Remember my polymer clay frog from a couple of weeks ago? I decided to follow my own suggestion and remake it in crochet. As with the clay version, this is the ‘Blue Jeans’ colour morph of the Strawberry Poison Dart Frog (Dendrobates pumilio), with a distinctive red body and blue legs:

This adorable tiny tropical frog from the jungles of Central and South America is only about 1″ long in real life, but the crocheted version is poison-free and a much more manageable size (about 6.5″ long).

Here she is with her inspiration, my original FIMO sculpture – there’s quite a size difference!

And, just for fun, I thought you might be interested to see my original notebook sketch I made after watching the Amphibians episode of David Attenborough’s Life, which set this whole thing into motion! A little glimpse into my process:

If you’d like to make your own tropical froggy, the Poison Dart Frog amigurumi crochet pattern is now available in the PlanetJune shop. I hope you like her!

What better way to celebrate than with a bunch of balloons? Made in pastels like these, they’d be perfect for baby shower decorations or for Easter. Made in bolder colours, they’d brighten any occasion!

(I certainly want to celebrate after being involved in a minor car crash yesterday: it could have been so much worse, but luckily nobody was injured. I wasn’t at fault, so my insurance premiums won’t be affected; I just need to take the car in to be fixed soon.)

I’ve created 2 different amigurumi balloon patterns for you: the standard round balloon, and the extra-fun long balloon. Each balloon only take a few minutes to crochet, so you can whip up a bunch in no time!

The balloons pattern is free for you to use. If you’d like to thank me with a donation, you’ll get a handy printable PDF version of the pattern as a thank you 🙂

Enjoy!

Go to Amigurumi Balloons pattern >>

Would you believe I made this pattern over Christmas, and haven’t had a chance to publish it yet?! Time to change that – please allow me to introduce you to my Airedale Terrier. Called ‘King of Terriers’ because it is the largest British terrier, it has a very distinctive appearance with its squared-off body shape and squared-off face!

My Airedale pattern comes with instructions to give it a fluffy beard, and instructions to make one with just the square muzzle shape and no additional beard (it looks more like an adorable Airedale puppy this way!) so you can take your pick and choose the look you prefer. The AmiDogs Airedale Terrier amigurumi crochet pattern is now available in the PlanetJune shop!

If you’re tempted by my AmiDogs patterns (the Airedale is the 14th in the series!) don’t forget that when you pick a custom set of your favourite three breeds, you get the third pattern for half price! To take advantage of this, choose the AmiDogs Custom Set listing in the shop (you won’t get the discount if you add three patterns individually to your cart).

Have I missed your favourite breed(s)? I’ll be designing more AmiDogs patterns this year, and I’d love to know in advance which breeds might be popular (although I have a few on my ‘must do’ list already!). If you don’t see your favourites in the little pics above, please leave me a comment with your suggestions and I’ll take them into account when I’m picking new breeds to add to my kennel 😀

Looking at my crochet pattern sales over the past few years, one of my least popular patterns has been my poor neglected AquaAmi Polar Bear, and I think I know why…

It’s entirely my own fault: I wanted to keep the design in line with the other AquaAmi (who are all about the shaping and have no features other than eyes), so I didn’t give my polar bear a black nose.

Although it was an intentional design decision, I’m pretty sure that was a mistake from the point of view of selling patterns; most people couldn’t see the implied (invisible) nose and so overlooked the pattern, which is actually a really nicely-shaped realistic polar bear design.

So, let’s try an experiment to see if I’m right… Today I am proud to (re-)introduce the AquaAmi Polar Bear crochet pattern!

Beautiful realistic shaping and a classic black bear nose make this a must-have pattern! Worked in a bulky weight yarn, he stands at about 8″ long and  5″ tall. You can easily resize the design down by simply using a worsted weight yarn and E hook to make a more compact bear, or a couple of baby bears to follow the mama bear around (oh, wouldn’t that be cute?!)

So, why not pick up a copy of the Polar Bear pattern today?

For those of you who’ve already purchased the pattern, don’t worry, this is essentially the exact same pattern you bought! But if you’d like a copy of the new version, please contact me and I’ll happily email it to you!

I’ll be very interested to see what (if any) effect this has on sales of the Polar Bear pattern. As my business evolves, I’ve been learning to focus more on what my customers want rather than arbitrary decisions that only make sense to me. For example, my patterns were originally categorized by ranges: AmiDogs, AquaAmi, AfricAmi, PocketAmi, etc, but the ranges were beginning to dictate which animal designs I could make, and navigating through those categories was not at all clear to anyone except me! Last year, I changed my shop categories to make it easier to find the type of pattern you’re looking for (Wild Animals, Farm Animals, Pets, etc etc) and I think that’s much more intuitive.

There are other things about PlanetJune.com that aren’t as user-friendly as I’d like. I’ve been compiling a list of things that could be better, and I plan to work my way through the improvements as the year progresses, so if you have any suggestions for other changes that would improve the whole ‘PlanetJune experience’ (LOL), please feel free to let me know so that I can add them to my list! Gentle and/or constructive criticism only, please – don’t make me cry 🙂

I’ve been planning to design a groundhog for the past 2 years, but every time I remember, it’s late January, and far too late to give anyone other than me a chance to make one in time for Groundhog Day (February 2nd). This year I got my act in gear and made sure I’d get my design finished with a month to spare!

For those of you unfamiliar with Groundhog Day, go out and buy the movie Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell. RIGHT NOW. Seriously, you won’t regret it. It’s one of my favourite movies of all time 🙂

But the concept of Groundhog Day (the day, as opposed to the movie) is that the groundhog is a talented weather forecaster… On February 2nd, the groundhog wakes up from his winter hibernation, comes out of his burrow and looks around. If he sees his shadow, there’ll be 6 more weeks of winter; if he doesn’t see his shadow, we’ll have an early spring. There are several famous annual Groundhog Day ceremonies around North America, each with their own famous groundhog, including Punxsutawney Phil (yep, he’s the one in the movie!) in Pennsylvania, Wiarton Willie (an albino groundhog) in Ontario, and Shubenacadie Sam in Nova Scotia. Of course, the chance of spring starting in early February is fairly non-existent in these parts, and the groundhogs correctly predict that by seeing their shadows most years 😉

I took this photo of a pair of baby groundhogs last spring

But a groundhog is for life, not just for Groundhog Day… The groundhog, also known as a woodchuck, is a member of the marmot family. Here in Waterloo, Ontario, we see a lot of groundhogs throughout the year (except winter), sitting in fields and grazing on grass verges, and they are really cute. I love how fat they look (I made sure to build that into my design!) and when they stand up on their back legs to look around, they are just adorable! They aren’t greedy – they build up all that fat for a reason: so they can survive through the harsh winter by hibernating in their burrows.

And now you can make a cute and chubby little groundhog of your own, with my latest amigurumi crochet pattern! I made mine from Bernat Satin which is quite fine as worsted weight yarns go, and he stands at around 6.5″ tall. If you used a thicker worsted weight yarn (confusing, I know) like Vanna’s Choice, your groundhog would be even larger. If you’d like to make your own, the Groundhog crochet pattern is now available in the PlanetJune shop 🙂

I’m hoping my little guy will not see his shadow this February 2nd, so we can all look forward to an early spring!

I guess you like the idea of clear eyes to use for amigurumi etc: 77% of you who voted in my poll said that you’d definitely be interested if I started selling them. Well, your wish is my command – I now have clear eyes available in the PlanetJune store in 9mm, 10mm, 12mm and 15mm sizes! (I’ve just ordered these sizes as a trial run, so if you’re looking for different sizes please let me know.)

As I mentioned in my previous post, clear eyes have several advantages:

• You can paint the flat back of the eye with acrylic paint to get the exact shade you want.
• Feeling artistic? Create customized eyes with paint effects – paint spots, stripes, starbursts etc on the back of the eye first, let it dry, then coat the entire back of the eye with the base colour.
• Don’t like painting? No problem! Just cut a square of felt a little larger than the eye, snip a little cross shape in the middle to poke the shaft of the eye through, then trim the felt so it is the same size as the eye – easy! (Blue and pink felt eyes pictured below)

By the way, the prices of all my eyes (clear and solid black) are now automatically discounted if you buy 10 or more pairs of a single size and type 🙂

And now onto the holiday sale…

From now until December 24th, all patterns (crochet patterns, punchneedle patterns, and The Punchneedle Handbook) will be automatically discounted by 10% in the shop. You don’t need a voucher code – this sale is available to everyone! This is your last chance to buy patterns at 2009 prices, and the last sale of this year, so you’ll never see prices lower than these. Multipack sets are also discounted, so you can get an even better deal there!

A small sampling of the crochet patterns you’ll find in the PlanetJune Shop

Happy Holidays from PlanetJune! I hope you’ll enjoy the pattern sale and take this opportunity to try out some clear eyes too. And don’t forget: PlanetJune Gift Certificates would make a great Christmas present for the crocheters on your list!

I doubt you’ll remember this from previous years, but I’ve developed my own little holiday crafting tradition of creating a poinsettia every year. I’m not quite sure why I do it, but a tradition that means I only have to make one item per year and forces me to try something new each time sounds pretty good to me. I suppose at some point I’ll run out of ideas for different crafts to make a poinsettia from, but I’m nowhere near that point yet!

In 2006 (well before the recent kanzashi popularity!), I made a kanzashi poinsettia:

In 2007, I designed the famous crocheted poinsettia (with free pattern):

In 2008, I created the polymer clay poinsettia (with free tutorial):

And for this year? Why, it had to be punchneedle embroidery, of course! Here’s the 2009 PlanetJune Poinsettia:

Please click through to see the larger version – it’s worth it!
If you’d like to punch your own, the Punchneedle Poinsettia pattern is free! If you’re new to punchneedle, you might also like to consider buying my eBook, The Punchneedle Handbook, which will teach you everything you need to know!

This 2.5″ Poinsettia design uses Punchneedle Embroidery for a fast and festive result. It can be made as an applique and attached to almost anything to give it a more Christmassy feel!

Here are a few ideas for use, to get you started:

• Attach a felt backing and a pinback to make it into a removable pin
• Attach a felt backing and hanging loop and use it as a tree decoration
• Use washable fabric glue to attach it directly to a table runner or fabric napkin ring
• Use fabric glue to attach it to a bag or purse as a pretty embellishment

Hope you enjoy the latest addition to my poinsettia collection!
Go to the free Punchneedle Poinsettia pattern >>

It’s funny the way one idea can lead you to another. I was on my third failed attempt to come up with a design when I realised that the stitch pattern that didn’t work for its original use would be perfect to make something else: a lovely textured Christmas tree! And, you know, it’s actually not that long until Christmas – there are less than 7 weeks to go – so now would be the perfect time to begin your holiday crafting, if you haven’t already…

My Christmas Trees pattern is really versatile – the pattern contains two sizes as pictured, but also includes instructions to modify the pattern to any size. The design includes a lip inside the base, so the tree will stand stably without the need for stuffing it, together with additional crochet instructions to complete the base if you’d prefer to make a stuffed toy tree.

The stitch pattern for the tree is very easy if you know single and double crochet stitches, and once you’ve got the hang of it you can race through making the tree! The large tree is 5.5″ tall; the small tree is only 2.75″ tall, so you can whip one up in no time.

The pattern also includes decorating ideas for your trees (although they also look very striking with no decorations, especially in a group of 2 or 3) and bonus instructions to make my tiny crocheted star tree-topper, which I think must be the smallest crocheted star design in the world! You won’t believe how few stitches it takes to make one.

The Christmas Trees pattern is now available to purchase from the PlanetJune shop. And while you’re there, how about picking up some more seasonal designs:

Poinsettia, PocketAmi Christmas, Candy Cane and Christmas Pudding are also all available in the Holiday & Seasonal category of my shop.

I hope you like my Christmas Trees! Please leave me a comment if you do 🙂