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. 

 

Doughnut Buddies

These Doughnut Buddies toys are so sweet (pun intended) and quick and easy to make. Each one can be made in an evening (about 4-6 hours each max, depending on the level of detail). Watch out -- these are fun and addictive. 😊

The only reason these project took me multiple days was because I had to wait for an order of safety eyes to arrive in the mail. 😄

Rachel Zain, the designer of all these adorable Doughnut Buddies, generally doesn't tell you in the patterns which colors to use at each step -- and that's fine because it allows for individual creativity. I made my Baby Yoda buddy on a burlap-brown base doughnut to represent The Child's robe, with green icing (of course) for his face and ears. (Rachel used the same green doughnut base on her alien as the icing, which is perfectly all right, too, of course.) 

And, of course, I simply HAD TO make a Mandalorian to go with my Baby Yoda. 😜

Tip: Leave a 14-inch-long tail before chaining to make the icing layer. This gives you the length you need to attach the center ring of icing to the doughnut.

I freehanded a couple of Doughnut Buddies last year as a gift for Lilliana, but it's fun to now have the official patterns to learn from and use as a jumping-off point for more creativity.