Pattern: Easter Egg Bunnies

A friend of mine was in need of a bit of cheering up. Last week, I sent her a care package with some tasty goodies, and, seeing as we know each other through Ravelry where we moderate the We Love Lucy group and swaps, some yarn and yarnie gifts in the form of an adorable little family of Easter egg bunnies! They're really easy to make, and surprisingly addictive because once you start you can't make just one. And seeing as we've still got little less than 2 weeks to go until Easter, you can still whip up a bunch of these cuties as random decorations!

All you need for these wobbly, egg-shaped decorations is a small amount of scrap yarn in the colour of your choice, some black yarn or other colour of choice for the eyes (or, if you want fancy, you can use plastic eyes), some peach/pink yarn for the nose, some white yarn for the fluffy tail, and some polyfill or scrap yarn to fill your bunnies with.

The size, and what size hook you need, of course depends on the yarn used. For instance, the bright green bunny was made with a 4.0 mm hook, but the yellow bunny was made with a 2.5 mm hook. I also increased once more on the brown one to really make that one tubbier than the others. Experiment with this: do you want cute, chubby little bunnies? Or tall, big bunnies?

So go ahead! Whip up some adorable bunnies for your Easter brunch table! Have fun!

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Easter Egg Bunnies

Materials:
- scrap yarn of your choice
- black/blue yarn for the eyes
- white yarn for the tail
- pink/peach yarn for the nose
- hook (size matching your yarn)
- polyfill or scrap yarn
- yarn needle
- a stitch marker (optional), if you think you need one.

All stitches are single crochet (sc) or a variation thereof (SCx2 means do two SC in the same stitch, SC2TOG means crochet the next two stitches together). The bunnies are worked in continuous rounds so don't join the rounds at the end. The numbers in parentheses at the end of the row are the total number of stitches that make up the row.

Body:
1: Make a magic circle and make 6 SC in the magic circle. (6)
2: (SCx2) in all 6 stitches. (12)
3: (SC, SCx2) 6 times. (18)
4, 5: SC around. (18)
6: (SC, SC, SCx2) 6 times. (24)
7, 8: SC around. (24)
9: (SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC, SC (that's 7 SC), SCx2) 3 times. (27) (this slight increase is to ensure your egg-shape is actually egg-shaped. If it doesn't look much like an egg yet, don't worry! It will!)
10, 11, 12: SC around (27)
13: (SC, SC, SC2TOG) 6 times, SC, SC2TOG. (20)
14: SC around. (20)
15: (SC, SC2TOG) 6 times. (14)
16: SC around. (14)
---
At this point, you want to fill your egg up. Grab your polyfill or your scrap yarn and stuff your egg. Not too tightly, you don't want it to spill out through the stitches, but not too light either, otherwise your egg-shape won't hold up.
-----
17: (SC2TOG)  7 times. (7)
18: SC2TOG until closed.

Weave in your ends.

Ears (make 2):
1. Make a magic circle and make 6 SC in the magic circle. (6)
2. (SC, SCx2) 3 times. (9)
3, 4, 5, 6, 7: SC around. (9)
8: (SC, SC2TOG) 3 times (6)
9: SC around (6)
Finish off, leave a long tail. With the tail from the magic circle (the top of your bunny ear), weave through the ear from one side to the other a few times to ensure it stays flat, though don't pull too tightly or your ear will be bumpy.

Assembly:
Using the tails from your ears, sew the ears to the top of your egg shape (the top is your magic circle). I found it easiest to take the first round of 6 stitches as a guide and sew the ear to stitches opposite of one another on that circle .I thought it looked slightly better if the ears were at a slight angle, but do whatever floats your boat!

Once your ears have been sewn on, take some pink or peach yarn and pick a stitch that's roughly in the centre between the two ears, at about 1/3 from the top of the ear. Push your needle through the egg from the back to the selected stitch at the front and make a few stitches over the top of the selected stitch. To finish off, simply stick your needle through the egg again to  the other side and cut off the yarn as close to the egg as you can (you can pull on it or push the egg down, it'll bounce back).
Now take your black yarn and pick two stitches next to the nose, only one row above it. These two stitches will become your eyes! Follow the same method we used for the eyes: feed your needle through the back to one of the two stitches and embroider around it a few times, then feed it (through the inside of the egg) to the other stitch and repeat. To finish off, simply push your needle through the egg again after your last stitch and snip off the yarn as close to the edge as you can.

Make a pompom out of the white yarn and fluff it up nicely. Make a straight line from between the ears down the back of the bunny and attach it close to the bottom of your bunny egg.


Voilá! Little Easter Egg Bunnies!

Pattern: ridiculously easy christmas tree

Even the tiniest of trees can bring some serious Christmas cheer!

The most anticipated event of the year is almost upon us! And after the hubbub about the end of the world this Friday is over, it's almost time for Christmas, too!

While I contemplate making a zombie amigurumi to commemorate the event, though, I thought I'd show you what I did this week. I wanted to crochet something quick and festive for the season because... We don't have a tree this year. Or last year, for that matter. Or really any year that we've been living together. All we had was a sad-looking, plastic mini-tree that we got as a gag-gift for the BF's birthday years ago. (That's what you get for having a birthday in December, I suppose: all your gifts are either wrapped in seasonal wrapping paper, or are geared towards one of the major holidays...) I finally threw the thing out this year because it had been collecting a ton of dust on top of a bookcase (in plain view, so technically, we had our tree up in the heat of summer). We decorated the house this weekend, but with the lack of actual Christmas tree, we made do with our ginseng tree and strings of lights in the study. In order to at least have something tree-like in our house, I made this tiny ornament to cheer up my desk! A little festive cheer while I'm working can't hurt anyone, right?

My two unconventional trees, buddy-ing it up in the living room.

It's such a simple project that I've decided to write up the pattern. Here goes!

The Ridiculously Easy Crocheted Christmas Tree

You need:
- green yarn (I used 2 different strands of 2 different weights held together), +/- 30 grams, I think? It's far less than one ball of DK yarn.
- a 4.0mm hook, or to match the weight of your yarn.
- polyfill
- a yarn needle to sew in your ends
- some trinkets to decorate with, like ribbons, buttons, beads, or (like me) pins!
The pattern is written in American terms. All you need to know is the single crochet, the increase (sc 2x, making 2 single crochets in the same stitch), the decrease (decr, pulling up a loop in two consecutive stitches so you have 3 loops on your hook, wrap your yarn, pull through two loops, wrap your yarn and pull through the other two), and how to do a front loop only stitch.

- Start the base of the tree with 6 sc in the magic loop. Pull the ring closed, but do not close the round, as we'll continue in the round (6 st).
- (sc x 2) 6 times (12 st).
- (sc x 2, sc) 6 times  (18 st).
- (sc x 2, sc, sc) 6 times (24 st).
- (sc x2, sc, sc, sc) 6 times (30 st).
- (sc x2, sc, sc, sc, sc) 6 times (36 st).

At this point, we stop increasing and switch to the body of the tree.
- sc around, front loop only. (36 st)
- sc around (36 st).
- sc around (36 st).
- sc around (36 st).
- decrease round: (decr, sc, sc, sc, sc) 6 times (30 st).
- sc around (30 st).
- sc around (30 st).
- sc around (30 st).
 - decrease round: (decr, sc, sc, sc) 6 times (24 st).
 - sc around (24 st).
 - sc around (24 st).
 - sc around (24 st).
  - decrease round: (decr, sc, sc) 6 times (18 st).
 - sc around (18 st).
 - sc around (18 st).
 - sc around (18 st).
- decrease round: (decr, sc) 6 times (12 st).
 - sc around (12 st).  
 - sc around (12 st).
 - sc around (12 st).

At this point, you need to break out your polyfill (or leftover yarn, or that ball of horrible acrylic yarn you never ever want to use ever ever, or cotton balls, or whatever you can think of to stuff a crochet toy), and stuff your tree. Really cram your stuffing in there, as you will need to wiggle some of it into the top of the tree when you're done! You can always add a bit extra after the next decrease-rounds, so keep some extra on hand just in case you think your tree needs it.

- decrease round: (decr) 6 times (6 st).
  - sc around (6 st).  
  - sc around (6 st).
  - sc around (6 st).

Check to see if your tree needs extra stuffing. If so, cram it in there! I find it often helps to use the back of a bigger crochet hook or a pen or pencil to push it down. Is your tree stuffed enough? Then...

- decrease round: (decr) 3 times (3 st).

Cut your yarn leaving a decently sized tail, pull it through the loop on your hook, and use the tail to sew the top of your tree closed. Your tree should have a nice, pointy top! Then weave in your ends and decorate and you're done!

Enjoy your tiny, squishy Christmas tree!

And merry Christmas!

Itty Bitty Camera: now with added pattern!

I decided that I'd try my hand at making a pattern for the crochet camera, hereby christened Itty Bitty Camera! If you would like to try it out, please report back on if it was doable or if you had any trouble understanding the directions. Or if you have nothing but praise, then you may report back too.

And show me pictures of your finished camera! I love pictures!
Without further ado: 

The Itty Bitty Camera Pattern!

 Materials:

Yarn: Black and Grey, dk weight

Hook: 4.0 mm.

Of course, you can also substitute yarn and hook size for any size you want.

You will also need some filling, a tapistry needle and, if you want to turn this baby into a keychain, a little ring or keychain hook.

Make the following pieces twice with black yarn:

1. Ch. 5, sc for 7 rows. (the sides)

2. Ch. 13, sc for 7 rows. (the front and back)

3. Ch. 5, sc for 13 rows. (the top and bottom)

Make the following pieces once with the grey yarn:

Lens:

Ch. 3, sl.

Row 1: Sc. 6 times into the ring, sl. Into first stitch.

Row 2: *sc x2* 6 times (12 st)

Row 3: *sc, sc x2* 12 times (18 st)

Fasten off. Leave a long tail, you can use this to sew the lens to the camera body.

Flash:

Sc 3, turn.

Row 1: Sc in middle stitch, sc, ch1, turn.

Row 2: Sc in middle stitch, sc.

Fasten off. Leave a tail long enough to sew the flash to the camera body.

Button:

Ch. 3, sl.

Row 1: Sc. 6 times into the ring, sl into first stitch.

Row 2:Change to black. Sc. Around.

Leave a tail long enough to sew the button to the camera body.

Assembly:

With black yarn, take two pieces of the body that fit together at the sides (for instance, one of the sides and the top or bottom, with their smallest sides aligned) and sc the parts together.

Keep sewing the parts together in this manner until you have a nice, boxy shape, leaving a long tail at the gap between the last parts that need to be sewn together.

Fill the body snugly but not so full that it starts to bulge (the camera needs to be boxy) and sew the gap closed.

Sew on the lens, flash and button, and attach the keychain if you want one.

You can also find the pattern on Ravelry!

(Look at me! I'm a designer and stuff! oooOOOoo!!)

(Oh, and apologies for the odd font. Apparently copy-pasting doesn't work too well with blogger...)