Squirrel Picnic

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Tag Archives: amigurumi


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Sleepy Bear Crochet Pattern

Sleepy Bear by Squirrel PicnicI’d like to introduce you to a friend of mine. His name is Sleepy Bear.

“Hey, Sleepy Bear, wake up. There’s someone here who would like to meet you. Sleepy Bear?”

Well, you’ll have to excuse him. He’s a really sound sleeper. Since he can’t be disturbed, I’ll just tell you all about him.

I’ve been working on this pattern for almost a year now. I don’t think I’ve ever fiddled with a pattern that long! And I’ve made almost a dozen bears in the process. The first one I ever made I gave to a friend who had been hit by a car while riding his bike to work. He said the bear, which he named Buster, brought him a lot of comfort while he was recovering. I made another for my cousin’s first child and another for a friend out of yarn she had given me. The rest I plan to donate to the Children’s Hospital of Denver where they can bring some comfort to the patients.

This bear pattern is unique in one key way: the head and body are crocheted together. I have trouble sewing on heads, especially on larger animals like this one. It’s really hard to get them on perfectly straight. Do you have that trouble too? So with this pattern, you crochet the head, do a round in the front loops only to create the neck and then continue with the body. I think you’ll really like this detail.

Another distinguishing feature of this pattern is the way the appendages are sewn on. Each includes instructions to close up the end. By crocheting the arms and legs and ears closed, you are able to sew them on through that row of single crochet loops. It’s easy! I like for my bears arms and legs to face forward when they are sitting down, so I sew the legs on at an angle on the bottom and the arms on the sides so that they point forward. I’ve included photos to show this placement in case you want to make your bear like mine, but feel free to play around with the placement to find the positioning you like best.

Curious how Sleepy Bear comes together?
Watch this one-minute time-lapse video showing the bear from the first stitch to the finished face: https://youtube.com/shorts/sjijXju9SRo

Update: This Sleepy Bear pattern has been carefully revised and expanded into a complete PDF pattern. The updated version includes the original bear plus the naptime accessories, along with clearer instructions, embroidery photo tutorials, and a C2C color chart. You can find the updated pattern here: https://jenniferolivarez.com/sleepy-bear

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Sleepy Bear’s Naptime Accessories

Any nap just wouldn’t be complete without a nightcap and blanky.

Check out these new free crochet patterns for Sleepy Bear accessories.

Sleepy Bear's Naptime Accessories Crochet Patterns

Sleepy Bear Crochet Pattern

Sleepy Bear Crochet Pattern by Squirrel Picnic Continue reading →


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How to Add Faces to Your Amigurumi: Sleepy Eyes

How to Add Faces to Your Amigurumi: Sleepy Eyes / SquirrelPicnic.comMy series on how to add faces to your amigurumi continues with one of my favorites: the sleepy face. It doesn’t require many materials — all you need is yarn, a needle, scissors, and your crochet or knit toy. In just a few quick steps your adorable toy will have an equally adorable face. Let’s begin… Continue reading →


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Charm Exchange: The Teeny Tiny Crochet Continues

Crochet Kokeshi Doll Charms_Squirrel PicnicI have been looking forward to working on the charms for Alexandra’s charm bracelet since the beginning of this exchange, because I’ve been dying to try out the kokeshi doll pattern in Sara Scales’ book Mini Amigurumi.

It was so much fun to crochet these! For the first time, I feel I am starting to get the hang of mini amigurumi. The learning curve is greater than I originally expected. I mean, it’s crochet. I can crochet, so why is this so hard? Well, here is what I’ve learned…

It takes a lot more patience, dexterity, and keener eyesight than regular crochet. Good lighting really helps too. You have to be very conscious of your tension. Because I was working with fine thread (No. 8 crochet thread), I found it a little more difficult to get the same grasp I would with yarn. I wanted my tension to be tight enough that you wouldn’t be able to see the stuffing through the stitches, but not too tight that I would have to struggle to insert my hook into the stitches. I also discovered that invisible decreases don’t work as well with thread or maybe with this scale. It created larger holes than a standard sc2tog decrease.

So now that I’ve had a few months of practice, I’m ready to try out all the mini amis in Sara’s book. They are all so cute! But first, follow me as I show you how I made these kokeshi doll charms. Continue reading →


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A Ripper Aussie New Year’s Party

Each year, Mayor Snack Frog hosts a New Year’s Eve party at his pad and invites all his friends from the picnic and beyond, including you! This year, special guests flew all the way from Australia to attend. These delightful amigurumi characters by Sharon Pridmore of gentlestitches.com included a bushy-tailed possum, 3 foxes, a crocodile, dogs, and zombie bunnies. Australia is filled with dangerous creatures, so Sharon sent along some Easter brown snakes and a red-backed spider as well, all of which we found to be very well-behaved despite their reputation.  You can find patterns for Sharon’s crochet creations on her website or Ravelry. We were also very excited to see that she sent along MEAP2, which she made with my cuddly robot crochet pattern, so MEAP had a girlfriend to dance with all night.

We hope you enjoy this very amateur stop-motion animation, and we wish you plenty to smile about in 2015!


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Are you ready for the festivities?

Mayor Snack Frog's Welcome

Welcome to the party! Make yourself at home.

Happy New Year! I’ll be ringing in the new year with the Squirrel Picnic gang and special guest amigurumis from Australia for as long as I can keep my eyes open. I’m super tired after a very difficult work week, so I probably won’t make it to midnight. In fact, I might just pass my phone over to Mayor Snack Frog now to take photos for you. He’ll be posting to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram throughout the evening. You won’t want to miss it. The Aussies from gentlestitches.com are sure to show us a ripper good time!

Then don’t forget to stop by the picnic tomorrow for a special (and truly amateur) film documenting the night. Have a great time and see you in the new year!