Harvey the alien monster

I made Harvey for my friend Brianne, I’m not as happy as I thought I would be cause I didn’t have any safety eyes so I had to make pupils with black yarn and I’m not sure about them. Also my sewing and embroidery skills are awful 🙂
Anyway, I thought I’d write the pattern out cause he was fun to make and would be a nice softie pressie.

Skills you need to know are: magic ring or similar, working in the round, increases and decreases.
It’s all worked in a continuous spiral so you will need to know how to do that.
I worked all in the back loop cause I’ve been experimenting with that technique as it does give a much softer fabric than working under both loops. (I’ve become a big fan of Stacy’s work at freshstitches.com)

Abbreviations: sc (single crochet), st (stitch) decr (decrease).

Materials: locking stitch marker, 3.5 mm and 4.5 mm hooks, tapestry needle, safety eyes or black yarn for mouth and pupils, white felt for teeth (obviously that’s optional), some fabric glue or just sewing thread to attach the teeth, stuffing.

For the main body and the eyes I used roughly 60/70 grams of aran weight yarn worked with a 4.5 mm hook, and for the legs I used different colour DK yarn with a 3.5 mm hook.

I haven’t specified the colours for the legs cause anyone can use any colourful DK yarn they want.

Legs
Large legs, make 2:
1 – magic ring with 6 sc (6 sc)
2 – 2 sc in each st (12 sc)
3 – 1 sc in next st, 2 sc in next st, till end of round (18 sc)
4 – 1 sc in next 2 st, 2 sc in next st (24 sc)
5 – 1 sc in next 3 st, 2 sc in next st (30 sc)
6 – 1 sc in next 4 st, 2 sc in next st (36 sc)
rnds 7 to 10 – 1 sc in each st (36 sc)
11 – 1 sc in next 4 st, decr in next st (30 sc)
12 – 1 sc in next 3 st, decr in next st (24 sc)
13 – 1 sc in next 2 st, decr in next st (18 sc) – begin stuffing.
14 – 1 sc in next st, decr in next st (12 sc)
rnds 15 to 25 – 1 sc in each st. (12 sc) –
finish off, stuff the stem lightly, set aside.

Medium legs, make 2:
Follow until round 5 of large legs (30 sc)
rnds 6 to 9 – 1 sc in each st (30 sc)
10 – 1 sc in next 3 st, decr in next st (24 sc)
11 – 1 sc in next 2 st, decr in next st (18 sc) – begin stuffing.
12 – 1 sc in next st, decr in next st (12 sc)
rnds 13 to 23 – 1 sc in each st. (12 sc)
finish off, set aside.

Small legs, make 2:
Follow until round 4 of large legs. (24 sc)
rnds 5 to 8 – 1 sc in each st (24 sc)
9 – 1 sc in next 2 st, decr in next st (18 sc) – begin stuffing.
10 – 1 sc in next st, decr in next st (12 sc)
rnds 11 to 21 – 1 sc in each st. (12 sc)
finish off, set aside.

Eyes
Small eye, make 1:
1 – magic ring with 6 sc (6 sc)
2 – 2 sc in each st (12 sc)
3 – 1 sc in next st, 2 sc in next st, till end of round (18 sc)
rnds 4 to 6 – 1 sc in each st (18 sc)
finish off, set aside.

Big eye, make 1:
1 – magic ring with 6 sc (6 sc)
2 – 2 sc in each st (12 sc)
3 – 1 sc in next st, 2 sc in next st, till end of round (18 sc)
4 – 1 sc in next 2 st, 2 sc in next st (24 sc)
rnds 5 to 7 – 1 sc in each st (24 st)
finish off, set aside.

If you don’t have safety eyes, take some black yarn, do a magic ring with 4 sc and use it as pupil for small eye. Do another magic ring with 4 sc, then 2 sc in each st (8 sc) and use it as pupil for the big eye.

Body
1 – magic ring with 6 sc (6 sc)
2 – 2 sc in each st (12 sc)
3 – 1 sc in next st, 2 sc in next st, till end of round (18 sc)
4 – 1 sc in next 2 st, 2 sc in next st (24 sc)
5 – 1 sc in next 3 st, 2 sc in next st (30 sc)
6 – 1 sc in next 4 st, 2 sc in next st (36 sc)
7 – 1 sc in next 5 st, 2 sc in next st (42 sc)
8 – 1 sc in next 6 st, 2 sc in next st (48 sc)
9 – 1 sc in next 2 st, 2 sc in next st (60 sc)
rnds 10 to 19 – 1 sc in each st (60 sc)
20 – 1 sc in next 3 st, 2 sc in next st (72 sc)
21 – 1 sc in next 4 st, 2 sc in next st (84 sc)
23 – 1 sc in next 10 st, 2 sc in next st (90 sc)
rnds 24 to 30 – 1 sc in each st (90 sc)

31 – 1 sc in next 13 st, decr. in next st (84 sc)
32 – 1 sc in next 12 st, decr. in next st (78 sc)
33 – 1 sc in next 11 st, decr. in next st (72 sc)
34 – 1 sc in next 10 st, decr. in next st (66 sc)
35 – 1 sc in next 9 st, decr. in next st (60 sc)
36 – 1 sc in next 8 st, decr. in next st (54 sc) –
37 – 1 sc in next 7 st, decr. in next st (48 sc)
38 – 1 sc in next 6 st, decr. in next st (42 sc)
39 – 1 sc in each st (42 sc). Sew on the eyes, embroider the mouth, attach legs to previous row.
40 – 1 sc in next 5 st, decr. in next st (36 sc) – begin stuffing the body
41 – 1 sc in next 4 st, decr. in next st (30 sc)
42 – 1 sc in next 3 st, decr. in next st (24 sc) – add more stuffing as required
43 – 1 sc in next 2 st, decr. in next st (18 sc)
44 – 1 sc in next st, decr. in next st (12 sc)
45 – decrease all around – finish off.

That’s him done! 🙂 Please feel free to comment and let me know if you spot any mistake 😛

More African Flower Square…

I’m crazy about this pattern, I just picked up the cheap DK from the stash, and look how amazing this pattern looks.
Now my skills ain’t great at all, but it just looks so harmonic.
Also I had a friend over for NYE who got me CHUNKY YARN so I’m trying a blanket to keep me warm, cause the wind is howling like mad. I do love me a good windy night with the house squeaking and squawking!

2015 mood blanket

I’m going for an African flower square, tutorial and pattern by Made in K-town. I ordered some Red Heart Miami cotton on loveknitting.com, here’s to hoping it’ll arrive today!
I did a little trial square this morning in bed with the cheap acrylic I have in my stash! I just love this pattern.

Barn Owl Amigurumi

Merry Christmas!!!

I’ve just given this as a present to a lovely girl I know… I really hope she likes it! It’s an owl crochet bag and I got the pattern on Etsy, it’s a-maaaazing and Zoom Yummy is a really talented designer, I just drool looking at her stuff.

Also, I knew spending all those hours on Pininterest would prove itself a good idea, because I just found the coolest amigurumi owl EVER!! I can’t wait to finish my Christmas presents (the shame!) and start it.

Also, if you’re a more experienced crocheter, you might want to go for this amazing owl pattern, it’s saved in my favourites already! I’m sort of aware that owl are over-used in most crafts cause they’re relatively easy to make and they’re damn cute!! So I guess I’m a real basic bitch in that 😀

Hope everyone had a lovely day filled with family, friends and food 🙂

Francesca

Sunrise Meadow Fingerless Mittens Pattern

These are fingerless mittens I made for a friend who was stuck with a Christmas present and asked me to whip up something cute.
The main colour is Hayfield Bonus Aran with Wool, a huge 400g skein which is great value! The accent colours are acrylic DK I picked up in the yarn shop 🙂

A 5mm hook will do nicely for these.

The main stitch is  Granite Stitch: it’s very simple and looks great! I found it and used for the first time thanks to Loopy Sue Designs, in her Man’s Scarf (which is also a brilliant Christmas present).
The stitch used with accent colour yarn is a very simple Puff Stitch (Yarn over hook, insert hook into stitch, yarn over and pull through. You should have 3 loops on the hook, yarn over hook, insert hook into stitch, yarn over and pull through. You should now have 5 loops on the hook. Yarn over again, insert hook into stitch, yarn over pull through. You should now have 7 loops on the hook: yarn over and pull through all loops on the hook. Don’t worry I linked a great tutorial for puff stitch in the pattern)

Abbreviations:
Sc single crochet
Sl st slip stitch
Ch chain
St stitch
Ch sp chain space

Pattern
Using colour A, begin with a chainless foundation single crochet row of 28 stitches and join with a slip stitch.
1st round: ch2, (1 sc in the next st, ch1 sk1) repeat till end of round, sl st to join.

Alternatively you can do a foundation chain and work in the “butt” of the chain… this leaves a really nice edging too. Chain 28 and slip stitch the last and first stitch to make a circle. If you’re doing the foundation chain start your 1st round by chaining 2 (counts as 1sc and 1ch space), insert hook in the “back-bump” of  your first chain and do 1 sc. Then ch 1, sk 1, and 1sc in the next st. Repeat till the end of the round, ch 2, turn. 

2nd round: this is the same as the first round, only you won’t be working in the stitch but in the chain 1 space of the previous round. 1 sc, ch 1, sk 1, 1 sc till end of round, sl st, ch 2, turn.
Repeat 2nd round for 3rd and 4th rounds.

This pic isn’t relevant to the pattern but it shows the stitch 🙂

5th round:  With colour B chain 2 in the first ch 1 of previous round and do a puff stitch in the same ch sp. (Ch 1 and Puff stitch), repeat till end of round.

From now on, repeat the 2nd round four times, and always remember to work in the chain space, not the stitch. After 4 rounds of Granite Stitch with colour A switch to colour C and do a round of puff stitch. So you can do them as long as you want them!

To end just do a final round using one of your accent colours (I inverted mine for left hand and right hand!) and simply do a sl st instead of sc in your ch sp.