Squirrel Picnic

Handmade with Love and Stuff

Category Archives: Crochet It


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Podge’s Pretty Princess Hat Crochet Pattern

Podge's Princess Hat Pattern by Squirrel PicnicPodge wants to be a pretty princess this year for Halloween. Seeing as her favorite color is pink and she’s a total princess the other 364 days of the year, this comes as little surprise. Podge just loves dressing up!

Podge loves trick or treating too. Every year it’s the same story. At the end of the night she dumps her candy out on the floor and picks out all the pink ones to stash away for herself. She gives the rest to Hodge and I. Her favorite pink candies are Hubba Bubba Bubble Tape, cotton candy Jelly Belly Beans, Bubble Yum, Good n Plenty, strawberry Nerds, watermelon Jolly Ranchers, and strawberry Laffy Taffy to name a few. Did you know you can shop for candy by color? I’ll have to remember that for her next birthday party.

Is your squirrel going trick or treating this year? Now you can dress them up like a princess too with this free pattern!

I hope you enjoy making this costume and I hope your squirrel friend enjoys it too. Continue reading →


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Big Acorn Race Update: Crocheting the Story

Dragonfly by Jennifer OlivarezThe next few weeks will be super busy for me as I attempt to crochet everything needed to tell the story of the Big Acorn Race. This includes all the props and even some of the characters themselves. It seems like I’m crocheting everywhere I go. I’ve been crocheting on the bus, on my lunch breaks, in line at the store. But if you know me, you’re probably thinking Weren’t you doing that before the book came along anyway? Yeah, you’re right. But now I feel like I’m crocheting with a purpose. Although it’s felt a little frenzied at times, so far I’ve been successful not to let the pressure take the fun out of it. That’s very important, you know.

And let me tell you, I’ve gotten a lot done! I even remembered to photograph some of my work to share with you. Continue reading →


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Make It! Challenge #12: Unlikely Friends Crochet Parrot and Penguin Patterns

Unlikely Friends HeaderWelcome to the finale of the Make It! Challenge series! Sheena from Virginia challenged me to make unlikely friends amigurumi, meaning animals that don’t normally hang out together. We talked about a few different examples before we decided that a penguin and a parrot would make an unlikely pair. Where would they meet? A penguin in the Amazon would be a sweaty mess and a parrot in Antarctica would shiver his feathers off. Maybe they should meet on a mild September day in Colorado, like today.

Crochet Unlikely Friend Bird by Squirrel Picnic 12Pondering the theme of unlikely friends as I was brainstorming the construction for this Make It! Challenge led me to origami. The art of using intricate folds to turn a two-dimensional surface into a three-dimensional object seems about as far away from crochet as you can get.

Usually an amigurumi is created by working in the round (crocheting in a spiral to create spheres). I wondered what would happen if I started instead with a flat surface, like a granny square. I decided to start at the corner of a square to create a beak, and then working out from there, I could create a striped pattern that would mimic the bird’s coloration. The tough part was determining how to fold this one square so that it took a form that would stay together and do it in a way that would be easy for others to duplicate. Despite multiple trials, it never quite worked. In the end, sewing a second smaller square on the front and folding the head and wings forward and the tail back was the easiest answer. All in all, I am really pleased with this origami-inspired amigurumi. I hope you enjoy it too. 

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How to Add Faces to Your Amigurumi: Simple Eyes with Felt and French Knots

Ultra Easy Amigurumi Eyes Tutorial by Squirrel PicnicI’m back with another tutorial on how to add faces to your amigurumi. This time I wanted to show you what I do when I just need a simple pair of child friendly eyes and I need them fast. As I’ve mentioned in previous episodes in this series, whenever I’m making a toy for a kiddo, I try to use embroidery instead of safety eyes or buttons.

These eyes use a common embroidery technique: French knots. I used to be really intimidated by this stitch, but just like anything in life, the more you practice, the easier it will get. Making amigurumi eyes is a great way to get in your practice.

If you’re like me and find that it’s hard to achieve consistency with your French knots, you will love this technique. With these eyes, you’re doing one eye at a time (breaking your thread between each eye), so you can pull the knot as tight as you like without having to worry about the slack at the back of your work. We’ll be tying the tails at the back, so the knot will stay in place as well.

So let’s get started… Then, next week, I’ll share with you a pattern that incorporates this technique and double bonus… it’s the next Make It! Challenge.
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How to Make Your Amigurumi’s Head Turn: A Video!

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How to Make Your Amigurumi's Head Turn by Squirrel PicnicI have a wonderful surprise for you today! I recently discovered an inexpensive and super fast way to give your squirrel amigurumi a head that turns. The problem with amigurumi is that they are so small. I haven’t been able to find commercially made doll joints in the right size. But what is a doll joint really? It’s just a post with a fixed head and a washer that pops on to the other end. If you look around the Internet, you’ll find doll makers who have come up with all sorts of solutions: buttons and thread, screws and washers, and my personal favorite — safety eyes!

Let’s use safety eyes to make our squirrel’s heads turn! The concept is pretty simple. Just work the head section of my squirrel pattern through the last round, leaving 6 stitches remaining and a little hole. Fasten off your stitch, leaving a long tail. Thread this tail through the remaining stitches. You do the same thing with the opening at the neck of the body. You’ll insert the head (eye) of a safety eye into the hole on the head of your squirrel and pull the tail tightly to close the hole around the post of the safety eye. Then snap on the washer and fit the hole on the body around the washer. Pull that tail tight to close it around the post and ta-da you have a movable head. If that didn’t make sense, you’re in luck… I made a funny little video to demonstrate. Enjoy! Continue reading →


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Podge’s 30 Day Healthy Habit Challenge

For the month of June, Podge and I adopted a 30 day healthy habit challenge. The goal was to exercise for 30 minutes every day and post photos each day on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

I’ve heard that it takes 30 days to adopt any new habit, and 30 days is a comfortable amount of time to try something new. The idea is that if after 30 days you don’t want to do it anymore, there’s no harm in calling it quits. It’s like a trial period. Then the next month you try a different healthy habit to see if you can get it to stick.

I can’t say that this challenge was always easy. There were some days when we found ourselves sore or tired. On those days we gave ourselves a break with yoga or physical therapy (exercises I have to do for my knees). We learned that it is important to listen to your body and be gentle when needed. Despite a crazy schedule, deadlines, and travel, we did it! And we feel great.

I wasn’t sure when we started if I would be willing to continue exercising every day after the month was up, but once you get started, it’s pretty easy to keep going. I say let’s do it! I mean, we have all the fitness gear. Might as well keep using it…

Even Podge has her own workout accessories. Over the course of the month, I made her a headband, leg warmers, gym towel, and a yoga mat and bag. Now you can make them for your squirrel friend, too, with my patterns below. And enjoy the gallery of photos from our month of exercise. Some of these really crack me up! Continue reading →