The Yarnival of the Animals

Strawberry pattern: Start a magic ring in green. R1. sc 6 in the magic ring (6) R2. 2sc in every stitch (12) R3. 2sc in every 2nd stitch (18) R4. in BLO, 2sc in every 3rd stitch (24) R5. 2sc in every 4th stitch (30) R6. sc in every stitch (30) R7. 2sc in every 5th stitch (36) R8-10. sc in every stitch (36) R11. sc2tog every 5th and 6th stitch (30) R12. sc in every stitch (30) R13. sc2tog every 4th and 5th stitch (24) R14. sc in every stitch (24)   Start stuffing the body with fiberfill.   R15. sc2tog every 3rd and 4th stitch (18) R16. sc in every stitch (18) R17. sc2tog every 2nd and 3rd stitch (12) R18. sc2tog every 1st and 2nd stitch (6) Fasten off and weave the tail in the remaining 6 stitches. Pull tight to close the gap and weave in.   Stalk: Fasten on with green in the first remaining stitch of R3.    Repeat this pattern over 6 times: [sc and hdc in the 1st stitch;  dc, ch 2, dc in the 2nd stitch; hdc and sc in the 3rd stitch].   Then just use little bits of light green yarn to e

    I had some yarn left over in a slightly more muted colour than usual, so I figured I'd use it for some less cartoony amigurumi/decorative objects. These two pieces of fruit were largely free-styled when on the train.The pear stands just under 10cm tall using Scheepjes Catona cotton with a 2.00mm hook. If I find the time and energy, I might turn this into a complete fruit bowl. Pear pattern: For the body of the pear, start a magic ring in green.  R1. sc 6 in the magic ring (6) R 2 . 2 sc in every stitch (12) R3. 2sc in every 2nd stitch (18) R4. 2sc in every 3rd stitch (24) R5. 2sc in every 4th stitch (30) R6. 2sc in every 5th stitch (36) R7. 2sc in every 6th stitch (42) R8. sc in every stitch (42) R9. 2sc in every 7th stitch (48) R10-13. sc in every stitch (48) R14. sc2tog every 7th and 8th stitch (42) R15. sc in every stitch (42) R16. sc2tog every 6th and 7th stitch (36) R17. sc in every stitch (36) R18. sc2tog every 5th and 6th stitch (30) R

And now for something completely different...   So my very clever husband scratch-built a merchant navy ship from the 1600's from bits of cardboard and wooden coffee stirrers. Naturally, he also needed some sails for it. Fabric, yarn and thread are not quite his medium of choice, so he asked me to rustle up some sails. They're made of double layers of uncoloured natural linnen cut out of some old trousers I hadn't worn for years, fastened to the mast with some embroidery yarn. Because of the double layers it all looks a little chunky, but that's usually the case with scale models anyway (I've been told). Please see his blog for a complete three-part story of how he built the ship!

Strolling through John Lewis in search of some embroidery yarn to make frienship bracelets, I stumbled upon this brilliant book by Kerry Lord showing you how to crochet a mini-me. The book gives you a basic and an advanced doll pattern as well as a variety of outfits and accessories, so you can make a chef, princess, pirate, astronaut etc. Because my husband is a keen kendoka, I thought it would be nice to crochet someone in a hakama and gi holding a shinai.  I had to improvise the arms, all of the clothing and the accessories, but Kelly Lord's doll patterns are incredibly cute and a bit ragdoll-like. The way she managed to crochet the hairline into the skull so the hairs don't contrast when you sew them in later is truly inspired :-) 

A friend from work re-kindled my love of gardening some years back and although I no longer live in a house with a garden, I've been cultivating my balcony and window sills enthusiastically. We also transformed the office, with everyone exchanging seedlings and produce. It was always great, especially during the pandemic, to come into the office and find an aubergine plant or two on my desk. So I thought it would be nice to make a little vegetable garden in crochet form. I'm not sure it's good enough to give as a gift, but for a first attempt it looks quite well.  The basket is a simple bread basket that you stuff with fiber fill. The yarn used is all cotton SMC Catania with a 2-2.5mm hook.  Patterns are below. Happy crocheting and gardening <3 Soil:  For the soil, ch as many stitches as you need to fill the size of your container. It doesn't matter if its an odd or even number, just include 2 ch stitches for turning.  R1. skipping the first 2 ch, dc in every stitch.

My husband is a big Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fan (see here for his own TMNT project). This fits well with my own love of turtles and tortoises in general, and the fact that in the original film, the suits were made by Jim Henson's Creature Shop is even better. Donatello is both our favourite, because he is the shy, geeky one. And after all, he does do machines... So for Christmas, I secretly made him a crocheted doll of Donny after a brilliant pattern by a lady called Jackie who runs the blog Amidorable Crochet . I'd had my eyes on these for years when they were on sale by Amigurumi.net, but when I got an email from them that the pattern was suddenly free, I simply couldn't postpone any longer! The pattern is incredibly detailed and gives great detail to your turtle. The only weird bit was the back shell, which even upon repeated tries just wouldn't give me the result as advertised in the pictures, but this could very well be due to fact that I was using a different

The second installment in what I've decided to call my archaeorumi are these miniature prismatic bottles. These square bottles in blue glass are a staple in provincial-Roman burials, where they are often found in groups of four as part of lavish dining sets that would include plates, cooking ware, cups and cooked meals for the deceased. Although I've never excavated one myself (such rich burials are quite rare!), I've always had a strange fondness for their shape and their insistence on appearing in sets of four. I'm easily amused.   The bottle on the left was made freestyle while watching telly and I find the mouth a little bit too small. For the bottle on the right, I tried to correct that and I like the shape much better. But as ever, there is great variety in prismatic bottles in the archaeological record and both versions resemble the glass originals equally well (or not). I've used cotton SMC Catania yarn, suitable for a 2.00-2.50mm hook. Prismatic bottle 1: S

Lately, I've been obsessed with ComplicatedKnots 's YouTube channel, where she shows you how to crochet these incredibly cute and easy (but impressive looking) dinosaurs. The triceratops is always a crowd favourite, and I just love the way she's designed the horns and collar. As you can see, I'm quite rubbish at sewing on limbs and I may have overstuffed the body a little bit. But I'm quite happy with the embroidery on the nails! Go give Complicated Knots some love on YouTube, she's got some amazing patterns out there. Including a Squirtle design that's just begging to be made <3

To cosy-up my trusty coffee mug I crocheted a little cover for it, to make sure the mug stays warm and I don't burn my hands. Is it tacky? Most definitely. Is it practical? Debatable. You can make as many colour changes as you like and the project is a great way to use up little bits of left-over yarn. In this case, I've used cotton SMC Catania yarn, suitable for a 2.00-2.50mm hook. Row 1: Chain 60, plus three (counts as the first dc of the next row). Of course, the number of ch's made here depends on the size of your mug. Row 2: dc in every stitch, skipping the ch stitches. Change colour in the last dc. Ch 2, turn (60) Row 3: sc in every stitch, skipping the ch stitches. Change colour in the last sc. Ch 3, turn (60) Row 4: dc in every stitch, skipping the ch stitches. Ch 3, turn (60) Row 5: dc in every stitch, skipping the ch stitches. Change colour in the last dc. Ch 3, turn (60) Row 6: dc in every stitch, skipping the ch stitches. Change colour in the last dc. Ch 3, turn