Crochet Drupal Drop - Free Pattern

A little background on this pattern. In my day job, I work with an open-source web platform called Drupal. Drupal has an adorable logo, called the Drupal drop.

So I crocheted a Drupal drop as a surprise for our awesome developer at work. She loved it, by the way. And it was so quick and fun to make, that I'll probably make a few more.

And in the spirit of Open Source, here's the instructions to make your own:

Materials:

• worsted weight yarn - bright blue
• worsted weight yarn - white
• 4.5mm G crochet hook
• yarn Needle for sewing pieces together
• Stuffing

Abbreviations:

• ch = chain
• sc = single crochet
• sc dec = decrease (one sc across two stitches)
• sl st = slip stitch
• st = stitch
• hdc = half double crochet
• x 2 = repeat two times (etc for multiple numbers)

Body:

Using blue yarn. Worked in a spiral. Do not join, do not turn.
Start a circle via magic ring or whatever is your preference.
Rnd 1: In the magic ring, 6 sc
Rnd 2: 2 Sc in each sc around: 12 sc
Rnd 3: [sc, 2 sc in next sc] x 6: 18 sc
Rnd 4: [sc in next 2 sts, 2 sc in next sc] x 6: 24 sc
Rnd 5: [sc in next 3 sc, 2 sc in next sc] x 6: 30 sc
Rnd 6: [sc in next 4 sc, 2 sc in next sc] x 6: 36 sc
Rnd 7: [sc in next 5 sc, 2 sc in next sc] x 6: 42 sc
Rnd 8 - 15: sc in each sc around: 42 sc
Rnd 16: [sc in the next 5 sc, sc dec] x 6: 36 sc
Rnd 17: [sc in the next 4 sc, sc dec] x 6: 30 sc 
Rnd 18: [sc in the next 3 sc, sc dec] x 6: 24 sc 
Rnd 19: [sc in the next 2 sc, sc dec] x 6: 18 sc  Fill as full as you can with stuffing
Rnd 20: [sc, sc dec] x 6: 12 sc 
Rnd 21: [sc, sc dec] x 4: 8 sc Fill any further you can with stuffing

Rnd 22: [sc, sc dec] x 2: 5 sc

Rnd 23: [sc dec, sc, sc dec]: 3 sc

Join 3 top stitches, finish off and hide the extra yarn.

Eyes:

Note: the eyes are a little complicated, so apologies there. I tried to explain what I did the best I could.

using white yarn, ch 8

R1: hdc 3 times in the 2nd ch from hook, sc in next ch, sl st in next 3 chs, sc in next ch, hdc 3 times in last ch, and continue around to the other side of the chain (do not turn). You're circling around the chain.

R2: hdc in 1st st, sc in next st, sl st in next 2 stitches, sc, hdc, then sl st in next st.

R3: ch1, DO NOT TURN, sc, sc inc in next 2 st, sl st in next 5 st, sc, sc inc in next 2 st, sl stitch.

Finish off,  leaving tail long enough to sew the eyes onto the face.

Assembly:

Using a yarn needle, sew eyes onto face (see picture), then sew nose and mouth using white yarn.

Crochet Octopus

I bought this crochet octopus pattern back in January. I started crocheting it, piece by piece, tentacle by tentacle, sucker by sucker in May or so. I wasn't in a hurry, I just wanted to work on it whenever I had a little bit of time. You know, during lunch breaks, long car rides, church service, whatever. The cool thing about a pattern like this is that you really can just bring a little bit of yarn with you and just work on one piece of it at a time and then put them all together at home later.

And last night I finally finished him! I haven't named him yet. I think he will be Zeke's Christmas gift from me. So maybe I'll let Zeke name him.

I love how realistic he looks, and how easy the pattern is. I recommend it to anyone wanting to get into crochet. I've actually taught a few people how to crochet recently, and plan to do another craft night at my house in a couple of months to do a "refresher" course for anyone who needs it. Crochet is just too enjoyable to keep it all to myself.

The new life of the baby mobile

As you probably know, before Zeke was born, I crocheted him a sea creature baby mobile. It didn't actually make its way to hanging above the crib until we actually got him a crib around 6 months, but he has had it there for a few months now, and he enjoyed swatting at the goldfish. Well, Zeke grew two inches in under two weeks, and suddenly was able to get a good grip on it (unbeknownst to us) and pull the whole mobile down. When I saw it on the floor, I picked it up and set it on top of the dresser, planning to rehang it later. Well, Zeke caught a glimpse of it and started reaching for it... for two days anywhere I moved it, he would see it and cry for it, until we finally just handed it to him to see what he would do with it. What he did was carry the whole thing around with him for days, until he finally managed to detach a goldfish and the octopus. At first I was thinking I should take it away from him before he messes them up. But then I decided, I made it for Zeke to enjoy, and he's enjoying it, so who cares if he drools all over them?

So here he is at 10 months old, and for a week now he's been carrying around the individual creatures, as well as sometimes carrying around the coral with the jellyfish attached. I would have to say this is currently his favorite toy... and since he never seems to care about any of his toys, I've really been enjoying watching him get excited over the sea creatures I made for him. The mobile has taken on new life. I don't think we'll be hanging it back up.

Octopus Crochet Pattern

I just bought my first crochet pattern. Usually I make up my own or find free ones and modify them to my purposes. And in the past 8 months I've had very little time to crochet, thanks to the awesome little man that requires my attention.

But yesterday I was browsing around crochet patterns and happened upon this awesome Octopus pattern. I tried once or twice to crochet my own realistic looking octopus, but wasn't having much luck. I searched in vain for patterns that weren't cutesy... I at least wanted some realistic looking tentacles! Alas, I finally found what I was looking for, and for just $3 on ravelry. I saved it as a favorite so if I ever have time to make it I could look it up and buy it. I told Chris and he said, "You should just buy in now in case you can't find it later." So I did. I have no idea when I will have time to make this 3-foot long bugger, but I am super excited to now have the option to do so!

Too Freaking Cool.

This one goes right up there next to this tree frog in my "Patterns I want to make for myself if I ever get around to it" list. Of course maybe now it will be made for that awesome little guy that takes up my time.

The next thing I plan to actually make, though, is this dodecahedron for Zeke. I will put bells in it. Then I will hope he actually wants to play with it.

Zeke and the mobile

Zeke just got old enough to care about things like his mobile, so we finally put it up in his bassinet. The first time he saw it he was mesmerized for quite a while and actually smiled and talked to it, which was the best compliment a momma could get! Here he is at 11 weeks old, checking out his sea mobile.

Sea Creature Mobile

I've been working on this project for months now, started soon after Chris and I found out we were pregnant. I kept changing my mind about things over time and for a while I just wasn't inspired to work on it, but I finally finished over Christmas.

The creatures are made with a small hook and wool sock yarn, the coral base is made with worsted weight wool yarn.

I've written a pattern for it, and The Chris worked hard to take photos for me, so now I'm just looking for a couple of people to test the patterns and make sure it all makes sense, and if it works out, I'll try selling it on Etsy.

UPDATE: I've finally got the pattern completed and up for sale on Etsy!

Zeke's Sea Creature Mobile:

crochet baby toys

So much of my attention has been taken up by the little guy in my belly; so I've mainly been crocheting toys and rattles and such for him. Here are some of the things I've made in the last couple months, and didn't bother writing patterns for.

The thick grabby rings in the back right have jingle bells in them, as does the big block, which I felted (and which wound up larger than I expected, and more round than I expected, after felting). The barbell has something that rattles on both ends. And the rings are just felted rings.

I made this monster when I was sick, with some cool yarn Emily gave me. I might have to keep it away from Zeke when he's in the "put everything in his mouth" stage though, because I'm not sure how easy that fuzzy yarn would be to clean.

That's all for now. Once Chris takes a couple more photos for me, I'll also post photos of the mobile I finally finished.

Jaime's Phoenix

Not a lot of exciting things going on, but I do have a new amigurumi to show you. This is a phoenix I crocheted for Jaime's birthday.

luisa's bat

K-dawg emailed me and told me I needed to blog. And I've got a bit of downtime tonight hanging out in Lakeland, so I figured now was a good time.

This is the bat I made for my friend Luisa's 30th birthday. We stopped by to see her on Friday the 13th on our way down to Florida for a wedding.

Luisa used to work at the Luby Foundation outside Gainesville, Florida, where they housed a lot of bats. One time she took me and Tiffany on a tour and we had a blast. Here are some video and photos from our trip... 6 or 7 years ago.

Nora's Dragon

I posted this to my Flickr account a while back, but kept forgetting to post it here as well. This is the dragon I made for my friend Nora as a belated Christmas present (I think I managed to finish it right before the end of January).

I was inspired by this slightly fierce but friendly really dragon, but I wanted to come up with my own design. The first time around the face was more of an alligator's face, so I made my dad a gator for Christmas (but forgot to take a picture, alas).

More Instructables Awesomeness

Much to my surprise, I got an email today letting me know that my crocheted goldfish is one of the winners of the Lion Brand Yarn Challenge at Instructables.com. I had seen SO MANY great projects on there that I wasn't expecting to win at all, so I feel very honored.

In other news, our lives have been crazy and work has been crazy and so blogging has been... nil. But things are good, and we're starting to shop for a house in Atlanta, which is pretty exciting. I actually haven't done much crocheting lately, because I've been focussed on other things. I still have a ton of half-finished projects and ideas for projects that I want to work on... and I actually have photos of some things that I haven't posted yet.

But if you're here looking for craftiness, check out my husband's blog where he posted the tiny needle-felted deer trophy I made him for Valentine's day. It's my first needle felting project, I'm really happy with how it turned out. But he needs to post a side shot... it looks better from the side.

rocking my socks off

Okay, just when I was thinking I was making some kinda cool stuff, I find this girl's blog and find someone making way cooler stuff. I'm so jealous of her mad crochet skills... I like how she makes her stuff more realistic, not just cutesy. Most amigurumi is just some colored circles and cute eyes and a smile, it's a bit more rare to find someone doing something more realistic. I also think she's a bit more determined to make a ton of them until she gets it right... I don't have that much determination. Usually I just go with whatever I can come up with, or I give up. I never thought of brushing my yarn to make it fuzzier, I will definitely have to experiment with that now. And I might hafta try making her tree frog. I love tree frogs.

Penguin wins!

My crochet penguin pattern won 2nd prize in the Instructables Homemade Holidays contest! Hooray! I'm pretty psyched to get a subscription to Craft magazine. I'm already addicted to their blog.

Crochet Goldfish Pattern

I made a goldfish this week, and I actually kept track of what I did and wrote a pattern for it. Since I'm kind of experimenting with writing patterns, I'm giving it away for free:

Crochet goldfish pattern in Acrobat PDF format (right-click: Save Target As... in Internet Explorer)
I would love feedback from anyone who makes this. I'm thinking the yarn i used is a little too dark orange, I may go looking for another color yarn before i make another one.
All the photos are courtesy of my wonderful husband. Yay Chris!

Update: When I wrote the pattern I didn't have a lot of time, so I didn't spend much time trying to format it to specific rows or testing it for typos. So a lot of people are mentioning having trouble with it, which probably means it has typos, and would probably also be easier if I reformatted it. Since I don't have any time to do any of that, I'm just removing the pattern until some later date when I can reformat it and get a couple of testers. I did all of that (good formatting, a few testers to verify it all works) with the Sea Creature Mobile, so if you're looking for some goldfish, there's a pattern for a different style of goldfish there.

Update 5/18/2010: Okay, enough people have been asking me to post it, so it's back up. Most of the people who have asked for it also promised to send me feedback, but no one has, so if you are the rare person who actually goes through the pattern and wants to send me notes/suggestions/feedback to make it better, I will forever be in your debt. At any rate, you've been warned that the formatting is weird, plus I just did some strange things to get it to look the way it is supposed to and sometimes that's hard to explain, but I do think that if you can look past that you can get it to turn out okay. Good luck!

featured 2

New update, they also featured my penguin pattern. Pretty cool!

Crochet Penguin Pattern

Okay, I posted a pattern for my baby penguin on Instructables. This took way too much work.

crochet: rockhopper penguin

I just finished this for my cousin for Christmas, because he likes penguins. I'm not sure he turned out just like I expected, but I hope he likes it.

I think I'm going to try to write a pattern for the baby penguin. We'll see how that turns out.

more crochet

So I finally uploaded some photos of some of my other crochet projects... one of them I did a couple months ago, is this elephant that I made without a pattern... I still don't really know how I did it, and I'm not sure I could replicate it.

I also crochetted and felted this purse for my sis-in-law Nicole for Christmas... we just exchanged gifts this past weekend, so now I can show you.

She picked out the colors and gave me an idea of what she wanted, because I'm kind of determined not to make things like purses for people unless I know what they want... I don't want to spend 50 hours making something that someone is going to throw in their closet and never look at again, ya know?

I also made a purse for my other sis-in-law Emily for her birthday, but I don't k now where the pictures are. I forgot to upload them to flickr I guess. Alas, later.

Oh yeah, if you're wondering, I still haven't finished my sweater. I kind of got tired of making the sleeves, so I'm taking some time off from it while I try to get a few Christmas gifts made. It won't be a very handmade Christmas though, I just don't have a lot of time. ::sigh:: But hopefully I'll get that sweater finished this winter while I can still enjoy it.

fun crochet projects

These are the things I made this week. An iPod cozy (cuz my old case broke), and an amigurami bird. I made them both up from scratch... no patterns, so I'm pretty proud of them.

My bird needs a name, so I'm open to suggestions.

My iPod cozy isn't the prettiest thing ever, but it works.

I've got a few more photos of them up on my flickr site, some different angles of my bird and the back of my iPod cozy. Fun times.

more crochet

So I've gotten a couple more little crochet animals made, and I think I'm getting better at it... but I'm still not thrilled about em yet. But I'm getting there. My second project was this bunny. He doesn't have a name yet, so I'm taking suggestions. I've also made something else I can't post photos of yet cuz I'm giving them away and I don't want to ruin the surprise. So this is all you get for now. I have a whole bunch more patterns now, and I think it won't be TOO much longer before I'm ready to try things on my own instead of going off a pattern. We'll see.

Name my bunny!