amigurumi Archives - Zeens and Roger

Some More Crochet Easter Eggs

February 21, 2018January 4, 2023amigurumi, crochet, free pattern36 Comments

Am I too early for Easter egg shenanigans? Eh, I don’t think so. Do you remember the pretty little crochet eggs from a couple of years ago? They’ve gone and got themselves some new mates!

A couple of weeks ago I got an email from Hobbycraft asking 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.

The Yarn

This is the stuff I decided to try, The Women’s Institute acrylic dk. I wanted big 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 got some dk colours to embroider the eggs with so the decorations are more delicate.

With two 100 gram balls of the chunky cream, you can make three small eggs and one large. I weighed them before I added the embellishments and a small one was 27 grams 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 my brands together 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 (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 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 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).

Notes and things you need

The Women’s Institute Premium Acrylic Yarn DK in Yellow, Lime, Teal, Pink and Light Pink.
The Women’s Institute Soft & Chunky in Cream x2 100g gram 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 the 4.5mm hook. For the large egg (approx 17cm tall) use the 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

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, which is HERE over on my YouTube channel!

Amigurumi Easter Egg

Round 1: 6sc into a Magic Ring.

Round 2: 1 Inc in each stitch around. [12].

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].

Round 6-7: Sc around [24]

Round 8: 1 sc in next 3 st, 1 inc in next. Repeat around [30].

Round 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, 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 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 places!

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Happy Easter! X

Crochet Easter Egg. Video Tutorial & Pattern

March 7, 2017January 4, 2023amigurumi, free pattern21 Comments

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 design for crochet Easter eggs. The surprisingly awesome thing is that it has been a really popular pattern (mostly thanks to Pinterest, not anything I’ve done). To accompany the written pattern I thought that it would be useful if I did a video tutorial.

And not just any old video tutorial… 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.

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 bit 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 afterward!

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

How to crochet an amigurumi Easter Egg video

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Save

A Crochet House Spider. A Free Pattern for Hallowe’en.

September 30, 2016October 9, 2018amigurumi, crafty, crochet28 Comments

I’m a little early but I couldn’t wait to get stuck into some Halloween crochet! Wahaha. This 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 intefere 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!! If you’d rather watch me make a spider on film, then pop over and take a look! Thanks]

Anyway here’s what you’ll need:

3.5mm hook (you could go up or down a hook size if you want), DK acrylic yarn, darning needle.

For the eyes you’ll need some sewing thread, a fine needle and little beads.

Crochet House Spider

(I’ve written it in US terms, that’s what I’m used to with amigurumi).

6 into a magic ring [6]
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. Get a slip knot on your hook and attach the yarn with a slip stitch to the body. I put my hook on/behind row 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).

Next, make a puff stitch. To get a nice plump head, yarn over and pull through 4 times (you’ll have 9 loops on your 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.

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 they 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 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.

There is now a spider… where there wasn’t one before!

Little beads make great 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, purple job has too many eyes 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!

Crochet-Spider.-Free-Patter — I made one with t-shirt yarn too!

This is a free 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

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Save

Top Crochet Tips & Techniques!

September 26, 2016May 15, 2023amigurumi, crochet, free pattern32 Comments

amazing-crochet-secrets-thatll-knock-your-socks-off

Making The Best Crochet

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.

Circle in square crochet blanket. Free pattern.

1. The Standing Start – Alternative to “Chain 3”

Check out Moogly for how to replace the “3ch” and seamlessly start a crochet project. 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 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 a 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.

Amigurumi Easter Eggs. Free crochet pattern.

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 whereabouts 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 you 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 is one that’s 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’s 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.

crochet blanket enjoying the autumn sunshine.

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 look put 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!

Save

So Many WIPs…

September 22, 2016amigurumi, crafty, crochet16 Comments

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.

She’s sleeping on this; the never ending half circle I’m trying to work out. I think I’ve mentioned before about trying to work out patterns and how it’s 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 it 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!

Anyway, this is more like it. An actual finished item. Woot! I loved making this. 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; I’m tempted to write up a tutorial. I might also buy a new pair of handles and have a second attempt.

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. This hook 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.

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 the way to go instead. Any advice?

This is part of my 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 and get this 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 more simple 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 this, 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.

Amigurumi Easter Egg! Free Crochet Pattern.

March 8, 2016January 4, 2023amigurumi, crafty, crochet, free pattern45 Comments

Easter Eggs

Chocolate Easter Eggs are my favorite sort of chocolate. Mini eggs and creme eggs are both very good reasons to look forward to Easter but neither truly beat 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 used to get crumbed 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…

Nearly as good as the chocolate thing are crocheted versions. I am here to celebrate Easter with a little bit of amigurumi style 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 FC idea but out of it came these so I can’t complain. That’s the thing about designing. Through mistakes and fails, come good things! I guess that’s the creative process, right?

I think they’re 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 amigurumi patterns, the pattern is written in US terms.

I used Stylecraft Special DK 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].
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].
Round 6-7: Sc around [24]
Round 8: 1 sc in next 3 st, 1 inc in next. Repeat around [30].
Round 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 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.

(Go HERE to see what I’ve done with the pattern for 2018!!)

Embroider your Easter Eggs

Decorating 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 (link just below). I have very little experience of needle work and just make it up as I go along. If I can do that then so can you, I promise!

I also tried a few different styles over the following years too.

YouTube Video Tutorial

EDIT: For 2017 I’ve added a video tutorial on YouTube, which also includes how to decorate with pretty embroidery. Please go here! Cheers.

This is an amigurumi Easter Egg pattern I’ve designed and belongs to me. It can be used to make decorations for yourself or for gifts for friends and family but please not for mass production. Thanks very much. Feel free to say hello and you can even follow my blog to get more patterns and, dare I say, inspiration. Cheers!

Happy Easter!!

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Save

The things I made in December

January 4, 2016January 7, 2016amigurumi, crochet, sewing32 Comments

Better late than never, here is the Christmas stuff I made. Not all of it, I didn’t take pictures of it all. These are the things I thought I should record as they’re all firsts.

This fella 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 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.

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 leftover so instead of a ribbon tie, I made a crochet one. It might be a bit bulky though, which is probably the reason why the pattern goes for ribbon.

Not sure what to do with the leftovers, only a small amount of the yoke colours are needed. Ohh, pompoms?!

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.

And here is Coraline.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 first time! Dead pleased. But not completely over the moon. I want to make her again to sort all the tweaks that are required. Her head and neck shape is wrong, which in turn has ballsed up her face. And I was afraid to press her clothes incase the felt 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 things off my list. I have a perkier list for January, which pretty much includes making stuff solely for me!