Latch hooking is one of those crafts that’s always intrigued me. I always walk past the colourful kits in craft stores, as the large kits are pricey, and the smaller kit designs are more child-focused – think cute puppies and cartoon flowers – and I want a design I’ll like if I’m going to invest my time in making something!

I thought latch hooking would be a good addition to try for my Relaxing Crafts series, so I hunted around and finally found a kit with a beautiful design that spoke to me: plumeria flowers on a rocky beach.

What is Latch Hooking?

Latch hooking is a little like cross stitch – you have a pattern made of coloured squares, and a canvas you work stitches into. But instead of making a stitch for each square, you have a short length of yarn that you tie onto the canvas with a latch hook. I’ve used latch hooks before for machine knitting, and of course working with a hook is second nature to me from crochet!

In a kit, the yarn is bundled into pre-cut strands of each colour, so you don’t need to cut endless little pieces of yarn:

The advice, as with cross stitch, is to start from the middle of the design, in the centre of the canvas, and work out from there.

That’s a good way to make sure the design is centred on your fabric, but I ended up regretting that decision (more on that later…)

How to Latch Hook

The instructions I found online all said to latch each strand of yarn in a one-step motion: wrap the centre of a yarn strand around the hook below the latch, insert the hook under a bar in the canvas, wrap both ends of the strand into the latch, and pull through:

I found it fiddly having to use my non-dominant hand (that’s my right hand, as I’m left-handed) to do all that wrapping. Instead, I treated the latch hook more like a crochet hook, and did a two-step process:

Step 1: Insert the hook under a bar in the canvas, grab the centre of the yarn strand with the hook (below left), and pull the hook back through. Push the hook forward until the yarn sits behind the open latch on the hook (below, right).

Step 2: Grab both yarn ends with the hook, and pull it back through the loop on the hook – the latch will close around the yarn ends as you pull the hook back (below, left), which makes it very easy.

As you can see by comparing the result (above, right) with the photo from the one-step process, with the two-step process the yarn is latched on in the opposite direction (i.e. ‘upside-down’), but that doesn’t matter at all – there isn’t a right or wrong way to attach the strands of yarn, provided you attach them all in the same way. So that’s my top tip for crocheters: use your latch hook like a crochet hook and grab the yarn with the hook instead of manipulating the yarn around and into the hook with your other hand!

Whichever method you use, the end result is a beautiful, plush fabric like a rug.

My Review

The hook that came with my kit was a bit thin and not very comfortable to use, so I invested in a more ergonomic Boye latch hook that has a soft comfort grip that fits my hand well, and an offset head that keeps your hand further from your work. Buying a better hook was well worth it – you’ll be spending hours and hours hooking even a small project, so there’s no point in suffering!

L: cheap hook, R: ergonomic hook

I found the process of latch hooking to be relaxing, but working the right-hand side of my canvas was a bit frustrating, as the yarn I’d already hooked into place kept getting in my way. As I’m left-handed, I found it much faster to hook from right to left, which meant I only had blank canvas beneath my hand. As I started in the middle, the half of the canvas I worked from left to right (away from the middle) was much more of a slog than the half I worked in the more natural (to me) direction.

It’s much easier to work from the side where your hook isn’t blocked by the stitches you’ve already made!

In future, if I make another latch hook project I think I’d mark the centre stitch, and then count my pattern carefully up and across from the centre to the top right corner and start from there. That way, I could work left and down across the canvas to the bottom left corner, and always have blank canvas beneath my hand as I work, so the previously worked stitches wouldn’t get in the way of my hook.

Right-handers: if you want to try this method you’d start at the top left corner and work right and down to the bottom right corner! 

To speed up the process of selecting yarn strands, I ended up counting and pulling all the strands I’d need for a small area (10-20 stitches) at once, lay them all down on the project, and then I could easily grab the next one from the pile without having to pull them individually from the plastic wrappers for each stitch. This definitely helped me feel like I was making faster progress.

Once I realised how much easier the left side was for me, I forced myself to finish the entire right side before I was allowed to start on the left side, and I’m glad I did! As I suspected, it was much faster when I got to the left side, and the project became much more enjoyable. I zoomed through hooking the left side, and finally had a completed project:

Isn’t it pretty?

Relaxing Craft Verdict

Latch hooking definitely qualifies as a relaxing craft! Once you’ve mastered the technique, it’s just counting the pattern squares and hooking each strand into place – lovely and restful. And if you can find a design you like (there are some tempting latch hook kit designs on amazon!), it’s a nice way to pass the time and keep your hands occupied without having to think too hard about what you’re doing.

Comparing latch hooking with other crafts where you also follow a gridded pattern, I think I prefer diamond painting and cross stitch – with either of those crafts, once you’ve prepared one colour of diamond or threaded one length of floss, you can make dozens of squares of that colour without stopping. With latch hooking, you need to stop and pick up a new piece of yarn for every square, so I found it to be a slower process. But I get bored with any of these crafts after a while, and when that happens I like to mix it up by switching to a different relaxing craft!

I really like my finished project (although I’m tempted to pull out the flower centres and rework them in the dark brown instead of the grey) but… what do you do with a latch hooked piece? I feel that the yarn may be too soft to use it as a functional rug, but I’d like to be able to do something with this piece though (for reference, it’s about 20×12″/50x30cm). If you have any ideas, please let me know!

Have you ever tried latch hooking? Or are you tempted to try it now? I’d love to hear your thoughts…

I can’t wait to show you my brand new pattern for the holiday 2024 season: the Amigurumi Star Collection. This four-in-one collection is the ultimate amigurumi star crochet pattern – completely smooth and seamless, with clean straight lines and no gaps to sew closed! 

I came up with the idea for this construction method last Christmas, when I needed a better star topper for my giant crocheted Christmas tree. The star I originally made in 2022 didn’t meet my standards – the concept looked better in my head than it did in reality – so I decided to go back to the drawing board and concentrate on creating the perfect smooth star shape. The result was so lovely that I knew it would become my 2024 Christmas pattern!

About the Design

I’ve translated my original concept into four different star sizes for this pattern. Mix-and-match colours and sizes to make all sorts of starry decor:

• Individual stars make perfect Christmas tree ornaments
• String a row of stars into a stylish garland
• Add stars to your Christmas wreaths or other decor
• Add smiley faces and make an adorable baby mobile

Use my free Crocheted Wreath Base pattern to create this starry wreath.

And of course, you can scale any of the patterns up or down using different yarn weights and hook sizes (see my Scaling Amigurumi article for details). To see how these would look in different scales, I made a giant star throw pillow with blanket yarn and a miniature star using metallic crochet thread!

L: over 15″ across; R: just over an inch across!

About the Pattern

This no-sew collection includes four different star sizes (Tiny, Small, Medium and Large) with diameters of about 2.25-4.25″ (6-10.5cm) when worked in worsted weight yarn.

Clockwise from top left: Large, Tiny, Medium, Small

All four sizes of star are worked in the same way, and the pattern includes right- and left-handed appendices with detailed step-by-step instructions for the seamless gapless construction. Once you’ve made your first star and understand how it works, you’ll be whipping up more in no time – they’re quite addictive!

Buy Now

Ready to get started? Pick up the Amigurumi Star Collection crochet pattern from my shop and start crocheting your first stars today!

Or, if you’re not ready to start crocheting just yet, add them to your Ravelry queue or favourites so you don’t forget:

I can’t wait to see what you do with your stars!

And if you’re making stars – or anything else PlanetJune – for the holidays, I hope you’ll join us on Discord or Ravelry for the PlanetJune Reindeer Games. This sociable crochet-along runs until the end of the year and there are so many inspiring projects being shared already – we’d love to see what you’re making too 🙂

I’ve enjoyed using KnitPicks yarns for many years – they have lots of varieties and colours to choose from, from basic acrylics to fancy bases like merino and alpaca at reasonable prices. I made all the projects in Everyday Crochet with KP yarns and they all turned out beautifully:

A selection of my book patterns; pretty yarns make pretty projects!

So I wanted to let you know that KnitPicks is having an amazing sale on yarn right now, with up to 60% off! I’ve just stocked up on enough to make a few new sweaters for the winter. And, if that’s not enough, I have bonus coupon codes for you to make the deals even better.

I always like to stack discounts wherever I can to get the best possible deals, so read on for my top tips for saving money with a KnitPicks order, and my recommended tools to buy:

Free Shipping

KnitPicks offers free shipping over $75 USD (US/CA), £85 (UK), $120 AUD (AU) if you want to replenish your stash or stock up on tools. If your shopping cart is anywhere near those totals, try adding a couple more balls of yarn or a tool or two to push it over the limit, and the extra cost will be partially or totally offset by the shipping savings.

I took complete advantage of this: I was at $65 + $10 shipping, so I added $10 more yarn, still paid $75 total, and got 5 extra balls of yarn for no extra cost!

Bonus Coupon Codes

These are the best current offers at the time I write this post (click here to see all the current offers) – you can stack one of these with this sale:

• If you’re buying lots of yarn from the same line: buy 10+ of any single yarn line (you can mix colours) and save 10% with code MYYARNPACK
• If you want to try knitting for the first time, or try some new needles: spend $65+ and and get a free Try It Needle Set with code TRY2024

I used the second code: I’d save $5 on my yarn with the 10% code, but the needle set is worth $15 and I want to try their steel and birch needle tips and get some extra cables, so that was a better deal for me.

My Favourite Tools

I have a few favourite tools from KnitPicks that I use all the time, so I’ve made a page that links directly to each of them.

If you’d like to see my recommendations, or are looking for a little something to push you over that free shipping limit, here are
My Recommended KnitPicks Tools >>

I think we could all use a way to make our dollars stretch a bit further these days, and I can’t wait for my haul of bargains to arrive! In case you’re wondering, here’s my shopping list (I can’t use wool, so I’ve had to miss out on some other lovely-looking yarns):

• I’ve stocked up on Brava Recycle – it’s a recycled acrylic yarn in lovely heathered neutral colours, and with the
  sale price I’ve bought enough to make several sweaters with it.
• I grabbed a ball of Brava 500 – that’s 500g of yarn in a single ball, and some colours are reduced to half price. I should be able to make an entire sweater from a single ball – wow!
• And I restocked on my favourite no-rinse wash, Soak. I’ve been using this for well over a decade, to wash all my handknits and delicates, and even to soak the grime off pet collars and purses. It works like magic!

This particular yarn sale ends on Nov 27th, but there’ll be more KnitPicks sales coming up for Black Friday and beyond (see all the current sales here), and I hope my tips on deal stacking and my list of recommended tools will be useful whenever you read this post! Happy yarn shopping – and saving 😉

I do have a KnitPicks affiliate link, so if you shop through any of my links I’ll receive a small commission from your order at no cost to you, but you know that I only ever give genuine recommendations – this is not a sponsored post!

The fourth annual PlanetJune Reindeer Games CAL begins tomorrow! The Reindeer Games is the annual PlanetJune end-of-year crochet-along and online community event, and you can join by submitting photos of your PJ projects to the gallery, and chatting with us in the CAL threads on Discord and Ravelry. Everyone is very welcome, and I can’t wait to see the gallery of beautiful projects that will emerge as we head toward the end of the year – I hope you’ll join us!

Reindeer Games 2024 CAL

Crochet anything PlanetJune as part of the PlanetJune Reindeer Games 2024 (Friday, Nov 1 – Tuesday, Dec 31).

The idea of the games is to challenge yourself by starting and finishing crochet project(s) before the end of the year. It’s just for fun, like a CAL but you get to choose your projects – anything PlanetJune, including projects from my books – and earn virtual awards!

For the fullest experience, join in the fun in one of the PlanetJune Community groups. Look for the Reindeer Games 2024 thread on Ravelry or the #reindeer-games-2024 channel on Discord. (You can also participate by submitting your projects directly to the gallery through the new online form.)

Check out the Reindeer Games site where you can find full instructions, the list of stalls (categories) and antlers (bonus awards) you can win, the 2024 games stats and project gallery, and archives from the previous years’ games.

It’s always so much fun – we’re a cozy group of crafty friends, crocheting and chatting away. As we’re based all over the world, we can compare our holiday traditions, share recipes, and encourage each other as we crochet. We’d love to welcome you to the party in either of our groups.

Project Ideas

You can enter the Reindeer Games by making absolutely anything based on a PlanetJune pattern (or something from any of my books) – so you have hundreds of crochet patterns to choose from (including dozens of free options, if cashflow is tight).

Realistic animals, elegant accessories, unique toys, seasonal decor – there’s something for everyone…

Take a look at the PlanetJune shop for more pattern inspiration, or grab your copy of any of my books and pick a pattern. 🙂

Join Us!

I do hope you’ll join us for the Reindeer Games 2024 – it’s going to be so much fun, and I can’t wait to see the project gallery filled to the brim again with our beautiful crocheted projects by the end of the year. Whether you’re trying to finish some WIPs, crocheting Christmas gifts, making pieces to sell, or treating yourself to that PlanetJune pattern you’ve had your eye on, we’ll cheer you on as you work towards your crochet goals, and we’re ready to celebrate your successes with you!

Have you seen the weird and wonderful gourds that are sold for decorating at this time of year? Gourds are fascinating – they are in the same family as squashes and pumpkins, but they are grown as ornamentals, not for eating, and they’ve developed into all sorts of unusual shapes and bright colours. And, as the fall season rolls around, I’m thrilled to finally unveil a project I started last year but took extra time to perfect: my new collection of ornamental gourd crochet patterns!

This time last year, I was inspired to design a set of decorative gourds, but I couldn’t quite nail all the shapes I was looking for, so my prototypes and notes have been sitting and waiting for Fall 2024 to be brought to life. And I’m so glad I waited – the extra time and perspective has led to some excellent new techniques for making amigurumi-style gourds with unique shapes and texture!

Meet the Gourds

The Ornamental Gourds Collection includes two sets of realistic life-sized gourds, each with three different patterns (or you can grab the complete collection for a bargain price). Most real-life gourds come in a wide variety of colours, and my photos show a couple of sample colourways for each gourd, but you can mix and match colours and styles for a near-infinite variety – just like real-life gourds!

Ornamental Gourds Set 1 includes (above, L-R) Goblin Eggs, Warty Pear and Autumn Wings gourds.

Ornamental Gourds Set 2 includes (above, L-R) Mini Bottle, Spoon and Crown of Thorns gourds.

(Side note: don’t you just love the names of these varieties? They’re just as fun as all the different shapes and colours!)

About the Patterns

The patterns within each set are arranged in order of increasing difficulty, from simpler designs that are easy and fast to work up to more complex designs that use new innovations to build in shape and texture. With just basic stitches, you’ll see the realistic bumps, ridges, and points take shape as you crochet, without leaving any holes that stuffing can peek through.

The patterns include full step-by-step illustrated appendices for both right- and left-handers that walk you through each of my special techniques. Each gourd is worked in a single piece (plus the stem) – no sewing required!

Links to Buy

You can buy each pattern set individually, or save money when you buy the whole collection!

• Ornamental Gourds Set 1 >>
• Ornamental Gourds Set 2 >>
• The complete Ornamental Gourds Collection >>

Or, if you’re not quite ready to buy, why not favourite/queue them on Ravelry so you don’t forget about them?

Ornamental Gourds Set 1:

Ornamental Gourds Set 2:

I’m really happy with this new collection. I think they look very much like real gourds at first glance, while also staying true to my signature clean style – I hope you agree! The shapes and textures of these palm-sized gourds are such fun to crochet, and I hope they’ll also bring a touch of seasonal style to your decorating this year. Now, I just have to ask: which gourd is your favourite?!

I haven’t done much hand knitting since I bought my knitting machine in 2020. But last winter, inspired by the projects being shared in the PJ Discord group, I got the itch to pick up the needles again. Knitting is such a relaxing pastime for me, and I’ve missed it! Crocheting larger things with repetitive patterns is relaxing too, of course, but most of my crochet is small amigurumi, so it doesn’t have that same relaxing rhythm. And here’s the result:

Hello! Look what I knitted!

I started this sweater in 2019, based on my ribbed sweater design that I’ve made a couple of times before: the green cardigan in 2015, and the teal pullover version in 2017. My concept for this pink version was to use a lighter weight yarn and a narrower all-over rib pattern to make a more lightweight version of the same basic design.

But my progress ground to a halt: the yarn felt a bit rough on my fingers so the knitting wasn’t a lovely tactile experience; I wasn’t sure about the pink colour (bought on sale), and I got bored with working on it. I hadn’t even decided whether this piece was going to be a sweater or cardigan when I abandoned it, with the back mostly done and nothing else even started!

I picked it back up in February, finished the back and sleeves according to my original plan, and decided on a v-neck cardigan for the front.

After seaming the pieces together, I tried on the cardigan and decided it was slightly more fitted than I’d like, so I decided to make a slightly wider buttonband to give it a tiny bit more ease at the front. One of the benefits of designing as you go is getting to make last-minute customizations while you knit!

I also added a design improvement from my first version of this cardigan. When you wear a cardigan, the buttonholes typically want to pull away from the centre, which means the buttons don’t sit in the middle of the buttonband when the sweater is buttoned up. I countered this effect by offsetting the buttonholes to be set away from the edge of the band instead of centering them on the band:

L: The buttonholes are offset to the left side of the buttonband
R: The buttons sit in the centre of the buttonband when the sweater is buttoned

I wasn’t sure about using metal buttons on a knitted sweater, but I wanted small buttons to match the scale of this sweater, and I had dozens of these buttons in my stash (from a thrift store find of a giant bag of mixed buttons) and I wasn’t keen on making or buying special buttons for a cardigan I wasn’t even sure I’d like. Note to self: pullover sweaters are much faster and easier when it comes to finishing!

In fact, I had so many of these buttons that I decided to use a second of the same button as my anchor button on the inside of the sweater, even though they’ll never be seen. And I like the end result with the metal buttons – what do you think?

Once everything was completely finished with all the ends woven in, I tried it on properly and quickly realised that my usual design choice of making extra-long sleeves to keep my wrists warm wasn’t really appropriate for a lighter summer-weight sweater… I briefly considered unravelling a couple of inches from the ends of the sleeves, but turning up impromptu cuffs is easier, and looks fine!

And the end result of this project is just that: fine. I like it well enough; it fits well enough; the colour is nice enough; the feel is nice enough; the buttons are good enough… While I’m not wowed by anything in particular about this sweater, it’ll be a useful addition to my wardrobe for those in-between weather days, so I’m calling that a win 😉

Best of all, this project has been a good re-introduction to knitting for me. Now I’m looking forward to starting my next knitting project, to keep my hands occupied once the gardening season ends!

When I designed my Duck and Goose crochet pattern last winter, I was already planning for future Canada Goose and Mallard expansion packs. I also designed my Ducklings and Goslings pattern so the babies would be ready to complete the families once their parents were finished. Now that moment has arrived, and my Duck and Goose Collection is complete!

Click to see a larger photo of the Duck and Goose Collection – there’s a lot to see here 🙂

Now you can make four different amigurumi duck and goose families: white ducks with single-coloured ducklings, white geese with single-coloured goslings, and Canada Goose and Mallard families each with their own distinctively-coloured babies. Yay!

Let’s take a closer look at the new patterns:

Canada Goose Expansion Pack

Also known as Canadian geese or ‘cobra chickens’, Canada geese are native to Canada and the northern US, but have also been introduced into many other countries. They are fiercely protective of their babies and will hiss and and even attack if you approach too closely during breeding season, but every year I enjoy having to wait while a family of Canada geese crosses the road ahead of my car – the fluffy goslings are so adorable!

The Canada Goose Expansion Pack includes all the modifications you’ll need to convert the white goose from the Duck and Goose pattern into a realistic Canada goose with its iconic black head and neck and white ‘chinstrap’.

Mallards Expansion Pack

Mallards are the most common species of wild duck, and they are found naturally throughout most of the northern hemisphere. Did you know that almost all domestic ducks, no matter their colouring, are descended from mallards?

The Mallards Expansion Pack includes all the modifications you’ll need to convert the white duck from the Duck and Goose pattern into a pair of realistic mallards. The drake is the star of this show with his classic green head and bold markings. While he’s what most people think of when they hear the word mallard, I’ve also included a female with a simple but clever brown eye stripe to round out your mallard family!

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.

Purchase Options

Okay, you have several bundle options here, so I’ll go through them all for you:

• If you already have the Duck and Goose pattern, you can buy the Canada Goose Expansion Pack and/or Mallards Expansion Pack individually from the shop.
• If you haven’t yet bought Duck and Goose, you can buy it and add-on either (or both) expansion packs to save 50c on each pack you add.
• Or, for the best deal of all, pick up the complete Duck and Goose Collection, which includes all four of the patterns picture above (the babies too!) for a special price!

I have listings for any possible combination you could want in the shop (search for ‘waterfowl’ to see them all!), but if you’re confused, feel free to email me (or comment below) and I’ll help you to get the best deal on the patterns you want.

And, if you’re not ready to crochet your favourite waterfowl right now, you can heart and queue them on Ravelry so you don’t forget about them:

Canada Goose:

Mallards:

Duck and Goose:

Ducklings and Goslings:

I’m so happy with this pattern collection, and I hope you’ll love them too! Which duck or goose pattern is your favourite?

I absolutely loved growing and eating cherry tomatoes last year, and for 2024 my main gardening goal was to improve my tomato-growing skills. Living in Canada, the growing season is short, so I have to make the most of it before we’re back to snow! But the more you discover about gardening, the more you realise how much there is still to learn: so many varieties of tomato, so many different ways to grow them, and so much conflicting advice… How do you decide who to believe and which advice to follow?

Thanks to my science background, my answer is always to do my own experiments and see what actually works best for me! So I decided to try a lot of different things in my 2024 garden, and build what I learn into a solid plan for my future tomatoes. I filled my garden with 22 tomato plants of 12 different varieties (plus 2 more plants kept indoors).

A selection of the cherry tomatoes I grew in 2024

And here’s a small part of my tomato jungle!

Of course, I’m not saying my results are the definitive answers – I’m not an expert, and with only one plant to compare in each experiment, my results aren’t statistically significant. But I wanted to document everything for myself, and who knows? Maybe you’ll find some of it interesting or even helpful if you want to try growing cherry tomatoes like these!

For each of my experiments, I used the same type of tomato for both cases and tried to only change the variable I was testing for to give a fair comparison. There are too many other factors at play to make this a scientifically valid test, but I’ve still learnt a lot from trying so many things this season! Read on to find out what I discovered…