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.

Female Vampire Amigurumi

I find it comforting to read on other blogs that people share my challenges. It does not solve my problem, but it means I am not alone. While I have not yet started doing craft shows or making items for sale online, I do have a need to make multiple projects for family members and I find it challenging to stick with the same pattern for multiple projects unless I mix things up. Before anyone panics, I am not contemplating selling work made from other people's patterns without permission. I am just contemplating the work involved with committing to making multiple items for sale purposes.

This female vampire is actually a modified version of the witch pattern from Gourmet Crochet's Monster Mash Amigurumi. I used Dracula's cape instead of the witch version because it was longer. I had already made two Draculas. I needed a third vampire character to balance out my Halloween packages. I just did not want to make another Dracula that day and decided to play with the witch pattern and create a female companion for Dracula. One package requires two of each doll. I already have three Frankensteins. The first blue one has already left for his new home. I have made one blue and one in a more traditional green for the package that requires two of each item. The female vampire now balances the vampire requirements.



If you arrived here looking for free Halloween patterns please check out the Halloween Knit and Crochet Page or the Halloween Plastic Canvas Page.


Pictures may not be used without written permission.

Count Dracula Ami

As I have mentioned before I love to send out packages for all the holidays to the nieces and nephews. I have been splitting my time preparing my Christmas projects and finding Halloween items that are in my project range.

I had ordered a book through Gourmet Crochet, Monster Mash Amigurumi, a while back and had not had the chance to make any of the patterns. While it is only June, I have several packages to prepare for shipping. I need to start early. Normally I would have started with the ghost, but I have worked with lots of white lately and was looking for relief from all white projects. Since I had the required colors on hand, I started with the Count.




I did struggle with his head and his wig. The head is not crocheted as one piece. I think my gauge was off because even using a smaller hook for the hair, the wig was larger than it should have been. I think his head was just small. I have been working on the Frankenstein pattern that creates the head as one piece and have not had any problems with sizing which leads me to believe that I just crocheted the head too small. I have several more to experiment with so I will have a better idea how to adjust. The other thing I will change is I will make the chain for his cape shorter. I thought that might be the case at the time, but decided to finish the pattern and adjust on the second attempt.



He is already receiving rave reviews and will be one of the first off to a new home.

For those who are looking for free Halloween crochet and knitting patterns please check out the Halloween Crochet and Knitting Free Pattern Page.

Pictures may not be used without written permission.