Cowboy Easter Egg Chick

One of the people on my Easter list loves orange. So as I was looking through Crochet Village's Egghead pattern, I decided on an orange cowboy chick. I liked the hat so much I went on to use it for a duck pattern when I needed a third hat and the pattern I was using only had two options.

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

Dinosaurs and Dragons

Knit and Crochet Food Patterns Great for Play Food

Hello Kitty

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

Teddy Bear Patterns and Clothes

Halloween Page

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Bunny Egg with Bunny Slippers

This is another item created from Crochet Village's Egghead's pattern.

I originally intended to make the mother and father bunny and include them in the Easter box. However, it is confession time. I fell in love with the bunny slippers and with the box rather full and time running short, I have decided that bunny will be staying here. Next year I will send bunnies, but this year with the projects I still have to post, the multiple Easter boxes are full.

I expect those bunny slippers will be appearing in other ami projects I make in the future. I have already used one of the hats from this pattern set on a duck project I needed a different look for after completing the two that pattern provided.


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

Dinosaurs and Dragons

Knit and Crochet Food Patterns Great for Play Food

Hello Kitty

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

Teddy Bear Patterns and Clothes

Halloween Page

Thanksgiving

Christmas

Valentines

Easter

Graduation

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Mrs. Bluebird

I finished Mrs. Bluebird from Crochet Village's Eggheads so Mr. Bluebird will not be alone in the Easter box. I need to finish one more bird and I can move on to the bunnies.

The eggs are simple and easy to make, however what I love about this pattern set are the many varied hats and little items that make the sets. I am looking forward to the bunny slippers for one of the bunnies. That is first on my list after I finish off the birds.

Bunny with Carrot House

The bunny with his carrot home pattern comes from Ana Paula Rimoli's Amigurumi Toy Box: Cute Crocheted Friends that I bought ages ago and picked up again while trying to find projects for my ami swap. While nothing worked for the swap, this bunny was perfect for my Easter box.

I did make a couple of changes. I chose to sew the top on with a small hinge like attachment. I know where this toy is headed. Within five minutes, carrot top and bottom will never meet again if they are not attached. I liked her design of having the two separate pieces; I just knew it would not work for my destination. For other changes, I made the feet on my bunny flat, added whiskers, and used a safety nose.

This project works up quick and is a great Easter toy. It also reminded me I do need to visit my book collections more frequently.

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

Dinosaurs and Dragons

Knit and Crochet Food Patterns Great for Play Food

Hello Kitty

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

Teddy Bear Patterns and Clothes

Halloween Page

Thanksgiving

Christmas

Valentines

Easter

Graduation

Patriotic

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Second Pirate Completed

I have the second of the set of three I promised myself I would finish done. The last one will have the eye patch people have been asking about using. I have been trying to make each one unique so they use different accessories. The last pirate will be wearing the same style captain's hat as this one.

This pirate was made using Crafty Deb's Pirate Pattern set. After I finish with the spring birthday rush, I am hoping to make some for the toy donations that come in the summer and Christmas. I will have to see what happens.

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

Dinosaurs and Dragons

Knit and Crochet Food Patterns Great for Play Food

Hello Kitty

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

Teddy Bear Patterns and Clothes

Halloween Page

Thanksgiving

Christmas

Valentines

Easter

Graduation

Patriotic

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Bunny Toilet Paper Topper

I finished my Easter Bunny Toilet Paper Topper made using Crochet Village's Pricilla TP Pattern.

With fewer color changes than the Leprechaun I made for St. Patrick's Day, the bunny worked up quickly. I had a few challenges with the flowers, but I managed to work those out without too much difficulty.

I am not sure what I am going to do for summer, but I found a free pumpkin pattern for fall and I purchased their Pilgrim for Thanksgiving. I would still like to find something scary for Halloween and something cute for Christmas.

If you arrived her looking for Free Home or Holiday patterns they are available on the following blog pages:

Kitchen, Bath or Home

St. Patrick's Day

Easter

Graduation

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Halloween Page

Thanksgiving

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Mr. Bluebird

I promised I would get to Crochet Village's Eggheads pattern to include in my Easter box. I finished Mr. Bluebird as a break between Pirate arms. These work up quickly. He was slightly smaller because the scrap yarn I used was not quite as heavy as most of the other worsted weight I have in my collection. I am not sure what weight it is, as it seems a bit heavy for sports weight. I liked the color and a specific size was not an issue. He will work perfectly for an egg or just to go in a basket.

My hope is to finish three birds and three bunnies. I would not mind having a few extras to decorate the house here if I have time. As for my own Easter decorations, I am working on Pricilla, a bunny toilet paper cover to replace the Leprechaun now that St. Patrick's Day has passed.

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

Dinosaurs and Dragons

Knit and Crochet Food Patterns Great for Play Food

Hello Kitty

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

Teddy Bear Patterns and Clothes

Halloween Page

Thanksgiving

Christmas

Valentines

Easter

Graduation

Patriotic

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Dachshund

The last ami I made for the amigurumi swap was a dachshund. My partner has several dachshunds and when I was flipping through my Annie's magazine collection, I came across Nutmeg the Dachshund in Annie's Crochet Newsletter Number #65 Sept-Oct 1993.

The dachshund worked up much more easily and with fewer surprises than the cardinal. I changed some of the details of the project, as I usually do when I make something. I used safety eyes and a safety nose. Next time I would look more carefully at where the head joins. The directions were not clear and the picture was not helpful. Having done it once, I think I have a better idea of how to do it next time.

This swap is one of the reasons why I keep working so hard on my collection of old Annie's Attic magazines. Two of my projects for this swap came from old Annie's magazines that were out of print long before I even though about learning to crochet. I constantly find myself going back to them when someone asks for something I had not thought of doing before.

Cardinal

As I mentioned in a previous post, I finished an amigurumi swap and my partner has received her package. I can post pictures and discuss the items I made. She wanted a bird, so I used the free pattern for a cardinal found here to make one.

While I have made ducks, turkey, geese and farm birds, I have never attempted something that looked as realistic as this pattern. Most of the bird ami's I have made are simple toys designed to provide kids with representations of the animals to play with or decorations for holiday entertainment. The cardinal pattern was supposed to provide a realistic rendition of its counterpart in nature.

This pattern presented more challenges than I expected. I had to try the face several times before I achieved the black pattern the picture promised. The wings required using two strands of worsted weight yarn on a fairly small hook to obtain the color pattern for the wing. Getting the wings to balance so they could be attached correctly had its own special joys.

I learned some new strategies working on this project that will help me in the future. I do not know if I will return to this project to make another one. However, if not for this swap, I likely would not have explored this pattern at all. You never know what you will find on your hooks.

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

Dinosaurs and Dragons

Knit and Crochet Food Patterns Great for Play Food

Hello Kitty

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

Teddy Bear Patterns and Clothes

Halloween Page

Thanksgiving

Christmas

Valentines

Easter

Graduation

Patriotic

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Penguin Caddy

My swap partner received her package so I can start posting about the projects I made for the swap this week. The required item for this swap was one amigurumi. However, we like to add in extra items that the person might enjoy. I saw this caddy while searching through old Annie's Attic magazines looking for bird patterns. This pattern came from Annie's Pattern Club Magazine, issue #43 Feb-Mar 1987. I thought this would make a fun desk item to hold sticky notes and hooks or pencils.

While I have made lots of ami's I have never made a project that required a Styrofoam base and chenille stems. The stems were easy to find, but the bases available have changed just a bit since the pattern was published in the 80's. I found one that worked, with a little adaptation though.

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

Dinosaurs and Dragons

Knit and Crochet Food Patterns Great for Play Food

Hello Kitty

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

Teddy Bear Patterns and Clothes

Halloween Page

Thanksgiving

Christmas

Valentines

Easter

Graduation

Patriotic

Pictures may not be used without permission.

Pig and Pancake

I finished the Pig from If You Give a Pig a Pancake yesterday. This free pattern, found here provided a few more challenges than the mouse. The sweater was adorable, but lacked a few instructions regarding the arms. I would also suggest ignoring the direction to sew on the tail during assembly and wait until you put the sweater on the pig. I ended up adjusting the sweater to accommodate the tail. If I had waited, I likely would have chosen a better location to sew the tail.

I recently discovered the new owner is a huge fan of the book series. These toys will be a welcome Easter addition.

As an additional note, this pattern had the easiest directions I have seen for adding easy crochet butter and syrup to pancakes. So, if you are interested in pancakes and not the pig, this also may be the pattern for you.

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

Dinosaurs and Dragons

Knit and Crochet Food Patterns Great for Play Food

Hello Kitty

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

Teddy Bear Patterns and Clothes

Halloween Page

Thanksgiving

Christmas

Valentines

Easter

Graduation

Patriotic

Pictures may not be used without permission.

Mouse and Cookie

I love when I can make toys that encourage children to enjoy reading, revisit a book, or maybe even enjoy a new one. I ran across free patterns for the characters from If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and If You Give a Pig a Pancake a while back.

Updated to add sadly the patterns have been removed again. If I find them I will add them again.
I downloaded copies for myself and added the links to my toy page. The links eventually went dead, I took them down and still had not made the mouse or the pig. Recently, I found the links for the mouse and the pig were available again. After adding them to my toy page, the projects seemed like perfect additions for my Easter box. When I finished the mouse, I could not return to the pirates right away. I continued right on to the pig. So, both books and toys will be included in the Easter box. I have the second book on order.

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

Dinosaurs and Dragons

Knit and Crochet Food Patterns Great for Play Food

Hello Kitty

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

Teddy Bear Patterns and Clothes

Halloween Page

Thanksgiving

Christmas

Valentines

Easter

Graduation

Patriotic

Pictures may not be used without permission.

My First Pirate Completed

I promised I would get to Crafty Deb's Pirates pattern for a spring birthday and I have the first one completed. While all ami patterns are adaptable, what I like about this one is that it is designed to help the person individualize the pattern for the child or other person receiving the pirate. Basic body structures and lists of accessories are provided to individually create your own pirate or follow the designs given.

Since the accessories are not too challenging this could be a fun way to engage children in designing their own pirate without fear that the project will be too taxing for the person crocheting the item. My plan is to make two more before my shipping deadline. I would also like to put some away for donations as these work up quickly and are a great use for extra scrap yarn.


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

Dinosaurs and Dragons

Knit and Crochet Food Patterns Great for Play Food

Hello Kitty

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

Teddy Bear Patterns and Clothes

Halloween Page

Thanksgiving

Christmas

Valentines

Easter

Graduation

Patriotic

Pictures may not be used without permission.

Wordless Wednesday: The Victorian Snowmen Caroling Family

Barbie's St. Patick's Day Dress 2012

I wanted to try something new for St. Patrick's Day and found a pattern in Shady Lane's Crochet Hookup Number 4 July/August 1987. While I purchased my copy at a vintage site, for those of you that are interested Shady Lane still has this issue available under the section back issues as of this writing.

The Shady Lane pattern had one challenge I could not overcome and one I ran out of time to complete before this dress had to be packaged for mailing. The pattern has a beautiful overskirt with the pineapple look. However, according to what I have read, not the actual pineapple stitch. While I tried the pattern several times, I could not get the overskirt to work and decided to abandon it until I have time to understand where I am missing the part that creates the pineapple. Do to the time I spent with the skirt, after playing with the collar once and not liking the outcome I decided not to continue and wait for another shot at it.

One of the problems I had was the pattern was written for sports yarn and I had run out so I was trying to adapt the pattern to fingering and baby yarn, which I had stocked up on a while back and never used. This required multiple hook changes to keep the pattern to gauge. I do not think that made the issue with the overskirt, as I did have white sports yarn and still did not get it to work. However, I think some of the other issues would have resolved more quickly with the yarn required by the pattern.

My favorite part of the outfit was the hat. Wrong size yarn or not, I do like this pattern and want to try it for an Easter outfit with sports yarn.

The important thing is Barbie does have a new outfit for St. Patrick's Day and the package can go out this week.

Leprechaun with Pot of Gold

It was time to get back to work on my St. Patrick's Day box so I made a second Lucky Leprechaun using Lily's free pattern and added a pot of gold from another free pattern found here.

I chose not to use cotton, but acrylic worsted weight for the Leprechaun as I did for the first one. I don't have much in the way of face colors in my stash of cotton and these have been great stash busting projects.

I have a few more ideas I am experimenting with to see if they make it into the box before it mails. It has to get out soon to arrive before the holiday.

Free Holiday Patterns Available on the Following Blog Pages:


St. Patrick's Day

Easter

Graduation

Patriotic

Halloween Page

Thanksgiving

Christmas

Valentines

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