Originally, I wasn’t sure I’d have time to design a Christmas pattern this year, so I thought I’d make a variant on my Twisted Chain Bangle pattern, to turn it into a miniature wreath ornament. But then, with wreaths on my mind, I came up with this completely new – and better! – idea instead, so we have a new PlanetJune Donationware Christmas design for 2013 after all 🙂

Introducing the Mini Wreath Ornament:

This sweet little pattern lets you make surprisingly realistic leafy miniature wreaths – at only 3″ across, they’d be perfect as Christmas Tree ornaments or seasonal decorations. A Mini Wreath works up in no time and comes together like magic with almost no sewing required – you won’t be able to stop at making one! Make them in leafy greens, or any pair of colours to match your holiday decor.

I’ve accessorised mine with a crocheted ribbon bow, but you could use a short length of real ribbon, or add beads and sequins to represent berries and miniature baubles.

Mini Wreath Ornament is a donationware pattern, which means it’s free for you to use, and if you’d like to say thanks by making a donation, you’ll get a handy PDF version of the pattern – easy to print or save to your tablet or e-reader 🙂

I hope you’ll enjoy making mini wreaths this holiday season!

Go to the Mini Wreath Ornament pattern >>

PS – Don’t forget to enter your completed wreaths in the PlanetJune Christmas CAL (on Ravelry) – there’ll be prizes for everyone!

This shawl has been a long time in the making! I created the design over a year ago with the idea to make it a 2-in-1 pattern, but life got in the way of all my plans and I didn’t have time to finish Part II, so this beautiful shawl has just been sitting for many months with the pattern complete apart from the stitch diagrams and a few photos. The November/December PlanetJune Accessories CAL seemed like the perfect opportunity to get those final pieces together and release my lovely but neglected design into the wild…

Cascading Clusters is a triangular shawl with an elegant curve along the top edge so it hugs your neck and won’t fall off your shoulders. The lacy squares quickly grow from the centre top so you can keep crocheting until the shawl is the size you want, then add the pointed scallop border as the finishing touch. The lace pattern has a 2-row repeat, so you’ll pick it up in no time and be able to enjoy crocheting without having to worry about a complicated pattern.

As with all PlanetJune Accessories designs, the pattern includes clear written instructions together with full stitch diagrams, so you can work solely from one or the other if you prefer to use only charts or text patterns, or refer to both for additional clarification.

The shawl is fully customizable in terms of size; just keep going until you like the size or you run out of yarn! And it’s flexible enough to work well with multiple yarn weights (I have a stunning laceweight alpaca/silk version in progress…) – go fine for a delicate wisp of a shawl, or use a heavier yarn for a much faster, but still stunning, result. My sample shawl is worked in a sport weight.

I still plan to make Part II and release it as an Expansion Pack, so you’ll be able to get even more value from this pattern when that happens! In the meantime, I hope you’ll enjoy the Cascading Clusters Shawl as much as I do – don’t you love the rich purple colour of mine?!

You can buy the Cascading Clusters Shawl pattern individually from my shop, or save money by including it as part of a custom set of any three PlanetJune Accessories designs for a bargain price.

Even if you’re not quite ready to buy now, how about queuing/faving it on ravelry so you don’t forget about it?

If you’d like to make this shawl, or any of my other accessory designs, I hope you’ll join us in the PlanetJune Ravelry group for the Accessories CAL, from now until the end of 2013!

Today is I Love Yarn day, and, although every day is I Love Yarn day as far as I’m concerned, I thought I’d take a quick break from book-writing to share a little of my yarny love, as evidenced by a few of my old blog photos…

As a crocheter, I love yarn. I love being able to turn this:

some of my amigurumi yarn stash

via this:

toymaking!

into this:

some of my amigurumi designs

and this:

mmm, laceweight baby alpaca

into this:

some of my accessories designs

But possibly the best thing about working with yarn is that you can fudge things and fix mistakes – it doesn’t always have to be perfect.

I’m a novice when it comes to knitting, and I must confess that I wasn’t quite delighted with my grey cardigan (the first garment I knitted) – stockinette tends to curl, and my i-cord edging wasn’t enough to combat that curl at the bottom. I found myself doing the Picard tug to the bottom of the cardigan every time I stood up…

I’d heard you can stitch a tape facing to the inside to keep it straight, but who has time to shop for tape? Then I realised I could make an afterthought knitted facing by picking up stitches all around the bottom, knitting a few rows, then stitching it a few rows up on the cardigan. I used some stash fingering weight yarn (left over from my Climbing Eyelets Shawl) and just did it without over-thinking the plan…

It worked perfectly! My cardigan now has a straight non-curling edge around the bottom. You can just see a dented line on the outside from where I grafted the live stitches from the top of the facing to the cardigan with duplicate stitches, but the pale green colour is totally invisible from the outside and looks pretty from the inside when I wear the cardigan unbuttoned.

With this fix, I now have 3 self-designed and wearable handknit sweaters, and they’ve seen me through the (southern hemisphere) winter nicely. None of them is 100% perfect, but that may just make them even more special because it reminds me that I made them and it inspires me to do better next time. Although I won’t have time to knit anything else until I finish my book, I’m very excited at the idea of having a whole wardrobe of handmade sweaters – and in another year or two of knitting that could well be possible! I already have yarn bought and earmarked for the next 3…

So, both as a yarny professional (crochet designer) and an enthusiastic amateur (knitting adventurer), I really do love yarn! It’s amazing that you can start out with a ball of yarn and a hook or a couple of pointy sticks, and make pretty much anything 🙂

It’s time for a new Donationware addition to my PlanetJune Accessories range of crochet patterns! I’m very happy to present the Twisted Chain Bangle:

Transform a metal or plastic bangle from cheap fashion jewellery to a stylish and unique accessory. The twisted design looks intricate but it’s a deceptively simple technique, so you can whip up an armful of bangles in next to no time. Crochet chunky bangles for a quick casual look or as perfect gifts for girls, or use finer bangles and crochet thread to make jewellery elegant enough for any occasion.

This pattern is seriously addictive – it’s such a simple concept, but you can really mix it up by choosing different sizes of hooks and yarn or crochet thread, and even different-sized bangles to start with. I couldn’t stop trying different hook and yarn sizes to see what the results would be – and they all turned out pretty!

My 3 smaller bangles are made with the new KnitPicks Curio crochet thread – it comes in a wide range of colours and I chose 3 beautifully subtle shades that look understated and elegant. Then I decided to get a bit more summery and made 2 chunkier bangles for the summer days I hope will come soon to the Southern hemisphere! These are made with Patons Grace in fresh aqua and lime shades.

I have small wrists, so those are about as chunky as I’m willing to go for bangles for myself, but you could use thicker yarn and/or a larger bangle to make a real statement piece, and the bonus there is that as your hook and yarn get larger, your bangles become much faster to crochet! My delicate dark purple bangle took a while to complete, but the aqua and lime ones only took minutes to crochet…

As I like to reward people who chose to donate for my donationware patterns, the PDF version of this pattern includes some bonuses: additional tips and advice, even more helpful photos, and specific options for all the variations you see in my sample bangles! As always, the pattern is free for you to use, and you need only donate if you’d like to thank me for my time in creating it, or if you’d like the easy-to-print PDF version.

I hope you enjoy my Twisted Chain Bangle pattern – have fun with it!

Go to the Twisted Chain Bangle pattern >>

PS – Don’t forget, you can enter your bangles in this month’s Donationware CAL in the PlanetJune ravelry group!

Wow, things are very quiet around here, aren’t they? It’s strange that I’m busily working on exciting things and yet have nothing I can talk about… But, while you’ll have to wait for my next crochet book to see my secret projects, I do have some news to share about the patterns in my first crochet book!

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Amigurumi was first published in 2010, in two versions: the print paperback and the Kindle format ebook. In case you aren’t familiar with the book, here’s the little stop motion-animation video trailer I made, to give you an idea of what it’s about:

Although this book is primarily a reference guide to amigurumi techniques, not a pattern book, all the amigurumi you see in the video are made from the patterns in the book. (These are exclusive patterns that I created for the book – you won’t find them anywhere else.)

The Kindle Problem

I proofed the paperback before it went to print, but I never got to see the Kindle version (in fact, I’ve still never seen it!) and I was horrified when I discovered from my readers that the Kindle version doesn’t include any of the photos from the 8-page colour insert (not even converted to black and white) – those pages are completely omitted!

Those photos are an essential part of the book, as they include all the photos and detail shots of the patterns in the book, so people can’t even see what they are trying to make without them. I think the missing colour pages must be a Kindle format limitation, but I had no idea this was going to happen, and I’m really sorry if you’ve bought the Kindle version and been frustrated by the lack of these photos.

My Solution

As soon as I discovered this problem, I contacted my publisher to try to fix it, and we’ve worked together to come up with a solution. It’s taken some time (publishers’ schedules are long-term, so nothing happens quickly), but I can now offer you a free PDF of the missing pages, to accompany the Kindle version of my book.

If you’ve bought the Kindle version, please download the file and use it as reference when you make the patterns from my book 🙂 (The file is probably of limited use to anyone else, as it just shows details of the patterns included in the book, and an Ideas Gallery showing some of my other amigurumi designs, but you’re welcome to download the PDF too, if you want!)

Download the PDF!

I hope that, in future, the Kindle version can be updated to include a link to this PDF, but, in the meantime, you can download the PDF from idiotsguides.com (under Hobbies & Crafts > Book Extras) or directly, by clicking here:
CIG to Amigurumi Project Photos (3.8MB PDF).

If you’d like more information about the Complete Idiot’s Guide to Amigurumi (what it’s about, where to buy it, and how to get your free signed bookmark), please see my CIG to Amigurumi information page 🙂

I have someone who’d like to say hello: it’s my newest commissioned design, the Sloth!

He’s fully poseable with his jointed limbs and feet that can be clipped together, and I had a very fun photoshoot setting him up in different positions in the tree in my garden 😀

Sloth Fun
Sloths are very popular in internet culture at the moment, and my sloth wanted to get in on the action by replicating some famous sloth memes…

You can see that his poseability makes him extra-fun – he can hang by all 4 legs, dangle by his front or back legs, hug and hold onto things, and more! (A special thanks goes to Maui for tolerating being draped with a sloth for long enough for me to take the top right photo…)

Sloth Fun Facts

• Sloths live in the rainforests of Central and South America.
• They live, move and eat very slowly, and spend almost all their time hanging from branches by their specially-adapted hands and feet.
• Sloths have special slow digestive processes that let them get maximum nutrition from the tough leaves they eat.
• Sloths’ arboreal adaptations (long limbs and claws and weak hind legs) mean they are unable to walk on the ground and have to drag themselves along by their front feet, but they can swim!
• Algae grows on their fur, so sloths often appear green-tinged – this makes excellent camouflage in the trees.

Sloths are Strange!
As part of my research, I always take a look at the soft toys that already exist for the animal, and this time I found that all the manufactured sloth toys look very unexpected: even respected toy companies like Hansa and Folkmanis, who usually do a good job with realistic animals, seem to think a sloth is a bear with elongated limbs and no ears:

Two stretched earless bears from Hansa and what appears to be an earless panda from Folkmanis – these are all sold as sloths, but I don’t see it…

Sloths are bizarre-looking and unlike any other animal on earth! These qualities also make them extremely difficult to replicate, as you can see from the toys pictured above. Coming up with my design hasn’t been easy – real sloths look different in every photo I see – but I’m very happy with my result and I think I’ve captured that indefinable slothiness…

About my Sloth design:

• My sloth has a pale face with distinctive slanted eye stripes and that never-ending enigmatic sloth smile.
• His long legs have crocheted-in knee shaping so they don’t just look like tubes.
• His shoulders and hips are jointed (I’ve also provided instructions for a non-jointed version) and he can hang around like a real sloth thanks to almost invisible hook-and-eye fasteners on his feet (optional, and I’ve also suggested alternative fasteners).
• Note: You could brush your sloth to give him a shaggier look that would be even more realistic, but I opted to leave mine with clean lines so you can see him more clearly.

Want a Two-Toed Sloth? I based my design on the more popular Three-Toed Sloth (those eye stripes were irresistible). If you’d like to make a Two-Toed Sloth (like the photobomb sloth pictured above), do let me know – I’ve done my research and made sketches for both sloth types, so if I get enough requests I can easily design a Two-Toed Sloth Expansion Pack for you 🙂

So now the question is: can you resist making a sloth right now?! You can pick up the Sloth amigurumi crochet pattern from my shop and get started this minute! Or, if you’re not quite ready to buy, why not favourite/queue it on Ravelry so you don’t forget about it?

There are millions of teddy bear designs out there, but what about bear-shaped bear patterns? I think real bears deserve some appreciation too! I already have my Polar Bear pattern, but they aren’t shaped like other bears, so I decided it was time for a series of realistic bear designs:

Which bear is your favourite: Black, Polar, or Brown?

(Ready to buy already? Pick up the 3-for-2 Bears Multipack, or the Brown/Grizzly Bear, Black Bear and Polar Bear individual patterns. Or keep reading to find out more…)

Spot the Difference?

I must confess that I wasn’t much of a bear expert, going into this project. I had no idea of the differences between Black, Brown and Grizzly Bears, apart from the obvious (colour) – and it turns out I didn’t even get that right… For a start, Brown and Grizzly are two names for the same bear – you can use them interchangeably. And here’s where it gets really surprising: despite their names, you can’t reliably tell Black and Brown Bears apart by their coat colouring; both are found in a wide spectrum of colours.

If Black Bears can be brown, and Brown Bears can be black, how do you actually tell if you’re looking at a Brown Bear or a Black Bear? I took an online course (actually intended for hunters – boo – but I had a much nicer reason for my study!) and here’s the lowdown:

Bear Identification Tips

1. Ears

Brown bears have short round ears.

Black bears have taller, pointier ears.

2. Face

Brown bears have a dish (concave) face shape when viewed in profile.

Black bears have a straight face in profile.

3. Shoulders

Brown bears have a very prominent shoulder hump.

Black bears have no shoulder hump.

My Bear Designs

Put all that together, and here’s the result:

Realistically-shaped Brown/Grizzly Bear (top) and Black Bear (bottom) – mine are coloured the way you’d imagine they should be!

What about Polar Bears?
Polar Bears are more closely related to Brown Bears than Black Bears, but their bodies have adapted for their carnivorous diet and lifestyle in the frigic Arctic:

• small, low-set ears
• large feet with short claws
• sharp teeth (not included in amigurumi bears!)
• a more streamlined shape (for swimming)
• dense white fur with black skin beneath (to keep them warm)

Got all that? Then you’re ready to properly appreciate all three of my bear designs!

Adult and Baby Bears

One pattern, two sizes of bear: bulky weight yarn option (left); worsted weight yarn option (right)

The smaller Polar Bear you see in the photos above is made with the worsted weight option from my bulky weight Polar Bear pattern. You can easily make any adult bear and cub in the same way, by using a larger hook and thicker yarn for the mother bear, and a smaller hook and finer yarn for the baby bear. (See my Resizing Amigurumi article for more information.)

Tip: Using proportionately larger eyes for the smaller bear, as I’ve done here, will give it a cuter, more babyish, cub-like appearance.

Special Deal!

I’ve set up an amazing deal for these bears: the Multipack is only $10 – that’s buy two bear patterns, get the third free!

Note: If you’ve already bought the polar bear, you don’t have to miss out on this deal! Just buy the Multipack (or the remaining 2 bears in one order), then email me with 1) your bears order number and 2) the order number (or date) from when you bought the polar bear, and I’ll send you a coupon for $5 off your next order of $10 or more. (The coupon will remain valid for a whole year, so don’t worry if there’s nothing else you want to buy right now!)

Or if you only want your favourite bear, you’ll find each pattern individually in my shop too 🙂

Handy Links:

• 3-for-2 Bears Multipack
• Brown/Grizzly Bear pattern
• Black Bear pattern
• Polar Bear pattern
• Black Bear on Ravelry:
• Brown/Grizzly Bear on Ravelry:

Yay for toy bears that look like real bears – I hope this may be the start of a new trend in toys! Which bear design do you like best?

It’s Donationware time again! Celebrate summer with my Amigurumi Citrus Collection:

Make your own amigurumi fruit bowl with an entire collection of life-sized and realistically shaped citrus fruits: orange, lemon, grapefruit, lime and clementine patterns. Crochet a realistic fruit selection, or make a cute fruit family by giving each fruit a face – the choice is yours. As these are one-piece patterns, they work up really quickly, and are equally perfect for decoration or play!

Each amigurumi citrus fruit is the size and shape of its real counterpart.

This generous super-sized donationware pattern is a special thank-you from me to you for sticking with me through my challenges this year 🙂

As I like to reward people who chose to donate for my donationware patterns, the PDF version of this pattern includes a bonus citrus leaf pattern, in both written and stitch diagram versions, with full instructions on how to add a crocheted leaf to any of your citrus fruits! As always, the pattern is free for you to use, and you need only donate if you’d like to thank me for my time in creating it, or if you’d like the easy-to-print PDF version.

Send me a donation and you’ll get the citrus leaf pattern as a bonus reward.

I hope you enjoy my fresh and fruity Citrus Collection pattern!

Go to the Amigurumi Citrus Collection pattern >>