Crochet Egg Cozy for Easter; Free Pattern!

Just in time for Easter, some fun bunny shaped egg cozies to dress up your holiday baskets!  A couple of years ago I made these cute little hens, made from this pattern, and now they have some new friends to keep them company!  The following is my first ever published crochet pattern, so I apologize if there are any mistakes.  If you do find a mistake, or if you find any part confusing, please write a comment below and I will try to address it.

Gauge
Gauge is important for this project because the cozy will need to fit around your egg. Because the size of eggs very, as well as your own personal crochet style (do you crochet more tightly or loosely?) you may need to adjust your hook size to accommodate these variables.  I use two different hooks to create these cozies; US size G and F.  If you are using the same or similar yarn as me (see below) try using the same size hooks as I do to start.  After about the 9th row or so of making the body, try it on your egg and make sure it fits well.  Adjust your hook size accordingly if this is not the case. (The photo below shows a cozy after completing row nine and my G hook.)

Yarn
All cozies pictured here have been made with Caron Simply Soft. If you do not have this yarn available or if you would like to use a different yarn, it is labeled as “medium 4″ yarn (worsted weight?) on the package and the recommended hook size is US H. If you do use a different yarn I would recommend sticking with a 100% Acrylic, as you will not have any unwanted stretch.

Supplies

Yarn (Caron Simply soft in any color or other similar 100% acrylic yarn of your choice)
Size G and F hooks (or size to obtain gauge, see above)
Tapestry needle
scissors
small safety-pin or stitch marker
fork

abbreviations
st            stitch
sts          stitches
sl st        slip stitch
ch           chain
sc            single crochet
hdc         half double crochet
dc           double crochet
FPdc       front post double crochet

Now lets begin the pattern!

Body (make one)
The body is worked from top to bottom in joined rows. The chain stitch (or stitches) at the beginning of each row does NOT count as the first stitch of the row.

With size G hook (or the larger of the two crochet hooks that you will be using to obtain gauge)
make a magic loop
Row one-  5 sc into loop, tighten loop, sl st into the first sc of the row (5 sc)
Row two-  ch2, 2 hdc into the first sc of the previous row and each remaining sc of the row, sl st into the first hdc of the row (10 hdc)
Row three-  ch2, 1 hdc into the first hdc of the previous row and each remaining hdc of row, sl st into first hdc of the row (10 hdc)
Row four-  ch2, *2 hdc into the first hdc of the previous row, hdc into next hdc,* repeat from * to * until the end of the row, sl st into the first hdc of the row (15 hdc)
Row five-  ch2, 1 hdc into each hdc of the previous row, sl st into the first hdc of the row (15 hdc)
Row six- ch2, *2 hdc into the first hdc of the previous row, hdc into next 2 hdc,* repeat from * to * until the end of the row, sl st into the first hdc of the row (20 hdc)
Row seven-nine- 1 hdc into each hdc of the previous row, sl st into the first hdc of the row (20 hdc)
Row ten-  with size F hook (or one hook size smaller than you used for rows 1-9), ch2, 1dc in each of the hdc of the previous row, sl st into the first dc of the row (20 dc)
Row eleven & twelve-  ch2, *1dc into first dc of previous row, 1dc in next st, 1FPdc in each of next 2sts,* repeat from * to * to end of row, sl st into the first dc of the row (20 dc)

leaving a six-inch tail, snip yarn, tie off and weave in the end.

Ears (make two)
The ears are worked from top down. The first three rows are worked in a spiral, while the remaining rows are worked back and forth. Mark the first stitch of each of the first three rows using the safety pin or stitch marker so that you know where the rowed begins.

using size F hook (or the smaller of your two hooks to obtain gauge) make a magic loop
Row one- 6sc in loop, tighten loop (6 sc)
Row two- *2sc in first st, 1sc in next st,* repeat from * to * twice (9 sc)
Row three- 1sc in each st (9 sc)
Row four- flatten the bowl shape that you just made and work 4sc across, connecting the two sides, ch1, turn (4 sc)

Row five-eleven- 1sc in each st, ch1 turn (4 sc)
at the end of row eleven, sl st into the first sc of that row (creating a fold at the bottom of the ear), leaving a 10-12 inch tail, snip yarn, tie off, make second ear, position both ears on body and attach.

The photo below shows the completed ear before folding the bottom in half and slip stitching into the first stitch of the last row.

Tail (make one)

Using your fork and the tutorial found here, make a tail and attach it to your cozy.

Your done!

*** Feel free to make these cozies for your personal use.  You may also make and sell egg cozies from my pattern locally (not online).  Please do not copy this pattern and claim it as your own. Please do not re-publish photo’s as your own.***

If you make an egg cozy I’d love to see it!  Post a picture on the zween facebook page or link to your blog post in the comments below!  Speaking of Facebook, make sure to keep up with all things zween by following me there as well as on Pinterest.

Two new friends for baby

Meet the two new softies that I recently made my future baby girl.  Both were made from free patterns that I found online.

The doll pattern is by Emily Martin of The Black Apple.  I’ve admired Emily’s work for some time and first learned about her through my favorite craft podcast CraftSanity (check out Episode 75).  Emily even demonstrated how to make this doll on the Martha Stewart Show and you can still find the pattern, tutorial and video on the Martha Stewart site.  For my own doll I made a couple of adjustments.  Instead of painting on the facial features I embroidered them and I also added some pigtails.

I’m really happy with how she turned out, but I do admit that the pattern was a little challenging to use.  It was a free pattern after all, so I’m not complaining, but if I were to make this doll again I would re-draw the head and body pattern pieces with a seam allowance.  There are no seam allowances in this pattern.  Emily addresses this briefly on the video and suggests tracing the arm or leg right onto the fabric than stitching on the line before cutting it out.  Well, this works great when dealing with the small arms and legs.  But when it comes to putting the whole doll together at the end I would have had an easier time lining things up had there been a seam allowance given.

The owl was created from a free pattern by Ruth over on Hammer & Thread.  The pattern along with the tutorial was very easy to understand and follow, so my owl came together much more easily than the doll, that is until I got to attaching the tail section.  To be fair, Ruth clearly warns that this is the most challenging part of the project and she isn’t lying!

So if you’re looking for a softie project I would suggest that you put these two on your to do list.  They are cute little items that can be enjoyed by children and adults alike.  And although I really enjoy creating my own patterns and designs, I am a newbie when it comes to sewing three dimensional items like this, and I feel that following patterns can be enough of a challenge in this area.

Thank you for stopping by.  Happy crafting!

This post has been linked to:
Sew Cute Tuesday (6.5.12) on Creative Itch

Halloween How-To: Crochet Bear Ears

Here’s some fun, last-minute bear ears I made last night.  They only took about a half hour to make!  So, if you know how to crochet and need a really quick costume for next year, this is something to keep in mind.

How to make cute head band-style Halloween ears;

First crochet around the head band in single crochet.  I left just a little bit of room on each end where it tucks behind my ears.  Once you have single crochet along the whole band fasten off.

Now decide were you want your ears to be.

Ears (this pattern is for making rounded, bear-like ears, but could easily be adjusted to make triangular cat-like ears, or long bunny-like ears)

First ear

Row one- With the RIGHT SIDE facing and a new strand of yarn, single crochet into 6 sts (please note that I used a fairly thick yarn, so if you are using finer yarn you may want to adjust the number of stitches.) Ch 1, Turn. (6 sts)

Row two- 1sc in each st, ch 1, Turn . (6 sts)

Row three- sc 2 together, 1 sc in next 2 sc, sc 2 together, ch 1, Turn.  (4 sts)

Row four- 1 sc in each st, fasten off yarn

Second ear

Row one- With the RIGHT SIDE facing, repeat row one through four of first ear.  (this means that you will be starting from the right side of each ear and working left)

Finishing

With the RIGHT SIDE facing and starting on the right side of the right most ear; sc around ear, 1 slip stitch in each sc between ears, sc around second ear, fasten off.  Weave in all ends.

Inner ear (optional)

At this point you have ears!  If you used a fairly bulky yarn and crocheted it fairly tightly, they should have nice structure and stay up all by themselves.  Now you can add a little bit of pink to the centers to make them look more authentic.  For this part you could just cut little pieces of pink felt that are the appropriate size and shape, or, you can crochet them like I did.  To crochet the inner ears I used a finer yarn and a smaller hook and I followed the same pattern as for the outer ears but did a single crochet around the entire shape to end it.  After that I just used some black thread to sew the inner ears to the outer ones.  Easy!

I was working on some plarn owls last night and suddenly had the idea to make these.  I wasn’t sure if my co-workers would dress up for Halloween so I wanted to have something just in case.  Turns out nobody did, so they ended up staying in my purse all day.  Oh well!  I think these would look really cute with a matching crochet tale and mittens complete with little claws!

String Market Bag

Now that Summer is here and the farmer’s markets are underway, you’ll need a great market bag to carry home your fresh fruits and veggies!

I’ve always wanted to make one of these and made my first attempt last summer in Morocco after I lost my handmade mesh bag at souk (market).  (Click here to see pictures from the weekly souk in our small Moroccan town.  Unlike in America, these outdoor markets happen year-round; rain, snow, or shine.)

My first market bag was made with a thin acrylic yarn, similar to the cotton used for this bag, but the acrylic ended up being a bit stretchier.  I also made up the pattern for that bag myself.  The result was a bag that was way too long when weighted down with heavy fruits and veggies.  No good.

This year I decided that I’d rather try my luck with a ready-made pattern and found this one from the Purl Bee.    This is a very good pattern for a beginning crocheter because it’s a complete tutorial, in addition to a pattern.  I used this pattern for the mesh part of a bag (a different bag, not shown) but was again unhappy with the length (even though I hadn’t made as many rows as recommended) and again it was too long and awkward.

That’s when I came across this post on the blog Yarn Junkie’s fix.  I saw the pictures and knew that it was exactly what I’d been trying to make all along.  I emailed Mandi for the pattern, and a couple of weeks later I was finished.  This bag works up more slowly than the one from the Purl Bee, but it was a perfect project for slow times during my last two craft shows.  What makes this bag great is that it’s short but full, allowing for more outward expansion instead of just downward.   The bag still stretches under the weight of veggies of course, but it’s a more manageable size.  I like that I can carry it either on my shoulder or straight down without it dragging on the ground, which is saying something because I’m on the shorter side.

Do you have an idea for a summer project that you want to tackle?  I’d love to hear about it!

Little Hens for Easter

This week I got a special request from one of my husband’s co-workers to make some cute crochet hens for her daughter for Easter.  She saw some hen egg cozies on Etsy and asked Jon if I’d be able to do something similar.  Knowing that crochet is my super power, he was confident that I’d be able to come up with something.

My first thought was to just make up a pattern from scratch and base my design on the hens in the photo.  But before I did, I decided to check to see if there were any patterns already available on-line.  To my delight, I found this pattern from Delights Gems published about a month ago.

I pretty much followed the pattern exactly, except for the beak, which I just kinda winged to make look more like the original inspiration.

I love that the hens are all different colors, I think they look cute all together.

Happy Easter!

Sunglasses case tutorial

One of the best things about summer and being able to wear contacts again is sporting sunglasses (I was on a three-year hiatus from contacts right before and during my time in the Peace Corps).  My favorite are the really big bug kind, like the ones pictured above.  In fact, not only are they my favorite, they are my only pair.  That means I need to take care of them and not get them scratched up and why I decided they needed a cute case.

I’ve had the fabric that I used for the case for a long time.  I’ve always loved the pattern and colors, but never really had a good reason to use it.  It’s a soft, fleece-like material which made it perfect for this project, plus it coordinates really well with my everyday purse.

I came up with a really simple pattern which you’ll easily be able to replicate and customize for your own glasses at home.

Materials needed:
Soft fabric
Paper, pencil, and ruler
Scissors (for paper and cloth)
Sewing machine and thread
A small bit of elastic
One button

Step one: make your pattern. Decide how wide and long you want your case to be. Add 1 1/4″ to the width to account for the seam allowance. The length will be the length of the finished case x 2 + 2 1/2″ (for the flap) + 1 1/4″ (for the seam allowance). My pattern is 16 3/4″ x 5 1/4″. I then used a food container lid to make the edges rounded. You’ll notice in the picture below that there appears to be two patterns. That’s because I originally thought I would add some batting between my layers of fabric for extra cushion, however I later decided that this was unnecessary.

Step two: Using your pattern, cut out two identical pieces of fabric.

Step three: Pin the two pieces of fabric together (right sides facing). Bend the small piece of elastic in half (like a horseshoe) and place it in the middle of one of the short sides of the fabric. Make sure that the two ends of the elastic are in line with the edges of the fabric and the loop part is facing in. The elastic should be sandwiched between the two pieces of fabric. (Note that the picture below shows the elastic before it was inserted between the two layers of fabric.)

Step four: sew around the perimeter of the piece using a 5/8″ seam allowance. Leave a 2-3″ gap in the middle of one of the long sides to turn right side out. Before turning right side out, trim corners like pictured below.

Step five: Press your piece flat.  “quilt” your fabric.  This step isn’t really necessary.  I decided that I would run two lines of stitches down the length of the fabric, corresponding with the pattern for aesthetics and also to keep the fabrics from shifting.

Step six: Use your glasses to figure out where you want your case to be folded. Top stitch around the three sides to make the pocket. (Notice that I didn’t sew that little opening shut that I used for turning. It is unnecessary as it is now top stitched.)

Step seven: Top stitch the flap of the case. If the elastic doesn’t seem secure enough with just the seam stitch and the top stitching (as mine wasn’t) add extra stitching to ensure that the elastic loop doesn’t pull out. Position and sew on your button.

Now you’re ready to tote your sunglasses wherever you go this summer without worrying about scratches!

*Bonus* you can alter this pattern slightly to make a matching coin purse too! Instead of the button and elastic, I used two snaps as the closure. The buttons on the outside of the flap are just decorative to cover up the stitching from the snaps.

Happy sewing!

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Learn to Knit, Make Some Mitts

I’ll be the first to admit it, I’m a novice knitter.  I like the idea of knitting and usually about once a year I get the urge to knit something.  This conveniently happens around Christmas time when I can satisfy my need to give knitting another try by making gifts for people.

Christmas, 2009 is a great example of this.  I borrowed Stitch’n Bitch by Debbie Stoller from the Peace Corps library and was determined to really learn to knit (up until that point I only knew garter stitch and didn’t know how to hold the yarn or needles, so I was extremely clumsy and slow).  With this wonderful resource in hand I learned how to pearl which meant that I can now make stockinette  and ribs!

Now, I started out at as a crocheter and consider myself pretty competent at it.  I love how versatile it is.  But from my point of view, there is one definite advantage (among others I am sure) to knit over crochet; stretchiness.  And ribs is one of the best ways to do that.

For all you hard-core knitters out there (or even semi-competent ones) please don’t laugh at this ridiculously easy knit pattern.  It is because of its simplisity that makes it a good project for the beginning knitter.

Mitt pattern:

Using worsted weight yarn and size 8 needles, cast on 32 stitches.  I LOVE the double strand cast-on that I learned in the above mentioned Stitch’n Bitch book.

Now you’re going to make a 2×2 rib pattern, meaning that you’re going to knit two, pearl two, until you reach the end. When you turn your work you will knit the knit stitches and pearl the pearl stitches.

Stitch’n Bitch does a wonderful job at explaining how to make ribs in case my explanation is a bit confusing.

Just keep knitting (and pearling) until you have the desired length of fabric that you want.  My mitts are 7″ long, but I think really long ones would be great.

Once you have the length you want, cast off but don’t cut your yarn.

wrap the rectangle of fabric around your wrist to decide where you want your thumb hole to be.

Once you’ve done that, take it off and using the already connected yarn, stitch up the seem using single crochet and a size D hook.  Where the thumb hole is, single crochet into one side of the hole and continue seeming up the two sides of the fabric once you have the hole the size you want.  That way you can use one strand of yarn for the whole piece and only have two ends to weave in!  I left a 2 and 1/4″ gap for my thumb hole.

Happy knitting!

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Toot Tuesday: Crochet Blanket + Mary Jane Slippers

Instead of sharing just one tutorial this Tuesday, I’m going to share two. Bonus!

The first is a wonderful tutorial from Lisa over on ohmygoodknits! for her Mary Jane Slippers.  As you can see from the photo above, I had no problem at all whipping these cuties up.  I found her pattern, along with her step-by-step tutorial (including pictures) very easy to follow and the end result to be extremely cute.  I don’t consider myself an exceptionally fast crocheter and they took a grand total of two and a half hours to make.  The only thing that I don’t think Lisa mentions in her pattern is anything about sizing the slippers.  I made the pattern as-is and they fit perfectly on my US size 6 feet.  They will stretch a bit, but it would be very easy to adjust the size by adding or subtracting rows on the back and forth portion of the pattern.

The second tutorial is on how to make a granny square so that you too can have a cozy throw blanket to snuggle up with on these chilly winter evenings (along with your new slippers of course).

The nice thing about granny squares is that they are small and much easier to tote around to a meeting, dentist appointment, or soccer game than a large blanket. Plus, once you’ve memorized how to make them you can crank them out without hardly even thinking about what you’re doing.

So here’s how you make a granny square:

abbreviations:
ch: chain
sl st: slip stitch
dc: double crochet

Start off by making a sliding loop (or, if you’d rather, you can ch 3 and sl st in first st to make a ring which you will then work into like the sliding loop)

Round 1:  ch 3 (counts as 1st dc), 2 dc into loop, ch 3 [ 3 dc into loop, ch 3 ] 3 times, sl st in top of beginning ch 3, pull tail of loop to cinch

Round 2: sl st to next ch 3 space, ch 3, 2 dc in same ch 3 space, ch 3, 3 dc in same ch 3 space {this will make your first corner of this row}, ch 1, [ 3 dc in next ch 3 space, ch 3, 3 dc in same ch 3 space, ch 1 ] 3 times, sl st in top of beginning ch 3

Round 3: sl st to next ch 3 space, ch 3, 2 dc in same ch 3 space, ch 3, 3 dc in same ch 3 space, ch 1, 3 dc in next ch 1 space of previous round, ch 1 { 3 dc in next ch 3 space, ch 3, 3 dc in same space, ch 1, 3 dc in next ch 1 space, ch 1 [ 3 dc in next ch 3 space, ch 3, 3 dc in same space, ch 1, 3 dc in next ch 1 space, ch 1 ] 3 times, sl st in top of beginning ch 3

Rounds 4 and beyond:  continue working rounds as above with [ 3 dc, ch 3, 3 dc ] in corners, 3 dc in each ch 1 space, and ch 1 between each 3 dc (except for corners)

Voila!  You’ve made your first square!  Depending on what you want your blanket to look like, you can make your squares solid colors, as I did, or spice it up and alternate the colors by rows, or as my Grandma Virgie did, you can make each square mostly one color, then unify them with a border like in this throw she made me 3 years ago to use up some of her yarn stash.  I love the color combinations she came up with!

For my blanket, I used size worsted weight Cannon Super Soft yarn with a size H hook.  I don’t know how many skeins I used of each color as I started this blanket in late 2007.  I had it nearly finished (all I needed to do was finish the border and weave in the ends) when it went into storage while we were away in the Peace Corps.  Once we got settled into our new home last month I decided that it was finally time to finish the darn thing.  Below is the pattern configuration that I used.  The finished blanket is 51″ x 44.”

I hope you’ve enjoyed this edition of Toot Tuesday. Join me again next week for some more crafty learning!

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