Easter Egg Doodle

I wish I could call this an Easter Egg Zentangle, but I think that would overstate this little doodle of mine.

Each year the kids enter an Easter Egg Colouring Competition, and I don't like to feel left out, so I photocopied one for me to have a go with too.  Obviously I didn't enter mine into the kids competition, tempting though it was it would have been a little embarassing to lose against the kids!

I hope everyone has a lovely Easter holiday, we're aiming to find as many Easter Egg hunts as possible to complete, but so far we've only managed one.

Crochet Cross Bookmark

A while ago my daughter was invited to a Confirmation Party for a friend.  I was not sure what the drill was for a confirmation party, as we're not religious.  However I did decide that it would be nice to make a little something for the little girl who was getting Confirmed.  I decided to do something more in keeping with the occasion than either a hat or a bag like I would normally do.

I searched the web and found this lovely pattern for a crocheted Cross Bookmark.  I thought it was perfect.

I found the pattern easy going once I'd understood the meaning of the long single crochet stitch (basically reaching further in than the standard stitch, but still using a single crochet stitch to do it).  It was probably the first time I'd tried working in anything other than DK yarn, so I was really pleased with how it turned out.  I still am if I'm honest!

I think this could make a lovely addition to my Easter Tree/Easter Decorations.  I'm just hoping that I'll have some need to make another one in the future as it was a fun pattern to complete.

Crochet Lamb Chocolate Egg Cover

I said I would provide the pattern for the Crochet Lamb Chocolate Egg cover in this picture.

I personally like the lamb best, but the Husband thinks he looks like a Zombie Lamb.  Hmm, maybe I should have used beads for his eyes, or possibly embroidery thread as opposed to acrylic yarn.  I couldn't be bothered to go find some when I was creating him though.  My own fault. 

I used a 2.5mm hook with normal DK acrylic wool for this project.  The pattern is my own.  The terms are American terms

Body (Make one)

Row 1:              Magic Circle to begin and chain 1, then 5 single crochet into the circle. (5 st)

Row 2:              2 single crochet into each stitch (10st)

Row 3:             *2 single crochet into next stitch and 1 single crochet into the next stitch* - repeat until end (15st)

Row 4 - 13:       Single crochet around (15st)

Row 14:            *Single crcohet in next stitch, single crochet two together in next stitch* - repeat until end (10 st) Fasten off and weave tails in.

Head (Make one)

Chain 5, 3 single crochet into 2nd stitch from hook.  Continue with 1 single crochet in each chain to end of the chain stitches.  In last chain complete 5 single crochet.  You want to keep going around the other side of the chain and single crochet into each back loop of the chains.  When you get to the last stitch (the one you have already put 3 single crochet into) complete 2 more single crochet into the same stitch.  Close with a slip stitch. Chain 1, then single crochet all around.  Close with slip stitch and fasten off.

Or you could simply use a scrap of black felt and cut into an oval shape.

Ears (make two)

Chain 3,  3 single crochet into 2nd stitch from hook. 

5 Single Crochet into next stitch

This takes you back around to the first stitch complete 2 more single crochet in that stitch, slip stitch together and fasten off.

As with the head, you could use a couple of smaller scraps of black felt,also cut into ovals.

Finishing Off

Make two French knots/use pale beads for the lamb's eyes and sew on a mouth to the head section.

Sew the head onto the body and then sew the ears on either side of the head.

That's it.  You're finished.

The Easter Tree

Happy Easter.  Here is our Easter Tree.  Apparently it is quite tricky to photograph!

As well as the little felt lamb I showed you here, I also crocheted a few flowers for it.  We had some Easter stickers in my craft drawers and we used those to make some more decorations.  There are a few bought decorations as well.  

The kids decorated it with all the bits and bobs (well until they couldn't work out how to put any more on and then the Husband had to do it!).

I want to create some more chicks to put on there next year.  Hope everyone is having a fun day. 

Very Quick Felt Lamb Craft

I've been decorating an Easter Tree this week.  We always used to have an Easter Tree when I was little, but this is our first year with one.  I'm hoping to share some pictures of it soon.  I felt that it didn't have enough lamb related decorations on it, so I created a quick felt sheep/lamb.

I drew round a flower shaped cookie cutter, and then felted some black roving wool in three sections. One larger oval for the face and two smaller ones for the ears.  I then felted the yarn onto the back of the lamb's body so it could hang on the Easter Tree.  I added a couple of french knots with some embroidery thread.  The Husband is calling this craft the return of the zombie sheep.  Maybe that is a good thing, I can double up the decorations for use at Easter and Halloween?!  So I did another without the zombie looking eyes.

I'm not convinced.  I think I prefer eyes, zombie or otherwise.  Obviously I just need to work on something that looks more normal!

Crochet Owl Chocolate Egg Cover

Yep, I seem to have got obsessed with Egg covers, those they could all be turn into cuddly toys/bean bags or....nope maybe that is it!

This is a slightly easier pattern (I think anyway) because you don't start off in the round, you start with a chain that joins up and then you continue to crochet around that.  I love owls and at the craft fair I went to recently I saw a couple of owl cuddly toys and figured I could make something similar.  Although I think the ones I saw were knitted, so I was never going to make something exactly the same.  Knitting and I don't mix!

I really love this little guy, and I'm so pleased how he turned out. I want to do a whole load and I wish I'd started a little earlier so I could have made enough for a little thank you for teachers this Easter.  I think he would look awesome in stripes or colour blocks too.

I used a 2.5mm hook with normal DK acrylic wool for this project.  The pattern is my own.  The terms are American terms

Body (Make one)

Row 1          Chain 20 and join in a circle.  Make sure you don't twist the chain otherwise you'll get                             frustrated (trust me on that one!)
Row 2 - 10   Chain 2 and then half double crochet into each stitch and sip stitch to Join at the end                                of the row.
Row 11        You should have a hollow cylinder now.  Fold this in half.  Single crochet the first 2                                stitches together.  Chain 3 and slip stitch into the first chain (this makes his little ears, so                          you are making a little picot ear).  Continue to single crochet along the top until the last                          stitch and then chain 3 and slip stitch into the first chain (this is the other ear) and then do                        one last single crochet before fastening off.

Eyes (Make two)
Row 1         Magic circle , chain 1 and 6 single crochet into the circle. Join with slip stitch to the chain
Row 2         Chain 1, 2 single crochet into each stitch.  Join with slip stitch to the chain and fasten off

Use embroidery thread to make the eyes.  I love the sleeping owl look, but you could quite easily have a wide awake owl if you wanted.  I would probably crochet up to the end of the first row of the eyes in black and then swap to the white yarn (or just do an extra black circle and sew it into place).

Alternatively you could use scraps of felt cut into circles

Attach these to the body.  I found this quite fiddly.


Wings (Make two)
Chain 6, 3 single crochet into the 2nd stitch from the hook and along the remaining chains.  5 single crochet into the end chain.  Single crochet on the other side of the chain (into the back loops).  In the last chain (the one you have already put 3 single crochet into at the beginning) complete 2 more single crochet.  Slip stitch to join.

Chain 1, single crochet around, but at the end where you did 5 single crochet before, on the 3rd single crochet chain 2 (this just makes a little point at the end of the wing, it isn't necessary, but I prefer it that way) , and continue to single crochet around.  Slip stitch into the chain and fasten off.  Attach these wings to the side of the body.

Finishing Off
I simply added a scrap of orange felt (with fabric glue - I'm lazy) to make a beak and you're done.

If you wanted to make it big enough to fit comfortably over a normal egg, I would simply up the hook size, I would imagine a 3.5mm hook would do it. Depends on the size of you eggs I suppose!

Paper Bunnies

Getting ready for Easter I was thinking about what crafts we could do and what we have done in the past.  We have made some lovely bunny paper punch art a couple of years ago.  For this one I used 2 different sized circle punches and then cut out a couple of ear shapes and used some cotton wool for the tail and drew on the whiskers.  It is an easy Easter card to recreate.

Another bunny paper punch art, but this time no bottoms!  We used an egg/oval shaped hole punch and then added a couple of cut out ear shapes and a little paper punched heart.  Googly eyes and some whiskers and you're done!

Whilst looking for rabbit related crafts, I came across this on the Crafty Crow blog. Sadly when I followed the link, this particular cut out was no longer available.  So I have created my own and thought I would share.

I designed it to fit on a piece of A5 paper.  Print it out landscape onto A4, cut off the large blank expanse, fold in half and then cut out the shaded bits to create the rabbit in the frame.  I hope you like it. :o)

Rabbit Template PDF

Crochet Bunnies

I didn't realise, but it turns out that I like making bunnies/rabbits.

I found a couple of lovely patterns for free online.  One to make a bunny cuddly.  I really, really love this pattern.  It was the first baby toy I had ever attempted to make and it came together really quickly. I'll admit I don't use two strands of wool to crochet him, just one Double Knit Acrylic.  Oh and I extended his arms by a couple of stitches so that it was easier to knot them into hands.

I wanted to make sure that he would be washable as I know how essential that can be with baby toys! To make sure he was safe I didn't use beads for the eyes, but I've seen there are those safety eyes you can sew on too.  There are lots of projects for this little fella on Ravelry, and I looked through them all to get inspiration on how I wanted his face to look.  Then I decided on one that I felt I probably could at least have an attempt at re-creating.  There are some lovely faces for bunnies on there, it is worth a look for inspiration.  I've made a couple now, though only managed to photograph one, and I love how each one can look totally different.  I also love how you can make a mistake or two and hopefully no one will spot them!

I also love this little appliqué bunny.  I made a few for our New Year's Eve Party this year and added them to elastic and used them for napkin rings.  As I had made them out of various coloured scrap yarn, we also used them around our glasses, so we knew which glass belonged to who.  Since then my daughter has used them as hair bands and bracelets.

Now, as Easter is coming up I decided this was the year I was finally going to create some of my own chocolate egg covers.  My Mum and Mother in Law have both found/made lovely ones in the past for my kids, so I figured, how hard can it be?  Turned out not so hard at all.

I used a 2.5mm hook with normal DK acrlyic wool for this project.  The pattern is my own.  The terms are American terms

Body (Make one)

Row 1:              Magic Circle to begin and chain 1, then 5 single crochet into the circle. (5 st)
Row 2:              2 single crochet into each stitch (10st)
Row 3:             *2 single crochet into next stitch and 1 single crochet into the next stitch* - repeat until end (15st)
Row 4 - 13:       Single crochet around (15st)
Row 14:            *Single crcohet in next stitch, single crochet two together in next stitch* - repeat until end (10 st) Fasten off and weave tails in.

Ears (Make 2) - These are inspired by the ears for the bunny cuddly above)

Row 1:              Chain 2
Row 2:              3 single crochet into 2nd chain from hook
Row 3:              6 single crochet around (so 2 single crochet into each stitch)
Row 4 :             *2 single crochet in next stitch, 1 single crochet in next stitch* repeat 2 times
Row 5 - 12:      Single crochet around
Row 6:             Single crochet two together, repeat 3 more times.  Fasten off - Leave a longish tail to sew on the ears.


Finishing Off:   Sew 2 beads on for eyes, use some thread to make a mouth and whiskers (I didn't have any black embroidery thread, so mine is just thick yarn.  Sew on the ears to the top of the body and add 2 small pieces of felt to them.  Lastly, but most importantly(!) add your chocolate egg, this also fits the plastic inside of a Kinder Egg, if you want to add your own chocs/treats to it. I've also created a little lamb chocolate egg cover and I'll be back soon to share the pattern for that.  I imagine that they would both work as egg warmers if you upped the hook size to at least a 3mm hook, maybe a 3.5mm hook.

The most impressive thing about this project is not that I managed to get the size right on the first try, but the fact that over a week later, the chocolate egg is still inside the bunny and hasn't been eaten by any member of the family yet...