Teddy Bear Hot Pad

I mentioned in the Barbie Fashion Doll Thrills post that I'd picked up a bunch of old crochet magazine patterns that were on sale at a vintage pattern site. One of the upsides of buying the whole magazine is occasionally I'm surprised by a project I hadn't noticed when I selected the magazine. In this case it was a Teddy Bear Potholder or in my case Hot Pad as I find these work great to set things on, not so great to try to pick things up with when they are hot.

This is a Michelle Wilcox pattern found in Annie's Quick and Easy Pattern Club April-May 1991 magazine. I used cotton dishcloth yarn for my project and followed the suggested hook sizes. I prefer cotton when I'm going to use heat on my projects. The downside to this is dishcloth cotton has more limited color selections. I would have preferred a lighter color as shown in the magazine for the baby bear. However, finding any brown locally has been challenging over the years. SO I used what I had on hand.

I used sport cotton for the eyes and Baby Bear's paw pads. I tried his paw pads with the pink dish cloth yarn and it was too heavy.

This will make for a nice summer hot pad. I have a few I can use for Memorial Day and July 4th but it is nice to have some summer fun themed ones as well.

Easter Hot Pad

Coming just in under the wire on this one. Finished it up Friday night when I realized that Easter was only a weekend away.

I started with the mug rug pattern from Annie's Spooktacular Crochet and by making an additional back side turned it into a hot pad.

I should have reversed the stripes and made the dark portion the backing for the basket. I could still have made the back side the lighter color, as I had concerns I might not have enough dark color for both sides of the hot pad. something to keep in mind for another day. I would have preferred not to have the basket and the hot pad the same color.

The basket comes from a Maggie's Holiday Crochet Fridgie pattern you can purchase here. I've moved to fridgie patterns for my holiday hot pads because there are plenty to choose from and they work up quickly. I used to pieces of Omega Sinfonia yarn together for the basket but found 2 was too heavy for the eggs and went back to single pieces for the eggs. For my notes I ordered the purple yarns when I got the green for St. Patrick's Day from Creative Yarn Source. The yellow, pink, and orange were left overs from previous projects.

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.

Microwave Bowl Cozy

I picked up a quilted microwave cozy at a craft fair back in the fall and at the time only bought one not really sure if we'd use it. Sure enough it quickly become a popular item in our house for warming up soups, etc.

The February Crochet World published a Valentine themed pattern for a crocheted microwave cozy in their magazine. You can purchase the digital pattern alone here. It was on my someday I'll get to this list, but as I realized the spring and summer craft sales were not going to be a thing this year so I could pick up more quilted ones, I realized it was time to tackle a crochet one.

The cozy is double thick which does make it strong enough, which was one of my concerns when I was making it. It survived its first outing and received positive feedback on its usefulness compared to the quilted one.

The pattern is designed to be made with two different cotton skeins, one solid color and one variegated. This meant switching colors multiple times and weaving in all those ends.

That design has a certain esthetic appeal but my main focus was on producing a workable product so I pulled Bernat Handicrafter Cotton Ombres Mod Yarn from my stash and stuck with it for the whole pattern. I rather like the look and certainly appreciated the added simplicity of not having to change yarn several times and then sew in the resulting ends. I'm not sure those using it in my house would really appreciate the additional work for the color changes. If you decide to make a cozy that will be for you to decide. I rather like the one color look myself.

Project note for myself. This project calls for an f hook. To make gauge I had to use an h hook.

Light Bulb Hot Pad

I've always liked holiday dishcloths and hot pads or pot holders. I find they are both practical and decorative. They add a little holiday color and feel without taking up valuable work space in my kitchen. I'm trying to test out some patterns this year to see which ones I like before seeing if they'd make good gifts.

I like this one, but I even in the picture of the pattern you will see it doesn't lay completely flat if that is an issue for you with hot pads. I was gifted one prior to this and I've found the little bump hasn't been an issue for keeping the pans balanced on top. The weight usually keeps the item flat.

You can purchase this pattern here. As I mentioned previously in a blog about Mary Maxim, e-pattern central has frequent sales. If you want this pattern and you have time to wait, I'd suggest waiting on one of their sales to pick up the pattern.

Nobby Scrubby

I've been looking for different kinds of kitchen items to crochet for a friend who is putting together items for a basket to donate. Another friend sent me a link for this free pattern which you can find here. These work up quickly and are good for targeted scrubbing jobs in the kitchen. Even with my big hands I was able to get three fingers into the hand section. This allows you to apply a little more pressure as you are cleaning.

Just a few notes for myself. The pattern requires you to work two pieces of cotton kitchen yarn together, so you need to make sure you have two available to use. You can use two separate skeins or roll two balls, but it isn't easy to work from both ends. Second, check your guage for this project. Gauge can be off when you work with multiple skeins. I had to go from the required J hook to a K to make gauge. If I hadn't the pocket for my hand would have been too small and the cleaning area would have been almost useless.

Crochet Glasses

Having finished the plates, I turned my thought towards glasses. Again, I could find items close to my goal but not quite, what I was seeking. While I am eventually thinking about making a tea set once the kitchen is completed, I want to focus on a basic kitchen set for this project. Therefore, I knew I did not want teacups or coffee cups. However, as I looked at the pattern for Cafe con Leche Cup in Amigurumi World: Seriously Cute Crochet I realized it could be adapted.

One of the issues with making glasses was having them be able to support their own weight, as they got taller. The Cafe pattern made smaller cups but the cups were stuffed and had a topping to create the illusion of a topping on the coffee. This worked out perfectly for my plan. I used the basic cup pattern, made it taller and then changed the colors of the toppings to create different colored "drinks" for the kids. I have orange juice, milk, lemonade, and red fruit juice.





My goal in designing these was not an elegant table, but to resemble what the kids generally experience. Unbreakable cups and kids are a time honored tradition in my family. Long before Sippy cups were on the market, we had unbreakable cups for the younger generation to prevent glasses from being broken. When I finished these, they did remind me of some of the interesting sets we acquired over the years.


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

Crochet Amigurumi Animals and Stuffed Animal Free Patterns

Knit Amigurumi and Stuffed Toys

Crochet and Knit Amigurumi and Other Dolls

Knit and Crochet Toys

Dinosaurs and Dragons

Hello Kitty

Crochet and Knit Puppets

Teddy Bear Patterns and Clothes

Knit and Crochet Food Patterns Great for Play Food


Pictures may not be used without permission.

Crochet Plates

After making all the breakfast food, the kids need plates to put the food on in their play kitchen. I found many tea party plates, but I could not find a pattern for dinner sized plates. After searching through many resources, I decided to adapt the cookie plate from Amigurumi Two!: Crocheted Toys for Me and You and Baby Too. I made the plates larger and chose a solid color for my set instead of mixing colors.



I decided on a set of four. This would allow the kids to play together, have friends visit, or invite stuffed animals or dolls to the table to share a pretend meal. This was Bernat yarn left over from a previous project and is heavier than the normal Red Heart yarn I generally use for my toy projects. It has a soft texture and an interesting color blend.



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

Crochet Amigurumi Animals and Stuffed Animal Free Patterns

Knit Amigurumi and Stuffed Toys

Crochet and Knit Amigurumi and Other Dolls

Knit and Crochet Toys

Dinosaurs and Dragons

Hello Kitty

Crochet and Knit Puppets

Teddy Bear Patterns and Clothes

Knit and Crochet Food Patterns Great for Play Food


Pictures may not be used without permission.

Crochet Frying Pan

Those who have been reading this blog know I have been working on creating crochet food and kitchen items for Christmas. This has been a fun and challenging project. Even my husband has gotten involved cutting cardboard to make the pieces that require more support. While some pieces have been more successful than others, the frying pan ranks in the success column.




This pattern comes from Annie's Attic's It's Play Time. I found the crochet directions to make the parts of the pan to be very straight forward and easy to follow. However, the assembly directions left much to be desired. This was one of those patterns that says, now sew it together. The one hint it did give was that you should single crochet the cardboard and the circle used to cover the cardboard to the bottom of the pan creating a hole to slide the crochet covered ruler into the opening creating a pan handle. My instinct would have been to put the carboard in the bottom of the pan and sew it down. However that would have created a problem in adding the handle. I also had to work out my wrong side/right side issues with which side should be showing. Now a more experienced or even intelligent crocheter may not have had these struggles. I have only been at this for a little over a year.




When I finally had it all together and started taking pictures it was worth the several times I pulled the bottom off and started over. This is a cute toy and one that will function as well as its plastic alternatives. I am pleased that this works as a pretend cooking option. It is hard to know with crochet toys if there will be enough support as I discovered making the spatula. I have design improvements for a non-slotted spatula option I plan to make before Christmas that I will post if I finish.

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

Crochet Amigurumi Animals and Stuffed Animal Free Patterns

Knit Amigurumi and Stuffed Toys

Crochet and Knit Amigurumi and Other Dolls

Knit and Crochet Toys

Dinosaurs and Dragons

Hello Kitty

Crochet and Knit Puppets

Teddy Bear Patterns and Clothes

Knit and Crochet Food Patterns Great for Play Food


Pictures may not be used without permission.

Crochet Spatula

This pattern also came from Annie's Attic's It's Play Time . While I liked the idea of the slotted plastic “look,” the next time I make this, I will make a solid spatula bottom and use either plastic canvas or cardboard to make the surface solid. While the patterns gives directions for making the handle more solid, there are no instructions for making the slotted bottom supported enough that kids could actually use it to flip the crochet pancakes or eggs. The toy can still be used to pretend to mix things or in other fashions, but it will not function well as a spatula. I will be working on making a spatula that will flip those pancakes and eggs for Christmas.



I am glad that I feel more confident about working through a project and then even when it does not quite meet my expectations, finding a way to fix it. I have a couple of different spoon patterns to try out as well. One from this book and one from a tea set pattern I purchased. I am thinking about trying to expand the size of the tea plates to get some plates to put the play food on. If it works out, you will be able to see the pictures here.

If you arrived here looking for free crochet or knit food patterns please see the Free Food Knit and Crochet Page.


Pictures may not be used without written permission.