Farm Cilo Crochet

This was one of those projects that as soon as I saw it come up in my Blogger reader I knew I was going to make. Bizzy Crochet had blogged about this over the course of the summer and posted the free pattern in August. Her pattern includes not only the barn cilo, but also the farmer and animals. I already had made animals and a bag from an Annie's Attic pattern but the cilo bag was a great addition to my Christmas gift. I will be making another for the second Christmas farm set I made to give at Easter. I just ran out of Christmas crafting time. The second farm will have to wait for Easter to get a cilo.





I had the bag finished before Thanksgiving, it just needed to be put together. However, I stopped to finish my Thanksgiving toys and then had other Christmas projects to be finished. I finally forced myself to stop and do the final assemble job so this can be mailed with the other toys.

This is a great addition to Bizzy Crochet's Castle Bag that will be going to a different family member in the same box I need to mail out soon.

Free Farm Pattern

I have been posting blogs for several months about my farm project based on an out of print Annie's Attic pattern. The picture above is of the Annie's Attic one since I cannot borrow the designer's photographs of her new design. However, I hate not having pictures.

I have been following Bizzy Crochet's blog about her farm project, but was waiting for the pattern to be posted before mentioning it to others who have been asking me where to find their own Fisher Price like farm. Well I must say this is BETTER than the Annie's Attic version. The pieces are stored in a farmhouse shaped like the silo many of us remember from the original Fisher Price Barn. I plan to have this downloaded by the time this is posted to avoid the rush.

The pattern includes some animals I have and some I do not. I finally have a male farmer to go with my farmer girl. I am also thrilled to take on the challenge of a barn. With all the additional animals, I keep adding the farm bag is not going to be nearly big enough to hold all the animals and it will be fun to have a crochet area for the kids to play with the farm animals. I am thrilled to have this pattern to try.

I will add this link to the toy section, but for those who arrived here you can find the pattern at Bizzy Crochet.

If you arrived here looking for free toy patterns please see the following pages:

Crochet and Knit Puppets

Crochet Amigurumi Animals and Stuffed Animal Free Patterns

Knit Amigurumi and Stuffed Toys

Crochet and Knit Amigurumi and Other Dolls

Knit and Crochet Toys

Dinosaurs and Dragons

Hello Kitty

Teddy Bear Patterns and Clothes

Knit and Crochet Food Patterns Great for Play Food


Pictures may not be used without permission.

Amigurumi Cow

When I finished the cow, I started to feel a sense of accomplishment and wanted to find a Fisher Price Barn to take pictures with for the blog. Obviously, that did not happen. Seeing the animals displayed on our piano continue to grow, I was starting to see the look I wanted it to for this present, though.

I was glad to return to working with slightly larger pieces. It allowed me to use the plastic safety eyes and avoid embroidering eyes again. There was an issue of legs, however. This was the first animal I made that had small skinny legs that would be the main support system for the animal. Working on getting the legs pinned to provide appropriate balance was a great learning experience.




As I read other blogs and yahoo postings, I am finding new techniques and tricks to improve my own projects. The cow benefited from learning a better method of decreasing. I can see where this will prove useful on the next goose.

This is an out of print pattern. For those who are looking it is Annie's Pattern Club Pattern, 87B54 Down on the Farm.

Pictures may not be used without written permission.

Amigurumi Pig

I have adult nieces that went through the pig stage with Charlotte’s Web and Babe and while I bought the toys, I never really went through the stage myself. This pattern was a delight, though. I fell in love with this little pig by the time he was done. He does actually remind me of the Fisher Price toy we had.

One of the things I loved about this pattern was the ears were created while crocheting the head. Secondly, the head was not created as a separate part of the pig body; they were crocheted as one piece. This reduced the sewing portion of the exercise greatly.






















I almost have the chicken/rooster finished and will share the outcome of that project next. This experience has made me eager to seek out other patterns from this series. I am also curious to find out if the kids will enjoy these animals as much as the Fisher Price toys, as they are similar in size and purpose.

This pattern is found in an out of print Annie's Pattern Club Pattern, 87B54 Down on the Farm.

Pictures may not be used without written permission.

Down on the Farm

The title of this blog comes from an out of print pattern I purchased recently. The Annie's Attic Pattern Club pattern, 87B54 printed in 1984, is my next big Christmas project. The pattern has a farmhouse carrying case and directions to complete a cow, pig, goose, horse, and what the pattern identifies as a chicken, but looks like a rooster on completion.

The reason I chose a Fisher Price photo for this blog is that is the idea I am going for with this pattern. I want to crochet some toys that give kids that same kind of play experience that I enjoyed with the Fisher Price toys.

So far I have one side of the barn completed and have begun production of the pig. The farmhouse has been the only challenge so far. The animal patterns appear clear and require less sewing than other patterns I have completed.

As I find more of these out of print toy and fashion doll patterns, I only wish Annie's still had these clubs. I really am enjoying finding the random patterns that are available in the resale market. It must have been wonderful when these were available on a regular basis.

See the finished project.






Picture Credit: www.flickr.com/photos/jetheriot/827987283