Bunny Cottage

I metioned yesterday that I preposted my 2022 Easter projects last June to post in 2023 as I missed the chance to post them in 2022 and still wanted a record of them to return to later.

When I send holiday boxes I love sending items that can create creative play with different kinds of items. One type of crochet patterns I've pursued are house patterns that can be used with little amis to make crochet play sets. I found this pattern on Ravelry as part of a online magazine In the Round Issue 15 Realm of the Faires. The pattern is called Cottingley Faire Cottage. You can purchase the pattern here.

This was a fun learning experience as the designer used some techniques I wasn't familiar with to create the fairy cottage look. As this was being created for kids to play with and not just as a decoration I did omit some of her decorative elements. For fun I also dug through my button collection to add decorations to the project rather than crocheting everything.

Chick a Hop

Last Easter I made crochet projects but for a variety of reasons never got around to posting them. As summer approached I realized in future years I'd want information about these projects as I'd likely make at least some of them again. With that in mind I started preposting Easter posts to arrive in a more timely fashion for the following Easter that would trace the projects I'd made in 2022.

My husband saw the Chickadee Friends Herrschners Kit in a catalog I had left on the table and it arrived as a Christmas present. I've been decorating his home office with holiday ami's to brighten his day and he dubbed this one Chick a Hop. As of my preposting this the kit was still available at Herrschners here.

Notes:

I used a D hook for this project. I wanted a smaller ami for my purposes.

To get the stitch counts to match I found myself changing directions in rows 4-7 of the body to keep the counts correct. I haven't seen a correction on the site but this was my experience.

Ken' Swim Trunks

I've made a point of focusing on celebrations rather than worries for this year's donations and Ken's swim trunks bring us to another celebration. His are the last of the fashion doll bathing suits I need for the 2023 donations!! I still need more swim suits to finish off my yearly challenge but one set of dolls is done and that is worthy of celebration.

This pattern comes from the June 2009 Crochet World. The pattern is called Fun in the Sun and includes swim wear for Ken and Barbie along with beach accessories. I've made some of the accessories in the past but the last time I got caught up in making the accesories some of the dolls left without suits so I'm thinking suits first and I can always go back and make the accessories if I have the desire to come back later.

The pattern calls for a 1.9 mm hook with size 10 crochet cotton. For my last two attempts I've used size 10 cotton with a .6 mm Tulip Etimo steel crochet hook. Having done this twice now I've found the .6mm hook is splitting the thread and since I've increased my supply of size 20 thread I'm making a note here for next attempt to try the size 20 thread with a larger hook to avoid the thread splitting and make this a more pleasurable project.