Pumpkin Baby Carrier Set - FREE crochet pattern!

Happy Halloween!  My cousin just welcomed a brand new sweet baby boy into the world and had asked me to make her something that could work for Halloween night for a newborn.  Despite not-so-great pictures, it turned out great!  So I'm sharing the pattern!

Shark Graphghan - FREE crochet pattern!

It's been a while since I blogged... life has been busy!  But I have had a bit of time to do some crocheting, of course. For this one I was very inspired by another crafter's project and blog post, I'll share some details below.  Here is my shark graphghan, which is a graph afghan, made with a pixel chart!  The technique is Corner to Corner (C2C) and it was so fun to make!

Owl Appliqué - FREE Crochet Pattern!

I was making a blanket for a friend and it included adding a pair of owls onto it.  Using the same colors as the blanket, I made these appliqués and had to choose amongst them for the blanket.  I figured I could share the pattern for these!  There's actually a pattern for 2 different ones, a bigger one made with single crochet and a smaller, simpler one made with double crochet.

Hermit Crab with Removable Shells - FREE Crochet Pattern!

My sister gave my daughter some sea shells from a trip to Cuba, and she just loved them.  We had recently seen an episode of a kid's show that had hermit crabs, so we looked online to see hermit crabs and found a few pictures of hermit crabs wearing shells just like hers!  So I thought I'd make her a crocheted crab for her, finding some way to make the shells removable.  And here is the result, please enjoy this pattern, including a couple of shell possibilities.  I would LOVE to have comments and pictures of other shells people create, the possibilities are endless!!

Twisted and Chain Cable Headbands - FREE Knit Patterns!

Much to our dismay, we've been hit with yet another bout of snow in Southwestern Ontario.  Spring sure does take its time!  Although I'd rather be out in the garden, it gave me a bit of cozy time to knit up a couple headbands before the snow is gone for good!  Here are a couple of them I've whipped up, including patterns.  My instructions for both are in this blog!

Aladdin-Inspired Stuffie - FREE Crochet Pattern!

So I set out to make a stuffed critter for my daughter.  I wanted it to be kind of monster-like, like Patchy-Patch from Toopy and Binoo (a Canadian Kids TV show).  But once I started making it, I thought a little vest would be cute, and then a little cap, and then he really started to look like an Arabian Nights / Aladdin-type guy so I gave him some pointy shoes and VOILA!  I hope you enjoy making this critter... you could really dress him up however you want!  A scarf, a top hat... whatever your heart desires.

Unicorn Hat - FREE Crochet Pattern!

My daughter asked me if I could make her a unicorn hat... and I can't say no to my sweet little girl when it comes to crochet projects!!  But I thought about attaching a mane of hair and didn't want to attach tons of threads of yarn to a hat (although I'm sure it would be awesome).  Then I remembered when I was young, I made Yarnables (link here, although I don't like that someone posted the patterns free, you can see pics of them all) - my Dad worked at the company that makes Bernat yarn and brought home these kits and I loved making them!  So I incorporated hair from the Curly Yarnable, simply doing dc and it will hold the curl.  Improvised some details and VOILA!  A hat!  Free pattern is below!

Bean Bag Owl - FREE Crochet Pattern!

I just love owls.  Who doesn't?  I designed this little amigurumi beanie Owl for my son's nursery.  I decided to stuff it with bean bag beans (details below), but it could be stuffed with regular batting or any other stuffing you want!  I've put quite detailed assembly instructions below, as I find that the proper assembly is really what makes an amigurumi critter look great!

Pattern has been updated to include a video with full assembly instructions.  Even a beginner-level crocheter could make this project in a few hours!

Double-sided pillow pattern - FREE!

I wanted to have a pillow with a bit more texture than what I see in the stores.  I found this great, soft, super bulky yarn to try out, but when I worked up one side of a pillow, it used up 95% of the yarn.  And this yarn wasn't cheap!  So I decided to make a double-sided pillow using a worsted yarn on the opposite side.  I love the result, so I decided to share the patterns!  I used a standard Ikea pillow to stuff it and then sewed it shut, but more ambitious folks could install a zipper or Velcro.

Making a Mermaid Tail Blanket

Hi everyone!  As Mermaid Tail Blankets were one of the hot ticket items that people were requesting me to make this year, I thought I'd take some time to write down how I make mine, and show some pictures of the finished products.

LOTS OF PHOTOS BELOW!!!