Mr. Pumpkin

I wasn't sure I was going to finish the set of mini Halloween ami's but with one left it just seemed like something that should be done. You can purchase the pattern set here. It also gave me a chance to work on some sock yarn I'd won years ago in a giveaway that I've slowly been throwing at projects to finish it off since I don't make socks.

This ami works up really quickly and is one of the easier pumpkins I've made. Mine is slightly smaller than it would have been had I gone with cotton sport yarn but size wasn't an issue for me with this project, using up unwanted sock yarn was more of a priority.

I'm very excited that I was able to pick up 3 more of her pattern sets during a sale so I have the Halloween set I was missing, the 2 Christmas sets I wanted and to get the discount I threw in the Valentine set. While I'm a big fan of her work the Easter set isn't calling to me. I am holding back an Amazon gift card for the release of her new book coming out December 1 Mini Kingdomwhich is perfect for the Castle I made and am in need of villagers to fill before I send it off for Christmas.

Mr. Vampire

Another villager is finished and ready to be part of Halloween town. I've finished all of the characters from this set with the exception of the pumpkin. Not sure I will have the chance to make the pumpkin this year as there are a couple of other Halloween villagers I want to finish before I mail off this Halloween box. We will just have to see how things work out.

You can purchase the Halloween Minis here. I'm hoping to purchase her two Christmas pattern sets soon as I'ld like to get a jump on making some Christmas characters to send off, too. I've become a huge fan of the way she designs her ami's and I love following her patterns.

Mr. Vampire is made using Schachenmayr Catania yarn which is a light sport weight cotton yarn. I've become a huge fan of light sport cotton for ami's recently. For those of you who haven't used cotton for ami's this has a much different feel than the kitchen cotton you might be familiar with using. It is softer and I've found for the smaller ami's it creates and holds shapes nicely in a way I don't quite get when I use lighter acrylic weights.

For those of you who have been using it for years, I mention this only because I really had limited experience with cotton yarns outside the kitchen cottons until a several years ago when I started looking for fine and sport weight yarns and started purchasing cotton and cotton blend yarns. I don't often make clothing so acrylic often works well for the projects I make. I've not often explored natural fibers.

This year my experience broadened even more when I bought patterns that called for even lighter yarns than I'd used previously and I not only discovered new yarns, but new places to purchase yarn. So I mention it here because cotton was something I associated with kitchen cotton for a long time. My experience with the range of cotton yarns continues to grow as I look for different weights and especially colors of cotton.

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.