure the gravel could not come out. I then packed stuffing around the weight.

The figures stand approximately 8" high for the tallest.

The pattern does not give instructions for any features and this looks fine but I did decide to add just eyes - I did a half moon line in thin thread, which gives a closed eye, almost reverent look I thought.

I used lots of oddments of yarn from my stash, mainly DK or 4 ply and a 3.5mm crochet hook. 

It took me a whole year to make, not because it was hard or complicated but simply because I started in January 2018 and then kept stopping to do other things during the Spring and Summer, finally finishing it just in time for Christmas 2018! 

I sold it at a charity event raising money for a charity I work for :) I'm really happy that it was bought by a good friend of mine and now adorns her Christmas decorations.

Hope you have a go, it was great fun to make.

Happy crocheting!

Find me on:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/PookieDoodleCrafts
Twitter: www.twitter.com/Pookie_Doodle
Ravelry: www.ravelry.com/people/pookiedoodle

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

Winter Bunny Amigurumi with Carrot Sledge

When I first saw this pattern I fell in love with it, how cute is this little bunny pulling his/her little carrot sledge. 

The pattern is free (link below) from Amigurumitogo. Sharon creates beautiful amigurumi and her patterns are always free, no matter how complicated. How kind is that?

I did make a few slight changes to the pattern:

1: I didn't have enough yarn to make two sides to the sledge and sandwich plastic between to strengthen it.

So instead I used some fine wire and crocheted it to the edge to attach it to the carrot shaped piece, you can just see the wire on the wrong side, between the stitches. I was then able to pull and shape it to get the carrot look just right.

2. In the pattern Sharon says that the bunny will not stand up alone, she used pins to make it stand up for photos. I wanted to be able to make it stand as a Christmas decoration without pins as young grandchildren would probably be picking it up, so after a bit of pondering I decided to make the tail quite large and position it so that it acted like a third leg and supported the back, allowing it to stand.

I made it in two evenings, the pattern is very easy to follow with lots of photo help and instructions.

I used Drops Safran 100% cotton yarn and a 3.00 mm crochet hook. The finished size is approx. 6" long on the sledge (including the curve) and the bunny is 6" tall from foot to tip of ear.

Find the pattern here: https://www.amigurumitogo.com/2015/12/winter-bunny-free-amigurumi-pattern.html or on Ravelry: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/winter-bunny

There is also a separate pattern for the hat and scarf which is linked from the bunny pattern.


Happy crocheting!

Find me on:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/PookieDoodleCrafts
Twitter: www.twitter.com/Pookie_Doodle
Ravelry: www.ravelry.com/people/pookiedoodle

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

Wild Wheat Shawl Pattern Review

I recently found this FREE pattern for a lovely little neck shawl.

It is by Johanna Lindahl at Mijocrochet the pattern can be found here:

https://mijocrochet.se/2016/12/29/wild-wheat-shawl-sjal/

It is available in English, Swedish, Dutch and Danish. Thank you Johanna for sharing your beautiful work for free!

 

I made mine in Boyes 100% mercerised cotton yarn, it took just under one ball. I used a 2.5 mm crochet hook.

If you print out the pattern I would definitely recommend printing in colour if you can because the pattern shows the stitches on the chart in different colours and makes it easier to see what stitches you are going to be doing. 

I would definitely recommend this pattern, very easy to follow the instructions and it grew very quickly.

I've also done a video review showing the shawl and explaining a little about my experience of using the pattern, just click below:

 

Happy crocheting!

Find me on:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/PookieDoodleCrafts
Twitter: www.twitter.com/Pookie_Doodle
Ravelry: www.ravelry.com/people/pookiedoodle

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

Summer Sun Hat in tape yarn

This was a new experience for me - using tape yarn.
I used Stylecraft Mystique Quick and Light in colour "Azul" (2565). It took exactly 2 x 50g balls to make the sun hat.

I used a 4mm crochet hook.


Yarn is currently available on eBay: http://bit.ly/2GVXvIw

Designed by Ashleigh Kiser the pattern is free if you use Ashleigh's blog post or you can buy a paid for pdf pattern, links available on Ravelry: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/june-sun-hat

It was really easy and I made it in a few hours. The tape yarn is good to work with although I would advise against pulling to too tightly - like at the start when tightening the magic ring - it does snap more easily that some yarns.

I loved the idea of strengthening the brim with slip stitches! It really worked. I've made hats before but they always flop down in my eyes, this is flexible enough to fold into your bag but firm enough to have a good stand out brim. I added a little slip stitched contrast in white around the crown.

Big thank you to Ashleigh for sharing her pattern for free and for creating such a lovely sun hat that really works!

Happy crocheting!

Find me on:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/PookieDoodleCrafts
Twitter: www.twitter.com/Pookie_Doodle
Ravelry: www.ravelry.com/people/pookiedoodle

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

Lacy Feather and Fan Shawl

I made this lovely lacy fan shawl for my daughter in law for a cruise she was going on.

Designed by A. Westbrook the pattern is a free download on Ravelry. https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lacy-feather-and-fan-wrap

It was an easy pattern and I didn't particularly follow any gauge, I used a very fine cotton thread yarn that I had in my stash and used a 4.00 mm hook. It came out fine on the width and I just kept crocheting until it was the length I wanted. If you did need a wider shawl it would be easy to just add in another pattern repeat.

The pattern consists of two rows which you soon remember so you don't need to keep looking at the pattern sheet.

It looked beautiful when worn.

I also added some beads to the edges just to give a bit of weight. 

Although it was an easy pattern to follow I still made mistakes, I kept losing the stitch count and finding I couldn't fit in the required number of stitches so had to undo it sometimes. I think there are still mistakes in it, but you can't tell :)

I would certainly recommend the pattern. Thank you A. Westbrook for sharing it for free :)

Happy crocheting!

Find me on:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/PookieDoodleCrafts
Twitter: www.twitter.com/Pookie_Doodle
Ravelry: www.ravelry.com/people/pookiedoodle

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________