Dinosaur Baby Cardigan + Booties

The baby madness continues!

Pattern: Pan Pan Crafts (though the site now seems unavailable, very disappointing!)

Spines: made up as I went along!

Yarn: leftover Stylecraft Special DK

Buttons: from my stash.

Booties pattern: Hopeful Honey (though without the spike stitch)

Crochet Poppy - Remembrance Sunday

I've been meaning to crochet myself a poppy for years, and after a bit of fiddling I found a pattern I liked. The black wool is a generic DK, the red is Stylecraft DK Lipstick, and the green is Wendy Four Ply Courtelle, all from my stash. The flower is made using the "Remembering You" pattern, as seen on the top row. The leaf is made using the first half of this Bleeding Hearts Leaf pattern. I stitched a safety pin on the back and it's good to go!

Our Generation Doll Clothes

As a young girl in the 1990s, I had some lovely dolls, and they in turn had some lovely clothes. I had one doll which came with multiple dresses, and I even made her a wardrobe from a cereal box! I also loved it when my Mum made clothes for my dolls - sometimes we even matched!

So with my eldest niece's 9th Birthday, I decided I'd contribute to her suitcase of doll clothes for her Our Generation Doll. This is a series of 18" dolls, who are pretty popular just now! I began by making her a little crocheted cap using this pattern, some leftover Stylecraft yarn, and embellished with a little felt flower.

I decided to break up the crochet by making this little apron using the template from this pattern (I didn't actually follow the instructions!) I used an old denim skirt for the main body, added some felt patch pockets, and some rainbow ribbon. It fastens with velcro round the neck, but the back ribbons are long enough to tie.

You can also see I made some "Our Generation" tags for the different items of clothing, so my niece knew who they were intended for!

This gorgeous little hat is based on this pattern, but I also added some cute little ears. I actually made a second one of these as it fits some of my teddy bears, and it's just too cute!

And lastly I also crocheted this Spring Vest in some wool I had in my stash. The three little buttons actually function!

Crochet Stegosaurus

Confession: I've never really got "into" dinosaurs. They've always felt scary and not caught my interest. Dragons on the other hand? Love them. Metallic scales, huge wings, breathing fire and jewel encrusted stomachs? Awesome.

Anyway. This dinosaur I do love. He's cute and friendly, and loves roaming through overgrown grass. He has four cute tubby feet and amazing pink spikes. I crocheted him using Stylecraft DK (still leftovers from my rainbow blanket!), following this pattern by The Button Ship. The pattern works in a new way to me, as it requires you to break your yarn and restart in a different place. But I think the finished look is worth it.

Rawr.

Crochet Octopus for a Premature Baby

When I was pregnant last year we were told that if our child survived the likelihood was that they would be premature. It was around this time that I found out about octopi for prem-babies, and decided to make one in case we needed it. As I have mentioned previously, our daughter didn't make it, but I completed this octopus and have wrapped him away, just in case.

If you are donating to a hospital they ask that the octopi are made from cotton. Since this is a personal octopus I used some Stylecraft DK I had in my stash.

The tendrils must be within certain length limits, but are designed to mimic the feel of an umbilical cord when a baby wraps their fingers around it. I suspect any young baby would appreciate an octopus, not just those born prematurely!

I stitched the outline of a heart to the back of the head. The octopus was made with love and it seemed a nice way of adding extra detail. I'm currently wanting to experiment with cross stitch over crochet thanks to the Scheepjes Hygge crochet-a-long (which I wish I could afford to participate in!), but it wasn't to be on this octopus, as the increases and decreases of the curve made it more difficult.

You can find the pattern I used here.

Sunburst Cushion

About this time last year I finished my rainbow crochet blanket (and matching granny bunny!) Upon finishing, I found I had a lot of the coloured Stylecraft DK left over, as you may have noticed by the amount they have been popping up in other crochet projects! I really wanted a cushion to go with my blanket, one that reflected it but didn't match perfectly. I considered a few styles, but eventually settled on the free Terra Cotta Sunburst pattern by Regina Weiss.

I began with the grey centre and then cycled through the colours in the same order as I used them in the blanket, using a 4mm hook. One side of the cushion expands from watermelon to daffodil, and the other side from daffodil to watermelon. I then did a round in grey, a round in back-loop-only to start expanding the edges, decreasing once between each "sunburst point", and 2 more rounds with the same decreases.

I lined both panels with some fleece I had lying around, and slip stitched the two panels most of the way together. I stuffed it, and then stitched the closure shut. It has made a nice, uniquely-shaped pillow that goes really well with my blanket.

Crochet Owl Snuggy

Yup, another baby snuggy! I've previously made an elephant snuggy and a bunny rabbit snuggy, and this follows the same standard procedure. I'm interested in continuing to experiment with different variations for this theme - any suggestions for animals?

I followed this pattern for the granny square, and I think I started following the head pattern too. Rather than complete the head into a sphere, I stopped early and single crocheted across the top to get the head shape I wanted. I added some strands (securely knotted!) for ear tassels, as well as eyes and a beak.

The wings began as basic circles which I increased with hdcs and dcs to get the shape I desired.

The white, cream and black wool were from my stash. The yellow is Stylecraft Special DK 1081 Saffron, the dark pink is Stylecraft Special DK 1084 Magenta, and the light pink is Stylecraft Special DK 1390 Clematis. Beautiful colours, I love Stylecraft Special wool!

Crochet Puzzle Balls

I crocheted these puzzle balls as Christmas presents for two of my nephews (and was requested to make one for another!) They are wonderful toys for babies and toddlers, and I've seen adults in my family spend a fair bit of time with them too! They are very tactile, and pleasing to fiddle with.

They are made using this pattern from Look At What I Made. You begin by crocheting 24 little cone shapes, before hooking them together to make the squares you see above. These three squares can then be assembled to make the pointy star ball (in the first and last pictures). The points can also be rotated after assembly to make a flat sided ball, such as in the pictures below. This means that not only can the toy be used as a ball, to throw and play around, but it also develops motor skills, as it is disassembled and reassembled, and allows for different colour combinations depending on how it is assembled!

The finished size of these balls is an adult handful, but I am hoping to make one closer to knee height, which can be used as a footstool or floor pillows - just need to save up for some super chunky wool! I made these using Stylecraft's double knitting range. At first, it can be a bit confusing how to assemble this puzzle ball, so I made up some instructions to package with them. I'm sharing it as a free PDF that you can access by clicking the image below, but ask that you use it for personal use only. Thanks!

I really recommend this pattern though. I don't see many of these being made in blogland, and they deserve more attention!

Rainbow Crochet Blanket

If you follow me on Facebook, you will have seen lots of progress shots of this blanket as I've worked on it! It took me less than 6 weeks to make a single bed sized blanket, which I am so proud of! I also made a matching granny rabbit using this pattern. She's called Fizzy, and she has every colour from the blanket on her somewhere!

I used this pattern, Stylecraft's Blanket 9091. But... I changed it up a bit! Firstly, I kept it to single stripes of each colour all the way through, instead of switching to double width stripes part way through, as the pattern suggests. I also added an extra 2 and a bit balls of grey wool to take it up to a bigger blanket size - I think mine is wider than the pattern as well as longer! There are two colour options for this blanket, and I went for the cheaper Stylecraft DK. It's not the same as the one pictured in the pattern, but I love it :)

I may have caught the blanket making bug, which my wallet really cannot afford!