Go beyond the granny square

After two failed tries and lots of weaving in loose ends, my first amigurumi project is complete! I chose to try this free amigurumi pig pattern from Lion Brand.

It turned out OK. It’s not perfect by any means but still a cute pig. My three-year-old recognized it as a pig anyway.

I do plan on making one more to give to my niece for Christmas since she loves pigs. Luckily I will have enough Vanna’s Choice yarn so I won’t have to buy any more. I might buy the suggested eyes for the pattern as I’m not that wild about the buttons. But the only eyes I could find were the glue-on googly eyes, which I knew would not work for this piece.

Once I had done the body, it didn’t take long to do the tail, ears, nose, and four legs. It did, however, take a few minutes to join everything to the body.

Some of the finished pigs on Ravelry turn the body sideways. This didn’t even occur to me as I was working with a ‘top to bottom’ vision for the pig.

My husband doesn’t like it but it’s not for him now is it? The little girl seems to like it and that’s all that counts.

The pig amigurumi pattern is also available on Ravelry. I will use the graphic below when I use a pattern that can be found on Ravelry.

It’s crochet that looks good enough to eat. This free pattern at Lion Brand is all the ingredients to make a crochet sandwich.

You can crochet all the ingredients for a ham sandwich. It’s so cute and would be a great toy for a child. Plastic food always seems to get stomped on or lost. At least with this, you can clean it easily as well as it not lose its shape.

There are several different crochet patterns inspired by food. I could see my three-year-old enjoying this one a lot especially when she gets her play kitchen.

These cute crochet pieces also would make cute novelty pot holders. Imagine making several and joining together for a one-of-a-kind afghan especially for someone who works in the restaurant business. I love these small crochet projects that are easily finished in a few hours. It’s great to do these while working on larger projects just to take a break and remember that you can finish projects that you start. Of course, that might just apply to me with my at least half a dozen unfinished projects lying around the house.

Finger puppets are very fast crochet projects that you can do with any scrap yarn you have just lying around.

There are some cute free patterns available like these for Fairy Tale finger puppets. You can either work from a pattern or just free style your own creation.

I start with a foundation chain of 2 and then single crochet into the first chain six. Then the next round I add a single crochet into every other stitch. The next round I continue this until I have a size that will fit around my finger or is the desired size I want. Then I just work enough rounds to get the puppet the size to cover my finger.

Now I have a basic finger puppet. I can add eyes, hair, and other features to give it more personality.

Finger puppets are easy and can be done in under an hour. Plus kids can have a great time playing with them. Look for original finger puppet patterns and creations soon as I plan to make some for Christmas gifts this year.

So I frogged my first and second attempt at making an amigurumi pig. It was just way too big to be a cute, little pig. I’ve started a third one and so far I’m getting better results.

This one might actually be the four inches it’s suppose to be. I’m not seeing the importance of swatches and checking your gauge. I just like to jump in and do a project. But I’m spending way more time doing these simple ones because my gauge is all wrong. So lesson learned. I will be making swatches and checking my gauge before starting a project.

Hopefully I can finish up the pig tonight and then move on to my next project.

I tried the amigurumi pattern for a pig that I found on Lion Brand’s website. While the pattern stated gauge was not that important, I should have read further. Here is the finished body -

So, um, yeah. That’s supposed to be about four inches long. Mine is almost double that. I should have read the gauge part anyway that stated how big the body should be. I would have figure out it was going to be way too big before I finished it and went to look up further instructions.

It’s my own fault, though, but does teach me a valuable lesson about gauge. I should always check the gauge and make sure my crochet is close to it. If not then I need to change my hook to get the desired gauge. I didn’t have the yarn it suggested for the piece but just used what I had. Lessons learned. Now I will have more of a boar than a pig if I continue to work on this one. I think I will just frog it and start over.

My husband and I love to play Dungeon and Dragons. It’s a lot of fun to pretend to be someone else for a few hours, especially if you’re a hero with fantasic magical powers.

When I mentioned to my husband about crocheting him a dice bag, he thought the idea was silly. He didn’t think a crochet dice bag could be cool or interesting. So, I set out to create a dice bag that could be considered ‘cool.’

The first thing I did was to think up a concept for the dice bag. I thought about how when you need to roll well, you pull out your lucky dice, so why not a dice bag just for them? Since your character is usually at critical mass, why not make it a first aid dice bag?

So, I made a small, white dice bag and then stitched a red cross on it. Here is how it turned out and what I learned -

It turned out a little small for seven dice and the next one I will work in the second color instead of trying to stitch it on. It’s a little hard to stitch to make the cross a solid color, which it needs to be so that it is recognizable.

I will try making it again within the next few days. Hopefully I will have better results and a pattern to share.

If you’ve ever searched for a free crochet pattern or visited a crochet forum, then you probably are familiar with amigurumi. Amigurumi is simply those cute little dolls and animals that are made from crochet. They are made using the single crochet, stitched in rounds. Amigurumi usually consist of a larger head and limbs that are sewn on.

Amigurumi are easy to make since they are made up of single crochet, one of the easiest crochet stitches. Also rounds are not joined. It’s just a continuous work, so there’s no need to use stitch markers to join rounds with a slip stitch.

These make great little gifts and are also fast to make. Did a friend have a bad day? Why not cheer her up by whipping up one of these cute animals or dolls while watching TV? It will definitely lift her spirits and it won’t take you long to make it either.

Amigurumi are just too darn cute! I’ve been working on my own Amigurumi pattern for an anime character that my daughter loves. I will share it once I have it done. In the meantime, here is a list of free Amigurumi patterns to check out.

One project I’ve been working on crocheting some small bowls to hold objects like paper clips, loose change, and other items on my desk. Here is my first stab at making a crochet bowl. I started with a chain of 20. i then single crochet to the end of the row. i did three more rows of single crochet to get the size of the bottom of the bowl I wanted. On the last round of single crochet, I did two single crochets into the last stitch and then started single crochet around the work, doing two single crochets when coming to a corner.

My first attempt is no where near perfect but is pretty close to the outcome I was hoping for. I learned a few things like I need a larger flat bottom to make a bowl the size I need.

I used a 3.75 hook and cotton yarn. I just love the color of this yarn and think that crochet bowls made from it would look very striking on my desk.

Welcome to Crochet Crafts where the discussion is always about crochet but not the boring crochet of yesteryear. Now you can go way beyond the granny square, scarf, and boyfriend sweater of the past. There are plenty of cute crochet patterns that feature toys, amigurumi(Japanese inspired dolls), and more.

At Crochet Crafts, you will find free crochet patterns of original designs plus some of the cutest crochet you’ve ever laid eyes on.(This will be from the Internet at large and not necessarily one of my creations)