Crochet Thanksgiving Card Decorations

I'm one of those people who still exchange paper cards with family and friends. I've saved some sentimental cards over the years, but I've never thought much about using cards to decorate for future holidays. They usually end up going out with my paper recycle. Ths year I saw an idea in Big Book of Christmas Crochetfor making gift tags and other projects using holiday cards. I decided they'd make nice hanging decorations using the same general directions.

I needed to purchase glue and colored plain index cards to back the cards. I had no issue finding those. What proved to be a challenge was the 1/8 inch hole punch. I eventually found the Fiskars Circle Hand Punch, 1/8 Inchat my local JoAnn's but it took me 2 attempst as the first time they were sold out. I couldn't get it shipped but I was able to purchase it and pick it up in the local store. It must be a hot item.

For some of you this might be familiar but it was new to me, the holes this makes are smaller than the holes you see in notebook paper. It makes sense as you'd want smaller holes for craft projects. That being said I've never given the size of hole pucnhes much thought, so it was something I discovered when I started this project. I didn't see this size at the local office supply stores when I looked. They did have the 1/4 inch size you normally think of when you see notebook paper.

I plan on continuing this tradition when I find other cards that I love and want to save. I will likely not do as many Christmas cards as I have lots of Christmas decorations, but it is a great way to enhance the other holidays which I do get cards for but often don't have many decorations.

With that in mind I will only hole punch one of these per day in the future. It is hard on the hands. The holes for the first one came out much better than the second.

An additional note for myself the pattern uses size 10 thread and a size 7 thread crochet hook. I had plenty of thread on hand but no size 7 thread hook so I used the size 5 thread hook and it worked fine. I mention this because I'm sure when I go to make this again I'll be wondering where I lost the size 7 hook when I made these. This is my reminder it was the 5 hook I used. The 7 has been MIA for some time now. Sadly I've not been able to find replacements for the Bates Bamboo thread hooks.

Another thing I did to make these decorations special is I cut the inner message and signature and glued it to the back of the decoration before punching the holes. After crocheting the border, I added the date to the back so I have some record of when the card was received and the decoration made.

Happy Thanksgiving

Well it is certainly not the Thanksgiving we've come to expect but there are certainly many reasons to be thankful this year.

I've decided to start being better about documenting my holiday projects so I can go back and remember what I made when. With that in mind I'm creating holiday posts that help me go back and search out projects that might be repurposed for a new cause.

I made these on Thanksgiving but I added it because I wanted to have it here as a reference when I went to see what I made in future years.

For all of you who stop here I wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving.

Apple Pie

This is the last item headed into the Thanksgiving box for 2020. I have a couple of items for my house to finish for the holiday but then it is on to Christmas.

Of all the pie patterns I've worked with this is one of my favorite sets because it adds a bit of fun to the play because kids can put the pies together. The pattern includes a pattern for the apple pie, a pumpkin pie, and a berry pie. You can purchase the pattern here.

I made this pie many years ago for another family member and some things stuck with me about what I'd do differently if I tried it again. First the pie is large and storing all this food can be a challenge, so bringing down the size to a more manageable pie plate was a goal. The second thing I remembered from my previous experience is that the acrylic yarn didn't hold the shape of this pie very well because it isn't stuffed. The idea is that the child can "make" the pie by putting the pieces together. I found the acrylic yarn was a bit floppy when I made this the first time and I wasn't completely pleased with the experience.

I've been experimenting more with cotton sport yarn and thought it would be interesting to try that yarn for this project to see if it would provide more stability for the pieces. I used a Omega Sinfonia cotton sport yarn for this project with a C hook. I am pleased with the substitution and will stick with it if I come back to this pie pattern again.

I've preordered a book due out in December with more food patterns and kitchen accessories that I'm hoping to try out to add to future boxes. We will see what happens. For now I need to finish my Thanksgiving projects because I really need to get the Christmas box ready to ship.

Mini Cherry Pie

This is the last in the series of mini pies I'll be making for the Thanksgiving box. You can find the free pattern here.

I'm still planning on at least one more pattern for the box and a couple of house decorations for Thanksgiving before moving on to my Christmas projects. I do need to get this box out in the mail for it to arrive to be of much use for Thanksgiving.

Lots to Love 8 Inch Pilgrim Boy

While I've primarily been working on Thanksgiving projects to mail out, I have made a few items for my own house.

This is the fourth doll I've completed for my holiday Lots to Love 8 Inch dolls.

This time I used an out of print House of White Birches leaflet Holiday Baby Dolls pattern number 101102. Sadly this one hasn't been made available as a digital pattern yet in any location I could find.

As they published more patterns for these dolls I am hoping at some point they are released as I'd love to have copies of them.

While they are designed for a specific 9 1/2 inch baby doll with work this outfit fit the Lots to Love 8 inch doll. The Lots to Love have a generous stomach and when working with patterns one has to work around that.

For this outfit that meant using worsted weight yarn for the pants and the jacket. I added chains until the chain reached around the baby's waist. The original pattern was not large enough to accomadate the wider stomach of the Lots to Love doll even though the doll in the pattern is technically a larger doll. Measurements are everything. The body of the jacket fit well using worsted weight acrylic yarn, but I had to shorten the sleeves only doing the first 2 rows of the sleeve before doing the reducing rows.

The collar, sleeve cuffs and belt required a lighter yarn, so I used Omega Sinfonia cotton sport yarn for those items. They were too heavy made in acrylic. I knew going in I was going to use sport yarn for the collar and the cuffs. I tried the belt with worsted acrylic and determined it was too bulky for the doll.

I love these shoes. Each of these dolls has slightly different shaped feet so you never quite know how the shoes will fit. This is probably the most pointy toed doll I've worked with to date and the shoes fit perfectly. Unlike the hat which was constantly falling off while I was working on the doll, I was pleasantly surprised with how well the shoes stayed on the doll even when moving it around.

This holiday doll project has been fun and one I plan on continuing into next year. Time to order more dolls!!!

Pumpkin Pie

I've been working through this series of free mini pie patterns to add to the Thanksgiving box. These patterns work up quickly and make cute play food for kids to play with during the holiday season and long after. You can find the free pumpkin pie pattern here.

This pattern is made with a variety of brands of worsted weight yarn and a g hook.

Mr. Pilgrim

I always intended to finish the couple so here is Mr. Pilgrim made from the same pattern set as Mrs. Pilgrim. You can purchase the pattern set here.

The original pattern calls for worsted weight acrylic yarn, I chose to use cotton sport yarn and a C hook. You might recognize the hair it was left over yarn from the turkey hot pad.

I really do love little people style ami patterns for my holiday boxes. I think they give a fun festive feel for the holidays. I was quite disappointed when Fisher Price stopped selling their holdiay versions. So, it is up to me to keep the traditon going.

That being said I do need to get this Thanksgiving box finished as I need to get started on the Christmas box and I have a couple more Thanksgiving items for my own home I want to get finished.

Mini Blueberry Pie

I keep running across fun little projects to add to the play food I'm sending in this year's Thaksgiving package. You can find the free pattern for this mini blueberry pie here.

This pattern works up quickly. I reversed the direction of the top of the pattern to get the bumps to work the way I wanted them. The pattern calls for a size 7 hook. Instead of digging for my 7 I just went up to a size H hook.

Mrs. Pilgrim

I continued working from the Little People Holiday patterns to create Mrs. Pilgrim for my Thanksgiving package. You purchase the pattern here.

The original pattern is made with acrylic worsted weight yarn, I made mine with cotton sport yarn and a c hook. It required adding a few extra rounds to the head and the body to get the size I wished but it I was happy with the substitute.

I'm going to finish the set and make Mr. Pilgrim to send in the Thanksgiving box

Gobbler Scarecrow

I found this turkey pattern in the October 2020 Crochet World magazine and decided it would be a great addition to the Thanksgiving box. I printed the pattern from my digital account and put it aside as I worked on my Halloween and October birthday boxes. Those finished it became time to take a closer look at this pattern to see what I would need.

The turkey from the pattern is larger than the one I made. It uses Red Heart Super Saver and an H hook and should measure about 11 inches tall. I wanted a slightly smaller turkey, however, even with increasing my sport yarn collection I still didn't have the range of colors I needed for this project on hand so I decided on a compromise. I used a variety of worsted weight acrylic brand yarns and a D hook to bring the size down slightly. I was pleased with the choice. If I was to make one for my own house decorations I think I'd stick with the H hook and make him full size. I'd stick with the range of acrylic brands I used. It was a great way to use up yarn on hand.

Some notes for future projects. I did not stuff the legs and I added a boder to the feet which I think made them stand up better. Instead of sewing the eyes I used saftey eyes. I added a reverse sc edging to the hat which I liked and would do again. I'd work on a better way to join the feathers together the next time I make the turkey. I chose not to add the crow to the hat. I was looking for a friendly fun turkey to add to the Thanksgiving box and the crow just wasn't that friendly looking. Not sure I'd add it to mine if I made it either. While the pattern describes him as a scarecrow I was thinking he looks more like a farmer.

Turkey Legs

I'm continuing work on my Thanksgiving crochet food. DH's favorite part of the Thanksgiving dinner is the turkey legs. It seemed fitting to add some to the Thanksgiving play food part of the package I'm sending out.

I've been having fun looking through AmiguruMe Eatsand this first turkey leg pattern comes from that book. As I've mentioned previously this book does discuss scents but you can easily make these projects as normal amigurumi food projects without the scents if you choose to do so as I have without any issue. For those interested in scents there are directions.

When possible even when making the same item I love to try different patterns. I've never thought items had to be identical. The second pattern is a free pattern you can find here.

While both legs were made with the same worsted weight yarn they are different sizes as the first was made with a D hook and the second with an E hook. The construction styles were different and I enjoyed playing with both designs.

There are larger patterns out there for turkey legs like this free one here that I looked at when thinking about food to include in the Thanksgiving box. However, space can be an issue when kids start acquiring play food. Sometimes small isn't a bad thing.

Crochet Cherry Pie

I've been looking through my play food pattern binder and crochet food books to find patterns for the Thanksgiving box. I ran across the Cherry Pie pattern in AmiguruMe Eats: Make Cute Scented Crochet Foodsand loved the textured look of the pie pattern. Most of the patterns I'd been looking at had smooth sides to the pie edges. I loved the bumbpy filling as the pattern directions called this one. I'm hoping to make a piece of blueberry pie to go in the box as well.

You might think I'm a huge pie eater, but I'm not. I occasionally have a slice of apple but pie isn't really my favorite sweet. However, making a wide variety of pies was always a Thanksgiving staple in my house growing up and seeing these crochet pies has brought back some really nice childhood memories that I thought to pass on to others.

Just a note to those of you who might be curious about the scented portion of the book title. There are directions for adding scent to the food projects. It is not something that is required when making the food projects. I have no interest in adding scent to these toys, so I've ignored the directions without it changing the pattern. For those of you interested,the directiosn are available in the book.