Squirrel Picnic

Handmade with Love and Stuff

Category Archives: Crochet It


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Easy to Crochet Butterfly Pattern

ButterfliesAs I’m writing this, it is snowing for the third straight day here in Denver. It’s not uncommon for us to get spring snowstorms, but they always come as a shock to me. Just as you’re starting to get pumped about springtime, a foot of snow gets dumped on your excitement. Lucky for me, I have my own little patch of springtime at Squirrel Picnic, where their crochet garden continues to bloom.

This week I’m making butterflies. I found a lot of complicated butterfly patterns online and in books. Though the complex butterflies were gorgeous, I didn’t have time for all those steps, so I wrote this pattern for a simple and fast and cute little butterfly.

Easy Butterfly Pattern… Continue Reading →


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Things Are Blooming at Squirrel Picnic

You may have noticed the new spring diorama grants us a rare look through a garden of crocheted flowers onto Hodge and Podge enjoying a picnic. It will be an ongoing project throughout this spring and summer to update, revise, amend, and polish it. By the end of the summer, I’m hoping that every item in the diorama will be knit or crochet. Keep checking in each month to see how it’s changing. I’m planning on adding birds, butterflies, and a few more flowers. What else do you think I should add?

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Your World Needs More Cuteness: Spring Daisy Crochet Patterns

Crochet DaisyDaisies are one of my favorite flowers. They’re simple and cheerful and the ultimate symbol of cute. Just name something Daisy and its cuteness rating goes up exponentially. Take for instance Daisy the world’s cutest cat, Daisy Duke, Daisy Duck, Daisy Buchanan, Daisy Fuentes… the list goes on. But my favorite Daisy moniker is Daisy the Pterosaur, named for the nine-year-old girl who found this dinosaur’s bones in the sand while on a family visit to the beach.

Okay, daisies are cute: you get the point. Now you know why I included daisies in my spring diorama for Squirrel Picnic and why I have to restrain myself from embellishing everything within arms’ reach with these little flowers. If you too would like to add a little cheer to a headband, spring sweater, or Easter table setting, whip up a few of these easy crochet daisies.

Continue Reading →


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They Say You Gotta Make Your Own Luck: Crochet a Pot o’ Gold

Your days of sloshing through puddles in search of rainbows and pots of gold are over. Whip up your own pot o’ gold and every day can be your lucky day.

Pot of Gold

Pot o’ Gold

Finished size 3 inches tall

Materials

Small amount of black worsted weight yarn
Small amount of gold lace weight yarn
Small amount of green worsted weight yarn
Polyester fiber fill
Size G-6 (4.00 mm) crochet hook
Size C-2 (2.75 mm) crochet hook
Tapestry needle

Instructions

Crochet the Black Pot

With a size G-6 hook and black yarn, ch 2

Round 1: 6 sc in 2nd ch from hook

Round 2: 2 sc in each st around (12)

Round 3: *Sc 1, 2 sc in next st, repeat from * 6 times (18)

Round 4: *Sc 2, 2 sc in next st, repeat from * 6 times (24)

Round 5: *Sc 3, 2 sc in next st, repeat from * 6 times (30)

Rounds 6-10: Sc 30

Round 11: *Sc 1, decrease, repeat from * 9 times (20)

Round 12: Sc  in the FL of each sc around, slst into the 1st st of the round

Round 13: Crocheting in the FL again, *sc 1, 2 sc in next st, repeat from * 9 times, slst into 1st st of the round (30)

Fasten off and weave in end.

Crochet the Gold

With a size G-6 hook and gold yarn, ch 2

Round 1: 6 sc in 2nd ch from hook

Round 2: 2 sc in each st around (12)

Round 3: *Sc 1, 2 sc in next st, repeat from * 6 times (18)

Round 4: *Sc 2, 2 sc in next st, repeat from * 6 times (24)

Round 5: *Sc 3, 2 sc in next st, repeat from * 6 times (30)

Round 6: Sc in each st around

Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing.

Crochet the Shamrock

With a size C-2 hook and green yarn, ch 3. Join with slst to 1st ch to form a ring.

For the petals: *Ch 2, 2 dc, ch 2, slst in ring. Repeat from * 2 times.

For the stem: Ch 4, sc in 2nd chain from hook, and slst in remaining 2 chains. Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing.

Assemble

Sew the shamrock to the side of your pot of gold.

Stuff the pot with fiber fill.

Using the long tail of gold yarn and your tapestry needle, sew the “gold” to Round 11 of the pot.

Fiercely guard your gold from leprechauns.


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Make It! Challenge #4: Crochet Batman Mask

Justin Is BatmanWho is the newest caped crusader to stalk the city at night, taking down villains and bringing justice to the streets? It’s none other than Justin O’Neill! Oh, shoot, I probably shouldn’t have given away his secret identity. No worries, Justin – I bet there’s a pretty slim chance that anyone you’re worried about is reading Squirrel Picnic.

When he challenged me to make this mask for him, Justin mentioned that in addition to crime fighting, he was planning to wear it in an upcoming race. With this in mind, I chose to use a bamboo viscose and silk blend yarn that would create a fabric that is light, breathable, and comfortable against the skin. Bamboo fiber is strong, flexible, and exceptionally soft. It’s even been said to have better moisture-wicking properties than cotton or polyester. Plus it’s an environmentally friendly choice because it is an easily renewable resource.

Continue reading for the free pattern to crochet a mask of your very own. Be sure to share with us about all the adventures it gets you into. Continue Reading →


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Crochet Airplane Appliqué

This airplane appliqué is quick and easy to make. It’s the perfect embellishment for a baby blanket, sweater, or scarf. Airplane

Airplane Appliqué

Materials:

Small amounts of gray, blue, and white yarns
Size H-8 (5.00 mm) crochet hook
Tapestry needle

Plane Body:

With blue yarn, ch 20

Sc in 2nd ch from hook, 2 hdc, 14 dc, 5 dc in turning ch, 14 dc, 2 hdc, sc, slst in 1st ch. Bind off.

Wings:

With gray yarn, ch 25

Sc in 2nd ch from hook, 22 hdc, 4 sc in turning ch, 22 hdc, 3 sc in last ch, slst in 1st ch. Bind off. Sew onto plane body about 1/3 of the way back from the front.

Tail:

With gray yarn, bring a loop up through 2nd ch at end of airplane body. Ch 3, tr in same st, (dc, sc) in next st. Bind off.

Pull up loop in 4th ch from end on other side of plane body. Ch 1, dc in same st, (tr, ch3, slst) in next st. Bind off.

Propeller:

With white yarn, ch 12, sc in 2nd ch from hook, 10 sc, slst in last st. Bind off.

Ch 5, bind off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Wrap this 5-chain strand around the center of the propeller and sew to the front end of the plane body. Work in all ends.


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Spring Fever

These past few weeks, it seems as if I’ve been doing nothing but knitting, crocheting, and sewing, and yet I have so little to show for it. Do you have that problem too? I just can’t seem to keep my attention focused on one project long enough to finish it before moving on to the the next. It must be spring fever! So since I don’t have any completed projects to show you, I’ll just show you all the things I’m working on.

Spring is just about ready to bloom at Squirrel Picnic. I’ve been crocheting leaves and flowers everywhere I go. It’s been especially fun to talk to people on the bus about all these little leaves I’m making. I can hardly wait to get Hodge and Podge into their new seasonal diorama.

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A friend of ours wants very much to have a baby, but she’s having a hard time convincing her husband. Her plan of action? To just go ahead and crochet a baby blanket. I love this! It’s her first crochet project and she’s doing great. I crocheted these airplane and flower appliques for her to add depending on whether she has a boy or a girl. Now come on husband, give this girl a baby.

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Slowly but surely I’ll get the two summer dresses I started sewn by summer.

The fourth Make It! Challenge is about 95% complete. I should have the pattern for you very soon. It’s the perfect hat for stalking the city at night.

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And because I just can’t stop myself from starting new projects, I ordered this fantastic yarn from KnitPicks to start a summer top. Don’t you just love the color!

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Well I better get back to work. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!


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The Fatimals Help Squirrel Picnic Ring In the New Year

Fatimals are, you guessed it, fat animals. These jolly guys know how to have a good time. They eat what they want, they party when they want, and they won’t let little things like new year’s resolutions keep them from enjoying themselves. In short, they were the perfect choice to host the Squirrel Picnic NYE party this year.

Enjoy this little recap of the events, and have a very happy new year.

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Make It! Challenge #2: Christmas Pickle Ornament

Christmas PickleThanks to Alexandra Pflaster for this idea! She challenged me to crochet a traditional Christmas pickle for her to hide in her tree. The story goes that whoever finds the pickle on Christmas morning will be blessed with good luck in the following year.

The tradition of the Christmas pickle originated in the Pennsylvania Dutch town of Lebanon in the year 1806, when little Susie Zook dropped her family’s box of ornaments down the stairs, breaking every last one. Being but quaint farmers, the Zooks didn’t have any other ornaments to hang on the tree; but the cucumber crop had been bountiful that year, and so Mother Zook proposed that they decorate the tree with some of the pickles she had canned. A tree filled with pickles turned out to smell rather unpleasant, so in the years that followed, Mother Zook made the ornaments out of corn husks—but always hid one pickle for good luck. To this day the Zook tradition is continued by families across America to celebrate ingenuity and hope for the future.

Actually, no one is really sure how this tradition started. But it makes me smile to ponder how it came to be.

Follow this pattern to crochet your own Christmas pickle! Continue Reading →


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Make It! Challenge #1: Crochet Turkey Hat

When my friend Diana asked me if I would make a turkey hat she’d seen online for her 11-month-old son, Jack, I admit that at first I wondered why a mom would want to dress her son up like a roast turkey. But after checking out the turkey hats on toddlers across the web, I had to agree that this idea is nothing but cute! I can just see little Jack wearing this adorable hat in his seat at the Thanksgiving table. I was on board and ready to take on the challenge of re-creating it for them. The best part of this project though is that it really wasn’t much of a challenge at all. Even beginning crocheters should have no problem. Continue Reading →

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