December 7, 2013
by Squirrel Picnic 10 Comments

Gingerbread Man Crochet Pattern

Who doesn’t love a gingerbread man? It was certainly my favorite cookie when I was growing up. My mom had cookie cutters for both a gingerbread man and a gingerbread woman. My favorite part of baking these cookies with my mom was to work the piping bag full of icing. It was so much fun to give the gingerbread woman crazy ringlets of hair and to decorate the gingerbread man with buttons or sometimes a tie.

Have fun decorating your gingerbread man. Use whatever you have on hand or come up with something entirely new. He doesn’t have to be a conventional cookie. Add a vest, chaps, and a handkerchief around his neck to make him a cowboy. Add an eye patch, peg leg, and striped shirt to make him a pirate. Give your gingerbread man a Speedo and six-pack abs. The skies the limit! Your gingerbread man can be anything he wants to be.

Finally, thread a ribbon through a stitch at the top of his head and your crochet gingerbread man will look right at home on your Christmas tree. He would also look quite sharp holding on to a bow on your present to someone special.

Visit the Great Cookie Countdown Page for the story behind this series and a complete directory of Christmas cookie ornaments.

Gingerbread Man Crochet Pattern

Finished size: 5″ tall

Materials:

Worsted weight yarn in medium brown
(Vanna’s Choice by Lion Brand in Toffee)
Worsted weight yarn in white
Worsted weight yarn in red
Size D-3 (3.25 mm) crochet hook
Tapestry needle
Polyester Fiberfill
0.5 mm round white buttons for eyes
1.0 mm white beads or buttons for “buttons”

Gauge:

5 sts = 1″
5 rows = 1″

Instructions:

Make 2 (front and back)

Legs

Ch 3

Row 1: Sc in 2nd ch from hook. Sc in next sc, turn. (2)

Row 2: Ch 1, 2 sc in ea st across, turn. (4)

Row 3: Ch 1, sc in ea sc across, turn.

Rows 4-6: Rep row 3. FO.

Rep rows 1-6 to make second leg, but do not FO, turn.

Row 7 (join the legs and start the body): Ch 1, sc in ea of the next 3 scs, 2 sc in last sc. Pick up the first leg and 2 sc in first sc of first leg. Sc in ea sc across. Do not FO, turn. (10)

Body

Row 8-11: Ch 1, sc in ea sc across, turn.

Row 12: Ch 1, sc2tog, sc in next 6 scs, sc2tog, turn. (8)

Row 13: Ch 1, sc in ea sc across, turn.

Row 14: Ch 1, sc2tog, sc in next 4 scs, sc2tog, turn. (6)

Row 15: Ch 1, sc in ea sc across. Do not FO.

Arms

Row 1: Turn the body on its side and pull up a loop at the end of Row 15. (Not in two loops of the sc, but the post at the end.) Ch 1. Sc in the posts at the end of Rows 14, 13, and 12. Turn. (4)

Row 2-6: Ch 1, sc in ea sc across, turn.

Row 7: Ch 1, sc, sc2tog, sc. FO.

Repeat for arm on opposite side, working in the posts at the beginning of rows 15, 14, 13, and 12. FO.

Head

Row 1: Miss 1st sc. Pull up a loop in the next sc and join with slst. 2 sc in same sc, sc in ea of next 2 scs, 2 sc in last sc, turn. (6)

Row 2: Ch 1, sc in ea sc across, turn.

Row 3: Ch 1, 2 sc in 1st sc, sc in next 4, 2 sc in last sc, turn. (8)

Row 4: Rep row 2.

Row 5: Ch 1, sc2tog, sc in next 4, sc2tog, turn. (6)

Row 6: Rep row 2.

Row 7: Ch 1, sc2tog, sc in next 2, sc2tog. FO

Work in all ends.

Assembly

Sew on the eyes and buttons and embroider the mouth.

Arrange the two sides with wrong sides facing, making sure that the holes at the ends and beginnings of each row line up.

Insert your crochet hook into one of the holes along the edge (through both the front and back), pull up a loop of white yarn, and slst. Rep for the next hole and so on all the way around until you have about an inch or so left.

Stuff the gingerbread man lightly.

Continue to sew the rest of the gingerbread man together using the slst method.

To end, insert your crochet hook up from the bottom, through the first slst and pull the last slst down to the back. FO.

Attach a ribbon, hook, or ring for hanging.

December 2, 2013
by Squirrel Picnic 17 Comments

The Great Cookie Giveaway!

We’re rounding out Squirrel Picnic’s very first year, and I just want to take a moment to offer my sincere appreciation. Your enthusiasm and support means the world to me, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for stopping by the picnic and making it such a fun and positive place. I couldn’t do it without you!

To thank you for all the love, and since we’ve been talking about cookies a lot lately, I offer the Great Cookie Giveaway.

The rules are simple. Answer the following question in the comments below for your chance to win a half-dozen completely edible and incredibly yummy cookies from the experimental baker Becky McKay AND a half-dozen crochet chocolate chip cookies from me!* I’ll let the random number generator choose the lucky contestant. Then at noon MST on Friday, December 6, I’ll announce the winner. Okay, here’s your question…

What is your favorite kind of cookie?

Pretty easy, huh? One comment per person, please. Don’t worry, there’s no wrong answer and no answer will be considered better than any other. The winner will be chosen totally at random. So have fun everyone! I can’t wait to send out these cookies.

*For our friends outside the United States, unfortunately most international shipping laws prohibit the mailing of food, so I won’t be able to send you the edible portion of this prize, but I’ll add a variety of other crochet goodies instead.

November 25, 2013
by Squirrel Picnic 6 Comments

Wreath Spritz Cookie Crochet Pattern

It’s time for the second cookie in our Great Cookie Countdown: the spritz! Spritz are a vanilla-flavored butter cookie from Germany and Scandinavia. “Spritz” or “sprintzen” in German means “to squirt,” which describes how the cookie is made. The dough is loaded into a cookie press and a trigger is pulled to squirt the dough through a metal template at the end of the barrel, which molds the cookie into a decorative shape, such as a wreath, flower, or star.

Crocheting in the back loop for every row creates a beautiful rib pattern that imitates the design of a spritz wreath. Traditionally these cookies are red, green, white, or beige, but feel free to use whatever color strikes your fancy. Add some sprinkles if you like by sewing on seed beads.

Visit the Great Cookie Countdown Page for the story behind this series and a complete directory of Christmas cookie ornaments.

Spritz Wreath Cookie Crochet Pattern… Continue reading →

November 22, 2013
by Squirrel Picnic 23 Comments

The Basic Cookie Crochet Pattern

I thought we’d start off the Great Cookie Countdown with the easiest and most versatile of the patterns — your basic sugar cookie. Using embellishments like beads or embroidery, you can make a variety of cookies from this one pattern. Later I will show you how to use this pattern to make an iced sugar cookie and a chocolate chip cookie.

Visit the Great Cookie Countdown Page for the story behind this series and a complete directory of Christmas cookie ornaments.

The Basic Cookie Crochet Pattern…

Finished size: 3″ in diameter and about 1″ tall

Materials:

* If you are making this for a child, please consider embroidering the eyes and sprinkles.

Small amount of worsted weight yarn in beige
(Vanna’s Choice by Lion Brand in Beige)
G-6 (4.00 mm) crochet hook
Polyester Fiberfill (about a golf-ball-size amount for each cookie)
Tapestry needle
Ribbon for hanging (optional)

For optional sprinkles:
Beads — I used size 6/0 (3.3 mm)
Thread

For smiley face:
6 mm black safety eyes or small round black buttons
Black embroidery floss

Gauge:

5 sts = 1”
5 rnds = 1”

Instructions:

Bottom

Ch 2

Rnd 1: 6 sc in 2^nd ch from hook.

Rnd 2: 2 sc in ea sc around. Slst in 1^st sc to join. (12)

Rnd 3: Ch 1, * sc, inc, rep from * 5 more times. Slst in 1^st sc to join. (18)

Rnd 4: Ch 1, * 2 sc, inc, rep from * 5 more times. Slst in 1^st sc to join. (24)

Rnd 5: Ch 1, * 3 sc, inc, rep from * 5 more times. Slst in 1^st sc to join. (30)

Rnd 6: Ch 1, * 4 sc, inc, rep from * 5 more times. Slst in 1^st sc to join. (36)

FO and weave in ends.

Top

Ch 2

Rnd 1: 6 sc in 2nd ch from hook.

Rnd 2: 2 sc in ea sc around. (12)

Rnd 3: * sc, inc, rep from * 5 more times. (18)

Rnd 4: * 2 sc, inc, rep from * 5 more times. (24)

Rnd 5: * 3 sc, inc, rep from * 5 more times. (30)

Rnd 6: * 4 sc, inc, rep from * 5 more times. (36)

FO, leaving a long tail for sewing.

Stack top and bottom together with RS facing out. Using the long tail from the top, sew together along the edges. When you’re a little more than halfway around, stuff very lightly before sewing the rest together.

Embroider a design, as if with icing.

Or sew on beads for sprinkles.

And don’t forget the smiley face!

To proudly display your cookies, you might arrange them on a plate for Santa
or thread a ribbon through a stitch on the edge and hang them on your Christmas tree.

November 19, 2013
by Squirrel Picnic 31 Comments

The Great Cookie Countdown to Christmas Begins!

Every year my company holds a Christmas cookie exchange in December. I’ve participated for several years, but last year I was so busy with the blog that I didn’t have time to do any baking. I even joked with one of my coworkers that I should crochet the cookies instead. So this year, that’s exactly what I’m doing.

I’ve designed 8 different crochet cookies: some of them are American favorites and some are popular all over the world. I’ll publish the patterns over the next few weeks, so you can make these cookies as well. They’ll look very festive on a platter or as ornaments on your tree. And I’ll be sure to let you know how my platter of crocheted cookies goes over at the company cookie exchange.

If you have a favorite cookie that you think I should try to re-create in yarn, let me know. I hope to make this a holiday tradition at the picnic and would love to try to include your cookie next year.