It’s taken some time, but my Ring-Tailed Lemur crochet pattern is finally ready and available in the shop. A little info about this pattern and why it’s taken so long to prepare: it’s definitely an intermediate level pattern – not for beginners! Here’s why:

• There are multiple colour changes in the head. If you need a refresher on how to make neat colour changes in single crochet, see my Colour Changes tutorial.
• After all the pieces are crocheted, there’s a lot of stitching together to do. See my Joining Amigurumi tutorial for tips on how to stitch pieces together neatly.

If all this sounds daunting, don’t worry! The pattern is 11 pages long, with very detailed step-by-step instructions, and photographs to accompany every step. And, as with all my patterns, you can always e-mail me if you have any queries – I’m always happy to help!

Because I’m feeling generous, I’m offering all this for only $5 – I know we all need a break in this economy, so this is my price break for you 🙂

I hope you’ll enjoy the Ring-Tailed Lemur pattern!

My Brachiosaurus, Stegosaurus and Triceratops crochet patterns are now available to purchase individually or as a value-priced multipack from the PlanetJune shop.

With no colour changes, they work up quickly, and at 9-11″ long and nice and chunky, they would make great children’s toys. Who doesn’t know a little boy or girl who’d be delighted with a set of these to play with?

Brachiosaurus

Stegosaurus

Triceratops

I’ve also been making some changes in the PlanetJune store:

Eyes: Now you can conveniently shop for the perfect eyes for your creations while you’re picking out your patterns, with my range of black animal eyes available in all sizes.

Custom AmiDogs sets: This feature has been requested a lot! Now you can mix and match to create your own AmiDogs set of three patterns for the same price as the standard sets.

New categories: I’ve recategorized my patterns so it’s easier to find what you’re looking for.

Donationware patterns: All the donationware patterns are now available in the shop, so, in future, if you’d like the printable PDF of any of my free patterns, you can send me your donation in the same way as a pattern order, and then download your pattern(s) immediately.

So please feel free to take a look around the shop and see if anything catches your eye!

UPDATE: The Dinos have been featured on One Pretty Thing, Carina’s Craftblog and Roman Sock – thanks so much, guys!

My ‘Ice Cream Bear’ crochet pattern made his debut in the Summer 2008 issue of A Needle Pulling Thread magazine, but if you don’t have a copy of the magazine, I’m happy to announce that the pattern is now available to purchase directly from the PlanetJune shop.

I designed Ice Cream Bear to have the timeless look of a classic toy teddy bear. I chose a boucle yarn, which masks the stitches in the finished bear – people are amazed to hear he is crocheted! If the thought of working with boucle intimidates you, you could substitute any bulky weight yarn, which would give your bear a more standard amigurumi look.

By the way, these are the first pics taken with my new camera! So far, so good (although there’s a bit of a learning curve!)

I chose to make a cherry ice cream for my bear, but you could easily make cookies & cream (brown chunks on cream) or mint choc chip (brown chunks on green) or any other flavour of ice cream. Mmm, all this talk of ice cream is making me hungry!

It’s always summer with Ice Cream Bear around. I hope you like him!

This basic rose pattern is a perfect introduction to crocheted flowers, and it’s so versatile – make it in any size and colour you like!

Here are some ideas for use:

• Use the optional stem pattern below to create a whole vase of roses
• Stitch a pin to the back of a rose to make a pretty brooch
• Accessorize a bag by sewing on a couple of roses
• Sew or glue a small rose to a hair clip or plastic hairband

UPDATE: I forgot to mention these would also make a perfect Mother’s Day gift!

Continue to the Basic Rose crochet pattern.

I just realised there’s only a week and a half to go until Easter! If you’re still looking for some ideas for things to make for Easter, how about crocheting some PlanetJune designs? I thought I’d save you some time and look through my own catalogue to see what Easter-y patterns I have:

New for 2009:

PocketAmi Easter

Oldies but goodies:

Fuzzy Bunny & Chick

Fuzzy Lamb

And don’t forget my free patterns:

Daffodils

Have a PlanetJune Easter this year, with all the sweetness of a chocolate egg, but much better for you 🙂

Thank you all for the book congratulations! I’m sorry I didn’t have any real photos of it to share – the book is still in layout, so there’s nothing finished to show you yet. But soon, I promise!

Now, back to the crochet patterns. To make up (I hope) for my absence, I have two new patterns to release today: the Alpaca, and a fun new set of PocketAmi for Easter. I don’t have a name for the new ‘natural fibre’ range of patterns yet (ideas, anyone?), but I didn’t want to make you wait, so for now you’ll be able to find the Alpaca pattern filed under Misc Patterns in the shop. Or just click through from this post to make your life easier!

A little info about the new designs:

Alpaca

If you’d like to make an alpaca or llama of your own, you don’t have to find 100% alpaca yarn to do so! I designed this pattern to work with any worsted weight yarn, but, like all my patterns, it’s pretty flexible. The larger alpaca above uses Bernat Satin, which is 100% acrylic – it doesn’t get less natural than that.

In fact, the alpaca yarn I bought was so fine (2-ply – I think that’s fingering weight?) that even after doubling the yarn, it was still significantly finer than the Bernat Satin – I’d say a sport-weight equivalent. But, as you can see, the pattern looks just as good in either size. If you substitute a different yarn weight, be sure to choose an appropriate hook size so you can form your stitches easily, but the stuffing doesn’t show through the finished piece. (Just ask if you have any questions about yarn choices.)

PocketAmi Easter

PocketAmi Easter is another seasonal set, comprising a baby duckling, bunny and chick. They provide all the sweetness you could want from an Easter gift, with none of the calories! If you don’t celebrate Easter, these would be a great way to herald the coming spring (I’m sure it’ll be here soon, won’t it?) or would make a really sweet baby mobile for any time of year. And they work up in no time too, which is always a bonus!

Both patterns are now available to purchase from the PlanetJune store (look at the New Products for March box on the homepage for easy access to my latest designs).

I thought it was about time I gave my favourite readers another gift, so here it is: a fun new donationware pattern…

I’ve called these guys Mop Top Mascots for obvious reasons. They stand about 4″ tall, and the real joy of them is that they are so easy to make, and easy to customize. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Make them in your team colours
• Make a messenger carrying a mini envelope with a message for someone special inside
• Stick a felt logo on their chests to advertise anything you want
• Make them in bold colours to bring back memories of Fraggle Rock!

It’s also a great way to use up scraps of fun fur or other novelty yarns, and there’s only a few metres of eyelash yarn, so even those of you who are grinding your teeth at the mere mention of the fuzzy stuff should be able to manage this one! And don’t forget my Fuzzy Yarn Tips if you need a little assistance.

I took the customization a little further, so stay tuned for the results of that in a separate post (coming shortly – if you’re a gamer, you may have already guessed what I made…) UPDATED: My Lemming collection has been revealed 🙂

And now on to the pattern: Mop Top Mascots.

Last week, I had a request for my catalogue, but, um, I don’t have a catalogue… I thought it would be interesting to try putting together a simple one as a PDF file. Sometimes it’s handy to see everything on one page (or 5 in this case – I couldn’t fit everything onto 1 page without making them ridiculously small!)

I thought some of you might be interested to flick through it too. It always comes as a surprise when I see exactly how many patterns I have (42 in the catalogue, and I haven’t even included all the free patterns). Of course I have new patterns in the works right now, so it won’t stay current for long, but I’ll keep updating it so if you ever click my ‘Pattern Catalogue’ link here, in the sidebar, or in the shop, you’ll always see the latest version.

Hopefully someone will find this useful!