Chick Cozy

Bonjour,

Our chickens are almost ready to move to their coop, and we’ve been taking them outside for field trips.  I thought that a Chicken Snuggie would be nice for when we held them out there, and this is the result.  I’m planning to do a larger version when they’re all grown up, too.

Chick Cozy, modeled by Harriet

…and, modeled by Pearl (with Harriet in the background looking for ants)

Materials: Worsted-weight yarn (I used I Love This Yarn so it would be super soft) in main color and contrasting color for border, size K (6.50 MM) hook, yarn needle

Notes: The Chick Cozy is more of an afghan for a chicken, not a wearable garment.  It doesn’t stay on them unless you hold it, but makes for a warm and happy chicken while being held.  This is worked in rows, and turning chains do not count as stitches.

Start with a Magic Ring with 2 chains.

R1: 6 hdc in magic ring.  Do not join since you will be working in rows.  Don’t tighten Magic Ring too much as you’ll be working into it again later.

R2: Ch 2, turn.  2 hdc in each st across.

R3: Ch 2, turn.  *Hdc in next st, 2 hdc in next st* across.

R4: Ch 2, turn.  *Hdc in next 2 sts, 2 hdc in next st* across.

R5: Ch 2, turn.  *Hdc in next 3 sts, 2 hdc in next st* across.

R6: Ch 2, turn.  *Hdc in next 4 sts, 2 hdc in next st* across.

R7: Ch 2, turn.  *Hdc in next 5 sts, 2 hdc in next st* across.

R8: Ch 2, turn.  *Hdc in next 6 sts, 2 hdc in next st* across.

R9-10: Ch 2, turn.  Hdc in each st across.

At end of Row 10, do not fasten off or turn.  We’ll be crocheting across the side with all the turning chains.  2 sc in same st as last hdc.  1 sc in each of the spaces along the long side, including in Magic Ring.  When you reach the other side, make 2 sc in the last st and sl st to the hdc there.  FO main color.

Border: Pull border color through any stitch.  Sl st loosely around entire cozy.  Join to first sl st (I used an Invisible Join, click the link for a tutorial) and weave in all ends. 

Congratulations, you’ve crocheted a chicken cozy!  The above picture shows it laid out flat.  You can put it on the chicken however you (and the chicken) like, Harriet and Pearl decided that they liked it like this:

Thanks for viewing, and let me know if you make any chicken cozies!

This post will be linking up at Working on it Wednesday.

Giveaway Winner

~ The Exciting Conclusion ~

Thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway.  I would love to send you all a prize, but alas, there can only be one winner.  And that winner is, according to the Random Number Generator  …

* insert dramatic sound effect here *

… Astri! The person behind the awesome blog Apple Blossom Dreams, who has been wonderfully supportive of my blog ever since I started it.  I really do appreciate your support and advice, and I’m happy to send you your prize.  Please email me your address so I can send you your flower.  :)

I hope you’re all having a good week!  Bye for now.

Clementine Doll Free Pattern

Bonjour,

I’ve crocheted a lot of dolls, but I’d never designed my own pattern until now.  I wanted a simple one with not a lot of counting (since I’d lost my row counter when I made her!)  I thought she looked like a ‘Clementine’, so that’s the name of the pattern as well.  : )

Clementine Doll Free Pattern

Materials

Size G (4.00 MM) crochet hook

Worsted weight yarn – I used I Love This Yarn in white

Stitch marker – bobby pin, yarn scrap, paper clip, safety pin, or store-bought

Stuffing – I used yarn scraps and polyfil

Stuff to embroider face with – I used black thread, two small buttons, and of course a needle

Pattern Notes

This is worked in a spiral, use a stitch marker to mark the first stitch of every round.  A row counter is very helpful, but it is possible to do it without – write the rounds down on paper, or if you’re really talented, in your head.  (If you really want to know, I crocheted around until it seemed the right length, and then counted the rounds after. )

Each limb starts with a magic ring (check out my tutorial here for help), but you can use another method if you like, such as ‘ch 2, make x sc into the 2nd ch from the hook, with x being the appropriate number of sc for the first round.’ What can I say, I just finished some algebra!

Legs (make 2)

R1: 6 sc in a magic ring

R2: 2 sc in each st around.

R3-21: sc in each st around.  Fasten off on one leg, but do not fasten off on the other.

Joining the legs to start the body

R22: Sc 6 on the leg your yarn is attached to.  Sc in each of the 12 sts on the leg that you fastened off on.  Sc in the rest of the sts (6) on the first leg.  You’ll have 24 stitches.  Stuff the legs before proceeding.

R23-32: sc in each st around

R33: *sc 3, sc2tog* around

Begin stuffing around now and continue stuffing as you work the rest of the body.

R34: *sc 2, sc2tog* around

R35: *sc2tog* around.  (6 sts) Do not fasten off!

Maybe this picture of the joined legs will help.

Head

R36: sc 2 in each st around.

R37: *sc 1, inc* around.

R38: *sc 2, inc* around.

R39: *sc 3, inc* around.

R40-44: sc in each st around.

R45: *sc 3, sc2tog* around.  If you’re embroidering a face, I suggest that you do so now.  Note: Before you sew on the face, put your amigurumi doll on her back and take a look at where her legs are in comparison to the head.  So, if you sew the face pointing to the side while the legs are pointing to the front, it will look a bit wonky.  Keep this in mind while working on the face.

Here’s a closeup of Clementine’s embroidered face, in case you want to do it like this.

R46:  *sc 2, sc2tog* around.

R47: *sc 1, sc2tog* around.  Now is probably a good time to stuff the head.

R48: *sc2tog* around.  Now you can fasten off, leaving a longish tail, and sew the remaining stitches together.  Weave in all of the ends.  With amigurumi you can weave it through the limb and trim it off, it will disappear inside the limb.

Arms (make 2)

R1: 7 sc in a magic ring

R2 – desired length: sc in each st around.  (I did around 15 rounds.)

FO, leaving a long tail for sewing.  Sew open end together and sew the arms to the body.

Hair

I did a wig cap, which I sewed to the head and then attached hair to in the back so it would look like a ponytail.

R1: 6 sc in a magic ring

R2: 2 sc in each st around.

R3: *sc 1, inc* around

R4: *sc 2, inc* around

R5: *sc 3, inc* around

R6 – desired length: sc in each st around.

Keep going until the wig cap covers as much of the doll’s head as you want.  Then sl st to the next st and FO, leaving a long tail for sewing. Sew it to the head.

To attach hair, I pulled several strands through the back near the magic ring and did a square knot (not my usual method, but it seemed to work.)  Then her head wasn’t too floppy and it looked like a cute ponytail.  After that, you’re done!

In the pictures, she’s wearing this Bleuette dress from By Hook, By Hand.  If anybody would like to see some patterns for outfits for her, let me know and I’d be happy to oblige.

I’ll hopefully be posting the giveaway winners tomorrow, so stay tuned!  In fact, why don’t you go enter now before it’s too late?

Edited to Add: Linked to Working on it Wednesday here.

How to Make a Magic Ring

Bonjour,

It’s been quite a while since I added to my ‘How to Crochet’ tutorials.  I thought it was about time to add one for a magic ring!  This technique eliminates the center hole from your starting round.  The following is the method I use, taught to me by my mother.

Start by holding the yarn tail in your non-dominant hand between your thumb, pinky, and ring finger. (Since I’m right-handed, that’s the way I’ll be showing it…sorry, lefties!)

Wrap it over your index and middle fingers.  Then bring it around the back as above.

Cross the yarn back over itself so it forms an X.

Then bring it down the back of your fingers, parallel to where you wrapped it before, and hold it with the yarn tail.  (Sorry about the out-of-focus picture.)

Turn your hand over and locate the two yarn strands.

Stick the crochet hook under the one on the right and over the one on the left.

Pull the left loop part of the way through the right loop, like this.

Start twisting the crochet hook clockwise like so.  It needs to get far enough so that you can …

… yarn over with the working yarn and pull through, forming a chain stitch that will secure the magic ring.

Grab the magic ring by the chain stitch and pull it carefully off your fingers.

The yarn tail will be twisted around in the ring like so.

Grab it and untwist it, as shown.

Now we can start crocheting into the ring! First chain as many stitches as required for your first round. Remember, we’ve already done one.  Insert the hook into the ring, going under the yarn tail, to make your stitches (as in the photo above.)

Here I’ve made 7 single crochets. Now the magic part – tightening the ring! Grab the stitches with one hand and the tail with the other, then pull the tail to tighten the ring.

Don’t be afraid to give it a good yank – the worst that can happen is that the yarn will break, and you can always redo this round.

Ta-dah! No center hole!

I hope this tutorial was helpful!  Don’t forget to enter the giveaway, there are only a few days left until I draw the winners.  Also, I’ll be posting another pattern in a few days (involving the Magic Ring), so keep an eye out.

Happy Magic Ring-ing

Frilly Boutique Scarf Tutorial

Bonjour,

After my grandma finished knitting a super-awesome ruffle scarf, she gave me the leftovers, knowing how much I liked yarn.  But I couldn’t figure out to make with it, since there wasn’t very much.  Yesterday I discovered a nice yarn-saving technique that makes a gorgeous spiraly scarf – basically you crochet the yarn in a chain stitch with not very much space in between.

Beethoven is looking fancy in his crocheted scarf!

So this isn’t really a pattern, it’s more of a tutorial (but it’s still going in my pattern pages!)

Materials

Some ribbon yarn – not railroad yarn, although it might still work with it.  I can’t find where my grandma got hers but this yarn here looks similar, as does Red Heart Boutique yarn.  I think it would work on pretty much any frilly yarn, honestly.  You don’t need a lot of it either, so it’s good for using up some decent-sized scraps.  If you’re not sure what to use I would go with Red Heart Boutique.

A crochet hook that will fit through the holes in your yarn – I used G (4.00 MM)

Let’s begin!

Here’s what the yarn looks like when opened up.

The end of the yarn might be frayed, so you may have to cut some off.

Start by inserting your hook a few inches from the end of the yarn, through the top edge like this.

Then skip a few spaces and go about 1 cm to the left. Insert your hook there. Now you have two loops on your hook.

Pull the loop on the left through the first loop (making a chain stitch.)

The scissors are indicating where you’ll insert the hook next. Keep repeating this process: “Insert hook about 1cm to the left, pull loop on left through loop on right to make a chain stitch”, until your scarf is as long as you like.

A closer view of the top edge. Notice the thicker part on the top, which was created by the yarn rolling in on itself.

Here’s what it looks like after a few ruffles.

If you have to leave your project for a while, I suggest putting a stitch marker on the working loop. It’s all too easy to unravel the whole thing, since you can’t exactly pull up a long loop!

When your scarf is as long as you want it to be, cut the yarn a few inches from the hook.  Pull up the loop on the hook as far as you can manage.

Yarn over with the extra few inches. It will be bulky, as you can see from the picture, but you’ll manage.

Pull the extra few inches of yarn through the loop on the hook. Pull the knot to tighten it.

If you’re worried that the knot will come undone, you can secure it with some sewing thread in a matching color.  I think I’ll do that eventually since I couldn’t find a sturdier way to fasten off.

Here’s the finished scarf!  Wasn’t that quick?  It feels a bit like cheating to me, so I guess it’s good I don’t have a lot of this yarn.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and happy crocheting!  Don’t forget to enter the giveaway – so far only three people have.