Moji-Moji Design

Original Amigurumi Crochet Patterns


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Pretty Pastels

It’s been an out of the ordinary kind of week this time. Two boys off from school and college for the Easter holidays and one back from Uni. How lovely to see a bit more of them for a change, chatting over tea breaks and meal times and enjoying the odd trip to town and the cinema. But equally nice to just know that they’re around and about in the house, doing their own thing and being independent teens. That means that I get my free time too for a spot of crochet or a bit of Easter decorating.

My bunny sketches are transforming into their yarn equivalents very pleasingly. I’ve worked out the basic pattern and now have all the fun of experimenting with colours. I prefer to finalize the details with hook and yarn as I go along, but these finished dolls are going to be a pretty close match to these doodles, more or less – except for the ears, and the collars and the carrot buttons!

The proportions are going to be roughly the same anyway…

Spring-Bunnies-mojimojidesi

I have a lovely work basket full of soft spring pastels to play with for the bunny outfits. I was hoping to have this pattern finished by now, but spending the extra time with the boys was fun and I know that’s not a decision I’ll live to regret. Anyway, bunnies aren’t just for Easter, they’re for life and I’m sure these bunnies will love to be treasured all year round. Well let’s be honest, who wouldn’t?

BunnyMaking-mojimojidesign

Lots of buttons and beads to play around with as well. Another part of the design process that I love, though I usually end up keeping it simple, I like to assess all the options and use it as an excuse to have a nosey through my many boxes of notions and nick-nacks.

FunnyBunny

I really enjoy making double patterns as it gives me more scope to expand my ideas, and I have the added bonus of knowing my creations have a trusty friend to call their own! Boy bunny is looking snazzy all dressed up in blue and lemon but I’ve become a bit obsessed with pink and aqua at the moment so that’s what girl bunny will be wearing. I’ve been happily pinning gorgeous images, devoted exclusively to that colour combo over on Pinterest. Here are just a few of my favorites…

PinkAquaInspiration

You can find these lovely images (from left to right) on these equally lovely websites:

vintage-home.co.uk    houseofturquoise.com

cocorosetextiles.blogspot.co.uk     ana-rosa.tumblr.com

I’ve been experimenting with putting various hues of pink and aqua together, for fun and inspiration, trying out bits of yarn here and there, to get the shades a picture perfect match to the hues dancing around in my head. Those little Granny Squares in the middle are the very beginning of another big project. This one will be a soft, squishy coverlet for my bed. Just a few more rows to finish on the Mexican blanket and then I can give myself full permission to go tumbling head over heels on this new adventure.

PinkAquaThings

As busy as this week has been there was a little time left over to decorate my Easter tree, so I went about carefully unwrapping my collection of festive eggs and hanging them from these twiggy boughs. With the addition of my recently crocheted micro chicks and eggs (free pattern here) I think it looks just grand. It will have pride of place in the center of the kitchen table for the next few days at least. Although it may turn out to be longer, after all I still have some snowflakes hanging up from Christmas in the bay window!

EasterTwigTree

Just time to tidy up the mess I’ve made and then I’m going to sit down and admire my handiwork.

EasterDecs

There’s a chocolate bunny whose been earmarked, or maybe I should say earlopped, to enjoy with a cup of tea. I reckon I’ve earned a treat, and its only a few hours until Easter Day!

Easterday

Enjoy your weekend folks!

And for those who celebrate, have a Happy Easter.

DSCN2770

xxx


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Have a Birthday Cupcake With Me!

Hurray! Another year successfully navigated and another birthday to celebrate, and what better way than with a free pattern that I’ve written especially for the occasion!

So come and have a cupcake or two with me and we can party together 🙂DSCN4985

For the strawberry version you will need: 3.5 mm crochet hook and light worsted weight (double knit) yarn in a light pink, dark pink, white, beige and green.

US crochet terms are used throughout. See here for a simple to use conversion chart for UK terms.

Round brackets ( ) indicate a group of stitches to be worked into the same stitch. Square brackets [ ] indicate a group of stitches to be worked the amount of times stated after the brackets.

Strawberry Cup Cake Pattern:
With Light Pink yarn make 2 ch.
Rnd 1: 6 sc in second ch from hook. (6 sts)
Rnd 2: 2 sc in each of next 6 st. (12 sts)
Rnd 3: [sc in next st, 2 sc in next st] 6 times. (18 sts)
Rnd 4: [sc in each of next 2 st, 2 sc in next st] 6 times. (24 sts)
Rnd 5: [sc in each of next 3 st, 2 sc in next st] 6 times. (30 sts)
Rnd 6: working in back loops only: sc in each st around. (30 sts)
Rnd 7-12: sc in each st around. (6 rounds)
Rnd 13: working in front loops only: [Slst in next st, (hdc, dc, hdc) in next st, Slst in next st] 10 times.
Change to Beige yarn
Rnd 14: working in leftover back loops from previous round: sc in each st around. (30 sts)
Rnd 15: [sc in each of next 3 st, dec] 6 times. (24 sts)
Rnd 16: sc in each st around. (24 sts)
Rnd 17: [sc in each of next 2 st, dec] 6 times. (18 sts)
Rnd 18: [sc in next st, dec] 6 times. (12 sts)
Stuff cup cake.
Rnd 19: dec 6 times. (6 sts)
Fasten off, leaving a long yarn tail for finishing. Thread yarn tail onto tapestry needle, pick up front loop only of remaining 6 stitches, pull tight to close the hole. Weave in end.

Icing:
With White yarn make 2 ch.
Rnd 1: 6 sc in second ch from hook. (6 sts)
Rnd 2: 2 sc in each of next 6 st. (12 sts)
Rnd 3: [sc in next st, 2 sc in next st] 6 times. (18 sts)
Rnd 4: [Slst in next st, (hdc, dc, hdc) in next st, Slst in next st] 6 times.
Fasten off, leaving a long yarn tail for sewing. Sew edge of icing to top of cake.

Ribbon:
With Dark Pink yarn make 34 ch.
Row 1: starting in third ch from hook, hdc in each st to end.
Fasten off, leaving a long yarn tail for sewing. Sew ribbon to cake just under pink frill.

Strawberry:
With Dark Pink yarn make 2 ch.
Rnd 1: 3 sc in second ch from hook. (3 sts)
Rnd 2: 2 sc in each of next 3 st. (6 sts)
Rnd 3: [sc in next st, 2 sc in next st] 3 times. (9 sts)
Rnd 4: [sc in each of next 2 st, 2 sc in next st] 3 times. (12 sts)
Rnd 5: sc in each st around. (12 sts)
Stuff strawberry.
Rnd 6: dec 6 times. (6 sts)
Fasten off, leaving a long yarn tail for finishing. Thread yarn tail onto tapestry needle, pick up front loop only of remaining 6 stitches, pull tight to close the hole. Weave in end. With a strand of White yarn sew small running stitches for seeds.

Strawberry Leaf:
With Green yarn make 2 ch.
Rnd 1: Slst in second ch from hook (first ch), [2 ch, Slst in second ch from hook, Slst in first ch] 5 times.
Fasten off, leaving a long yarn tail for sewing. Sew to top of strawberry.
See diagram at end of post for how to sew fruit and shape cupcake.

If strawberries aren’t your thing try these instead:

Blueberry/Cape Gooseberry:
With Blue/Orange yarn make 2 ch.
Rnd 1: 6 sc in second ch from hook. (6 sts)
Rnd 2: 2 sc in each of next 6 st. (12 sts)
Rnds 3-5: sc in each st around. (3 rounds)
Stuff blueberry/cape gooseberry.
Rnd 6: dec 6 times. (6 sts)
Fasten off, leaving a long yarn tail for finishing. Thread yarn tail onto tapestry needle, pick up front loop only of remaining 6 stitches, pull tight to close the hole. Weave in end.
Make a leaf as for the strawberry pattern. Sew flat to the end of the blueberry. Leave ends sticking up for cape gooseberry

Lime/Lemon Slice
With Light Green/Light Yellow yarn make 2 ch.
Rnd 1: 6 sc in second ch from hook. (6 sts)
Rnd 2: 2 sc in each of next 6 st. (12 sts)
Change to Dark Green/Dark Yellow yarn
Rnd 3: 2 sc in each of next 6 st. (18 sts)
Fasten off, leaving a long yarn tail for sewing. Fold circle in half and sew edges together. Using a strand of white yarn embroider segments with running stitches.

Parma Violet
Inner petals
With Dark Purple yarn make 2 ch
Rnd 1: 6 sc in second ch from hook. (6 sts)
Rnd 2: [Slst in next st, (hdc, dc, hdc) in next st] 3 times
Outer petals
With Dark Purple yarn make 2 ch
Rnd 1: 6 sc in second ch from hook. (6 sts)
Rnd 2: 2 sc in each of next 6 st. (12 sts)
Rnd 3: [Slst in next st, (hdc, dc, hdc) in next st] 6 times
Sew inner leaves on top of outer leaves. Weave in ends.

To shape cupcake and attach the fruit or flower, thread a length of yarn through both the cake and the fruit/flower following the diagram below. Pulling on the threads gives your cake a flat base and will attach the fruit neatly at the same time. Knot securely and weave in endsCakethreading

Now you can be as inventive as you like with your flavor combinations. Vanilla, coffee, lemon or chocolate sponge with strawberry, orange, blackberry, mint… I could go on but it’s making my mouth water too much… I’m off in search of the real thing now. Well, why not? It is my birthday after all.DSCN4988

Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing some birthday fun with me!