Am I too early for crochet Easter egg shenanigans? Eh, I don’t think so. Do you remember the pretty little crochet eggsfrom a couple of years ago? They’ve gone and got themselves some new mates!
A couple of weeks ago, I got an email from Hobbycraftasking if I was interested in trying some yarn so that I could tell you about it. Seeing as spring is on the way, I thought it would be a nice idea to choose some yarn to make my amigurumi Easter eggs with. However, I didn’t want more eggs of the same size, so I’ve upped my game. I’ve gone large.
Yarn For Making Crochet Easter Eggs
This is the yarn I decided to try, The Women’s Institute acrylic dk. I wanted big Easter eggs this time, so I also chose the Soft & Chunky in Cream, which is an acrylic mix and has 30% merino. It’s lovely stuff to work with, I think merino is my favourite yarn in the world at the moment.
I also got some dk yarn in pretty spring colours to embroider the eggs with. A lighter yarn makes the embroidered decorations more delicate.
With two 100-gram balls of the chunky cream yarn, you can make three small eggs and one large. I weighed them before I added the embellishments, and a small one was 27 grams of yarn, whilst the large was 89 grams. I used exactly the same crochet pattern; I just doubled up on yarn for the biggy. By that, I mean I held the yarn double when working with it.
I’ve not used this yarn before, but I have used plenty of other DK acrylics. Mostly, I’m left unimpressed, and I have a thing where I don’t like mixing brands because the quality varies so much. Usually, they don’t pass muster, but I don’t think I’d have any qualms about mixing this with the likes of Stylecraft Special or Paintbox acrylic DK yarns (both of which are excellent to work with). This is one of the good ones. I have quite a bit of the dk left, so I might make a crochet blanket along with some other brands to really get a good feel for it (but not anytime soon, as I have got a massive list of other projects to do! Bah).
Anyway, on to the Easter Egg Crochet pattern…
Eeehh, look at the family all together!
Crochet Easter Egg Pattern
This pattern can be used with any weight of yarn, just make sure you use a hook size that will achieve nice, tight stitches (ie go down a couple of sizes than is recommended on the yarn label).
Notes & Things Needed To Crochet Easter Eggs
Women’s Institute Premium Acrylic Yarn DK in Yellow, Lime, Teal, Pink and Light Pink.
Women’s Institute Soft & Chunky in Cream x2 100g balls. This amount makes 1 large and three small eggs.
Polyfibre fill stuffing
Large eye darning needle
Fading ink pen (optional) – it helps to draw out where to put the flowers and leaves before you make the stitches.
For the small egg (approx 11cm tall) use a 4.5mm hook. For the large egg (approx 17cm tall), use a 7mm hook and two strands of the chunky held together.
Use two strands of the dk together for embroidering the large egg.
US terms are used in the pattern.
An Inc = increase. i.e., working 2 stitches in the same stitch.
A dec = decrease. Worked over 2 sts.
This pattern below is also found on my original blog post HERE. And last year, I recorded a video tutorial showing how to make and embroider the eggs.
Amigurumi Easter Egg
Round 1: 6sc into a Magic Ring. Round 2: Inc in each stitch around. [12 sts]. Round 3: *1sc in next stitch, inc in next; repeat from * around [18]. Round 4: Sc around. [18] Round 5: *1sc in next 2 sts, inc in next; repeat from * around. [24]. Rounds 6-7: Sc around [24] Round 8: *1sc in next 3 st, inc in next; repeat from * around [30]. Rounds 9-15: Sc around. [30] Round 16: *1sc in next 3 sts, dec; repeat from * around. [24]. Round 17: *1sc in next 2 sts, dec; repeat from * around. [18]. Round 18: *1sc in next st, dec; repeat from * around [12].
Fasten off, leaving a long tail, 40cm should be plenty. Add embroidered flowers using simple stitches. French knots make the flower centres, and the chain stitch makes petals, leaves and stems. Stuff firmly. To close your Crochet Easter Egg, thread through the front loops and pull tight to gather the stitches together. Stitch in and out a few times to fully secure and then snip the end neatly.
Please do let me know if you make some, I really would love to see. They make such cute spring decorations, and you could even tie pretty ribbon through the top to hang them in places!
And if you enjoyed making them, take a look at some of my other free crochet patterns.
Doesn’t it feel like Spring already?! That means Easter is just around the corner. You may recall that last year, I came up with a cute little pattern for crochet Easter eggs. The surprisingly awesome outcome is that it has been a really popular pattern (mostly thanks to Pinterest, not anything I’ve done).
To accompany the written crochet pattern, I thought that it would be useful if I did a video tutorial demonstrating how I crocheted little Easter Eggs. The flowers are a simple but very pretty finishing touch! I show you how to do those, too!
And it is not just any old video tutorial… it is my first ever video tutorial! It’s apparent that I need to perfect my video-making skills somewhat, but you’ve got to start somewhere! I hope you find it useful.
Crochet Easter Egg Video Tutorial
The written crochet pattern is super straightforward and quick to do. The How-To video is probably best viewed as a companion to the written instructions. In the video, I also demonstrate how to embroider the stitches, which the written pattern does not do.
If you want to jump straight there, the time stamp for the decorative embroidery is 18.25.
Had I been more YouTube savvy, I could have made two different videos. One for crocheting the Easter egg and one to demonstrate the embroidery. But I didn’t think about that until afterwards!
If you fancy having a look (afterall, Easter is coming up pretty soon) then please click on this picture to take you to YouTube! Or go HERE. And then let me know if you’ve made some!! I would absolutely love to see. Cheers! X
I’m a little early, but I couldn’t wait to get stuck into some Halloween crochet! Wahaha. This crochet spirder pattern is so speedy, it really only takes a few minutes. You could make an army of crochet spiders, it’d be brilliant!
These guys are so much better than real spiders, which interfere with your telly watching (out of the corner of your eye, there they are stomping across your sofa, on their way to eat your face whilst you innocently watch Bake Off).
I’m a little disappointed that this spider pattern didn’t become part of last year’s amigurumi Halloween collection but I hadn’t thought of it when I designed that lot. This pattern is a great partner to all the other spooky creations from that collection, though…
[Edit: New for the summer of 2017 is a YouTube tutorial for a crochet spider!! If you’d rather watch me make this spider on film, then pop over and take a look! Thanks]
What You’ll Need to Make Your Own Crochet Spiders
3.5mm hook (you could go up or down a hook size if you want),
DK acrylic yarn – small amounts for these 8-legged critters.
Darning needle.
For the eyes, you’ll need some sewing thread,
A sewing needle
Little beads.
Crochet House Spider Pattern
I’ve written the crochet pattern in US terms; that’s what I’m used to with amigurumi. An increase means working 2 stitches into the same stitch. A decrease is working 2 stitches together so they become one stitch.
6 into a magic ring [6 sts]
Increase around [12]
Sc around [12]
Decrease around [6]
Fasten off, leaving a tail of about 50cm. Stitch the hole closed with a darning needle, looping through the 6 front loops. Pull closed and secure. Do not cut yarn; you’ll need it for sewing on the legs.
Choose where you want your head to be. With a slip knot on your hook, attach the yarn with a slip stitch to the body. I put my hook on/behind Round 3. The pictures above are two different angles of the same thing. It’s just demonstrating where I’ve put my hook and where I’ll be making the slip stitch.
A Puff Stitch Head
To get a nice plump spider head, you need a puff stitch!
[yrh, insert hook into st, yrh and pull up yarn] four times, yrh, draw through all 9 loops on hook, chain 1 and join back to the body with a slip stitch in the same place. Fasten off and sew in the head ends.
Mr Skinny Legs
Make four chains for legs: 1: ch18, 2. ch20, 3: ch22, 4: ch24.
Before you snip them short, pull the legs really tight to make sure the knots won’t become undone. This is why it’s best to use acrylic yarn; it’s less likely to break off when you pull.
Using the tail from before, thread through the middles of all the spider’s legs and stitch to the underside of the body. Shortest legs nearest the head.
Stitching the legs on is really simple. When they’re secure, thread the yarn out through the spider’s bottom.
Pass the yarn through the ends of the two back legs.
A Crochet Spider Completed
There is now a spider… where there wasn’t one before!
Adding Little Spidery Eyes
Little beads make great spider eyes. I went in from underneath with the thread, going in and out a couple of times to make sure it wasn’t going to go anywhere.
This sparkly, woolly arachnid has too many eyes for a real spider, but I wasn’t really concentrating. Most spiders have eight eyes if you want to go for accuracy!
And it’s as easy as that! A happy Hallowe’en house spider!
I made one with t-shirt yarn too!
This is a free crochet pattern that has been designed by me (Zeens and Roger). Please don’t sell the pattern or finished product. They’re all mine! Tis personal use only. Thanks very much. X
One of the great things about crochet is that there are constantly new tips and tricks to learn. I’m always completely bowled over when I stumble upon a new crochet technique, pattern, or colour combination. Actually, I think what astonishes me most is that crochet, or more to the point, how we crochet, always has the ability to surprise!
As part of this, it’s important that, when upping our crochet game, we embrace new skills, news skills that can really elevate crochet and make yarny projects the best they can be.
Top Crochet Tips and Techniques
I learned to crochet six years ago (Nanna tried to teach me when I was little; I didn’t get on with it). After six years I still LOVE crochet and I still love it when it teaches me something new. A lot of it is probably my childish pride but I don’t care, it makes me super happy. It makes me squee when I accomplish something that’s new to me. I’ve found a hobby that continually delights.
And that’s the point here. Many of the crochet tips below are now part of my everyday hooking repetoire but they might be totally new to somebody else. We’re lucky enough that these crochet tricks and techniques get shared, for us all to discover and enjoy.
Anyway, I thought it would be a really good idea to collate some of my favourite crochet tips together in one place. Some are more common than others but I didn’t know them at one time, maybe you don’t either? There are probably loads more I have yet to try as well. Let me know what you think, and tell me if there are some awesome crochet secrets that I’ve missed.
For a Standing Start, wrap new yarn around your hook twice and then insert the hook into the first stitch before completing what is effectively the first US dc / UK tr stitch. It is just one method that’s an alternative to the 3-chain method at the beginning of rows/rounds. I like this technique for starting rows when changing colour.
2. The Chainless Foundation. Or Foundationless Start
I love this crochet tip! Love LOVE love it!! Find my video tutorial for a foundationless start HERE. In the tutorial I demonstrate the technique for US sc, hdc and dc starts. Beginning crochet projects has never looked so neat and tidy. Plus, there’s more elasticity with this method and you don’t end up with a twisty tangle of a foundation chain.
3. Stop your Chains Twisting!
If you do still want to chain the old-fashioned way, here’s how to stop the twist! It is perfect for a project like an infinity scarf. Sometimes the old method is the good method, especially if you’re all fingers and thumbs with the foundationless start. This is the one where you pop the end of the chain onto your hook whilst you whip up the rest of your chains, then slide it over at the end to create a big ol loop.
4. The Invisible Decrease
Planet June has great amigurumi tutorials for techniques that create wonderfully neat crochet creatures. The invisible decrease is ace; it’s one of my favourite amigurumi secrets. It does what it says on the tin, it’s a decrease that’s invisible! Other decrease methods can be seen in the tight stitches of amigurumi fabric, so this one is a doozy.
5. Finishing off your Amigurumi
This top crochet tip saved me from having lots of stuffed toys with ugly bottoms! Quite literally for this fawn (not that you can see his bottom in the picture below).
Have a look here for this easy method for closing the little whole left at the end of an amigurumi pattern. Even with the invisible decrease, I reckon you can only decrease so much with amigurumi before the stitches start looking a bit overstretched. This is normally near the final round or two. So rather than struggling to squeeze them, I like to finish by using a needle and thread.
6. A Smooth Crochet Circle
If you add uniform increases when working a crochet circle, the final item can actually look more hexagonal. It’s all about mixing up the stitches. Bascially, you don’t have to work every increase in a formulaic pattern. Be a bit more random with the placemnt of the increases and it smooths out the rounds.
7. Work under the Bumps
This one, I learned near the beginning of my crochet obsession, and I still think it’s fab. Many patterns never seem to state where in a chain you should work, and when I was a learner, this confused the heck out of me! I used to go into just the one loop of each chain, never really knowing if this was the right thing to do. To be honest, it looks a bit of a mess doing it this way. What someone should have told me was to work in the back “bumps” of a foundation chain. Check out this beginner-friendly method here: under the bumps tutorial. Unless, you know, Foundationless…!
8. Tidy Crochet Edges for your Border
I only found this one a few days ago, so I haven’t tried it yet. It looks great! My edges tend to look messy even when I make an effort to be extra neat. Felted Button has a great tutorial to rid you of unsightly borders.
Another crochet tip I picked up for creating a neat and tidy border is to make sure you colour-match where you can. If the first round of a border matches the main body of your project, you disguise any potential quirky stitch placements.
9. Lose the Granny Square Twist
Why are my Granny’s twisty?! Cherry Heart will tell you! Sandra’s post has lots of useful crochet tips relating to the ubiquitous granny square. So simple, yet I never thought of trying any of these at first. All hail experienced crochet experts!!
10. The Continuous Join as you go
Not to be confused with the Join As You Go method, which still results in lots of ends to sew in (but is useful when using different rounds of colour), the Continuous JAYG has only two ends to sew in and it’s really easy! Honestly, if you haven’t done this before, it’s life changing. I’ve tried a couple of different methods and the one over at Patchwork Heart is the best.
This one is easy once you have seen a demonstration. I tried to make it up once and got in a right pickle!
11. The Fancy Continuous Join as you go
I really, really want to do this. You can save time and be pretty! It’s the Continuous Flat Braid. Same as above, but fancy!!
12. The Neat Granny Border
If you’ve gone to the effort of stitching all your granny squares together, the least you can do is make sure they get a beautiful border too. Too many clusters around the edges can cause a bit of a ruffle. Pop over to Bunny Mummy’s guide for how to crochet a flat border.
And that’s it for now, but I reckon I’ll have to do a sequel one day. Crochet tips like this really can help create beautiful work, and I’m always on the lookout for more ways I can improve my crochet skills.
Once again, please do let me know if you have your own favourite top crochet tips and tricks. I’d love to hear from you. Cheers!
I have a silly number of Works in Progress at the moment. Here is the cat, sleeping on one that I left on the sofa.
Half Circle Crochet Design
Marceline is sleeping on a crochet half circle I’m trying to work out. I’m interested in trying to work out patterns and how they’re done. My method is Trial and Error because I know no other way. So, with that in mind, I have, in fact, frogged several rows this morning.
Too many stitches were causing the half circle to get ruffled. I don’t know how/where to increase the stitches in a nice, even way at the minute. Too many, not enough, blahhh. Whatever I try, it doesn’t want to mirror the initial semi-circle of colour. I’m tempted to bin it. Bin the idea and move on. So. Much. Frustration!
A New Project Bag
Anyway, this is more like it. An actual finished item. Woot! I loved making this project bag. It was so quick and easy. I didn’t follow a pattern; I made it up and was surprised at how speedy the process was. If I were to have another go, I’d make the fabric pieces wider. I think there’s room for expansion.
I took a load of photographs as I made it;Â I’m tempted to write up a tutorial. I might also buy a new pair of handles and have a second attempt.
Learning a New Skill: Tunisian Crochet!
New skill alert! I’ve tried Tunisian Crochet this week. A little bit addictive, actually. I’m slow and not sure what goes on if I drop stitches, but I did order a set of bamboo Tunisian crochet hooks so I can get properly stuck in.
The hook I’m using is one I got from my Nanna. I keep meaning to ask her if she ever used it. Anyway, it’s slightly too small. And the freebie I got from a magazine is slightly too big.
Trying Colour Work
Yesterday I struggled with colour changes. I really want to make pictures in crochet. It isn’t as easy as I thought it’d be. It’s mucked up the tension, making it skewed. Poo. I think I’ll benefit from some practise but I also think that Tapesty crochet might be the way to go instead. Any advice?
Brightoween Craft Swap
These pastel coloured crochet balls are part of a Brightoween ColourSwapCraftPop on Instagram. I’ve done a bit more on this project than this picture suggests, but I’m still not quite finished.
Whilst messing about with the Brightoween and Tunisian projects yesterday, another idea popped into existence. I had to try it immediately.
I’ll try to get this crochete project finished for next week, although I’m well aware that I say that sort of thing quite often. I’ve got a crochet pattern/tutorial in handwritten scribbles that I’d said I’d publish this week. That’s really not going to happen. Not yet anyway.
This idea is a lot simpler than the other not-yet-ready pattern. I think it’ll be a fun one, so stick around for a future blog post.
Then there’s a quick fix crochet idea I have, which is related to the c2c geometric square cushion I made recently. I really hope this one looks like my imagination tells me it will look.
And now I need to go and make dinner before collecting Eldest from Judo. I really hope that some of these WIPs will actually be finished at some point soon. Today is not the day.
Chocolate Easter Eggs are my favourite sort of chocolate. Mini eggs and creme eggs are both very good reasons to look forward to Easter, but neither truly beats a large Cadbury’s Dairy Milk (or other Cadbury) egg that has been put in the fridge for at least two hours so that it cracks and crunches as you bite it.
When I was little, I used to drink milk out of half a chocolate egg. I thought it was fancy. The other half of the chocolate egg was crumbled into a mug and ruined with hot water to make some kind of bad hot chocolate (not so fancy). I don’t waste it like that now, I shovel it in my face whilst hiding behind the fridge door. Mostly, I hide because the chocolate doesn’t belong to me. When I’ve finished mine, I’m then stealing from the children. Anyway, I shall move on…
Decorated Crochet Easter Eggs
Nearly as good as the chocolate eggs are crocheted versions. I am here to celebrate Easter with a little bit of amigurumi-style crochet eggs. I came up with the pattern for these at Christmas. I was trying to design a Father Christmas head/hat combo, but whatever shape I tried looked like an egg. I binned the Christmas idea, but out of it came these, so I can’t complain.
That’s the thing about crochet design. Through mistakes and failures come good things! I guess that’s the creative process, right?
I think these decorated crochet Easter eggs are cute, and I hope you like them too.
They did look quite nice sitting up by themselves. The children like throwing them around, and I know the cat would too if she could get her paws on them.
It’s rather telling that I don’t have any egg cups, and I had to use shot glasses.
Amigurumi Easter Egg Pattern
As with most crochet amigurumi patterns, the pattern is written in US terms. I used Stylecraft Special DK yarn and a 3mm hook. I even found a use for the shade, Duck Egg!
Round 1: 6sc into a Magic Ring. Round 2: 1 Inc in each stitch around. [12 sts]. Round 3: 1 sc in next stitch, 1 inc in next. Repeat around [18]. Round 4: Sc around. [18] Round 5: 1sc in next 2 st, 1 inc in next. Repeat around. [24]. Rounds 6-7: Sc around [24] Round 8: 1 sc in next 3 st, 1 inc in next. Repeat around [30]. Rounds 9-15: Sc around. [30] Round 16: 1 sc in next 3 st, 1 dec. Repeat around. [24]. Round 17: 1 sc in next 2 st, 1 dec. Repeat around. [18]. Round 18: 1sc in next st, 1 dec. Repeat around [12].
Fasten off, leaving a long tail. Stuff your crochet egg firmly. Using a darning needle, thread through the front loops only. Pull tight to close the hole. Stitch in and out a few times to fully secure and then snip the end neatly.
Decorating your crocheted Easter eggs is relatively quick and easy. With a darning needle, I went in through the bottom of each egg and then made French knots for the flower centres and a few chain stitches for petals and leaves. With a poke and a prod from the darning needle, the snipped ends can be hidden inside. Hey presto!
Please don’t be frightened of the embroidery. I show you how I do it in the video tutorial (just below). I have very little experience with needlework and just make it up as I go along. If I can do that, then so can you, I promise!
For 2017, I’ve added a video tutorial for How To Crochet an Easter Egg on YouTube, which also includes how to decorate eggs with pretty embroidery.
This is an amigurumi Easter Egg pattern I’ve designed myself. It can be used to make decorations for yourself, gifts for friends and family, and even to be sold at your craft fairs.
Thanks very much. Feel free to say hello, and follow my blog for more free crochet patterns and, dare I say, creative inspiration. Cheers!
Better late than never, here are some of the Christmas gifts I made. Not all of them, I didn’t take pictures of everything. These are the handmade things I thought I should record as they’re all firsts.
Amigurumi Zebra
This stripey zebra was finished on Christmas Eve. I spent a long time on him, mostly in little bursts because, like an old lady, I couldn’t work with the black yarn in the dark. And it was always dark in December.
Many hours later…. I think I did an acceptable job.
Little toddler fingers had smudged the camera lense and I didn’t notice until much later.
I followed Elisabeth Doherty’s pattern from her Amigurumi book. The pattern is for a fawn which is surrounded by other ami patterns (although I don’t fancy making a crochet burger really). However, I know that the fawn pattern can be bought on its own on Etsy and maybe Ravelry as a pdf. I’m sure it was the last time I looked.
The back legs twisted too much so that the knees are wrongly placed. I didn’t say anything, and I don’t think the recipient will notice. She’s only two.
Little Crochet Cardigan
I made a little crochet cardi. Super speedy it was. The pattern is from Simply Crochet Magazine, issue 32. I was very good and bought the recommended wool, Drops Nepal. I chose slightly different colours, but mostly I stuck to the recipe.
I had pink yarn leftover, so instead of a ribbon tie, I made a crochet one. It might be a bit bulky, which is probably the reason why the pattern goes for actual ribbon.
It’s worked from the top down with granny clusters, and it’s for my niece.
I’m not sure what to do with the leftovers; only a small amount of the yoke colours are needed. Ohh, pompoms?!
Crochet Doily For Nanna
Nanna and Grandad got a doily for Christmas. I used DMC Natura Just Cotton in Dk. The pattern is from Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts: Lacy Crochet. I didn’t do a particularly neat job of blocking it as I ran out of ironing board. My Nanna was pleased as she said it can replace the doily her mother had made her (it is falling apart). I don’t know how old that one is, but she told me that her mother died in 1976.
Handmade Coraline
And here is Coraline. She’s quite a big doll. Whilst not perfect, I am proud of her as I made her up totally from my head. All of it. Including the pattern for the coat, which only bloody well fit the first time! Dead pleased. But not completely over the moon. I want to make her again to sort out all the tweaks that are required.
Her head and neck shape is wrong, which in turn has messed up her face. And I was afraid to press her clothes in case the felt fabric melted. Neatness has been sacrificed.
She also needed an emergency operation on her ears because they were dreadful. I so know what I’d do to make them better, but I ran out of fabric and time.
They are supposed to poke through her hair, and that, they do
It is a huge relief to have ticked these handmade Christmas gifts off my list. I have a perkier list for January, which pretty much includes making stuff solely for me!
