Crochet Box of Chocolates

I alternated making chocolates with making crochet cookies and other projects. As I mentioned in the cookie project I did debate making the actual "box" of chocolates and decided against it. I wanted to make play food for Valentine's Day for little ones but the effort to make the box versus the time it would last didn't seem like a good use of my time. As I mentioned in the cookie post I found heart boxes at Hobby Lobby. You can find this box online here.

I didn't follow one pattern for the chocolates. In some cases I followed a pattern to completion. Others inspired me to create my own based on established designs. For my own records in case I decide to do this again and for those of you interested in making your own crocheted chocolates I'm going to do my best to document just what I did.

The round pink and yellow ones with the dark centers were called Licorice Allsorts. The Chocolate with a swirl is a Chocolate Bon Bon according to the designer. These are part of a free pattern found in a blog post labeled Crochet Candy found here.

For those of you interested in a free box pattern with chocolates Red Heart has a free pattern here. This pattern uses Luster Sheen which has been discontinued. Fortunately for me I had some brown I wanted to use up but for this project. There are other yarns which could substitute and work for making the box if you don't have Luster Sheen in your stash. From this pattern set I made the chocolate covered pretzel and I adapted the white chocolate striped chocolate. I alternated between Luster Sheen and Red Heart Sport yarn which I also believe has been discontinued. I'm determined to work my way through this old stash.

The last pattern set I used was an out of print Annie's Attic pattern Crochet Sweet Dreams 55X. This pattern also has a box with no cover I didn't follow any of these patterns for chocolates directly but I did use the pictures for ideas to finish off my box of chocolates. I made some circles and oval chocolates after looking at these patterns. If you are interested in play food and come across this set it is worth picking up as it has a variety of other play food patterns. If Annie publishes this as a digital pattern I will try to update this post.

Crochet Valentine's Day Cookies

Not even half way through January and I was working on Valentine's Day projects. I hadn't even finished getting all the Christmas decorations put away. The truth is however, if you are going to send hand made gifts you have to get a head start. Even a bigger start if you have to mail a package.

I've always been a fan of play food. I think it encourages pretend play. Adding holiday food just makes it even more fun. You can keep these as heart sugar cookies in your play food box or bring them out for the holidays as something to play with after all the Christmas toys and decorations have been put away.

This pattern is part of one of my favorite Valentine pattern sets created by Crochet Village called My Silly Valentine. Crochet Village used to have a website but the company seems to have moved to Etsy. You can purchase the pattern here.

There are a few container patterns available in crochet and plastic canvas in heart shapes. I considered the option and dismissed it. While I love making hand made gifts I'm realistic about how well certain items last under little hands. Measuring the time and effort required to make a crocheted box versus how long it would last I began looking online for my options. I found two different heart shaped boxes at Hobby Lobby. Since we just had a Hobby Lobby open near us, I even avoided shipping. You can find the box online here.