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.

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.

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.