ArachnaDemon Halloween Costume

This is a two-piece ArachnaDaemon costume. The oversized spider head hood is inspired by the costume-style hats and hoods by Crochetverse and Twisted Hatter.

Originally, I planned to wear the hood with a spider web "blouse" layered over a black T-shirt, but I was bogging down on doing the spider web sleeves, so I decided to change gears and instead of a spider web blouse, I would wear a spider web shawl layered over the dark shirt.

Spider web blouse: The white spider web blouse was made with a 4mm hook and Red Heart Super Saver yarn in the Soft White colorway and was based on the YouTube tutorial by A Perpetual Mess. I worked my panels to the 41 chain spaces size. But when I got to the point of doing the sleeves, I got about halfway done with the first sleeve and then just ran out of energy to keep going.

In all the history of knitting and crocheting, I wonder how many projects have been abandoned at the point of doing the sleeves. 😂 Because that's what happened to me here, and I'm sure I'm not alone.

Shawl worked to 20 rounds

Spider web shawl: The white spider web shawl is made with a 5mm hook and the soft white yarn. It's based on the design Spooky Spider Web Shawl by Melly-CrochetGirl of Little Bit of Foolishness. 🕸 I rejoined the circle at the end of round 15 and worked to a total of 20 rounds.

Hood: The long pixie hood in gray is made with a 6.5mm hook and has "evil" purple and green eyes plus spider fangs added. The brim of the hood is lined in purple. I used the Pixie Slouch pattern by Brenda Smith and the Short Pointed Pixie Hood pattern by Earth Tricks for inspiration for the hood's shape.

Head "bump": I wanted a dense fabric for this (to hide the fiberfill stuffing behind it), so I used a 5mm hook with the gray yarn and followed this tutorial on YouTube by For The Frills to make a large oval. My oval has 7 rounds, whereas the one in the video stops at 5 rounds. 

Hood, liner, and all the pieces

Main eyes: I used a 5.5mm hook and two strands of Ice Yarns Rock Star yarn in the Purple colorway and followed this tutorial for the Jack Skellington eyes by Sigoni Macaroni, except I wanted my eyes to be a bit larger, so I added one more row.

Using a single strand of Ice Yarns Rock Star in the Red Black colorway and a 5mm hook, I crocheted 8 SC into a magic loop to make the pupils and sewed them to the center of the purple eyes. Then using a single strand of Ice Yarns Rock Star in the Emerald Green Black colorway threaded onto a needle, I added a few contrasting stitches around the pupil.

Minor eyes: For each I used a 5mm hook and crocheted a 12 DC circle in gray for the base, then used a 6.5mm hook and a double strand of the purple yarn to make an 8 DC circle (which puffed up when cinched). Then I stitched the purple eyes onto the gray circle bases. I had to incorporate an 8-stitch *something* into this design, because it's a spider, after all. 🕷

Fangs: Using the gray yarn and a 5mm hook, I followed this YouTube tutorial by Meldy Crochet for her curved devil horns but made them a bit larger/longer to represent my spider daemon's fangs.

Hood lining: I started with 58-stitch DC foundation row using a double strand of the purple with a 6.5mm hook and worked increasing rows to correspond with the front part of the gray hood. I stitched the lining to the underside of the gray hood using a round of SC in gray around the entire opening with and also some running stitches in gray to "quilt" the large pieces together.

Hood pom: Using the white yarn and a 4mm hook, I made a crochet chain pom similar to what's described in this Chain Loop Yarn Pom tutorial by A Crocheted Simplicity. I made my pom with chain loops of 20 chains. The pom dangles from another long chain (26 chains) to represent the spider's silk in the process of being spun. These shapes are intended to echo the completed spider web of the shawl.

I started my costume too late to finish in time for Halloween 2023, and I had hoped to have it ready to go the following year, but it was actually not until November 2026 that I finished making the final piece (the spider web shawl)!! Sometimes, we just gotta be patient with ourselves. But now I'm ready for Halloween 2027!!! 😅

The finishing touch is these spider pins from Amazon, which were suggested by the Spider Web Shawl designer, Melly-CrochetGirl of Little Bit of Foolishness.

Strap cover

I have this great little Baggallini cross-body bag that I got before our trip to Germany several years ago because it is big enough to hold a passport, plus a few cards (ID and/or payment), my phone, a key fob, and a bit of cash. And it's RFID shielded. It makes a great alternative to carrying a full-size purse, and I have worn it many, many times.

My only complaint about it has been that the 1/2-inch wide grosgrain ribbon they used for the long (almost 56-inch) strap would start feeling uncomfortable against my neck when I had the bag loaded down with the weight of all my stuff.

The solution I came up with was to knit a cover for the strap. I wanted the cover to fit closely around the underlying strap and also be the same color (black) to draw as little attention to the cover as possible. 

I also knew that the cover needed to be knitted, because although I could have made it faster if I had crocheted it, I knew that the lumpier nature of crochet stitches would be a tactile issue for me while wearing it. Sometimes you just can't beat the smoothness of knitted stockinette.

The smoothness factor is also why I opted to knit this in the round on DPNs instead of knitting a long strip and then seaming it around the strap. Knitting it flat would have been easier, but knitting it in the round meant that it was evenly smooth all the way around (no seam), and knitting it around the strap meant that once the knitting was long enough, the project would only need a bit of finishing on each end to secure the ends to the strap, and then it would be done.

Yes, it absolutely was super awkward and fiddly to knit this around the strap with DPNs. But I think I saved myself a different sort of difficulty by not knitting the tube separately and then trying to thread the strap through it afterward.

Using Red Heart Super Saver in Black, I cast on 9 stitches, then divided those across 3 DPNs (5 mm size) with 3 stitches per needle. Then I joined to knit in the round and just kept going until the cover was long enough. I left a long tail at both the beginning and at the end to sew the ends of the cover together around the ends of the strap. Then I hid the tails inside the tube, and it was all done. It took me three days of knitting (with several hours of knitting each day) to complete the project.

But I am very pleased with how this turned out, and I know it's going to make wearing my little bag much more comfortable for years to come.

 

Little Crochet Skull

This adorable three-dimensional skull was designed by Kylie Slee of Complicated Knots. It is a quick, easy, and fun project. Kylie's video tutorial is very clear and easy to follow. 

I wanted to add a skull to my Halloween display, and I'm so glad that I found Kylie's tutorial, because I absolutely love the way this turned out. 💜💀👻🎃 Happy Halloween! 

 

Frost Guard Balaclava for Linda

I crocheted this Frost Guard Balaclava for my sister, Linda, who lives in snow country. Hopefully she will find it useful and cozy. It is the Adult S size. The pattern is a paid pattern by Marly Bird, and it's fun to make. 

Mint green is one of Linda's favorite colors, so I was glad to find Lion Brand Scarfie yarn in this Mint Silver colorway. Scarfie is a fiber blend that contains some real wool, which makes it a good choice for winter wear.

I knitted the 4-stitch i-cord drawstring on 5.5 mm double-pointed needles. I used 4 stitches because that's how many pins are on my French knitter, and typically I would use that tool for making the i-cord, but one of the pins has come loose, and I have yet to get it re-glued. So I knitted the cord with regular needles this time. It probably would have been better if I had used 3 stitches instead of 4, because this 4-stitch cord really fills up the space inside the casing and doesn't slide easily. A 3-stitch cord would probably have fit better (note to self for future reference!).

Marly shared a few quick videos demonstrating some of the fun ways to wear it: here, here, and here. This one below is my favorite. 

Jack-O-Lantern Donut Buddy

My collection of Donut Buddy toys needed a jack-o-lantern for some autumn vibes, so I made this little guy. The doughnut base is from Rachel Zain's Donut Buddies pattern collection. She doesn't currently have a jack-o-lantern design, so I improvised the other features for the face and the stem/vine. 

I crocheted the orange doughnut base and the black triangle eyes using a 5 mm hook. I switched to a 4 mm hook for the stem and the vine. Originally, I tried to crochet a mouth, but that didn't turn out well, so then I tried to embroider a simple mouth on. I didn't like the way that looked, either. Ultimately, I cut the mouth out of a piece of black felt and stitched it on as an applique. 

Face, take 1

To crochet the oval stem, start with a magic ring. Chain 2 and work 1 DC, 1 HDC, 2 SC, 1 HDC, 2 DC, 1 HDC, 2 SC, 1 HDC, and 1 DC in the ring. Join to the first DC with a slip stitch. Chain 1 and work 1 round of SC-blo. Continue working 2 more rounds of regular SC. Finish off, leaving a long tail for sewing the stem onto the pumpkin. 

Stem & vine

For the curly vine, chain 13. Starting in the 2nd chain from the hook, work 2 SC in each chain. Finish off, leaving a long tail for sewing the vine onto the pumpkin at the base of the stem.