Moji-Moji Design

Original Amigurumi Crochet Patterns

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Penny the Pine Tree

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The Christmas Decorations are well and truly squirrelled away for another year and to help chase away the post-Christmas blues, I’ve written up a new pattern to share with those of you who either aren’t at all happy to have had to say goodbye to all things Christmassy just yet, or who are already eagerly planning ahead to next year. Or even for those of you that (let’s all sing together now…) wish it could be Christmas everyday!

The honest truth is that I had every intention of posting this pattern sometime last December but the pre- Christmas rush, a dose of the winter sniffles and a painful cricked neck all coerced to set me slightly off track and suddenly the whole festive season seemed to run along faster than I could keep up with it. Well, better late than never, as they say.

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So, without further ado, here’s my pretty, potted, rosy cheek spotted, Penny the Pine Tree, who’ll be happy to add a touch of greenery to your desk whatever the time of year. Are you all ready for an out of season Christmas fix? Yes? Great!

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First of all, here are the materials and notions you’re going to need.

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Size D (3.25mm) crochet hook.
DK yarn in Green, Light Pink, Dark Pink and Red.
Polyester toy stuffing.
2 x 6mm black plastic safety eyes.
Small piece of pink felt.
Yarn needle.
Stitch marker.
Fabric glue.

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And here’s the pattern. (Scroll down to the ‘download’ button at the bottom of this page for a printable version)

(Please note: I prefer to use US crochet terms in my patterns. If you are more familiar with UK terms a handy stitch conversion chart can be found at the bottom of my Free Patterns page along with an explanation of the abbreviations used.)

Size: Penny is approximately 7″ (18 cm) tall from base of pot to top of star.

Plant Pot

Make 1 piece, starting at base. Working in continuous spiral rounds.
With Dark 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.
Rnd 7-8: sc in each st around. (2 rounds)
Rnd 9: [sc in each of next 9 st, 2 sc in next st] 3 times. (33 sts)
Rnd 10: sc in each st around.
Rnd 11: [sc in each of next 10 st, 2 sc in next st] 3 times. (36 sts)
Change to Light Pink yarn.
Rnd 12-14: sc in each st around. (3 rounds)
Change to Dark Pink yarn.
Rnd 15-18: sc in each st around. (4 rounds)
Rnd 19: Working in back loops only: Sc in each st around.
Rnd 20: [sc in each of next 4 st, dec] 6 times. (30 sts)
Rnd 21: [sc in each of next 3 st, dec] 6 times. (24 sts)
Rnd 22: [sc in each of next 2 st, dec] 6 times. (18 sts)
Stuff Plant Pot.
Rnd 23: [sc in next st, dec] 6 times. (12 sts)
Rnd 24: dec 6 times. (6 sts)
Fasten off, leaving a long yarn tail for finishing. Thread yarn tail onto yarn needle, pick up front loop only of remaining 6 stitches. Pull tight to close the hole. Insert yarn needle down center of plant pot, coming out at the center of the base.

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Re-insert yarn needle one stitch apart from where it came out, finally emerging at the top center.

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Pull gently on the yarn to form dimples in the top and bottom. This will help your tree to stand up straight by flattening the base.

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Fasten off securely at the top and weave in the yarn end.

Star

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Make 2 pieces for each star, starting at center. Working in continuous spiral rounds.
With Light Pink yarn make 2 ch.
Rnd 1: 5 sc in second ch from hook. (5 sts)
Rnd 2: working in back loops only: [slst in next st, 3 ch, slst in second ch from hook, hdc in next ch, slst in same st as first slst] 5 times.
Fasten off. Weave in the yarn end on first star. Leave long yarn tail on second star for sewing. With right sides facing outwards, whipstitch the edges of both stars together.

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Pine Tree

Tree-tops

Make 1 piece, starting at tip. Working in continuous spiral rounds.
With Green 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 of next 3 st, 2 sc in next st] 3 times. (15 sts)
Rnd 6: sc in each st around.
Rnd 7: [sc in each of next 4 st, 2 sc in next st] 3 times. (18 sts)
Rnd 8: sc in each st around.
Rnd 9: [sc in each of next 5 st, 2 sc in next st] 3 times. (21 sts)
Rnd 10: sc in each st around.
Rnd 11: [sc in each of next 6 st, 2 sc in next st] 3 times. (24 sts)
Rnd 12: sc in each st around.
Rnd 13: [sc in each of next 7 st, 2 sc in next st] 3 times. (27 sts)
Rnd 14: sc in each st around.
Rnd 15: [sc in each of next 8 st, 2 sc in next st] 3 times. (30 sts)
Rnd 16: sc in each st around.
Rnd 17: [sc in each of next 9 st, 2 sc in next st] 3 times. (33 sts)
Rnd 18: sc in each st around.
Rnd 19: [sc in each of next 10 st, 2 sc in next st] 3 times. (36 sts)
Rnd 20: sc in each st around.
Rnd 21: [sc in each of next 11 st, 2 sc in next st] 3 times. (39 sts)
Rnd 22: sc in each st around.
Rnd 23: [sc in each of next 12 st, 2 sc in next st] 3 times. (42 sts)
Insert safety eyes between Rnds 13 and 14 spacing them 5 stitches apart.
Rnd 24: working in back loops only: sc in each st around.
Rnd 25: working in back loops only: [sc in each of next 5 st, dec] 6 times. (36 sts)
Rnd 26: working in back loops only: sc in each st around.
Rnd 27: [sc in each of next 4 st, dec] 6 times. (30 sts)
Rnd 28: [sc in each of next 3 st, dec] 6 times. (24 sts)
Rnd 29: [sc in each of next 2 st, dec] 6 times. (18 sts)
Stuff Tree.
Rnd 30: [sc in next  st, dec] 6 times. (12 sts)
Rnd 31: dec 6 times. (6 sts)
Fasten off, leaving a long yarn tail for finishing. Thread yarn tail onto yarn needle, pick up front loop only of remaining 6 stitches. Pull tight to close the hole. Fasten off and weave in the yarn end.

Frill

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Holding tree upside down, pull up a loop of Green yarn in first leftover front loop from Rnd 24, (sc, hdc, dc) in next st, (dc, hdc, sc) in next st, slst in next st, [slst in next st, (sc, hdc, dc) in next st, (dc, hdc, sc) in next st, Slst in next  29 times.

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Fasten off, leaving a long yarn tail for sewing. Now all the leftover back loops from Rnds 24-26 will have stitches in them.

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Sew Rnd 26 of Tree to Rnd 19 of Plant Pot. Make all stitches on top of pot neatly behind the leftover loops from Rnd 19.

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Weave in the yarn ends and sew the Star to the top of the Tree.

Pine-Tree

Cut out two tiny felt circles and glue them just below the eyes. Last of all, embroider a small V shape for the mouth using a strand of red yarn and you’re done.

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Of course, if pink is not your style then this little pine tree will look just as fabulous dressed up in any other colours you prefer. To prove the point, here’s Penny with two of her other potty pals.

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And here she is trying on her bling ready for the next Christmas party.

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Wowzers. That’s a knockout, fancy pants outfit! She’s sure to be the Belle of the Ball and I’m going to know exactly who to ask if I need to borrow a pin or two.

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A very merry un-Christmas to you all!

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by 4 Comments

Hola!

The Mexican blanket is growing and growing. I’m steadfastly crocheting a row or two, or a few squares most evenings and pretty much 90% of it has been made while wearing pyjamas. A very cosy and comfy project it’s turning out to be.

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Because of the time I spent accurately working out the stitch counts, the theory is that all the row elements should match up perfectly.  But the stripes made up of mini squares are ending up a fair bit longer than the granny stripes and I think that’s due to the chained row that gives the extra colour blip between the rows of shells. My chains tend to have a slightly tighter tension than the rest of my crochet. I guess I’ll have to learn to loosen up a bit with them. I’ve not found it to be a big problem though, it just needs a bit of pinning to take up the extra length nice and evenly then it’s easier to match stitch for stitch, particularly if I’m working in less than perfect light conditions. And let’s face it, the rest of the family don’t want to spend cosy Movie Nights sitting in a floodlit room, so the light is often ambient rather than practical for a lot of my winter evening projects.
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The need for all that matching up did give me the idea to make Carlos the Cactus though, so I could have a totally Mexican vibe going on while I worked! I love having him around to help but he’s turned out to be an obsessive perfectionist and gets pretty prickly if I try to cut corners and go crocheting along without pinning everything in place first. (I might be self projecting here a bit 😉 )

You can see him keeping his beady eyes on the proceedings here. He’s also really good at holding onto all my yarn needles with those handy little hands of his. I just wish he was equally adept at sewing in the yarn ends too! Ah well, you can’t have it all.

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Here you can see the discrepancy in the lengths of the granny square panels alongside all the pieces that I’ve managed to crochet together so far. It looks like it would never match up but it always does, and the blanket will stretch a little with use – so any minimal puckering will most likely even out itself out after it’s been dragged around and snuggled up in for a while. This is about a third done now, not including the border.

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And also not including these strips that have yet to be joined. When these are all crocheted together I think I’ll be at least half way done. Wey hey, we’re getting somewhere now!

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My cactus pincushion has been useful for helping out with other projects too, so now he can usually be found on my desk with his best friend Dante the Donkey (If you’ve read my previous blog post you’ll understand why they’re inseparable!) and my other favorite pincushion – my felted sheep on a hill. One of the first sculptures I made when I was going through my needle felting phase. I should have enough pins handy for multiple projects on the go now. Which is a good thing because I still haven’t learnt to finish one job before I start another.

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While Carlos is busy helping out, Dante has been trying to make friends with  two of my cats. The cats are much more concerned with napping on the new blanket should I dare to leave it unattended for a nano second or two.

Mojo doesn’t appear to be very impressed with Dante’s approaches!

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Time for evasive tactics by way of an emergency grooming session.

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Ah well, maybe Minnie will be more accommodating…

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…Or maybe not! Different evasive tactic seen here, just close your eyes and pretend to be asleep!

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Then go and seek refuge in a box on a tucked away shelf in among the early prototypes for Orwell.

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This week I also managed to finish writing up the Orwell pattern for my own shops at long last, so you can now get his pattern in my Etsy and Ravelry stores as a single purchase for any of you who want to buy just him on his own. Today and tomorrow are the last few days of the Zoomigurumi 4 pre-sale event if you prefer to get Orwell’s pattern together with 14 other cute as button designs at a bargain price of £13.50. I’ve just got my trusty calculator out (I’m no Rachel Riley styley maths whiz, that’s for sure!) and that works out at 90 pence a pattern. Can’t wait for my copy to arrive!

You’ll find Tessa Van Riet-Ernst’s (aka Woolytoons) mop headed Leopold the Lion in this volume too. He’s currently over in Belgium helping Joke get the books packed up and shipped out over the next few days. Seems that my moggies aren’t the only cats who like to get involved in anything crochet related, particularly if it involves sitting on it!

Leopold

Here’s a teeny reminder of the lovely characters you’ll find nestled between the pages!

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They’ll be sure to keep you busy and remove all your excuses for idly hanging around like this furry fella!

Not that there’s anything wrong with being idle of course, if that’s what you fancy. I keep telling myself I’m going to take a break when I’ve finished all the crochet projects lined up in my head and in my sketchbook – approximately scheduled for the 12th of Never Ever 🙂

I’m off to do some more blanket in the mean time. In fact I intend to dedicate a large proportion of this weekend to making some serious progress here. Orwell’s taken a shine to it. I think he’s looking forward to it being finished, and who am I to disappoint?!

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I’ll be back with more updates soon and some pictures of my lovely pink and turquoise crochet flowers that I’m trying out for my next project, perfect for a fresh looking spring blanket that I’ve set my heart on. See, I told you it’s impossible for me to finish one project before I start another! I’ll post a picture of them next time, when I’m 100% happy with the colours. Bye for now and wishing you all a happy weekend! x