I really hope you’ll enjoy my latest crochet design – it makes me smile to see these cheery colourful pansy faces, and I hope they’ll give you a happy boost too! Depending on your climate, pansies can be among the earliest flowering plants in spring, but you don’t even need to wait that long to add colour to your day…

My Pansies pattern includes large and small baskets of realistic pansy plants, together with 4 different styles of pansy flowers, each available to crochet in all the pansy colours, giving you dozens of options!

You can customize the basket contents to mix and match the pansy flowers however you wish. The small basket includes 2 pansy plants, and the large basket has 8, for a riot of glorious colour.

This pattern also includes bonus instructions for making any of the pansy styles into an individual leaf-backed pansy flower (as shown at the start of this post) – perfect as a decorative pin, appliqué, gift topper or ornament.

The word pansy is derived from the French pensée (‘thought’) and there’s no better way to show someone you’re thinking of them than with a cheerful crocheted pansy.

Pattern Details

Don’t be phased by the apparent complexity of this pattern – I’ve put a lot of thought into making it easy and enjoyable for you to make:

• Although the pansy flower is a little more complex than my other flowers, it’s explained with written instructions, stage-by-stage photos, and right- and left-handed stitch diagrams. And once you’ve made a couple, they work up pretty quickly.
• Yes, the baskets have quite a lot of leaves, but I’ve come up with a clever construction method for them so you won’t be crocheting each leaf individually. It’s a lot faster than you’d think from looking at the finished result (shh, don’t tell!)
• The complete pattern includes 16 pages and dozens of photos for constructing the flowers and assembling the pansies in both sizes of basket, so I’ll walk you step-by-step through the whole process – no need to be intimidated. 🙂
• The pages with the crochet instructions for each of the three options (large pansy basket, small pansy basket, pansy pin/appliqué) are listed within the pattern, so, if desired, you can save paper and ink by printing only the pages required for your option, and read the assembly instructions on-screen only.

Launch Discount

Although I always offer discounts for shopping directly from PlanetJune, to spread the joy even further, I’m offering an additional 10% discount for one week only. Just enter code HAPPY at checkout by next Monday, 22nd February 2016, and the extra discount will be applied.

Buy the pattern here in my shop. Or, if you’re not ready to buy just yet, please heart or queue it on Ravelry so you don’t forget about it:

Promise of Spring CAL

And finally, to brighten your cold February days (or possibly your hot and dry days for us southern hemispherers…), join us in the PlanetJune group on Ravelry to crochet pansies and other happy PlanetJune plants and flowers.

This CAL runs from now until the end of March, so you should have plenty of time to make even the most ambitious crocheted floral arrangement. I hope you’ll join us and share in the colourful botanical joy!

It’s hard to come up with a new Christmas design – with thousands of patterns to compete with, it’s not easy to think of something original that hasn’t been done before, but I’m confident that my Snow Stars are a completely new concept!

This pattern collection is really three patterns in one:

• An amazing one-piece, no-sew, seamless amigurumi star
• Three quick and easy crocheted snowflakes
• A set of beautiful Christmas decorations

The Star

I’ve spent the last couple of years playing around with prototypes for a one-piece crocheted star that’s smooth and lovely all over, with no sewing at all required, and I finally figured it out. It’s truly magical how it comes together; while you crochet it looks like it’ll never work, but as you start to add the stuffing it magically turns into a plump adorable star before your eyes. And all with little more than single crochet stitches! I hope you’ll be as excited to try this technique as I am to have invented it.

(And, as a bonus, my star also makes a lovely seamless one-piece baby toy. Embroider features to make it truly baby-safe, or, for a child past teething age, you can insert standard animal eyes before you stuff and close the star.)

The Snowflakes

With the star design complete, I’ve spent the last few weeks crocheting endless snowflakes, tweaking my designs until I developed a set of three that met all my criteria:

• Pretty and well-balanced designs
• All completely different but complementary
• Sized to fit perfectly on the star when made with the same yarn
• Not too chunky, even in worsted weight yarn

I’m really happy with the results! And, as the snowflakes are small even with heavy yarn, when you size them down with crochet cotton and a small hook, you end up with most adorably tiny snowflakes! (My thread samples pictured above are just over 2″ diameter with size 10 thread and a B US/2.25mm hook) – and you could go even smaller if your hands don’t mind tiny hooks.)

These perfectly formed beauties only take minutes to complete, and would be perfect as gift-toppers, to accent your Christmas place-settings, or anywhere else a tiny wintery decoration is needed – and the pattern includes stiffening instructions so your flakes won’t droop.

The Snow Stars

Put it all together, and you have a dazzling and completely original tree ornament. All the snowflakes fit perfectly on the star, and the star forms a colourful backdrop to each snowflake. Make your stars in any colour to match your Christmas decor, then add your favourite snowflake design! Instructions for adding a hanging loop are included in the pattern, so you can easily add your Snow Stars to your tree or to a garland.

The Pattern

Snow Star Ornaments is a detailed 10-page pattern. In addition to the written crochet pattern instructions, it includes right- and left-handed stitch diagrams for all three snowflakes, and lots of photo tutorials (for the special stitch used, stuffing and assembling the star and ornaments, stiffening the snowflakes, and adding an optional hanging loop).

But I’ve also laid it out to be print friendly: if you’d like to print it out, you can save paper and ink by printing just 3 pages:

1. The star crochet pattern
2. The snowflake written instructions
3. The page with the appropriate snowflake stitch diagrams for you (right- or left-handed)

The Crochet-Along

As you may know, we’re hosting a Christmas CAL in the PlanetJune Ravelry group – you can join in by making any PlanetJune Christmas-themed patterns (including this one!) and posting a photo to the CAL thread. If you’d like to join the CAL by making Snow Star Ornaments, click through to the CAL thread and take advantage of the CAL discount for this pattern.

If you’d like to buy the pattern, you can find it here in my shop (but don’t forget to grab the CAL discount code first!). If you’re not ready to buy just yet, please heart or queue it on Ravelry so you don’t forget about it:

I hope you’ll enjoy my Snow Star Ornaments! And I hope it’s not too early to say Happy Christmas (or seasonal holiday of your choice) 🙂

Today I’m adding two new shawl designs to my PlanetJune Accessories range. Although they sound very similar on the surface – both are triangular shawls, worked from the bottom up – they are actually a study in contrasts. One is restrained, elegant, warm and textured:

The other is an extra-wide, shallow triangle – bold, lacy and flamboyant:

Both are fun to crochet, and come with options to extend their value! Ready to meet them?

Cozy Mesh Triangular Shawl

I designed the Cozy Mesh stitch pattern to feel like a comforting hug around your shoulders – this is not a gauzy, feather-light wisp of a shawl; it has a little weight built into the gorgeous stitch pattern. The texture and lace are built on a small scale, to give a warm, substantial fabric with no gaping holes, while still allowing the fabric to drape and flow beautifully without a hint of stiffness.

With a single 50g skein of fingering-weight yarn, you can crochet a kerchief-style mini-shawl to keep your neck warm and fit neatly into the gap above the collar of your jacket or v-neck sweater (like the blue sample, below, left). With just two 50g skeins, you can make a useful everyday-sized shawl (like the purple sample above).

The bottom-up construction means you can keep crocheting until your shawl is the desired size (or you run out of yarn). The unfussy edging is built directly into the shawl, so you don’t even need to keep any yarn back for later.

Rav link for Cozy Mesh:

Palm Leaves Triangular Shawl

Palm Leaves is a shallow triangular shawl with a large, bold, stitch pattern. The extra-tall stitches work up into eye-catching oversized lace that makes an impact! A complementary edging anchors the dramatic main pattern without competing with it. Snuggled up around your neck, this shawl will keep you warm and cosy, or wear it across your shoulders to reveal the beautiful open lace pattern.

Both my samples are worked in DK weight yarn, making a change from the lighter weight of most shawls. A yarn with long, slow colour changes will be highlighted beautifully in this shawl, as shown in my variegated sample (above), but it’s still equally irresistible in a solid shade (below).

Again, you can keep crocheting until the shawl is the size you want, and then add the border. I’ve offered two options for the border: a deeper edging (shown in the variegated sample) if you have plenty of yarn remaining, and a shallower version (shown in the terracotta sample) if you want a less dramatic border, or are concerned that you may not have enough yarn to complete the whole edging.

Rav link for Palm Leaves:

Launch Discounts

Links to buy: You can buy the Cozy Mesh and Palm Leaves shawl patterns individually from my shop, or as part of a Custom Set of any 3 PlanetJune Accessories patterns for a special price.

But, to celebrate the launch, I have two special offers, for this week only:

• Buy either of the new shawl patterns and save 10% (code: SHAWL1)
• Buy both new shawl patterns and save 20% on each (code: SHAWL2)

Just add the shawl(s) to your shopping cart, and enter the appropriate code in the Discount box at checkout to receive your automatic discount! Valid until next Tuesday, 10 November. (Please note: you must have both shawls in your shopping cart at once to get the 20% discount on both.)

Crochet-Along

If you’re making one of these shawls this year, please join us for the Accessories CAL in the PlanetJune Ravelry group and let us know right away which shawl you’re planning to make first and what yarn you’ll be using! I can’t wait to see which colours you choose…

While working on my Paper Chains & Garlands ebook, I discovered a better way to import my illustrations into the finished document which allows for the ultra-high resolution of today’s tablets and smartphones. This technique will also make my stitch diagrams and illustrations look much cleaner in my future crochet patterns.

Of course, once I realised this was possible, I couldn’t just leave my back catalogue of patterns as-is, with the less-good charts and diagrams, knowing they could be better… So, I’ve just released new versions of all my patterns that contain a charted stitch diagram, illustration or diagram (see the list of patterns below).

(By the way, there’s nothing wrong with the old versions; they’ve always looked fine to view or print, but if you zoom in on a chart/illustration on your tablet now, the new diagrams will stay perfectly sharp, no matter how much you zoom.)

I doubt you’ll ever need to view my charts at this size, but now you have the option 🙂

Your pattern licence entitles you to free updates to any PlanetJune pattern you’ve purchased, so, if you’ve previously bought any of the following patterns, just log back into your PlanetJune account and you can save the updated version!

Tip: Go to this link to see an alphabetised list of all your pattern purchases, so you can jump straight to the right order(s) without hunting 🙂

PlanetJune Accessories patterns:

• Banded Lace Wrap
• Cascading Clusters Shawl
• Chunky Elegance Rug Trio
• Chunky Moebius Cowl
• Climbing Eyelets Triangular Shawl
• Diamond Flowers Scarf Wrap
• Diamond Lattice Neckwarmer
• Eyelet Ripple Scarf Sweater
• Frosty Windows Scarf
• Gossamer Lace Wrap
• Lacy Bobbles Cowl
• Rippled Lace Rectangular Shawl
• Scalloped Scarf
• Tunisian Stripe Purse

Amigurumi (and misc) patterns:

• Aliens
• AmiCats Calico
• AmiCats Single-Coloured
• AmiCats Tabby
• AmiCats Tuxedo
• Armadillo
• Baby Cephalopods Set 1
• Baby Cephalopods Set 2
• Cuboctahedron
• Dimorphodon (Dinosaur)
• Frilled Lizard
• Fruit Bat
• Fuzzy Bear
• Fuzzy Bunny and Chick
• Fuzzy Lamb
• Gaming Dice
• Iguana
• Koala
• Polyhedral Balls
• Primroses
• Shamrocks
• Sloth
• Water Lily
• Yeti and Bigfoot

When I made my commissioned Sloth design, I had to decide between the two types of Sloth: Two-Toed and Three-Toed. I decided to go with the Three-Toed for my design, but I secretly wished I had time to make a Two-Toed as well…

Although my crocheted sloths don’t have any toes, the markings and nose shape of each type of sloth makes them look very different, although their basic body shapes are the same. This means we have an excellent candidate for a new Expansion Pack, to convert the standard Three-Toed Sloth into a Two-Toed Sloth:

If you aren’t too familiar with sloths – they are very strange creatures! – I refer you to my Sloth Fun Facts from my original Sloth blog post 🙂

Just like my original Sloth, the Two-Toed has jointed limbs and feet that clip together so he can hang around:

And I have to admit it – this is the real reason I always wanted to make two sloths: when you have two sloths (a matched set, or one of each), your sloths can hug each other:

Awww! Cutest thing ever?

My Two-Toed Sloth uses a special technique to give him nostrils crocheted right into his muzzle – it’s subtle, but gives a nice effect that doesn’t rely on embroidery or any other embellishment techniques. As with the original Sloth, there are only 6 pieces to crochet, and the jointed limbs mean you only have one piece to sew on at the end – very satisfying!

What is an Expansion Pack?

• An Expansion Pack is an add-on to an existing PlanetJune pattern.
• The Expansion Pack lets you modify or add to the original pattern to create something else.
• You cannot use the Expansion Pack alone – you must also purchase the original pattern in order to be able to complete the pictured items in the Expansion Pack pattern.

You can buy the Two-Toed Sloth Expansion Pack for only $2.50 individually from the shop, or, if you haven’t yet bought the (three-toed) Sloth pattern, you can buy the multipack of both sloths, and save 50c on the pair.

Launch Discount

If you’ve already bought the original Sloth, you won’t be able to save that 50c. But, for 7 days only, add the Two-Toed Sloth Expansion Pack pattern to your shopping cart, together with anything else (totalling $5 or more), then use the code SLOTHLOVE at checkout and you’ll still get your discount! (Valid until next Tuesday: 13th October 2015.)

Note: If you don’t need anything else right now, this also applies to Gift Certificate purchases, so you can pick up a $5 gift certificate now, get your discount, and have $5 in your PlanetJune account ready for your next purchase, or to send to a crocheting friend!

I’m so happy to finally have a complete set of sloths. If you’re not ready to make your Sloth family just yet, don’t forget to heart and queue them on Ravelry so you don’t forget about them:

Three-Toed Sloth (original): 

Two-Toed Sloth (new):

What do you think? Aren’t hugging amigurumi sloths just the cutest thing?!

I’m so very excited by today’s achievement: not only do I have a complete set of three brand new AmiDogs patterns to launch, but this means I’ve completed 3 of the 4 remaining commissioned designs – finally, I’ve almost caught up with that crazily long waiting list for commissions!

Now, please allow me to introduce AmiDogs Set 8, consisting of three very diverse dog breeds: the Bernese Mountain Dog, Miniature Schnauzer, and King Charles Spaniel:

L-R: King Charles Spaniel, Miniature Schnauzer, Bernese Mountain Dog

In case you don’t want to read this whole post and just want to buy some dog crochet patterns, here are the relevant links:

• AmiDogs Bernese Mountain Dog
• AmiDogs Miniature Schnauzer
• AmiDogs King Charles Spaniel
• AmiDogs Set 8 (includes all 3 of my new dog designs for a special price)
• AmiDogs Custom Set (any 3 of my 24 patterns for a special price)

Now, if you’re still with me, let’s take a closer look at the three new dog designs…

About the Patterns

It’s been an interesting challenge to make three such different dogs simultaneously. Domestic dogs, more than almost any other animal, have such a variety of shapes and colourings (and sizes, and temperaments, although those don’t really translate into my designs!) It’s amazing to think that people have encouraged this diversity with selective breeding over the centuries, and fascinating to compare how completely different various types of dog look, while still all being so obviously dogs.

The Bernese Mountain Dog is a sturdy tri-colour breed with distinctive markings.

And a bonus: you can also use the same pattern to make an Appenzeller, Entlebucher, or Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, or a tri-colour Australian Shepherd.

Queue/fave AmiDogs Bernese Mountain Dog on Ravelry now:

The Miniature Schnauzer is a real character with his fluffy beard and eyebrows!

(Of course, this pattern will also make a Standard Schnauzer or Giant Schnauzer if you’re looking for a pattern for either of those breeds – the only real difference is the scale…)

Queue/fave AmiDogs Miniature Schnauzer on Ravelry now:

And finally, the sweet King Charles Spaniel. My design is based on the Blenheim (chestnut and white) colouring of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

You can also use this pattern to make a King Charles Spaniel (non-Cavalier), Toy Spaniel, or Japanese Chin.

Queue/fave AmiDogs King Charles Spaniel on Ravelry now:

The Complete AmiDogs Collection

These 3 designs bring the total number of AmiDogs patterns to 24. And, while I’ll never say ‘never again’, I think I’d need a long break before I even consider taking on any more dog breed designs. Although you may think it’d get easier with each new design, trying to distill the defining characteristics of each breed into a design that fits the overall aesthetic of the rest of the AmiDogs range – a range I started 8 years ago! – actually seems to get more difficult and constraining with time.

So, for now at least, I’m going to call it a day with these 24 designs and declare the AmiDogs range complete. 24 dog patterns, all completely different from each other – that’s quite an achievement!

I’d like to thank my commissioners for supporting me to make the final 3 designs and round out my collection. (If you haven’t already, you can log into your PlanetJune account to download whichever of the pattern(s) you helped to make possible!)

Choose Your Favourites!

If you’d like to pick up the final AmiDogs patterns, you can now buy them individually from my shop (links: Bernese, Schnauzer, King Charles), or save money when you buy all 3 as the complete AmiDogs Set 8.

Or, mix and match your favourites from all 24 AmiDogs patterns: you can choose any 3 breeds for a special price when you buy the AmiDogs Custom Set. (And if you want 6, or 9, or any multiple of 3, just add the Custom Set to your cart multiple times, choosing 3 different breeds each time!)

I hope you’ll enjoy these final 3 additions to my AmiDogs collection as much as I enjoyed designing them. Dogs are such special animals and I’ve really enjoyed getting to know much more about them over the 8-year course of this design series. 🙂

Even though I’m in the middle of winter, I’m channeling summer with my new free PlanetJune Accessories pattern: the Crochet Braid Bracelet.

Crochet up a speedy braided bracelet with this decorative cord technique that’s deceptively easy to crochet as it uses only single crochet stitches! Customize the length and look to match your own style or make a personalized gift. Simply change the yarn colour and button fastener to go from playful children’s jewellery to a rugged man’s bracelet, or from a beachy summer look to a fashion accessory in your favourite colour.

Isn’t it lovely? This bracelet uses a special technique that uses single crochet stitches worked in an unusual way to create a decorative cord. It’s very easy once you’ve seen it in action, so I’ve made a new video tutorial for this technique: Basic Crochet Cord (as always, my videos are available in right- and left-handed versions). Once you’ve made a bracelet or two, you’ll probably want to make more of these cords to use for other things (I have some suggestions on the video page!)

Although the basic Crochet Braid Bracelet is a free pattern, I’ve included lots of bonuses if you choose to donate for the PDF version:

• Step-by-step text and photo instructions for the Basic Crochet Cord (in right- and left-handed versions), so you can make the bracelet without having the video in front of you
• Bonus tips and advice
• Instructions to make a double-stranded variation – a neat two-strand bracelet with the button centred over the crossover point

I hope you’ll enjoy crocheting bracelets as much as I do – as you can see, I couldn’t stop once I got started… More colours! More button styles! So much fun…

Go to the free Crochet Braid Bracelet pattern >>

Or jump straight to donate:

Order the Crochet Braid Bracelet pattern >>

Not ready to make it yet? Add it to your Ravelry queue:

Time to show you the results of my latest crochet pattern commission: I’ve designed an amigurumi Armadillo!

Armadillo Fun Facts

• Armadillos are very unusual-looking mammals; they are covered in bony plates of armour that form a protective shell over their backs.
• They are primarily nocturnal, live in burrows, and eat insects.
• Armadillos come from South and Central America, and there are 20 different species. My design is based on the nine-banded armadillo (the only variety that’s also found in the United States).
• The bands in an armadillo’s armour provide flexibility. The nine-banded armadillo may actually have between 7 and 11 bands (my design has 7)!
• Although you’ve probably heard that armadillos roll into a ball to escape predation, only three-banded armadillos have this ability; other armadillos run away or can jump several feet into the air to escape danger.
• A nine-banded armadillo always gives birth to exactly 4 identical babies (quadruplets!)

About the Pattern

It was an interesting challenge to come up with techniques to replicate the shape and texture of an armadillo’s amazing armour while still creating a sturdy toy without any holes that could leave ugly gaping holes. I spent a long time playing with different stitches and shaping techniques to give the effect I wanted without making the pattern overly-complicated, and I’m really happy with how it turned out.

I hope my photos convey the shape of the armour and the way it curves over the neck and tail just like it does on a real nine-banded armadillo. The armadillo uses three different techniques to produce that wonderful textured armour over the back and on the tail, but the pattern still only uses combinations of the most basic crochet stitches.

My nine-banded armadillo is 13″ (33cm) long – although a large fraction of that is tail! The special techniques used for crocheting and assembling the armadillo’s armour are all explained in full in the pattern, with lots of step-by-step photos to help you along the way.

Armadillos & Aardvarks…

Armadillos and Aardvarks are an example of convergent evolution – although they hail from different continents and aren’t closely related, they have similar diets and lifestyles and they independently evolved to look similar. I find this concept fascinating, so I designed my Armadillo to form a matched set with my Aardvark – don’t they look cute together?

(Now I just need to design an Anteater and Pangolin to complete the ‘family’ of long-nosed insectivorous mammals!)

Ready to Crochet?

I’d like to thank everyone who commissioned this design – it was certainly a challenge to develop such innovative techniques, but one I was very happy to undertake! You can download the pattern from your PlanetJune account whenever you’re ready – I hope you’re as pleased with the results as I am…

If you weren’t one of the commissioners, my Armadillo pattern is now available to purchase from the PlanetJune shop.

Or, if you’re not ready to buy just yet, please add my Armadillo to your queue or favourites on Ravelry, so you don’t forget about it:

I really hope you like my Armadillo design!