A demogorgon for Wendy

I am really pleased with how well this Stranger Things Demogorgon free pattern by Andrea Leek turned out. My grandniece Wendy is a huge fan of "Stranger Things," so this will be her birthday present. 

I decided to make the demogorgon in a slightly less demonic chibi ragdoll style. I worked the pattern as written for the legs and arms but subtracted two rows from the torso to shorten it slightly. I worked the head separately so it could be stuffed and closed and then stitched to the top of the unstuffed torso. Legs and arms are also unstuffed.

The toes, fingers, and "flower" face are worked as written in the pattern. Don't worry if the flower seems too full and wants to curl as you make it; it will straighten out as you stitch it to the head. I added more teeth to this one than was shown in the pattern to resemble the original character more closely.

I worked on this back in July and August, so my only problem was having to wait so long for December to get here so I could gift this little guy to Wendy! 

Even though my yarncraft productivity has fallen dramatically in recent years due to my chronic pain issues, it felt great to be able to finish this project. And now I bet Wendy's sister Charlotte will want me to make one for her too! 💜

The Granny Merge blanket

I was looking for an idea of a different way to work a center-out blanket when I came across this video by Fiber Spider showing how to use the granny merge stitch sequence to make a shawl. I like the way this looks, and so I'm adjusting the instructions just slightly to use them to make a center-out square blanket.

The repeating sequence I'm using is 3 granny rows followed by 2 solid rows. After 25 rows, the blanket measures about 30 inches on a side, which if I stopped now would be the right size to make a nice lap blanket. But I believe I will continue working to make this into a throw-sized afghan.

I wanted to make a new blanket for my grandniece Charlotte, and when I saw how long it was taking me to finish this one (which I started on Jan. 30 ... that was 10 months ago!!), I realized that if I was going to give Charlotte a blanket this Christmas, it would need to be this one (even if it isn't her first choice of colors). My ability to crochet blankets has slowed way, way down, to the point where apparently I'm only able to finish one blanket per year anymore. Sigh! I hope Charlotte will like this one.

Finished at 45 pattern rounds plus 1 round of RSC (crab stitch) edging. Total yarn weight: 1,223 grams.

Country Cottage Mini Stockings

I needed a gift-card holder for Chip and Renee's Christmas present, and this cute mini stocking is just right for that. The Country Cottage Mini Stocking pattern by The Turtle Trunk is free on their blog. After doing its duty to deliver the gift card to Chip and Renee, the stocking can become an ornament on their Christmas tree for many years to come.

The stocking works up fast and uses just a tiny amount of yarn. You can make these in all sorts of color combinations. They are addicting!

Because these are so fast and easy to make, I decided to go ahead and make one for each of my grandnieces and grandnephews to use as Christmas money-holders. I've been having fun making lots of the little mini stockings as well as a bunch of Rustic Tree Ornaments by Regina P Designs to tie onto the gifts we're giving to our neighbors. And I even made a couple of machine-knitted mini wreath ornaments by following this tutorial by Yay for Yarn on YouTube. (My wreaths are 40 rows.)

For a fun and personalized finishing touch, I got some silvertone alphabet beads and added a name to each ornament.

 

Scrappy Ombre Wrap vest

This is a paid pattern by Salena Baca Crochet. Her Ombre Wrap pattern is designed to be a shawl, but I'm going to see if it's possible to add armholes to this to convert it into a lovely vest.

I decided to use some pink and purple scraps from my yarn stash to make this, and I tied them all together with a unifying color: the Taupe colorway of Big Twist yarn. 

For the pockets, I found a pattern for a mesh square in keeping with the feel of the base shawl's mesh fabric. It's by Jayda in Stitches on YouTube at this link. If you're trying to make a similar project but don't like the tutorial I found for a mesh square pocket, you can browse on YouTube for another mesh square pattern. There are many others on there.

My squares are 9 rounds in the mesh pattern plus a round of SC for the edging (HDC across the top edge), making a pocket of about 11 inches square. I worked 2 SC edge stitches over the chain spaces and skipped working anything in the DC stitches, to help keep the pocket edges from developing a "ruffled" or lettuce-edge look, with 3 stitches in each corner space. (Sometimes working slightly fewer edging stitches along a crocheted edge is better to help everything lie flat than working stitches one-to-one.)

I like the way the pockets turned out. My only problem is that I genuinely suck at sewing on patch pockets. I try the piece on, and I carefully pin the pockets in place so they are positioned evenly, and then when I'm all done sewing the pockets on, they're always uneven. Grrrrr!!! Oh well.

Join the free Halloween CAL

Melanie Grobler of M and M Crochet Designs is hosting a free Halloween Crochet Along (CAL) on her blog and Facebook group. This was a lovely and fun CAL to be a part of, where we were creating two of Melanie's Melly Teddy Ragdolls: Gabby Ghost and Bobby Bat. If you would like to be part of it, too, head on over to her sites and check out the patterns. If you start now, there is still time for you to finish one or both of the ragdolls by Halloween!

My dolls differ from Melanie's written pattern in a few ways: My Gabby Ghost has no nose or mouth. (I like her face with just the eyes, eyelashes, and cheeks.) My Bobby Bat is mostly purple but with black wings and some other different color choices. On both dolls I opted not to stuff the hands or feet. (Again, just a personal preference for the ragdoll aesthetic.) And my dolls both have 12mm button eyes instead of safety eyes. If you want more details about my yarn choices, check out my Ravelry project page.

I made these using a 4mm crochet hook, but my hands would have been more comfortable if I had used a 4.5mm hook. I do own a hook that size, but the set it's part of has been missing since we moved two years ago, and I'm just stubborn enough not to buy another one because I know the set will turn up again once I'm able to fully unpack my craft room boxes. So, in the meantime, I'm making do with a different set of hooks that used to be my traveling set. Le sigh!!😉

Gabby's pumpkin is crocheted from the CAL pattern, but I made the pumpkin accompanying Bobby on my 22-needle Addi Pro circular knitting machine. I crocheted the stem and vines according to the CAL pattern, which worked out fine.

Join the free Halloween 2022 Crochet-A-Long at the following links:

Introduction

Shortcut to Part 1

Shortcut to Part 2

Shortcut to Part 3

Shortcut to Part 4

Shortcut to Part 5

Shortcut to Part 6