Halloween Crochet

This year I have been working on Halloween goodies to give trick-or-treaters. Usually I make some small amigurumis to give out with candy, making around 20 items. This year we are in a larger neighborhood, so my goal is to have 100 small items to pass out with candy.

When choosing to make a Halloween goodie, I keep it limited to pieces that can be done in one continuous piece – hence no sewing pieces like arms or legs. Next year I’m planning on branching out from this constraint.

I’ve been busy making Octopuses – so far I have made around 30. They are all different sizes and colors. At first I was sticking to cotton yarn but now I’m using whatever is in my stash that I need to clear out. They do not take that much yarn to make, so it’s the perfect project for leftover yarn.

Pattern to come! It’s super easy and with all the legs done in the round, it is very quick to whip up.

amis

The Most Popular Child Ever

If you crochet, chances are pretty good you may have been asked to crochet baby Yoda or The Child from the Mandalorian. I was asked to make two for Christmas. My niece wanted one and she also wanted to gift one to her boyfriend.

There is nothing I enjoy more than crocheting for those that I love so I got busy with the task. I was able to get the pattern that went viral before it was discontinued.

My first and second attempt at the head came out more like a football than a sphere. Luckily I was able to find my mistake so that the third attempt was golden – which was a good thing because I made both during our Christmas visit.

After the delivery of those, her sister wanted one so once we got back home, I started crocheting the third one. I have to say that he is my favorite yet.

He took about a season of “Grey’s Anatomy” to complete, but I love the results and am getting better at larger pieces as I usually do small amigurumi that are completed in two hours.

One of my crochet goals for 2020 is to do my sculpting with crochet and this piece gives a chance to practice that skill.

Fun project and I plan to make a couple of more at least.

toys

Beanstalk

One of the greatest feelings that I get is when my daughter asks me to crochet her something. As she had gotten older, she has asked for less items, which is bittersweet because she usually asked for amigurumis. She just doesn’t play anymore.

But at school in theatre class, her group is doing a PSA based on a popular story – Jack and the Beanstalk. She asked me to crochet her a beanstalk that could be pulled apart since they ‘chop’ down the beanstalk.

So I got the dimensions she needed and went right to work. I came up with basically 5 rows of single crochet with leaves off the stalk and then sewed up the ends making a tube. I would do the leaves as I did the row but just chaining 5 or 6 and then slip stitch into the first chain from the hook, then single crochet, half double crochet, then single crochet, and slip stitch again.

To allow for the break apart effect, I crocheted two pieces and added a loop at one end so that the stalk could attach to it.

It turned out pretty cute especially for something I just did on the fly and really wasn’t sure what I would do. It’s fun to do these sort of things for her as I enjoy making her things and the challenge of it is nice, too.

Foodie

Crochet Notebook

It is safe to say that I have more crochet projects that I doubt I will ever finish them all, but it is so much fun to browse patterns. For quite some time, I’ve been tinkering with the idea of writing crochet patterns. I have written a few but that’s about it. But I have ideas. Lots of ideas. So to keep track of my ideas and projects I started a crochet notebook.

For my notebook I use a composition notebook that has grid paper since I draw out my ideas. It just helps me work out those details of the design. I was ambitious and thought I will fill a notebook yearly but here it is three years later and I am still have plenty of pages in that first notebook.

There is nothing I like better than notebooks, journals, and sketchbooks. I can’t resist buying one even though I have plenty. I did resist buying this one I saw at Hobby Lobby that is actually for crochet projects:

I do like this type of notebook that uses discs instead of wire. So it’s really tempting on several levels. But since I already have an established crochet notebook I couldn’t reason with myself why I would really need it. It did serve as a good reminder that I do have a notebook where I keep crochet ideas and maybe I should periodically revisit it and actually make progress.

Besides a notebook I used Google Drive a lot to capture crochet ideas. But I do admit there is nothing like pen and paper to get ideas out and to make them seem valid if that makes sense. Maybe the act of writing it on paper and it’s semi-permanent(if you use a pencil you can always erase) that gives it more substance that just something digital that I could easily delete.

How do you keep up with your crochet projects and crochet ideas?Pin It

Accessories

Halloween Fruit

Wow. It’s been a while since I have posted and if I’m being honest it’s been a while since I crocheted. I did do a lot of crocheted items for Christmas which usually burns me out for a few months. Here are the Halloween goodies I made for the trick or treaters:

I love using the bright colors for the fruit. My favorite were the green apples which seemed to be the least popular with the kiddos as that was the only ones I had left.

This was also the largest project I have done to date for my Halloween trick or treat goodies. It’s so much fun to see the responses from the kids and parents. It really has been fun and thankful we live in a small neighborhood so I can do this as this would not be possible if we got just an insane number of trick or treaters.

I used Planet June’s apple pattern for the apples. The other fruit I didn’t use a pattern. It is getting close to the time of the year where I start making the Halloween crochet items. I have some ideas but haven’t finalized what I will be making.

amis, Foodie

Holiday Crochet

Here it is almost the middle of September. Wow. The holidays are nearly here and with that comes a lot of crocheting.

I have two main projects each fall. First there is Halloween goodies for the trick or treaters. Second is Christmas hats which has grown from when I first started it. This year I am making more hats than ever. It should be fun but hope to finish early as I am usually making hats on the road. It’s one holiday tradition I’d really like to skip this year.

If crochet had a season then fall would definitely be it. I crochet more this time of year and there are some great yarn events around town. There’s a yarn crawl in October followed by a fiber festival in November. Not to mention that the weather starts to change so having that warm yarn wrapped around my fingers is nice and cozy.

For my Halloween crochet project, I am crocheting fruit. I remember trick or treating and hating getting fruit(now no one would ever give out anything not wrapped for sure!), so I decided to hand out fruit kids would like. I’ve just really started but am having a lot of fun since the fruit works up pretty fast. Sewing the eyes on will not be as fast I am sure of it. My goal is to make at least 25 and pray that is enough as the number of kids in the neighborhood has been slowly on the rise.

Between the hats and the fruit plus a one-off-must-make-this-now project that will be my holiday crocheting. What will be on your hook for the next few months?

Ramblings

Video: Speed Crocheting a Butterfly

Crochet Mae is on You Tube! First video is a speed crochet. My daughter watches a lot of speed drawing, so I thought, ‘why not speed crochet?’ I’m working on my setup and plan to do another one very soon.

amis

Kirby

It’s wonderful to crochet for family. My daughter has challenged me several times to crochet her stuff. I love doing this as it not only keeps me on my toes but it is nice to make her something she absolutely loves. There’s no better reason to pick up the hook than putting a smile on someone’s face.

When Kirby’s Epic Yarn was released, needless to say that I was excited. Being a gamer and a crocheter it was a no-brainer that I must play this game. My daughter and I would play it together for hours. Good times indeed.

We are both Kirby fans. Kirby is a round-shaped character which makes him a great character to crochet, so when my daughter requested one, I thought, “I got this!”

Kirby was a little more challenging. His body was easy as was his feet. It was his face that presented a problem. It’s very expressive. Safety eyes wouldn’t work and I am not that strong with embroidery. I tried felt. I see so many wonderful examples of crocheters using felt with their projects and it all is very stunning.

I do not enjoy working with felt. Cutting a circle is the hardest thing ever. One way I got better with felt was buying a nice pair of scissors. Since I had gained some confidence with felt thanks to the scissors, I decided to make the eyes and mouth out of felt.

This was my second Kirby. The first one I tried to embroider the eyes, and it was a complete failure. This one turned out so much better.

While I am a long way from being really good with felt, it is nice to know that I can work with it enough to do small projects.

amis

Zero from Nightmare Before Christmas

Here is a little Zero amigurumi I did a while back. I didn’t have a pattern, and it was one of the first times I had used felt with one of my creations.

I wanted the ‘ghost cape’ to be flowing and thought crocheting it would make it too heavy. The felt gave it more of a cape feel. Eventually I would like to attempt this again as I love Nightmare Before Christmas.

amis

Crochet Egg

Crocheting Easter eggs is one alternative to both plastic and real eggs. You could even decorate the eggs with buttons, stickers, etc. This is a great little project for leftover yarn.

I didn’t create a pattern while working this up, but basically start with a base of 6 single crochets in a round either by starting with two chains and working six single crochets into the first chain or by starting with a magic ring and placing six single crochets into it. For the next round, increase twice into the first and third single crochet. The rest of the single crochets just place one single crochet. You should have eight single crochets in the round.

Continue to increase this way until you have the desired size of your egg. Then do three rows of even single crochet – that is each single crochet will just have one single crochet in it.

Then you can decrease the rounds much like the increase with two decrease stitches each round. Stuff before closing the egg.

The best thing about these crochet Easter eggs is that after Easter you can always frog them if you no longer want them. These crochet eggs make a great fast, easy, last minute craft for Easter.

Foodie