The final pat­tern in our 12 Days of Wood­land Crea­tures (and Their Favourite Things) project!

Bad­ger’s favourite thing might be mush­rooms! Accord­ing to this (ridicu­lous and kind of hilar­i­ous) video.

I googled “bad­ger” and quick­ly learned that it’s got grey fur. But I’ve always imag­ined it hav­ing brown or tan colour fur. Maybe I’ve been con­fus­ing it with gophers :S But any­way, this is why my bad­ger is tan-coloured. Strange­ly, it does­n’t look right to me in grey. But of course you can make yours in grey or any oth­er colour you like :)

Bad­ger has a chub­bier body than the fox and the opos­sum (so I have been told by Wikipedia). It also has a tail made of loop stitch but less fluffy and short­er than the fox’s.

I used:

Worsted weight yarn in white, tan and grey (for nose)

3.5 mm hook

Small beads for eyes

Nee­dle and thread for sewing

Pat­tern:

Head

Head is worked in rounds and also back and forth, i.e. turn at the end of each round, so that the stripe pat­tern on the bad­ger’s face does­n’t start to slant.

*IMPORTANT*

*To switch colours in an sc row: in the stitch before colour change, insert hook and draw up a loop, then drop the cur­rent colour of yarn you’re using, attach or pick up the new colour of yarn, yo and pull through both loops on hook to com­plete the sc, then make the next stitch in the new colour.

*When switch­ing colours on the wrong side (WS), move the strand of yarn cur­rent­ly in use to the front of the work (the side fac­ing you) before mak­ing the next stitch with the new colour.

*Car­ry the strand of colour not in use with you as you cro­chet the front of the head, wrap­ping the strand not in use in the stitch­es you make, but drop the strand of tan colour yarn when you cro­chet the back of the head in white.

Round 1 (right side): with white, ch 2, 4 sc in 2nd ch from hook, sl st in first sc to join, turn.

Round 2 (wrong side): ch 1 (does not count as a stitch), 2 sc in each sc around, sl st in first sc to join, turn.

Round 3 (RS): ch 1, sc in first sc, attach tan yarn, sc in next sc with tan, sc in same sc with white, sc in next sc with white, sc in next sc with tan, sc in same sc with white, *sc in next sc with white, 2 sc in next sc with white*, repeat from * to * once more, sl st in first sc to join, turn.

Round 4 (WS): con­tin­u­ing with white, ch 1, sc in first sc, sc in next sc with tan, sc in next 2 sc with white, sc in next sc with tan, sc in each sc with white till end of round, sl st in first sc to join, turn.

Round 5 (RS): ch 1, sc in first sc with white, 2 sc in next sc with tan, sc in next 2 sc with white, 2 sc in next sc with tan, sc in each sc with white until end of round, sl st in first sc to join, turn.

Round 6 (WS): ch 1, sc in first sc with white, sc in next 2 sc with tan, sc in next 2 sc with white, sc in next 2 sc with tan, sc in each sc with white until end of round, sl st in first sc to join, turn.

Round 7 (ears): press head flat with work­ing loop in the right top cor­ner of head. Cro­chet­ing through both front and back lay­ers of head, ch 1, sc in next sc with white, switch to tan, ch 1, dc in next sc, ch 1, sl st in same st as last dc just made, sl st in next sc, switch to white, sl st in next 2 sc, switch to tan, sl st in next 2 sc, ch 1, dc in same st as last sl st just made, ch 1, fas­ten off tan, switch to white, sc in last sc, sl st in same sc, fas­ten off, weave in ends.

Body

Round 1: with tan, 6 sc in mag­ic ring, do not join.

Round 2: 2 sc in each sc around, do not join (12 sc).

Round 3: *2 sc in next sc, sc in next sc*, repeat from * to * around, do not join (18 sc).

Con­tin­ue with 1 sc in each sc around until piece is 3/4″ tall.

Decrease round: *sc in next sc, 2‑sc-tog over next 2 sc*, repeat from * to * around, do not join (12 sc).

Con­tin­ue with 1 sc in each sc around for 2 more rounds of 12 sc in each round.

Last round: *2‑sc-tog over next 2 sc* 6 times. Leav­ing a tail for sewing, fas­ten off.

Tail

Row 1: with tan and leav­ing a tail for sewing, ch 3, sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in next ch, turn.

Row 2: ch 1 (does not count as a st), 2 loop stitch­es (lp st) in first sc, lp st in next sc, turn.

Row 3: ch 1, lp st in each st across, turn.

Row 4: ch 1, lp st in first st, skip next st, sp st in last st, turn.

Row 5: ch 1, lp st in each st across, fas­ten off, weave in end.

Assem­bly:

Sew on eyes and embroi­der nose. *Tip: when sewing on eyes, insert sewing nee­dle and tie off thread in the bot­tom part of the head where it will be cov­ered by the neck part of the body when attach­ing the head and body together.

Sew head on body, sew tail on body. Weave in ends.

 

The bad­ger is feel­ing very hon­oured to con­clude our 12 Days of Wood­land Crea­tures (and Their Favourite Things) project :D

Thanks so much for jour­ney­ing along, every­one! I think I will make a pho­to col­lage of all the crea­tures and things in this project, and will post a call for pho­tos so there can be a pho­to col­lage of your cre­ations as well. Stay tuned! Have a great start to the week!

 

We’re at the 11th pat­tern for the 12 Days of Wood­land Crea­tures (and Their Favourite Things) project! :D

But first, apolo­gies for the recent delays of post­ing these pat­terns! My com­put­er had died a week ago, so it’s been chal­leng­ing to re-size and upload pho­tos for the blog. As Mike is help­ing me set up a replace­ment com­put­er hope­ful­ly there won’t be as long of a wait for the last pat­tern of the series!

As men­tioned in my first post for this project, I’m mak­ing all these crea­tures and their favourite things for a baby mobile. And I heard through the Rav­el­ry CAL group that there are oth­ers who are inter­est­ed in mak­ing mobiles too! That’s awesome!

For the foliage, I chose oak for strength, gink­go for peace and wis­dom, and vine for the resilience and tenac­i­ty to over­come the chal­lenges that comes his way. All my best wish­es for the young one.

SO! My plan for this gar­land is to attach it around the wood­en hoop that the oth­er crea­tures and things will dan­gle from. (I might use an embroi­der hoop if I can’t find a plain wood­en hoop or ring, I envi­sion it to be about 6–7″ in diameter.)

But it can also be a reg­u­lar gar­land for dec­o­rat­ing the walls. And it can have oth­er crea­tures added to it, like this adorable bat by Lucy Raven­scar that I just spot­ted today :D And again I spaced the leaves rather close­ly in prepa­ra­tion for the mobile, but you can adjust the lengths in between leaves in any way you like.

The con­struc­tion involves cro­chet­ing the oak and gink­go leaves sep­a­rate­ly, and then mak­ing a chain of vine and small­er leaves, and attach­ing the oak and gink­go leaves as you cro­chet the vine. You can attach oth­er crea­tures to it in the same way.

I used:

Worsted weight yarn in orange, yel­low, dark green, bright green, and blue-green (but I’m sure oth­er colour com­bi­na­tions will look fab­u­lous too!)

3.5 mm hook

Pat­tern:

Oak (make as many as you’d like)

The oak leaf is cre­at­ed by first cro­chet­ing half the leaf down the mid­dle chain, then mak­ing the stem, then cro­chet­ing the oth­er half of the leaf, going up the same mid­dle chain.

First half: ch 12, sc in 5th ch from hook, ch 2, dc in next ch, ch 2, sc in next ch, ch 3, 2‑tr-tog over next 2 ch, ch 3, sc in next ch, ch 2, dc-sc-tog* over next 2 ch, ch 1, sl st in last ch, do not fas­ten off.

*dc-sc-tog: yo, insert hook in next ch, draw up a loop, yo and pull through 2 loops on hook, insert hook in next ch, draw up a loop, yo and pull through all loops on hook.

Stem: ch 4, sl st in 2nd ch from hook, sl st in next 2 ch, do not fas­ten off.

*you can make the stem longer or short­er by mak­ing more or few­er ch.

Sec­ond half: cro­chet­ing in the remain­ing loop of the mid­dle chain, sl st in first ch of mid­dle chain, ch 1, sc-dc-tog* over next 2 ch, ch 2, sc in next ch, ch 3, 2‑tr-tog over next 2 ch, ch 3, sc in next ch, ch 2, dc in next ch, ch 2, sl st in next ch, fas­ten off, weave in ends.

*sc-dc-tog: insert hook in next ch, draw up a loop, yo, insert hook in next ch, draw up a loop, yo and pull through 2 loops on hook, yo and pull through all remain­ing loops on hook.

Gink­go (make as many as you’d like)

For the gink­go leaf we are cro­chet­ing in the front loop only.

ch 9.

Row 1: sc in sec­ond ch from hook, sc in next 3 ch, turn.

Row 2: sl st in first sc, sl st in next 2 sc, sc in last sc, ch 1, turn.

Row 3: sc in first sc, sl st in next 3 st, sl st in next ch in the begin­ning chain, turn.

Row 4: sl st in first st, sl st in each st across until last st, sc in last sc, ch 1, turn.

Row 5: sc in first sc, sl st in each st across, sl st in next ch in the begin­ning chain, turn.

Row 6: sl st in first st, sl st in next 3 st, ch 3, turn.

Row 7: sc in sec­ond ch from hook, sl st in next ch, sl st in each st across, sl st in next ch in the begin­ning chain, turn.

Row 8–10: repeat rows 4–5, then row 4 once more.

Row 11: sc in first sc, sl st in next 4 st, turn.

Row 12: skip first st, sl st in next st, sl st in next 2 st, sc in last st, ch 1, turn.

Row 13: sc in first sc, sl st in next 3 st, sl st in skipped st in the row below, sl st in remain­ing unworked st in 2 rows below, sl st in the first ch of the begin­ning ch (the ch 9 in the very begin­ning), don’t fas­ten off.

Stem: ch 7, sl st in sec­ond ch from hoo, sl st in each ch across, sl st in the first ch of the begin­ning ch (the ch 9 in the very begin­ning). Fas­ten off, weave in ends.

Vine

The vine is made of chains, and you can cro­chet the leaves as fre­quent­ly as you like between chains.

Small leaf: ch 4, dc in 3rd ch from hook, ch 1, sl st in top of dc just made, ch 3, sl st in same ch where dc was made. Con­tin­ue ch for vine.

When you want to attach an oak or gink­go leaf, make sl st across the back of the leaf. Here’s a back view of the gar­land to show how the leaves are attached.

It might even make a nice leaf crown :D (silli­ness is absolute­ly necessary)

 

Have a love­ly week­end, everyone!

 

Do you say pos­sum or opossum?

“The ‘O’ is silent, I think,” sug­gests Mike.

Or we can say, “pos­sum, o‑possum” all poet­ic-like. Which reminds me of the won­der­ful voice-act­ing of William Shat­ner in Over the Hedge as Ozzie the pos­sum, espe­cial­ly in the “Rose­bud” scene.

Here’s the 10th (!!) pat­tern of our 12 Days of Wood­land Crea­tures project! A possum!

I used:

Worsted weight yarn in white, grey and pink

3.5 mm hook

2 small beads for eyes

Nee­dle and thread for sewing and embroidering

Pat­tern

Head

Round 1: With white, 4 sc in mag­ic ring, join in first sc.

Round 2: ch 1, *2 sc in next sc, 1 sc in next sc*, repeat from * to * around, join in first sc.

Round 3–4: repeat round 2.

Round 5–6: ch 1, 1 sc in each sc around, join in first sc.

Round 7 (ears):

Change to grey, fas­ten off white, press head flat so that the work­ing loop on the hook is on the right top cor­ner of head. So there would be 1 stitch at each cor­ner of head, and 6 stitch­es in between on both sides (14 stitch­es around alto­geth­er). Cro­chet through both lay­ers of head.

ch 2, hdc in next sc through both lay­ers, ch 2, sl st in same st as the hdc, sc in next sc, skip next sc, 3 sc in the stitch direct­ly below next sc (in the row below), sc in next sc, sl st in next sc, ch 2, hdc in last sc, ch 2, sl st in last sc, fas­ten off, weave in ends.

Body

Round 1: With grey, 6 sc in mag­ic ring, do not join.

Round 2: 2 sc in each sc around, do not join (12 sc).

Con­tin­ue mak­ing 1 sc in each sc around until piece is 1″ tall.

Nex­t row: *1 sc in next sc, 2 sc tog over next 2 sc*, repeat from * to * 3 more times.

1 sc in each sc around until piece is 1.75″ tall. Fas­ten off, leave tail for sewing.

Tail

With pink, ch 12, sl st in sec­ond ch from hook, sl st in each ch to end, fas­ten off, leave tail for sewing.

Assem­bly

Embroi­der nose with pink yarn. Sew on eyes. *Tip: insert sewing/embroidering nee­dles from the low­er (or chin) part in the back of the head and tie off threads/yarn there, because it will be cov­ered by the neck part of the body when it’s attached to the head.

Attach body to low­er part of the head on the back of the head.

Attach tail to low­er bot­tom of body.

 

Pos­sum is wish­ing every­one a very hap­py week! :D

 

 

 

Pre­sent­ing… squin­ty fox!

9th Pat­tern in the 12 Days of Wood­land Crea­tures project :D

A very spe­cial thank-you to Kate of Signed with an Owl, who left a com­ment on the owl pat­tern post about using the loop stitch to make a squir­rel’s tail, which gave me the idea to try the loop stitch for the fox’s tail. It makes it extra fluffy!

I used:

Worsted weight yarn in orange, white, black and brown

3.5 mm hook

Tapes­try nee­dle for embroi­der­ing and sewing

Pat­tern:

Head

Round 1: with white, 4 sc in mag­ic ring, sl st in first sc to join.

Round 2: ch 1 (does not count as a stitch), *1 sc in next sc, 2 sc in next sc* around, sl st in first sc to join, switch to orange, fas­ten off white. (6 sc)

Round 3: ch 1, 2 sc in each sc around, sl st in first st to join. (12 sc)

Round 4: ch 1, *1 sc in next sc, 2 sc in next sc* around, sl st in first sc to join. (18 sc)

Round 5–6: ch 1, 1 sc in each sc around, sl st in first sc to join. (18 sc)

*Note: As I’ve men­tioned in the first wood­land crea­tures post, I’m mak­ing these ani­mals for a baby mobile so I’m mak­ing them flat, but all of the pat­terns are designed with dou­ble lay­ers for stur­di­ness, and you can always slight­ly stuff them so they’re a bit more 3‑dimensional and plush-like. For the fox, now would be good time to stuff the head before the ear row.

Ears

Press the top open­ing of the head flat so that the stitch on the hook is on the top cor­ner edge of the head. We’re now cro­chet­ing through both lay­ers of the head.

ch 2, 2 dc tog over the next 2 sc, ch 1, sl st in top of 2‑dc-tog just made, ch 2, sl st in the sec­ond st of the 2‑dc-tog, sl st in next 4 sc, ch 2, 2 dc tog over next 2 sc, ch 1, sl st in top of 2‑dc-tog just made, ch 2, sl st in last sc on the top cor­ner edge of the head. Fas­ten off.

Body

Round 1: With orange, 6 sc in mag­ic ring, do not join.

Round 2: 2 sc in each sc around, do not join (12 sc).

Con­tin­ue mak­ing 1 sc in each sc around until piece is 1″ tall.

Nex­t row: *1 sc in next sc, 2 sc tog over next 2 sc*, repeat from * to * 3 more times.

1 sc in each sc around until piece is 1.75″ tall. Now is a good time to stuff the body if you’d like.

Next row: *1 sc in next sc, 2 sc tog over next 2 sc* twice.

Last row: 1 sc in each sc around, fas­ten off, leave a tail for sewing.

Tail

*Note: Loop stitch is worked on both sides of the tail. Though all of the designs in this project are flat and can be used for applique, they are all designed to be viewed on both sides, so they will also work as orna­ments :D

Tail is cro­cheted in rows.

With orange, leav­ing a 6″ tail for sewing, ch 3.

Row 1: sc in sec­ond ch from hook, sc in next sc, turn.

Row 2: ch 1 (does not count as a stitch), lp st (loop stitch) in each sc across, turn.

Row 3: repeat row 2.

Row 4: ch 1, lp st in first st, 2 lp st in next st, turn.

Row 5: repeat row 2.

Row 6: ch 1, lp st in first st, 2 lp st in next st, lp st in last st, turn.

Row 7: ch 1, lp st in first st, 2 lp st in next st, lp st in each st to end, turn.

Row 8: switch to white, ch 1, lp st in first st, skip next st, lp st in each st to end, turn.

Row 9–10: repeat row 8.

There will be 2 loop stitch­es in the end, fas­ten off, weave in all ends.

Assem­bly:

Embroi­der the white inner ears, nose, and eyes.

*Tip: Insert sewing nee­dle into the white part of the head on the back when embroi­der­ing, and always tie off in that part, because it will be cov­ered by the neck part of the body when attach­ing the body to head.

Attach body to head by sewing togeth­er the top row of the body to the first row of orange (after the white part) on the back of the head, sewing through all lay­ers of the body to the head.

Attach tail to bot­tom of the back of the body.

Mr. Fox is com­plete! :D

 

Have a won­der­ful Fri­day and week­end, everyone!

8th pat­tern in the 12 Days of Wood­land Crea­tures (and Their Favourite Things) project!

When we have a bee, we must have a bird. The bird also shares the same wing pat­tern as the bee :D

I used:

Worsted weight yarn in laven­der, blue and tan (or oth­er colour com­bi­na­tions you like).

3.5 mm hook

2 small black beads for eyes

Pink embroi­dery thread for rosy cheeks

Nee­dle and thread for sewing

Pat­tern:

Head and body (make 2)

Head is cro­cheted in rounds, while body is cro­cheted in rows.

Round 1: With main body colour, 6 sc in mag­ic ring, do not join.

Round 2: 2 sc in each sc around (12 sc), do not join.

Round 3: *2 sc in next sc, sc in next sc*, repeat from * to * around (18 sc), do not join.

Now we start on the body.

Row 1: con­tin­u­ing from the head, 1 sc in each of next 3 sc, turn.

Row 2: ch 1 (does not count as a stitch), 2 sc in next sc, 1 sc in each of next two sc, turn.

Row 3: ch 1, 1 sc in each of next two sc, hdc in next sc, 2 dc in next sc, turn.

Row 4: ch 1, hdc in first dc, sc in each st across, turn.

Row 5: ch 1, sc in first sc, 2 sc in next sc, sc in next sc, hdc in next sc, dc in last st, turn.

Row 6: ch 1, 2 dc tog over next 2 st, 2 dc tog over next 2 st, hdc in next st, sc in last st, turn.

Row 7: ch 2, skip first sc, 2 dc tog over next 2 st, leave remain­ing st unworked, fas­ten off, leave a long tail for sewing.

Repeat pat­tern for the 2nd side of bird, but no need to leave long tail for sewing.

Wings (make 2)

With wing colour, 4 sc in mag­ic ring, ch 2, work 2 dc tog by work­ing 1 dc in mag­ic ring and 1 dc in first sc, fas­ten off, leav­ing long tail for sewing when fin­ish­ing one of the wings. Secure­ly tie off the loose end of mag­ic ring and weave in ends.

Assem­bly

Sew eye and embroi­der rosy cheeks to each side of the bird. Sew the 2 sides of bird togeth­er. Sew wings to body. Weave in ends.

Beak

Attach beak colour yarn to 5th stitch from the stitch where head and body meet, in the “chin” area of the bird.

Insert­ing hook through both lay­ers of the bird, ch 1, 2 sc tog over same st where yarn is attached and next st, ch 1, sl st in the top of the 2‑sc-tog just made, sl st in the 2nd sc of the 2‑sc-tog. Fas­ten off, weave in ends.

Bird is ready to take flight!

 

Have a fan­tas­tic week ahead, everyone!

 

The 7th pat­tern in the 12 Days of Wood­land Crea­tures (and Their Favourite Things) project!

It’s been a very busy week (hence the delay in post­ing this pat­tern, so sor­ry about that!). I’m fran­ti­cal­ly mak­ing as much stuff as pos­si­ble for my booth at a show this week­end (more below!!), at the same time prepar­ing for a research pre­sen­ta­tion and try­ing to meet oth­er dead­lines… *deep breath* so I thought a bee pat­tern would be a per­fect rep­re­sen­ta­tion of this busyness!

He’s very quick to make. The body con­sists of only 6 rows of 6 stitch­es around. But because of the colour change and his tiny size it can be a lit­tle tricky. The good thing is that because it’s such a small and quick pat­tern even if one has to start over it’s not such a big deal. It took me a cou­ple of tries to get the join­ing seam neat and tight, so don’t be dis­cour­aged if your first try does­n’t go as smooth­ly as you’d like, the bee will come along with just a bit of prac­tice :) Those tiny wings are pret­ty sweet, if I do say so myself.

I used:

Worsted weight yarn in yel­low and black

Sport weight yarn in pale blue

3.5 mm hook (for body)

2.25mm hook (for wings — you can prob­a­bly use a hook size from 2mm to 2.5mm, it does­n’t have to be exact)

2 small seed beads for eyes

Nee­dle and thread for sewing and embroidering

Pink thread for embroi­der­ing mouth

Pat­tern:

Body (use 3.5mm hook)

Row 1: with yel­low, 6 sc in mag­ic ring, sl st in first sc to join.

Row 2: ch 1, 1 sc in each sc around, sl st in first sc to join, change to black yarn, car­ry yel­low yarn up as you go.

Row 3: repeat row 2 with black, change to yel­low, car­ry black yarn up as you go.

Row 4: repeat row 2 with yel­low, change to black, car­ry yel­low up as you go.

Row 5: repeat row 2 with black, change to yel­low, fas­ten off black.

Stuff body with some scrap yarn.

Row 6: ch 1, *2 sc tog over next 2 sc*, repeat from * to * two more times, fas­ten off, leave a 6″ tail.

Weave yarn tail through the remain­ing 3 sc, pull tight, fas­ten off, weave in end.

Tiny wings (make 2, use 2.25mm hook)

With pale blue, 4 sc in mag­ic ring, ch 2, 2 dc tog in mag­ic ring and in first sc made in ring, fas­ten off, leave a 6″ tail.

Secure­ly tie off the loose end of the mag­ic ring, weave in and cut end.

Assem­bly

Tie both wings to one stitch at the top of body.

Sew on eyes and embroi­der mouth, hid­ing thread ends and knots in the black stripes at the back of the body.

And buzzzz!

Here’s the bee with my fin­gers hold­ing it as size reference.

AND if you’re in Toron­to or near­by, and look­ing for fun things to do on the week­end, come by the Week­end Ven­dor’s Mar­ket! It’s at 1630 Dun­das Street West.

I have a booth in the mar­ket tomor­row. It’s been a long time since I’ve done a booth so I want­ed to make some­thing new. And guess what, it’s wood­land themed! :D

Here are my fan­cy stealthy friends: city ban­dit, nin­ja cat, gar­den rab­bit, and white squir­rel (not pic­ture, because, stealth!)

 

And an assort­ment of mush­room and acorn pins and magnets.

 

And as you may rec­og­nize, owls and hedge­hogs too!

 

Plus! Mike has also made a series of delight­ful greet­ing cards! Would love to see you if you’re in the neigh­bour­hood! :D

Nuit Blanche is also hap­pen­ing tomor­row evening so it’s a good time to come explor­ing in the city!

Wish­ing you a fab­u­lous week­end of rest and fun!