Pumpkin Mice

I ran across these mice in a blog I follow. You can find the free pattern here. I figured why not add some animals to this Halloween village. This pattern works up really quickly if you are looking for a last minute Halloween ami.

These are made from acrylic worsted weight yarn and I went down to a D hook because I didn't want Godzilla sized mice living in the village. They are still quite large compared to human/mice normal size comparisons but at this size they can still be played with and not tower over the local villagers.

Scarecrow

I finished off the houses for this year and now my task is to make as many villagers as I can before the deadline to send the Halloween box. While Halloween isn't until the end of October I want the kids to have plenty of time to enjoy the toys before it is time to put them away after the holiday is over. So there will come a time when it is important to close the box and send it on its way.

The scarecrow is made from a collection of Holiday Little People than can be purchased here. I've been slowly collecting her Little People patterns as they are fun for little hands to play with and she has a variety of themes. I made the Candy Corn girl in cotton sport weight yarn. Do to color choices and yarn on hand I went with acrylic sport weight which is a little heavier for the scarecrow..

While the pattern calls for an H hook and worsted weight 4 yarn I went with a D hook to match my lighter yarn and the size of the other little people in the village.

Ghost in a Haunted House

Laura Sutcliffe has a whole series of affordable pattern designs featuring various creatures in various types of homes, blankets, etc. I made the Rabbit in the Carrot for Easter. She also designed the pumpkin house I made for the Halloween village.

She's become one of my favorite designers for quick holiday themed projects and I even have some of her non-holiday projects on my to do list for future packages. The haunted house was the most detailed one I've made to date. I haven't done much embroderiery on crochet but this was fun. I'm not a huge fan of spiders in general but they were necessary for this project and I like the way the came out.

Yarn can be tricky for project choices. She suggested using DK I wanted worsted 4 but the yarn I chose is a lighter worsted and my project was slightly smaller than I'd envisioned which meant less room to add the details for the project. Sometimes color becomes an issue. I loved the color for this project and I had nothing in a heavier weight that equaled it and I was not buying more yarn.

The results were less room for the details of the house. I ended up using sport weight cotton for most of the details on the house other than the door. I loved the bat motif and I could easily see this appearing in other Halloween projects. It is easy to make and looks better than others I've tried making.

I was least pleased with the windows. I just couldn't get them to work out the way I wished. I loved the spider web which I made with size 10 cotton rather than sewing thread. It made it easier to see. The only other change I think I'd make is use a smaller hook or perhaps sport weight yarn for the ghost. While I do love him he ended up slightly larger than I'd expected. He's a good size for the little one he's headed to so I'm not overaly concerned.

I made a backing for the house following the house directions and joined it with sc to the house pattern. I waited to add the roof and used the roof to join the top of the house. This solved 2 issues for me. It cleaned up the back of the house stitching so it wouldn't be seen and it also made a more solid house for a child to hold. The single house is a little light for the ghost not to fall out of or for a child to hold. It is quite easy to add a back and doesn't change the product overall.

Halloween House 2

I've been writing for some time now about my quest to create a starter Halloween village to go out with the Halloween box at the end of this month. I've only seen a few Halloween themed crochet house patterns and I've already made one of them. The other 2 I have require more construction than I have time to commit to this year. I have hopes that they might become part of next year's offering. However, with some creativity I realized Christmas actually is more promising for crochet houses than I'd realized.

One of the reasons I make such a point of noting where I find patterns when possible is I'm so grateful when someone leads me to a solution to a pattern hunt. Recently I came across a reference for a different pattern from repeatcraftme and thought I should check out the website. While there I came across something I'd never seen before a free pattern for a gingerbread house made all in one piece. If you read my blog at all you know I love to limit the amount of sewing I have to do so this really intrigued me.

As I realized I was looking for more simple houses to add to the Halloween village I wondered if this could be converted to a more Halloween style house. The is not only one piece but one color. I wanted a different color roof so I wanted to see how easy it would be to figure out where to make the color changes for the roof. It is actually fairly simple. The roof pieces for the slants are created through increases there is also a rectangle section of roof. What they all have in common is they all start with increases. If you change color at these areas and follow the really great pictures the designer has included of the one piece flat house section prior to being sewn together it is amazingly easy to figure out where to change colors.

To create the look I wanted I pinched the roof and house edges sewing them in place. I also crocheted a door and windows. The gingerbread pattern uses holiday buttons. I actually wanted more Halloween themed buttons but I just haven't been out to find them. I did add a few pumpkins I had left over from previous projects. I also crocheted a chimney to add to the roof. It seemed to need one.

I found another free Christmas house pattern I'm hoping to convert. We shall see what happens.

Black Cat Hot Pad

This is the last of the mug rug patterns found in Spooktacular Crochet but I'm not sure I'm done with this pattern yet.

I've heard from several people about how they use mug rugs and I appreciate that but these have made wonderful hot pads by just adding a back layer to them and I'm seriously considering expanding my collection by finding additional holiday motifs and sticking with the basic mug rug pattern. I'll post if I proceed with this idea.

Whether you make these as mug rugs or add a back and create hot pads these are quick fun patterns to make. As I mentioned in the previous posts I was able to locate the cotton sport yarn for this pattern at Creative Yarns. I've not received any offers from the company, but as I've written before I am not a fan of having to play hunt for the yarn when I fall in love with a pattern. So if I can help someone else locate the yarn, I mention it when I can. I know have a nice selection of Halloween hot pads. Looking forward to making some additional holiday ones.

Halloween Pumpkin Puppy

It's amazing how quickly you get behind when you find yourself with other projects and you just can't get back to something simple like posting finished projects. This was the second crocheted item that went into the Halloween box along with the Halloween books and the Mouse and the Pumpkin. Thankfully my shipping system is better than the posting system. I've already received a thank you note for the box.

You can purchase the pattern for this project here. I loved the pumpkin and the dog. If I make this again I won't attempt to make it into a Jack O' Lantern. The pattern for the face was not as successful.

I've been fighting a cold all month and I'm not sure I'm going to get to crochet the Thanksgiving items this year. We will have to see as I do have some cute ideas.

Purple Bat

I pulled my Halloween patterns at the end of the summer. I am getting a late start on my Halloween package. The bat pattern is from Crochet Village's Halloween Goblins set that includes the bat, a ghost trick or treater, and a vampire. I would love to finish the set, but it may have to wait until next year as I'm working through another fall Crochet Village set Fall Visitors. I adapted one of the pumpkin patterns. Now I am working on the crow from the same pattern set. I made the turkey for last year's Thanksgiving box. I also used Suncrafter's yellow eyes. The pattern would work with standard safety eyes or sewn eyes, too.

This was a great scrap project as I was able to use up some left over afghan yarn for the bat. I love being able to work through my yarn stash for these projects.

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

Patriotic

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Amigurumi Witch

This is the last new pattern I will be making from Gourmet Crochet's Monster Mash Amigurumi for this Halloween season. There are two more patterns in the book a spider which I tried and could not make look like a spider despite repeated attempts and a cat which for the longest time I thought was a mouse. I may try the cat/mouse pattern at a later date, but I still have to create multiple patterns of the other items from this book before Halloween and I have not even touched on Thanksgiving yet.

I finally fixed the shoe problem with this doll, but realized hair had to be added to the hat prior to sewing it on not after, so my story is she her hair is all under the hat tucked up nice and neatly. Either that or she's shaved her head and not tied to the conventions of hair. I do know I am not destroying the hat or the head pulling them off to add the hair. I will make sure the next one has hair. I also realized when I made the female vampire I added a few rows to her dress. I does pay to write down your changes when you make them.

If you arrived here looking for free Halloween patterns please check out the Halloween Knit and Crochet Page or the Halloween Plastic Canvas Page.


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