Happy Halloween

For many of us it has been a strange Halloween season but we hope all of you are enjoying it the best you can. I wanted to look back at my Halloween fun this year for my Halloween post. I hope you enjoy.

Square Crow Garland Finished

If you've been following this blog you might have thought I abandoned the square crows. I didn't. My promise to myself was that when the October birthday and Halloween boxes were gone that I'd finish off the garland so I could have it up before Halloween to keep up through Thanksgiving.

I had a hard time getting a good picture of them once they were hanging. My cell phone couldn't capture them at all. Even with our camera the shot wasn't all I'd hoped for. Thankfully the garland is as cute as I'd hoped for and I'm glad to have it cheering up my house

In order to finish the last 3 square crows quickly I decided on a factory approach. I finished legs, than main bodies, moved on to heads, than hats. It was an efficient method and I didn't have the challenge of starting all over and repeating the same pattern once again.

The 80 inch chain worked out to be a good distance for where I wanted to hang the garland and I'll want to remember that for the next garland I make. I've come to enjoy having garlands for this area since I made one for Easter.

For those you who are curious the hats do work rather well to keep the square crows in place once they are hanging up and you move them into the positions you want. You can slide them into place to create the spacing you wish.

This pattern was found in Crochet World's October 2020 magazine.

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.

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.

Candy Corn Witch

I had certain pattern sets that I used to create my Halloween villagers this year and then I just found some fun "extras" to add as I went along. This is a free pattern found here.

This proved to be a good chance to use up more of the yarn I had left over from making the Halloween hot pads. I love projects that help me downsize left overs.

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.

Mrs. Witch

Another villager has entered the Halloween town. Mrs. Witch comes from the same crochet pattern set as Frankenstein which you can purchase here.

I accidently switched the blue colors for the witch and decided I wasn't going to redo. I was ok with the contrast. I did switch to the darker color for her hat though.

Speaking of the hat, that was the most challenging part of the project. It might have been that it was later in the evening when I was working on it but I had trouble getting the hat to work quite right. I do like it but it didn't quite get the hat shape it was designed to have. Perhaps I'll have better luck another time.

I love the hair design for this villager and while you can't see it because I sewed the hat on before taking a picture she has an adorable bun on the top of her head that was easy to make and attach. I could see making this doll again as a different character.

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.

Candy Corn House

This is the final house for the Halloween Village this year. I'm going to concentrate on making villagers and finishing the October birthday presents so I can get both boxes in the mail before the beginning of October.

This house was made by adapting a free Christmas house pattern found here. When I saw this pattern something just spoke to me about making it into a candy corn house to go with the candy corn villager.

Just a few notes about this pattern, first it is written in UK crochet terms it looks like it was originally part of a crochet kit possibly found in a UK magazine. 

There is no specific yarn specified but the designer suggests a 4mm hook which led me to worsted 4 yarn as I had the colors I wanted for the candy corn idea. The g hook made a HUGE house, far too large for the village I'd made. I pulled out what I'd crocheted and continued with a D hook and the worsted 4 yarn. The yarn is all different brands, the windows are Caron Simply Soft Ombre Gold that I had left over from an old project. I wanted something different for the windows.

This would make a cute Christmas house should I attempt a Christmas village at some point. It goes together relatively quickly and simply.

Frankenstein

For a village to be fun to play with someone must live there. So far we have a Pumpkin Witch and a Candy Corn villager. Now Frankenstein moves to the Halloween Village.

Frankenstein was created using the Halloween minis pattern which can be purchased here. This is one of the most detailed pattern sets I've ever purchased. I will warn you the set is 47 pages. The directions and pictures that accompany them are amazing.

Lately it appears my hobby has been yarn hunting. This designer uses Schachenmayr Catania Originals yarn. The only place I was able to get most of the colors, the orange appears to be unavailable, was Love Crafts. I hit them at a crazy 50% off sale and items were disappearing from my cart as fast as I could order. However, I did get most of what I needed for the set. That being said while I will finish up the yarn I ordered I think I'll be sticking to the Sinfonia from now on. This yarn splits more than other and I found it more frustrating to work with over all. My ami's may end up being slightly larger but that isn't a huge issue for me.

I will be picking up more patterns from this designer. In fact she has a new book coming out in December Mini Kingdom: Crochet 36 Tiny Amigurumi Royals! that will be on my Christmas wish list. I'd love to see a collection of her holiday patterns in book format.

Pumpkin House

I was actually looking for another pattern by the same designer for the Halloween box when I came across a folder that I'd failed to file away in the appropriate pattern binder after I received it as a gift. I'd forgotten about this pattern and it works perfectly into my Halloween themed village. You can purchase the Pumpkin Pocket Pal pattern here.

This pattern didn't specify yarn or hook size for the pattern. I started with a g hook and worsted weight 4 yarn and I found my pumpkin was smaller than I wanted for my village theme. I moved to an I hook and worsted weight 4 yarn and was happy with the outcome.

There is no requirement to sew a hinge on the pumpkin stem to attach it to the pumpkin. I did this because I figured it less likely to be lost if it was partly attached and it still allows figures to go in and out of the house.

This is the only house I will be making this year that has the option for the figures to enter the house. I have other patterns that provide that option but those hopefully will appear next year when I have more time for assembly. This year the pumpkin house will be the only interactive house.

The pattern has two options for figures for the house, the pocket pal of the title. There is a doll like figure which while cute didn't quite fit my Halloween villager theme. However the designer also gives directions for making a ghost using the same directions and that fit my theme much better.

I did start by using worsted weight 4 yarn and a g hook for the ghost however, I mistook the ghost bottom for the face and needed to begin the pattern again. I put the pattern aside went to bed and approaching the pattern the next day I decided I wanted to try it in sports cotton. I added an additional bottom row to make the ghost a bit wider as it was considerably smaller once I switched from worsted 4 to sports cotton 3.

You may have noticed in the first ghost picture he lacks a smile. I realized when I took the picture I'd forgotten to sew his smile. I chose not to retake the house pic but I wanted an up close picture of the ghost completed.