I have a confession to make: when I launched my Dinosaurs Set 1, I promised I’d design another set if/when I sold 100 copies of the first set. And, ahem, well let’s just say that happened quite some time ago… I did start working on Set 2 in rare quiet periods while I was working on my new book, but there’s a lot involved in designing a three pattern set, so I put them to one side and concentrated on individual patterns until I had more time on my hands.

Dinosaurs Set 1, L-R: Brachiosaurus, Stegosaurus, Triceratops

And that time is now!

As you probably know from my first set, my dinosaur designs are deceptively simple: crocheted all in one colour, so they are really easy for you to crochet, and all the magic is in the shaping I built into them. It was really important to me that the new dinos have the same aesthetic as the original designs, and I hope I’ve succeeded in that:

Dinosaurs Set 2, L-R: Pteranodon, Plesiosaurus, Tyrannosaurus Rex

The first set (Brachiosaurus, Stegosaurus, Triceratops) were all herbivores, but I didn’t really want to make an all-carnivore set (some of the dino shapes are too similar to give an interesting mix of designs), so the theme of Set 2 is land, sea and sky. Coincidentally, once I started my research, I discovered that all the dinos I chose for Set 2 are actually carnivores anyway – ha!

Meet The Dinosaurs

Tyrannosaurus Rex was an obvious choice for my land dinosaur. He was the ‘king’ of the dinosaurs – need I say more?! T. rex was one of the largest carnivores, at about 40 ft long. He used his long tail to counterbalance the weight of his big head, he walked on his back legs, and had almost comically tiny arms.

Plesiosaurus is my sea dinosaur. I’ve always loved the elegant shape of Plesiosaurs. Plesiosaurus was about 8 ft long, and had an extremely long neck, a small head, wide body, and four long, paddle-like flippers. He lived in the sea and fed on fish and cephalopods.
Fun fact: some people believe that Nessie, the mythical Loch Ness monster, could be a surviving plesiosaur!

Pteranodon is my sky dinosaur; a type of Pterosaur. I was going to call him Pterodactyl, but then I discovered that the word Pterodactyl actually covers several different species (some of which don’t have that distinctive head crest!), and that the correct name for this specific dino is Pteranodon. He had a 20-30 ft wingspan, a long toothless beak, and a characteristic cranial crest at the back of his head.

I should probably mention, that, during my research for these species, I discovered that, technically, neither Plesiosaurs nor Pterosaurs are actually dinosaurs! The term ‘dinosaur’ correctly covers only a certain type of terrestrial reptile with an upright stance, so Plesiosaurs and Pterosaurs are simply related reptiles that lived in the same time periods as the true dinosaurs. I think that, for the purpose of this collection, and what people understand when they hear the word ‘dinosaur’, it’s okay for me to include them in my dinosaur set – I don’t expect anyone to use my patterns as research tools!

I hope you like my new dinosaur set! You can buy the patterns individually in the shop, or save a bundle when you buy the complete Set 2.

And here’s a bonus pic of my Dinosaurs Sets 1 and 2 – is it just me, or do they look really cute together?! (And I love those Vanna’s Choice yarn colours!)

Click to see them larger!

PS – I mentioned the new dinos on my Facebook page yesterday, and people there are already asking about Dinosaurs Set 3! Well, the same thing applies as last time: I’ll make a third set if I sell 100 copies of this one. So, if you want even more dinos, please spread the word about my new dino patterns!

Every time I say I’ll take a little break from AmiDogs before adding another breed, something happens to change my mind! In this case, a pattern commission from an Akita owner.

By the way, I love to get commissions for new patterns! (If you’d like to commission a pattern, get in touch – my rates vary depending on whether you’d like an exclusive pattern or if I can also sell it in my shop, and if so how popular I think it’s likely to be.)

So AmiDogs breed #16 is… the Akita!

What is an Akita, you may ask? Well, in my research for this design, I discovered there are actually two breeds of dog called Akita. The American Akita that you see here is the breed you’ll see called ‘Akita’ at dog shows etc. The Japanese Akita (or Akita Inu) looks more like a large Shiba Inu (who I’ve already reproduced in crochet!)

The Akita has a short muzzle, pointed ears and a long bushy tail that curls over his back, as you can see:

If you’d like to buy the AmiDogs Akita crochet pattern, you’ll find it in the shop as a stand-alone pattern, or, as always, you can save some money by including it in a custom set of any 3 AmiDogs patterns of your choice 🙂

I hope you like my Akita! I think he’s a cutie, don’t you?

I’m happy that so many of you are enjoying my botanical crochet patterns – it’s a refreshing change for me to mix it up a bit (although don’t worry, I won’t neglect the animal designs either!). I just love nature, and now I have an excuse to examine animals and plants in detail and challenge myself to recreate the essence of what I find in a simplified, easily reproducible way. This ‘job’ makes me very happy!

As you know, I can’t make a pattern for my darling Reepicheep, but I can and have made one for the lovely water lily you’ve seen with him! How about making a realistic crocheted water lily (or lotus blossom) arrangement as a beautiful decoration or table centrepiece?

This is a bit different to most of my other patterns: there’s no stuffing involved, and it’s *gasp* not all worked in single crochet, although it is all worked in very simple stitches, so it’s not difficult at all. The pattern includes full instructions with step by step photos and clear illustrations at every stage, so you can easily crochet your own Water Lily. With two different leaf sizes, you can create an aquatic arrangement with as many leaves and blossoms as you want.

Although the blossoms are fairly time-intensive (11 parts to each blossom, but they are worth it, I promise), the leaves are an absolute joy to crochet – you can work one up in minutes! So if you’re making an arrangement, I’d suggest several leaves to every flower – in reality, each plant has many leaves and a single flower, so you won’t even be cheating!

To give a more delicate effect, I used sport DK weight yarn for my petals, instead of my usual worsted weight, but you could use worsted weight for everything if you prefer (I give size comparison information in the pattern).

You could pick up my Water Lily crochet pattern from the shop and crochet one this weekend!

I was commissioned by comic book writer Jeff McClelland to design a cute yeti – Jeff’s comic book series, Teddy and the Yeti, is about a robot and a yeti who defend the Earth from external threats. A yeti is a bit of a departure from my usual subject matter, but it was an interesting challenge and here’s what I came up with, using colours inspired by the comic book yeti and adding a large dose of cuteness to the mix:

The Yeti, or Abominable Snowman, is a legendary Himalayan creature. I’ve also made his North American cousin, the Bigfoot, or Sasquatch:

My Yeti and Bigfoot are cute and shy and have no idea why some people think of them as ‘abominable’ or ‘monsters’ – it must be because of their giant size – they stand at fully 7 inches tall 😉 They have brushed bodies and jointed arms. If you’d like to make your own mini army of not-so-abominable mythical creatures, the Yeti and Bigfoot crochet pattern is now available in my shop!

What do you think? Should I come up with some more Mythical Creatures designs? I’d love to design a dragon, for starters…

I’ve seen a lot of cartoony amigurumi pigs but I thought it was about time we saw a more realistic-looking pig design, so here’s what I’ve come up with:

I named this design Farmyard Pigs to denote that it’s a realistic pig pattern. Then I realised that the word farmyard is British English, and wasn’t sure if my US-based audience would understand it (the US equivalent is barnyard) so I did a quick poll on Twitter to check. The results were varied, but overall it seems that, although most Americans wouldn’t use the word farmyard, they would understand it well enough for my purpose. So, phew! The pattern name stands 🙂

I’ve created the pattern with two variants: the simple pink colourway, and as a black saddleback pig with a pale coloured band (the ‘saddle’ of the name – you could make it in pink, white or beige) and forelegs. The pattern includes full instructions for both versions – including positioning instructions for the single-coloured pig’s forelegs, where you don’t have the visual cue of the band to guide you!

It’s a really quick and easy pattern to work up, as the head, body and snout are all worked in one piece, but there’s some clever shaping around the face (which I hope you can see in these photos) that gives the piggies their personality!

One thing: I’d just like to clarify that, although my saddleback pig is smaller than my pink pig, both versions of the pattern make the same sized pig; the size difference between my samples arises because the pink yarn I used was slightly thicker than the other shade!

If you’d like to make your own piggies, you can find the Farmyard Pigs crochet pattern in my shop!

I’ve had this one in the works for a while, so I’m really happy to finally be able to show you my latest design: Lucky Bamboo. A crocheted Lucky Bamboo arrangement never needs watering, never dies, and is always fresh and green. It’s the perfect thing to brighten up your office desk, or to give as an unusual and thoughtful gift. Add a little Zen tranquillity to your life with a Lucky Bamboo!

Did you know that Lucky Bamboo isn’t really bamboo at all? It’s actually a tropical plant called Dracaena sanderiana (Ribbon Dracaena) that just happens to have a bamboo-like appearance. Lucky Bamboo is often associated with Feng Shui, and the number of stalks in an arrangement have significance in Chinese tradition: three stalks (as in my design) for happiness, five stalks for wealth, seven for health…

I really stretched myself with this design: I wanted to make a Chinese-style pot with sloped squares sides, but, as you probably know, working amigurumi-style in the round really doesn’t lend itself to making corners. After much trial and error, I’ve managed to develop a technique that produces real square corners, even while working in the round in spirals! The shaping is built right into the crochet, and even when you stuff it, the square corners remain right up the sides. It’s a little tricky to see with my black pot, but it may be more obvious when you see the pot at an angle:

The Lucky Bamboo pattern also features a few bonus modifications you can use to make the pattern your own:

• Full patterns for three stalk sizes, and instructions to create different stalk lengths
• Three different leaf styles so you can mix and match to create a larger arrangement, if desired
• Alternative colour scheme, so that if you can only find one suitable shade of green, you can still achieve the full lucky bamboo effect

If you’d like to make a Lucky Bamboo of your own, or to give as a special gift, the pattern is now available in the PlanetJune shop.

I hope you like my design! I’ve been getting requests for more plant designs for a long time now, so I hope this will satisfy the plant-lovers out there 🙂 Any other design requests? Keep ’em coming – I’m always on the lookout for new, original, ideas.

Allow me to introduce the latest member of my AmiDogs family: the Boxer!

He’s about 6″ long and worked in brown, white and black worsted weight yarn. I decided to go with natural, floppy ears, instead of the cropped pointy ones, but if you’re desperate for a Boxer with sticking-up ears, I’ve also included modifications for that in the pattern 🙂

It’s hard to believe that the Boxer is my 15th AmiDogs design! My first three AmiDogs were published in July 2007 – that’s almost 3 years ago. Hmm, I suppose that 15 breeds in 3 years doesn’t sound quite so impressive! But I have to go slowly with designing them or I get really bored (it’s having to make and attach all those endless legs!). And a bored June is not a creative and happy June, so it may be another few months before I start on the next batch of AmiDogs.

Bit of a size difference going on here!

Now I’ve finished another three designs, AmiDogs Set 5 (Great Dane, Airedale Terrier and Boxer) is also ready to go. But if you’d like to mix and match your own three favourite breeds, you can use the Custom Set feature in my shop to choose any 3 dog breeds for the same special price.

I hope you like my boxer. It took a while to get the patterning on the face and muzzle the way I wanted it, but I think I’ve captured that special boxer quality!

Did you know it’s less than a month until Easter? I’m a little bored with pastel coloured eggs and I thought I’d try to come up with an Easter decoration that’s a little more contemporary and sophisticated. Using a limited colour pattern of chocolate brown (yum!) and ice blue, I’ve designed 8 different eggs (4 designs in each of 2 colourways) that coordinate beautifully together for Easter-themed decorating. You could arrange them in a bowl or basket as a centrepiece, hang them from an Easter tree, or string them into an Easter garland.

When I was coming up with my basic egg shape, I looked around at other crocheted egg patterns, and I couldn’t find a single one that was the shape of a real egg: some were too pointy, some were too long, some weren’t round enough. I’ve tried to make my design closer to a real egg shape, but a little larger so there’s more room to add the pattern! My eggs are just under 3″ long made with Vanna’s Choice yarn, so they would probably be about 2.5″ long if you used a different worsted weight yarn (Vanna’s is, confusingly, much thicker than most other worsteds!)

I found it really addictive to make my eggs – they are so quick and satisfying, with no sewing required. I loved my colour scheme too – it reminds me of really fancy chocolate eggs, but without the calories! Of course, if you’d like to use more traditional pastel colours, or make a multi-coloured set, that would look lovely too 🙂

If you’d like to make some crocheted Easter Eggs too, my pattern includes 4 egg designs, so that, using only 2 colours of yarn, you can make 8 different eggs. This pattern is a great way to practice crochet colourwork and maybe learn a new stitch. The four egg designs are arranged in order of difficulty, so that novice crocheters can start with the basic plain egg, and move up through the designs, learning something new about colourwork with each one.

If you’re put off by the thought of colourwork and all those ends to weave in, please don’t be: I’ve designed the patterns so that the colours are swapped either every stitch or every row, so that you can just drop the unused yarn to the inside of the egg, and pick it back up again when you work back around to it! Maximum effect for minimum effort – just the way I like it!

You can pick up the Easter Eggs pattern from the PlanetJune store. I’d love to see your finished eggs (and anything else you’ve made from any of my patterns!) so please keep posting your photos to the PlanetJune Crochet Flickr pool!

PS: If you’d like to do some more Easter-themed crocheting, here are my other Easter-y patterns: