Easter is right around the corner, so you know what that means! I’m hoppin’ over to one of my most favorite FREE spring crochet bunny patterns I’ve ever discovered while surfing online! It’s THE pattern for spring and Easter, and you can find it here on Ravelry or you can find it HERE on The Green Dragonfly blog!
I mean look it! Look. At. Himbz! SQUEE!!!!!
These bunnies are addictive! They work up so easily and fairly quick, too! I can make a bunny in one relaxing evening of coffee and listening to a spooky or true crime podcast! I notice they’ve turned out well with any hook close to the one suggested and the yarn works as long as it’s close to the Red Heart Super Saver Yarn. I haven’t tried drastically different hooks or yarn, yet, but if y’all decide to use a giant hook and double up your yarn for a giant bunny, lemme know if it works out! We want pics, too! Add them to the Ravelry project pics or come right to the Craftyghoul facebook page and share them there, too!
This particular bunny is going to be for my two year old lil’ bebe’s Easter this year! I worked in a few embelishments here and there like stitched starbursts on the ears and little dashes dotted around. Her favorite color is purple, so I was sure to add that in! I also only used the inner loops to connect the two halves so there’s this neat little design along the sides. Sometimes that looks good and can elevate a pattern connection when usually it’s used to make a corner, angle, or drop off in a pattern.
Instead of doing the explosion-tail thing around a fork where my kiddo might pull out strands and eat ‘em, I decided to just use the face circle pattern and then dec around to make his tail! So, I’ll leave y’all with a picture of his adorbz lil’ puffy cotton tail!
This is definitely not the first time I’ve visited this pattern! I’ve made SO many of these over the years, y’all!
As some of you may have noticed, I disappeared for a couple years after having our lil’ bebe. (She’ll be known as “the Boss” or “the bebe” in this and future posts! Remember, I’m Starling, and my hubby is Master Betty, and we have Toby Toebeans the cat and Gamera the box turtle who goes by Turtle!) I didn’t take a fun hiatus. My health has been horrible, and I had a difficult pregnancy. Due to that and hormonal chaos after giving birth, I was not okay. I was unable to plan any posts or do any crafting, writing, reading, or hobbies at all! No falling into a long TV series or anything! I couldn’t eat, sleep, or focus on anything other than that lil’ bebe, and not because she was even needing anything at all 85% of the time! I feel it is important for us to discuss these things in our society, so that’s why I’m tossing in a little candid info here in the update real quick so that people can see this is something that can effect everyone ya know who has lil’ babies, tries for lil’ babies, and those close to them!
It was way more intense than it should have been, and she is a very easy to get along with bebe! She’s independent and healthy, but my brain was just OBSESSED, y’all, and I didn’t realize the hormonal imbalance could throw you off in that way. I was only watching out for depression and my physical health, which took a worse turn as I gave birth and the few months after which ended in a life saving surgery a few months after from an ailment I’d had since labor.
I talked to my doc about the anxiety and obsession, of course, but not before some time passed as I didn’t realize TOO MUCH OVERWHELMING LOVE could be a thing, LOL! And we got me some simple little happy pills to even me back out so I chill out and stop wondering what she’s doing, what she’s thinking, how is she feeling, like every. Single. Second. I couldn’t even take a thinkin’ break when my healthy, competent little family support system stepped in often to happily take over SO I could rest.
My advice is, if you’re uncomfortable, don’t let people tell you things like oh that’s just the way it is with a new baby or of course, you’re a mother now, it’s all you’re gonna be and do and of course you’re going to miss a little sleep and worry about your baby. If it is beyond okay for you, make sure to stand firm with that and insist very clearly to your docs that it does NOT seem to be the norm, because imbalances can throw you off in so many ways after poppin’ out a little MacGyver-brain-level engineer bebe.
I think it’s all slowly evening out, and life is good! Now it’s still “OMGodzilla I LOVE HER SO MUCH I DIDN’T KNOW ANYONE COULD LOVE THIS MUCH”, yet I’m not losing myself in the process! Much more what I’d expect for healthy mama/baby dynamic, ha!
I suggest for everyone to be your own advocate in health and be firm and open with your docs if something like this starts poking at ya! It’s totally not abnormal to get outta whack after the physical trauma of creating a tiny human from scratch, and whether you get the obsession with your bebe brand kind of imbalance, or the super depressed even spookier brand of postpartum issues, it IS okay to talk with your doc. Don’t put it off! That’s not you, no one competent thinks you’re a bad or weak parent, and it’s actually SO common. Do not be shy about it! The sooner you grab a little help to balance out, the faster you’ll be back to loving on your family and friends and accepting support and help from all those people you KNOW that they totally know what they’re doin’ and you can let them walk off without freaking out if you can’t see the baby for two seconds. And…the sooner you’ll be getting back to yourself so you can…CROCHET!!!! YAY!!!
I’m really hoping to schedule some regular posts soon, and perhaps even remodel the blog and update my patterns as my skills have improved so much over the last decade! Please be patient with me, and I truly, deeply appreciate my Ghoulz who are still here despite me going MIA! You guyz are such a beautiful community, and you mean so much to me!
An update for now is that our lil’ bebe came out just fine! She is the most confident, social, curious, sweet, brilliant, and somehow pensive little tiny overlord I could ever imagine! We love her SO much! Toby Toebeans is doing great, and he took to the mini-overlord right away. We are all her minions!
Now I must get back to hunting down neat free crochet patterns all over the place for inspiration and to share with you guyz! Thank you for following along with my journey and to everyone subscribed to my blog, and thank you for bringing your interests in crafting and crochet here to Craftyghoul!
(You can find my blog and links to the FREE CROCHET PATTERNS I have created HERE, and you can follow the Craftyghoul Facebook page here where I regularly share free patterns I found around the web!)
Alright. As I’ve mentioned before, I have been pretty sick and very limited in what I can do, but I THINK I managed to track down the patterns I was using to create these projects that I started and have only recently been able to finish 7 months later! I had jotted them down and tucked them into my crochet project bag which is why I had to hunt down where I found the free patterns now.
I think the daisy blanket square pattern came from this link. I personally used a K hook and just made enough squares to turn it into a baby blanket. I was kind of winging it on the picket border since at the time I didn’t remember where I got the pattern from.
The booties definitely came from this link! They are fireman boots or galoshes! So cute! I used a g hook like they suggested on the 0-3 month sized boots, and then I used an F hook to make a smaller newborn version just in case.
The hat pattern, I used the center of the daisy square pattern to make the flowers to go on them, and I’m fairly certain I used the basic beanie pattern at this link. I used a K hook instead of a J hook though because I don’t have a J hook, and I kept the stitches tight to make up for it. I kind of crochet tight because of anxiety anyway.
Hello, my crafty ghouls! I suppose it’s time for another life update! As you may have guessed by the picture, we’re expecting our first baby! She is due in late December, and we’re so excited! She is a healthy baby, they me, but my health has been a struggle through this. I think everything is gonna be fine, though, ghoulz!
We’ve had so much going on! This October was our 16 year wedding anniversary! We moved to a bigger townhouse to have room for a nursery, and we’ve been so busy moving, arranging, and planning to get everything we need on our baby registry and also to learn all the basics we need to know to be good parents! Toby Toebeans has been doing great, and he adjusted to the new townhouse in no time! He is the little prince of his castle and is enjoying all the easily accessible windows to watch out of.
I had planned to do so many baby crochet projects, buy my health took a really harsh turn and I’m not able to take most of my medications. I stepped down on anything that might be even remotely questionable for healthy baby growin’ a few months before we were planning to start trying again for a baby. I thought I was doing pretty well, but the pregnancy and many stresses that hit us at once out of nowhere have hit me very hard. My fibromyalgia decided to flare up, and pregnancy fatigue on top of chronic fatigue syndrome isn’t the most stimulating circumstance. Morning sickness and depression popped up early and NEVER WENT AWAY. I’m on medication for it, but I’ve become so anemic that they have me on iron now. I’ve wound up losing about 8 pounds and haven’t gained ANYTHING yet, and I’m 8 months in. They say she’s doing great in there, though, and I’m trying all I can to take care of us properly. My husband (Valtiel/Master Betty) has been doing ALL THE THINGS and is so helpful and caring. I’m a lucky chick to have so much support!
So, I haven’t been able to do a zillion projects to show off, but I have been slowly starting to feel a bit better as of late, and I was finally recently been able to finish a crochet baby blanket and two sizes of matching hats and booties that I had started in the first month before everything hit me so hard. I will share pictures of those projects in my next post and try to link to what I can remember about where I found the patterns. I jotted down the patterns hastily and then the projects sat there partially finished forever, so I’m not sure if I remember exactly where I found them.
Oh! I was able to create a little heart strip crochet baby hat for size newborn to 3 months, and I’m going to try to upload that free pattern soon to share with you! I’m hoping to make matching booties, but we’ll see how things go.
And that’s about it, ghoulz! I look forward to sharing patterns with y’all!
Hey, guys! It’s come to my attention that my kitty sweater patterns are on the small side. I’m going to make notes, but if you want larger patterns, add more chains in the beginning chain to shape the chest. Since I make the arm hole rows early on, you can use this to slide it onto your pet and see if you like the size or if you want to adjust it before you spend a lot of time making it only to find it is too small. The patterns are written to where it’s pretty basic to adjust for a larger beginning chain. That being said, I have not yet done any adjustments for larger pets.
When I made this pattern, our kitty, Mizzy, was very old, and she was a petite kitty. This pattern is for tiny cats, or teen/older kittens. I’ve seen it used for a rabbit sweater, and it worked for me when I made one for a chihuahua/rat terrier sized extra small dog. So if you’re wanting notes on the size, there ya go!
Mizzy Kitty passed away a few years ago, and we now have a kitten, October the Cat-Toby Toebeans. I call him a kitten, but he is two years old this month, (October 2021)! I just tried to make him a sweater, and he is ALREADY TOO BIG for this sweater, LOL! This made me think that I’d better make some notes on the size to go with this pattern, so I’ll be adding this at the beginning of both the patterns.
I see so many cute little pumpkin patterns online, but I wanted an extra small one so that my kitten can get in on the fall/Halloween fun! Here is the pattern I whipped up!
I used an F(3.75MM) hook and Red Heart Super Saver Yarn.
Rnd 1: Sc 8 into a magic ring. (8sc)
Rnd 2: 2sc in each st around. (16sc)
Rnd 3: (Sc, 2sc) around. (24sc)
Rnd 4-6: Sc around. (24 sc)
Rnd 7: (Sc, dec) around. (16sc)
Rnd 8: Dec around. (8sc)
Rnd 9: Decrease to close. (About 4sc) Fasten off leaving tail long enough to shape the pumpkin.
Shaping the pumpkin: Feed the yarn through the center up and down a few times, pulling tight to make the pumpkin flatter and less of a sphere, and it should look kind of sunken into the middle. You’ll do the yarn up and down through the center a few times like that, and then tie a knot to keep it firmly sunken in the center. Then you create the five indentions around the pumpkin. You will loop the yarn from the center on the top around the outside of the pumpkin, and feed it back into the center bottom and pull just tight enough to indent the pumpkin. You do that a total of five times to give the pumpkin its shape. After the last loop, tie a secure knot and weave in the ends.
Note: If you misjudge how much yarn you need and make it too short, simply tie it off with as much as you have, add more yarn by tying it to the bottom/center, and continue looping where you left off. I do that all the time. I just cut the end and forget to leave a tail, and then I’m like, “Doh! I needed a long tail to make this sphere more of a flat pumpkin shape and add those indentions! UGH!”
Stem: Ch 4, sl st in the 2nd ch from hook and the last two chains. Tie onto the pumpkin very well with several knots if you mean to give the pumpkin to a pet to chew on so they don’t rip this part or the leaf off and try to eat it, little stinkers, and weave in the ends.
Leaf: Ch 6. Beginning in 2nd ch from hook, sl st, sc, hdc, sl st, sl st. Pivot to work back up the leaf, sl st, hdc, sc, sl st. Fasten off leaving tail long enough to sew securely to pumpkin.
This is October the Cat, and we call him Toby or Toebeans for short. LOOK AT THOSE TOEBEANS! LOOK AT THEM!! If you’re a cat lover, he loves new fur-riends, so hop over to his Facebook here and like and follow Toby Toebeans!
While you’re on Facebook, we’d love to have you follow our Craftyghoul Crochet Page where I regularly share FREE patterns that I’ve found around the net, and I can update y’all when I create new patterns too! See you there! Oh, and follow me on twitter! I get lonely.
Okay, ghoulz! Because of the world being in quarantine and the need for social distancing, I’m going to be sharing two FREE patterns a day here on the Craftyghoul Crochet Facebook page, starting today, between now and Easter! (I usually share one or two patterns a week.) I’m choosing things that you can use to make a dint in your yarn stash that you already have at home because you shouldn’t be going out even to get yarn!
Share this with all your crafty friends so they know to follow our blog and Facebook for FREE crochet patterns! Remember that Facebook doesn’t always show your followers all your updates, so be sure to check back into our page every day, scroll down past the post pinned at the top, and browse all the new ideas for projects!
Also, remember to save and pin your favorite patterns for future use because they’re saying we might expect waves of this virus and slightly mutated newer viruses over the next year or two until we can expect to hopefully get a vaccine, so you may want to keep plenty of yarn and project ideas on hand in case we need to go into lock down again on short notice in the future!
Do your patriotic duty, ghoulz! Stay home! Crochet! Save lives! Protect yourself! (And stimulate the hurting economy by shopping at your favorite craft stores online and buying patterns from the little guys!)
Oh, and also, we got a kitten, ghoulz! His name is October, and we call him Toby Toebeans! He loves new fur-riends, so follow his Facebook here!
Hey, ghoulz! Man, it’s been a long time since I did a life update!
Well, Master Betty and I have both had a bit of a makeover, but Turtle is still her turtly overlord self. It’s been almost two years since we lost Mizzy Kitty, and we’re finally considering peeking around at the animal shelter to see if any kitties there would like to adopt us. Stay tuned for that!
I’m feeling a little overwhelmed and confused about all the different things I have going on online, so I’m trying to kind of narrow down and consolidate some of my blogs and pages. It’s difficult because my interest are just so varied that sometimes the little worlds I create need to be separate. I feel like I’m juggling a lot of lot of things, though, and it’s a little overwhelming.
I’m going to be doing some updates and remodeling to the Craftyghoul blog and Facebook page throughout this year. My crochet skills have gotten better, so I need to go through all the patterns I’ve created and make sure they don’t need tweaking; maybe update the images. Maybe I’ll find some new background images and update our little character images. I appreciate your patience as I rearrange things here and there!
Once I get all my little worlds in order, I’ll toss out an update so you know where to keep up with my personal blog, pet blogs, and writer blogs!
Hey ghoulz! 2018 sure was a year of ups and downs! You’ve probably noticed that my hair is blonde now. I’ve been doing yoga all year and was even able to ease myself into leaving the house for tiny bits of time to go to the gym! With the limitations of my illnesses, I started out really slow, only going for a few minutes a day for months, and slowly worked my way up to a 15 to 20 minute ultra-low-key workout. It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a big deal for me!
I’ve really gotten into watching/listening to ASMR videos to help me relax and sleep at night. It’s really soothing for PTSD. You guyz should totally try it out if you have anxiety or trouble sleeping! If you’re interested leave me a comment and maybe I can throw together a list of my favorite youtubers that do ASMR stuff. I’ve also been working on meditating. So, yeah! I’ve made a lot of progress this year! I’ve even been able to hunt down plenty of FREE patterns for the Craftyghoul Facebook Page and schedule a weekly pattern to share with you guyz for several months!
I’m thinking it’s time for me to really buckle down and try to find a literary agent or publisher for my books. That’s my main goal for this year. Master Betty, my hubby, is gonna help me with my query letters and contacting people. If you know anyone who might be interested in a fantasy novel, (to read, represent, or publish), let me know! If you guyz are curious, you can buy my book under the pen name of Billy Eden on amazon: “Deluge of Sin“. It’s available on Kindle Unlimited for FREE as well! The hook line for “Deluge of Sin” says, “In this thought-provoking morality tale, Lucifer seeks to blur the boundaries of virtue in his perpetual chess game against the the great Iam while their unwitting followers struggle through one chaotic encounter after another in a desperate attempt to prevent consequences of Biblical proportions!” Oooo, sounds intense!
I guess that’s it! I’ll link to all the regular places so you guys can find and follow me!
Later, my ghoulz!
~ Starling
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Don’t forget to come like and follow me on my Craftyghoul Facebook Page! I share links to FREE crochet patterns that I find around the internet!
I have a youtube channel where I share how-to crochet videos. Subscribe and hit the bell!
If you’re interested in my children’s books or you want to see more about the inside life of Starling and Master Betty, you can follow me on Starling’s Blog.
Oh! And I also know this really good writer named Billy Eden! You should check out the epic fantasy novels here!
I have some achingly sad news to share with you that I just shouldn’t put off anymore.
Our Mizzy the Kitty passed away back in May. I haven’t posted about it until now because I was just too devastated to actually type it out and be able to handle the reminders when I get supportive sympathy comments, if that makes any sense. I had been trying to run from thinking about it the best I could, using every distraction available, and I’m still running trying to deal with in short, slow little bursts before desperately grabbing for something to occupy my mind with.
She was entwined in everything in my life, from the children’s book I wrote about her, to her Facebook page of kitty updates. Oh, god…I haven’t even updated her page to tell her fans…I can’t. I just can’t handle the thought of logging into my Facebook feed and seeing those little globes alerting me of all the sympathy comments or sad reacts bringing me back to the realization that I’ve lost her. I miss her so much, you guys!
She was a very old little kitty, and she was comfortable and happy up until the very end with plenty advice from her veterinarian. Old age just caught up to her. She passed at home in my husband’s arms. She didn’t seem in pain, just ready to move onto the next kitty adventure across the rainbow bridge. Turtle seemed to know that it was time, and she came out of her usual turtle-hiding-spot to the edge of her tank and looked out of the glass at my husband, whose heart was breaking. I’m serious. I really think she knew, you guys. Our Turtle knew and was affected. I think she was worried about us. Such a sweet turtly overlord.
She was such a helpful kitty, always doing everything we were doing. She was always down for a nap with us no matter the time of day. She was sassy, she was smart, and she was loved. I will never forget my Mizzy Kitty, and I’m glad she’s immortalized in a book and has her facebook page as a memorial. Thank you, Mizzy Kitty. I will love you forever.
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