Tag: free pattern

The deliciously bright hues of Red Heart® Gumdrop™ yarn remind me of juicy rainbow sherbet, so I designed this sweet and funny crocheted pillow to add a summery pop of color to your couch, bed, or favorite easy chair. Use this pattern to make just one or two scoops instead of three. You’ll be constructing the pillow in two pieces – front and back – and sewing them together. Go crazy with your favorite colors and flavors!

Recently, Michaels.com added online shopping to their site, which is pretty cool! But it looks like a lot of their knit and crochet patterns disappeared. I have no idea what the future of those patterns is, but you guys have been asking me to post some of the projects you are in the middle of! So here is the Slushee Cup Drawstring Bag pattern. I also now sell the finished item in my Etsy shop for those who don’t crochet. Stay cool poolside with this crocheted Slushee Drawstring Bag! It’s just big enough for you to throw in your phone, keys, sunnies, lip balm, and a little cash, so you can keep a light load while catching some rays. I reused a takeout soup container to reinforce the inside of my project, but you can still use your Slushee without. You can customize your cup by choosing the word or phrase that you like best with felt cut-outs and fabric paint (I used a custom patch that I designed!). You can even add a real red straw accent!        

I have a super cute new (and quick and easy!) pattern for you guys! Chocolate Easter Bunny mini plushies!! You can use them as hair clips, brooches, ornaments, cupcake toppers, or just fun little Easter Basket-stuffers. I didn’t have time to crochet these in time for my Etsy shop to ship out before Easter, but at least the crocheters out there still have some time to make some of their own! One bunny takes me about 30 minutes from start to finish (including taking photos!). You can make chocolate bunnies of all different sizes depending on the yarn you want to use. While figuring out the pattern, I used a worsted weight, Lion Brand Vanna’s in Chocolate, which gave me a bunny that’s about 5 inches tall. My goal was to make something tiny and gold, like the chocolate bunnies wrapped in gold foil, so then I made one with Lion Brand Vanna’s Glamour in Gold, which gave me a bunny that’s about 3 inches tall. Wrap them up in a little bit of cellophane and ribbon for a cute presentation! Enjoy! EDIT: I just added a video tutorial for this on YouTube as well! 🙂

I have to admit, this outfit is a little bit out-there to me. The main reason: I feel butt-conscious in it. But from the front, I’m totally fine with it. Just, don’t look at my butt… Anyway, this little black velvet jumpsuit is kind of amazing regardless of the butt thing. Pajama-factor is high as far as comfort, and I love how the legs are short so you can show off some weird mis-matched socks. The leg-length also gives the jumpsuit kind of a nerdy awkward dorky feel, which I know won’t be for everyone, but it’s definitely for me! There are cute velvet buttons down the front, too, but those were hard for me to photograph since the velvety blackness sucked in all the light. In highschool, my highschool-BFF gave me a hard time for being so matchy-matchy all the time, so then I purposefully started to not match anything at all, which is the rule I lived by for basically my whole adult life (aside from in the office… then I just wore all black because I didn’t know how to match anything else, in a grown-up and office-appropriate manner). These days, when I throw together an outfit, I’m discovering I’m actually getting a little more matchy-matchy again as far as colors, because I equate that with seeming put-together. On Instagram, I said this look was inspired by mimes and clowns. All I need is some balloons and the big red nose! Jumpsuit: The White Pepper, Flower Collar: Locketship, Wedge Boots: The White Pepper, Knee Highs: We Love Colors, Sanrio Cupcake Scarf: Yummy You!, Little Red Beret: made by me! About the beret: I actually made one for me and Manda for this little casual photoshoot I wanted to do last weekend, but I can’t show you those photos just yet. If you want to make your own mini beret, it’s super easy. Basically, if you can crochet a circle, you can crochet this hat! Here’s the pattern:

I saw the most adorable photo on Instagram posted by yayoichang of two French bulldogs in some cute headgear. I then knew it was my mission in life to crochet one for Bibi! I tried to leave the pattern pretty flexible so that you cam make one to fit your own pet. I don’t know that Bibi actually NEEDS something like this, as her body temp runs really warm, but you can’t say no to cute photo ops! I designed the head band to be double layered, because that’s how it looked to me in the photos. So the pattern is basically a tube (which is working both layers at the same time when you squish the tube flat) that you crochet until the length can fit around your pet’s head.  Then you just stick some ears on top. Easy! p.s. I can’t vouch for whether these will actually stay on your pet’s head for any amount of time. One good shake and Bibi’s ears went flying! I guess I would call these more of a photo prop! I think I made mine too small and they were also jutting into my neck a bit…but they were definitely WARM.

I know you’re like, “It’s not even Christmas yet! Why are you posting a Valentine’s Day pattern?” Because the February issue of Crochet Today magazine is out today and includes a “Favorite Blogger” feature of me, plus a link to THIS free pattern! Hello! Okay, I was first told that I would be in the issue of Crochet Today that dropped in December, but as it turns out, I’m in the February/March issue which dropped in January! Sorry for the mix-up! I have a feature in the magazine titled “My Crochet Life.” If you’ve come here from Crochet Today: hello, new readers!! Here is your free crochet pattern for the Conversation Heart Garland! If you are familiar with working in the round, this pattern is pretty quick and easy, and you can make your garland as long or as short as you like, in whatever colors you like. Plus you can have lots of fun cutting out your own felt lettering for various messages!

This pattern is pretty much the easiest pattern ever: it’s a rectangle.  The end. It’s great for beginners! Great for kids! Host a holiday crochet party where everyone makes one crocheted candy and then string them all together to create a group garland! Or, everyone can keep their own candy and string them as ornaments. I will probably glue pinbacks and hair clips to the backs so that I can wear them. There are a lot of possibilities with just one little crocheted rectangle! For more advanced beginners, you can get some great striping. You can alternate different colors every other row, and carry the unused yarn. Or, you can alternate colors ever 2 rows, and just drop the unused yarn and pick it up on the way back. Working a thin sparkle or sequin yarn with your regular yarn also and some subtle bling. Either way, all you need is a little bit of yarn and a styrofoam ball to get going! I also tried filming a video tutorial for this. People have been asking me to do videos, but they are quite a bit of work, so I haven’t really been super eager to get on that task, since I do everything 100% by myself.  But since this project is SO EASY, I thought it would be a good ice breaker for me to film a video and for you to break out some crochet hooks!

Well, I had no idea today was going to be National Cotton Candy Day until I saw a few people, like Pee Wee Herman, post about it! I just wanted to remind you guys that I have a free pattern for crocheting really cute cotton candy tree ornaments from last year!! Check it out again! 🙂 Cotton Candy Christmas Tree Ornament! This project works up in about an hour and only uses chains and single crochet (sc) stitches. What makes this project super fun is using a wire slicker dog brush to turn a regular crocheted project into a super fuzzy hairy crocheted beast! Naturally “hairy” yarns like wool, alpaca, and mohair work best, but I’ve seen people also do it with acrylic yarn, with slightly different results. I’ll be using wool for my cotton candy (Cascade 220), because that’s what I have on hand. Not only does this cotton candy buddy make a cute ornament, but you can also turn it into a pin for your sweater, a clip for your hair, or a necklace for your neck! Materials: – Pink worsted weight yarn (I am using wool, Cascade 220) – 9 mm safety eyes (2 of them) – 4 inch lollipop stick – small wire slicker brush for dogs – glue (hot glue or Tacky glue should do the trick) Not pictured: – H or I hook – Polyfill stuffing – tapestry needle – depending on what you want to make, you will need ribbon or invisible thread to create a hanging loop for your ornament, OR, a pinback for a brooch, OR, a hair clip of your choice, OR a jump ring and chain to make a necklace.   Abbreviations: ch(s): chain(s) rnd(s): round(s) sc: single crochet sl st: slip stitch st: stitch (  ): work what’s inside the parentheses into the next st – e.g. (2 sc) = 2 sc into the next st [ ] : work what’s inside the brackets the number of times indicated   Cotton Candy With pink yarn, make magic circle or ch 3 and sl st to 1st ch to form ring. Rnd 1: Ch 1 and work 6 sc into ring. Don’t join rounds. (6) Rnd 2: (2 sc) 6 times. (12) Rnd 3: [(2 sc), 1 sc] 6 times. (18) Rnd 4: [(2 sc), 2 sc] 6 times. (24) You may want to stick a marker in your work now, or use a scrap piece of yarn, to help count the following rnds. Rnds 5-14 (10 rnds): Work sc evenly around. (24) At this point, my project is about 3 inches long. Don’t break off yet. I prefer for the right side of my sts to show on the outside of my projects. Here comes the fun part. Get your wire brush and start brushing your project to make it fuzzy. Tamie from Roxycraft has a really great tutorial on how to do this here. The longer you brush it out, the fuzzier your project will get. It takes longer […]

My December Michaels.com pattern is up! It’s a brand new Snowflake Sugar Cookie Scarf, using Lion Brand Homespun, Lily Sugar n Cream, and Red Heart Shimmer. Edit, June 4, 2014: Please find the pattern here on my blog. Michaels.com is currently re-vamping their pattern/project section, and the above Michaels.com link is disabled for now. The subtle shimmer on the white yarn was hard for me to capture in photos, but this is a super sweet little decoration for yourself or someone special! My description at Michaels.com: “I wanted to celebrate Holiday 2013 with a brand new pattern for one of my yummy food scarves, so I asked my Facebook fans for advice on which holiday pattern they’d like to see most. The winning votes went to this Snowflake Sugar Cookie Scarf, which I really love because it perfectly fits the season and has a sugary elegance without being too over the top. For a quicker project, you can work up a single snowflake sugar cookie and turn it into a brooch or hair-piece. Happy Holidays and a sweet New Year!” Here are some close-ups of the pattern photos since the ones on the Michaels site might be a bit small. Click on them to enlarge.

A couple gals on Instagram have been talking about the cartoon Bee and PuppyCat on YouTube, so I had to go see what the hubbub was all about. It is kind of weird, but oddly intriguing. I believe “surreal” is the word that fans use. Created by Natasha Allegri, an artist for Adventure Time, Bee and PuppyCat is about a girl named Bee and her adventures in this world and in an alternate world with her cat/dog/youdontreallyknow PuppyCat.  After watching the episode online, I really wanted to put together an outfit inspired by the one that Bee wears! Unfortunately, I didn’t notice until too late that my bee necklace had turned the wrong way, so you can’t really see its cute smile! Oh well! C’est la bee. I get really hot in long-sleeved sweaters, so I opted for a sweater vest. I also liked the idea of making the bee a necklace instead of an applique, so that each piece could be worn with other pieces. I then couldn’t decide if I wanted PuppyCat to be a hair piece or a plush, so I started with a plush! Then I started getting crazy.   And then a bit crazier: BATTLEMODE!   I think my new goal should be that all my outfit posts will involve really bad animated gifs! Anyway, I wrote down the crocchet pattern for the bee applique/necklace, the bows on my shoes, and….PuppyCat! (Or, just a regular cat, too, whatever you want!)  I’ll do more specific photos for the bows in the next few days. I really like how those turned out! Shirt: French Toast (school uniform!), Vest: Liz Claiborne via Etsy, Shorts: Victoria’s Secret, Boots: Forever21

I know some of you are still basking in the afterglow of your Halloween crafts, but Michaels.com already posted my free crochet pattern for November: Turkey Box Tissue Cozy! Edit, June 4, 2014: Please find the pattern here on my blog. Michaels.com is currently re-vamping their pattern/project section, and the above Michaels.com link is disabled for now. I got so excited about sharing this project and making it awesome, that I also included the patterns for the little veggies – baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, and POTATOES –  as well as the lettuce garnish underneath, which is actually a DISH CLOTH. You could turn the veggies into brooches, fridge magnets, or string them into a crazy necklace! This is going to sound a little weird, but I got really addicted to making tiny potatoes…! This is truly one of my most very favorite crochet projects ever, and I’m really proud of how all the components came together. I hope you guys love it, too, and have a lot of fun! I’ll be offering finished versions of this, as well as my infamous turkey hat, in my Etsy shop very very soon!

I tried Yoplait’s “Boston Cream Pie” yogurt over the weekend…and it was unfortunately not a favorite. Too sweet for me, although I do love the idea of eating pie for breakfast! While rinsing out the yogurt cup, I took a few seconds to stop and think of a fun crochet project to save this cup from the recycling bin and give it an extra life in my house. In the spirit of the season, I whipped up a little ghost sweater for it! I think it could be a fun way to decorate a small table and store tiny trinkets or even candy corn or M&M’s! We took a ghost cozy to the pumpkin patch to make our little video, and a little girl ran up to it with extreme delight. I think this is a good sign.

My new free crochet pattern for Michaels.com is now up: Candy Bar Clutches! They are just really simple zipper pouches with a touch of candy bar goodness. There is some sewing involved (which I am generally not a fan of myself), but I think it’s well worth the work! It’s really easy to interpret your favorite candy bar with a few simple colors and some fun felt fonts. My three samples are inspired by Snickers, Twix, and Reese’s peanut butter cups! I still want to make a Nestle Crunch, a Kit Kat, and maybe a Whatchamacallit! Do you guys have a favorite candy bar? Also, for those less crochet-inclined, I am working on a batch of finished candy bar clutches to put on Etsy. I just gotta finish writing the pattern for my December Michaels.com pattern ;).

Sorry for the blog-silence! I’ve been busy catching up with work, writing Michaels.com patterns, planning cool collabs for Yummy You! (p.s. our Ice Cream & Sunnies tee is now only $12.50!) and working on a few website updates (nothing big, just updating the Press section and the slideshow on the landing page!). I thought I would make it up to you guys by posting another free pattern here! It’s for the little Goldfish Crackers! You can use them as pins, hair clips, and someone mentioned wanting the pattern to make a mobile for her baby. Cute idea! I do not intend to sell anymore in my shop, so that is why I am sharing the pattern for free here.

My free crochet pattern for September is up at Michaels.com! Happy Saturday! I’m re-posting this pattern here on my blog, since Michaels.com re-vamped its entire site and scrubbed out a lot of patterns. It’s a Marigold Triangle Shawl! With Autumn just around the corner, I wanted to make something cozy and cheerful, and I couldn’t take my mind off granny-square afghans! I thought we could also celebrate the colors of the season with bright marigold blossoms, which I especially love because they are edible! Loops & Threads T-shirt yarn is a fun material for making pom-poms, since you get variegated colors in one ball with a cute, chunky look, and Candy Corn is absolutely perfect for our marigolds. So let’s get comfy with a classic granny-triangle shawl accented with fun pops of color! Kitsch-factor on maximum! The neat thing about this pattern is that once you get the hang of it, you can just keep going forever and ever and make the shawl as big or small as you like. My marigolds (which are edible flowers!) are made with Loops & Threads’ new tshirt yarn, which makes for nice and squishy pompoms. I hope you guys have fun cuddling and twirling with your new triangle shawls!

Remember when I made this grumpy octopus coffee cup cozy back in December? I finally made another one so that I could write down the pattern for you!

When I saw this adorable dress by Freckles & Ginger, I had to have it! Not only is her work super cute and classy, but she also donates all proceeds to animal rescues. I gave her my measurements, and with some Freckles & Ginger magic, the dress fit like a glove. I will definitely be buying more from this lovely lady! I bought this apple belt from some random thift/vintage shop on Melrose, and it kind of went perfectly with the dress! I also knew immediately that I had to crochet a Very Hungry Caterpillar head piece to go with this outfit. Here is the pattern that I created, so you can make one, too! Please note that this pattern is for personal use only, and that the Very Hungry Caterpillar is copyright/trademarked by Eric Carle, the author and illustrator.

Hey hey hey!!! Here’s August’s free crochet pattern from Michaels.com!  For this month, I was asked to think of fun dorm-room or back-to-school projects. When I think of college and dorms, I definitely think of PIZZA. Obviously, you don’t have to be in college or live in a dorm room to to add some PIZZA-ZZ to your decor, so this is also for all of us pizza-lovers who are down to throw a pizza & pj’s slumber ANY time and ANYwhere! Click here for the pattern! Edit, June 4, 2014: Please find the pattern here on my blog. Michaels.com is currently re-vamping their pattern/project section, and the above Michaels.com link is disabled for now.  

If you know me, you know I have a deep relationship with triple scoop ice creams! 😉 In this free crochet pattern for Michaels.com, I was asked to create a summery project using Red Heart Gumdrop! And then the Rainbow Sherbet Throw Pillow was born! Edit, June 4, 2014: Please find the pattern here on my blog. Michaels.com is currently re-vamping their pattern/project section, and the above Michaels.com link is disabled for now. I already had the mint green Gumdrop (Smoothie) and was thrilled to find a project for it! The really fun part of this pattern is the mix and match aspect. You can make one scoop, two scoops, or three scoops, (or even 50 scoops if you are really adventurous) and you can use all your favorite colors and flavors… even on the cone! I’m starting to make a vanilla scoop with a hot pink cone :). I’ll also be writing the pattern for a soft-serve top and a sugar cone bottom for the ultimate mix n match ice cream throw pillow party! P.S. Here is the fix for Row 31 of the Sherbet Scoop! Row 31: (RS) Ch 1, turn. 1 sc, [1 hdc, 1 dc, 1 htr, 2 tr each in next 5 sts, 1 htr, 1 dc, 1 hdc, 5 sc] 5 times. 1 hdc, 1 dc, 1 htr, 2 tr in next 5 sts, 1 htr, 1 dc, 1 hdc, 1 sc each in last 2 sts. Break off Cherry. (124)

Happy Monday! New free crochet pattern! Michaels.com asked me to use one of their new yarns, Loops & Threads Impeccable Brights, with a “Poolside” theme, so I designed this slushee-themed draw string bag to pop your essentials in while you cool off in the water! Yeah, that’s a real straw! Edit, June 4, 2014: Please find the pattern here on my blog. Michaels.com is currently re-vamping their pattern/project section, and the above Michaels.com link is disabled for now. To re-inforce the shape of this bag, I re-used a 32 oz. takeout soup container, like this one. I have also seen 32 oz. containers at Target. The bag will still hold its shape pretty well without a container inside as long as you don’t go putting 50 pounds of stuff in there! Have so much fun with this pattern! I plan to make them in 3 different flavors for Renegade Craft Fair SF next month!

Wow, today’s post is like a triple whammy!!!! 1) Free crochet pattern 2) Experimenting with a new fabric glue 3) Pimping out 2 cool Etsy shops. Let’s go! So if you couldn’t tell from the blog title, today’s post is all inspired by LAVERNE & SHIRLEY. The younguns may not remember this, but us olduns do! It’s the funniest, goofiest, BFF  TV show! Joy from Lucky Cupcake Hair Clips sent me this amazing Laverne & Shirley hair bow, and I scrambled to think of what outfit I could put together to do it any amount of justice. I don’t have a lot of Laverne-y pieces in my closet (YET), so I sort of improvised … by making my own Laverne-inspired cardigan! To create the “L” for my Laverne cardigan, I used Norma Lynn’s “Love in Cursive” crochet pattern for inspiration. You should grab her pattern to spell out the whole word! Here’s what I busted out for the Laverne “L” : ch 71, sk 1st ch, 2 sc, (2 sc), 10 sc, (2 sc), 2 sc, (2 sc), 2 sc, (2 sc), 18 sc, sc3tog, 2 sc, sc3tog, 2 sc, sc3tog, 2 sc, sc3tog, 10 sc, (2 sc), 3 sc. Then, I experimented with Surebonder Fabric Stix: hot glue for fabric! That’s flexible! And washable! I can’t vouch yet for how it washes. Only time will tell. I was just excited to try this out. It kinda stinks that it’s white and not clear, but for this project, it was fine. It also, kind of literally stinks. It’s a bit smellier than regular hot glue, so you might want to pop open a window if you’re afraid of chemical smells. It’s no way near as bad as E6000, though. Ultimately, I think that hot fabric glue is an easy solution for some quick embellishments, but since it’s GLUE, it is kinda bulky and not as delicate as hand-sewing. Here’s an action-packed video I made while using the Fabric Stix for the first time! I would say that it is certainly a quick n convenient way to glue stuff to other stuff, but I felt like I was being too messy with it, and it was kinda stringy, and……..it’s WHITE. So, there are some definite down sounds to working with it. I’m interested in how it would hold up to gluing bows to jeans and stuff like that. More experimentation later!

Yay! Another new free crochet pattern is up now at Michaels.com: Chiffon Cake with Fruit Topping – A Tissue Box Cozy! Just in time for Mother’s Day! Edit, June 4, 2014: Please find the pattern here on my blog. Michaels.com is currently re-vamping their pattern/project section, and the above Michaels.com link is disabled for now. Here’s the intro I wrote for the pattern: When I crochet gifts for my mom, I like to make cute things that she can use around the house. One of the first projects I ever made for her was a cake-themed tissue box cozy. So, this month, I had my mom in mind when I designed this crocheted chiffon cake with colorful strawberry, blueberry and kiwi topping. I remember eating delicious cakes just like it when I was little. I hope you have fun creating this yummy piece of my childhood memories. Consider making one as a gift to sweeten a special someone’s Mother’s Day! You are gonna have so much fun making the frosting border for this!!! It’s a variation on the “piped frosting shells” stitch I include in my Sugar On Top mini booklet but much BIGGER and PUFFIER! I hope to see pictures of all of your cake projects soon! I have another fun Mother’s Day present idea for you using a pattern of mine that’s already available and also inspired by my own mom and what I would make for her. More on that soon!    

My new free pattern is up now at Michaels.com: Veggie Pen Cozies! You get the patterns for the asparagus, lettuce, and carrot! They work up super quick and are a fun stash-buster for all your veggie-colored yarns. We did some lettuce pens with green and purple that were really fun! Edit, June 4, 2014: Please find the pattern here on my blog. Michaels.com is currently re-vamping their pattern/project section, and the above Michaels.com link is disabled for now.      

Someone left a message on my blog recently that she hoped one day that Normalynn and I would collaborate. Well, today’s the day. Dreams *do* come true!!! 😛 I actually met Norma Lynn many years ago at Renegade Craft Fair here in San Francisco. She visited my booth and explained who she was, and I definitely already knew her work as well. She is really the sweetest person ever, and her website is filled with photos of delectable crocheted cake sachets and lots of free patterns. I approached her after receiving that message on my blog, and our collaborative crochet pattern is the Panorama Egg, just in time for Easter! photo by Norma Lynn of her candy eggs my eggs are noticeably more… gaudy!