Monday 23 January 2017

St. Valentine's 2017

Mr F asked me to send him a few examples of my work, so, I decided to make a few quickies: Piglet, Bunny McCarrots (no Christmas sweaters this time, just a carrot) and a couple of animated cacti.

Yesterday was Piglet's turn. A funny fact: that's one of my least crocheted projects except for a few woodland friends, but they'd already got a well-tested shape by that time. I usually make 3 prototypes, but this little pig turned out perfect right after the first one. I love his shy smile and kind eyes and I think there should be more enamoured piglets in this world, and I might perhaps stock him on Etsy as a ready-made amigurumi. And it's his 2nd anniversary this week.
 
 


The pattern is available everywhere:

Etsy
Ravelry
LoveCrochet
Craftsy
Amigurumipatterns.net


Monday 9 January 2017

Love is in the air..

Yesterday I was asked about the hearts made for Yarndale 2016. I planned to write a pattern but totally forgot about it. Thus, several months after the festival my notes and sketches appeared to be illegible even to myself. So, after a few attempts to revive them and a couple of trials, I came up with a similar but not exactly the same heart.

The heart is made with the DK yarn leftovers and a 2.5 mm crochet hook (how predictable, huh?), but the gauge is not very important here, just make sure that the stitches are tight enough. I usually choose a hook that has approximately the same thickness as the yarn.

The pattern is written in US crochet terms and has one tricky unfamiliar stitch - htrc. The stitch is worked like a treble crochet, but you pull the yarn through 2 loops first and then through all 3 remaining loops on the hook. This stitch helps to gradually increase/decrease the height without crumbling or using chains. Plus I added charts as usual.


HEART

 

For the heart you'll need:

- 2.5 mm crochet hook (or B/2),
- DK scraps in red (-ish) or pink (-ish), or any colour you like,
- scissors,
- tapestry needle,

ABBREVIATIONS:
Rnd - round,
ch. - chain,
st(s) - stitch(es),
sl st - slip stitch,
sc - single crochet,
hdc - half double crochet,
dc - double crochet,
htrc - half treble crochet (described above),
trc - treble crochet.

HEART:
1 Rnd: ch. 2, work into the 2nd ch. from the hook the following sts: 2sc, 1 hdc, 3 dc, 1 htrc, 1 trc, 1 htrc, 3 dc, 1 hdc, 2 sc = 15 sts,




2 Rnd: skip the first sc (it will already be half hidden under the last sc); (1sc, 1hdc) into the next sc; 2 hdc into the next hdc, (1 hdc, 1 sc) into the next dc; 3 sc; (1 hdc, 1 dc, 1 hdc) into the trc; 3 sc; (1 sc, 1 hdc) into the next dc; 2 hdc into the next hdc; (1 hdc, 1 sc) into the next sc; sl st into the last sc = 22 sts,



3 Rnd: skip the first sc; 2 sc into each of the next 4 hdc; 5 sc; (1 sc, ch. 2, 1 sc) into the dc; 5 sc; 2 sc into each of the next 4 hdc; sl st into the next sl st and into the central hole of the heart = 30 sts, 1 ch.-2 space. Finish off, cut the yarn, weave in the ends.



You can decorate the last Rnd with contrasting yarn and crab stitch or (ch. 1, sl st) into each st around. Or give your heart a pair of wings. Do you want me to write the pattern for them or you can figure them out yourselves?