Crochet Hot Cocoa

As I mentioned in the cupcake post I was looking to add some crocheted play food items to the St. Patrick's Day package. While looking at my pattern options I came across what had been a free pattern and now is available at Ravelry for $1.99 here a set called Christmas Cocoa.

The pattern set includes directions for cocoa, sugar cookies, and a candy cane. I've seen several cocoa patterns but this is the first I've seen with marshmallows.

If you like food patterns with faces this includes that too. Where mine are for little ones I tend to reduce use of saftey eyes/noses to places I really need them. I tend to avoid adding them to food items. If I was making this for an adult or older children I'd consider adding the faces as the faces were cute.

Irish Lass Crochet Bear

I finished up the Irish Bear pair for my St. Patrick's Day package the last weekend in February. The pattern comes from an out of print American School of Needlework Crochet Pairs of Bears #1182 for those of you who may want to look for it.

The girl bear's outfit was much easier than the boy's. I made the skirt and the arms less full and with fewer trims. I also added a crocheted ear bow.

At some point I'd like to try to make these bears in the smaller size possibly with thread. We'll see how it goes.

St. Patrick's Day Finger Puppets

One of the hardest holiday boxes to put together each year is the St. Patrick's Day package because I have trouble finding a variety of new patterns to try each year. I suspect I'm getting close on the Valentine's front but I still have a couple of patterns I haven't used yet.

Over the years I've found myself turning non-holiday patterns into holiday patterns adding Leprechaun hats, Santa hats, Easter baskets, etc. to expand my ability to deliver holiday themed items. I also have found some holiday themed projects transfer to other holidays rather easily.

Puppets have always been a favorite if not challenging project for me to add to these packages. I think it's a great way for kids to tell stories and even interact with the books I always put in these packages. There are two challenges. One is finding patterns that fit the theme. The second applies more to the finger puppets. They are small tight projects. These can be challenging for my hands. However, I continue to make them because I do think they are fun for kids.

Now for those of you waiting for the pattern information there is no actual St. Patrick's Day finger puppet pattern. As I said it is a tough holiday for toy patterns. However there are two free Pilgrim patterns that adapt pretty well for this project. You can find the male pattern here and the female here.

For my notes I made these from peach yarn no longer available and Knit Picks cotton. The bodies were made with a g hook the accessories with an e. A reminder that you need to weave in ends before you finish off as it can be very hard to get into the inside to finish off once you get past the area you are working on if you fail to finish off the ends when you cut them.

Irish Bear

I finished this guy up just before the Super Bowl. I'm working on getting the St. Patrick's Day holiday box ready to mail and he seemed like he'd be a good addition.

The pattern comes from an out of print American School of Needlework Crochet Pairs of Bears #1182 for those of you who may want to look for it. The original bears are much smaller. The pattern calls for them to be made from sport weight yarn and a C hook. This did not work for my plan so I used worsted weight 4 yarn and a g hook. I liked the outcome. I still have the Mrs. to make but I have time as I write this on Super Bowl Sunday and the kids likely are still playing with the Valentine items I sent.

The most challenging parts I found were the jacket and the tail. I didn't get the tail quite right so it doesn't actually stick out of the hole in the pants the way it is supposed to as it is too flat. The jacket finally came out but it took me two tries before I was sure I had it right. I chose to sew the buckles on rather than use felt as suggested in the pattern. I didn't want stuff coming off with little hands.

Leprechaun Baby Doll

In January I kind of got in the mood to make holiday outfits to send out as part of my holiday packages. If you read the blog you know I sent a Big Sister baby doll out to a family member when she was getting a baby sister and I've been crocheting holiday outfits ever since as part of the holiday packages I've been mailing out since she was a baby.

Making baby doll outfits can be challenging because as I've mentioned in previous posts you rarely are using patterns designed for the doll you are working to cloth. It generally requires you to adapt patterns from different kinds of dolls to get what you want. This project was a meld of several patterns.

The first pattern you may recognize if you read some of the holiday posts. The dress was adapted from the Santa Baby pattern which can be purchased on Etsy here. For my own notes I went down to a E hook size this time. I might consider sport yarn if I had it on hand for another try. It still is a bit bulky. Perhaps a lighter worsted? That being said this was another great stash busting project. I was able to use up yarn left off on some bobbins from an afghan project. Everything used on this project came from my stash. It feels good to be using up yarn and not needing to purchase yarn to complete a project.

The hat comes from a book I bought for the 18 Inch Dolls Amigurumi Holiday Hats for 18-Inch Dolls I reduced the hook to a G and the hat fit fine. I generally find I have to increase the suggested H hook size to get the hats to fit the 18 inch dolls which is why I only went down one hook size.

The shoes have become one of got to baby doll patterns. It is part of the free pattern Peach Keen found here. These work up quickly and best of all I find they stay on pretty well, which is one of the bigger challenges with making baby doll shoes. The first is getting them to fit because unlike the 18 inch dolls that have flat feet baby doll feet tend to have curled toes or other odd shaping which can make them tough to fit. This then adds to the general problem of making doll shoes in general, keeping them on the doll feet.

In the past I've tended not to make baby doll shoes but recently I've been pushing myself to add them as it makes a more finished look to the outfits.