Super-cute Crocheted Pin Cushions

Look at these crazily cute crocheted takes on the traditional pin cushion. Aren't they just the most adorable things!?! 

Follow the links at the bottom of the pictures to see them in their original context. (The first one has a free pattern so you can have a go!)

Free pattern available on amigurumipatterns

By Doni at Whiskers & Wool

By Becky Oh at Eightlegs

I stumbled across these lovelies on pinterest. To see more of my pins click here.

Emma the amigurumi giraffe

Here she is... Emma the giraffe.

Which ribbon?

Over the last couple of days I have been playing with turquoises, lilacs and this lovely distressed blue for a very special commisioned brooch for a soon-to-be married man to give to his soon-to-be wife on their honeymoon.

Here is the finished flower...

I wonder what kind of ribbon she would like?

I've narrowed it down to three ribbons in particular. There's the turqoise one. You can't see it very well on this photo but this is a lovely, rich turquoise, silky ribbon. Then there's the lovely neutral one. This one is a light creamy colour, with grey stitches down the sides. And then lastly (my personal favourite) the floral grey one, which I would adjust to be a bit thinner. But might this one be a bit too... well... floral for some people?

Will ask the  hubby-to-be in question which one he thinks would best suit his special lady.

Blue bunnies for a baby boy

A few months ago I was commissioned to make a baby present for a little boy (who has not yet been born but is due to be born at the end of March).

Facts I had for the growing family

1) they are expecting a boy 2) baby is due in Spring time 3) baby's bedding for his cot is already purchased; patterned with little blue rabbits 4) mum-to-be owns a real life house bunny of her own.

So naturally I set about planning a bunny themed gift.

Here it is, freshly finished and photographed this morning.

I have been careful to make sure that there are no buttons that could be pulled off by tiny fingers or accidentally swallowed by tiny mouths. 

Tomorrow I will send it hopping off via Royal Mail from Bath to Newcastle. I hope baby will be pleased with it when he arrives into the world any time now.

I am itching to try some more little critters. I think cute, little giraffes might be on the agenda! So watch this space...

Pricing 

The five rabbits alone took over an hour each to crochet, assemble and decorate, so I would sell this kind of specially commissioned mobile for £45. If you would like one - or if you'd like a smaller one for a smaller price - get in touch via the 'contact me' page of my website - click here to go there now.

If you would like to use these pictures for anything you are really welcome to, but please do link back to my blog/website and mention me. Thank you kindly.

Here is a picture of a little basket that I have made out of parcel string. Doesn't it look cute?! It is only small but I have filled mine to the brim with silver brooch backs that I use all of the time when I am making my flower brooches. 

Little parcel string basket looking out of the window, what can you see?

I am going to start selling these string baskets soon for just £5 each (or a set of 3 for £13.50). This is a bargain as they take a bit longer than crocheting with wool as the string is slightly more strenuous a fabric to work with - but at least I will have toned arms by the time I've crocheted a few more of these!

If you would like to use this picture in your blog etc. you are really welcome to, but please do link it back to www.theflowermill.weebly.com. Thank you kindly.

Crocheting a small "blankie"

A friend of mine gave me an idea to crochet a simple square and attach a little amigurumi animal to one corner as a really lovely hand-made baby gift.

Here it is, a work in progress.

The square is trebble-crocheted in white cotton and the pink border is a simple scallop stitch running all of the way round in a pink cotton.

I chose to use cotton instead of wool because I wanted it to be really neat (and I thought wool is slightly less suck-proof for a baby) and I ironed it to add to that crisp look.

I'm still undecided on which little animal to crochet in the corner. Will post a pic when it's finished.

Roo's Christmas prezzy

My father-in-law's partner is affectionately Nick-named 'Roo' within the family.

She has a Samsung Galaxy SII like my father-in-law's.

For Christmas this year we made her a pink phone case so that they could have 'his n hers' phone cosies. 

See his here and hers below .

Yvette's Christmas present

Another cute Christmas prezzy idea is a hot water bottle case. This is a nice gift because it is so easily personalised. Think of a person's fave colour, pet or hobby and I can guarantee there is a cute hot water bottle design that can come from it.

My mother in law is called Yvette and her favourite colour is green. This is what me and my hubby came up with for her and she seemed really chuffed with it when she unwrapped it.

Steve's Christmas present

My father in law has a Samsung Galaxy SII so we decided to give him a neat, grey case for it for Christmas.

The pattern mainly consists of each round being 32 double crochet long, slip stitch together, turning stitch, turn work, repeat. (UK terminology)

This was attempt number three as we wanted it to be very clean cut and angular, which meant each round needed to be perfectly counted.

Because it was a simple colour we wanted it to be impressive in neatness and  a satisfyingly snug fit.

To detail we surface appliqued on a letter S, and gave it a big chunky button.

I think it turned out well.

Have a 'cosy' Christmas

My latest project

In our house we sure love a good cup of tea or a cosy cup of coffee so I've had a lot of fun making these crocheted mug cozies and the end result is just too cute. I don't really want to give them away but duty calls.

I selected the mugs, designed the pattern, crocheted the cosy and sewed on the details and all components are locally sourced where possible because I am all about supporting small local businesses. After all, my own business The Flower Mill is adorably small and brilliantly local. 

a finished cup cosy - crocheted in the Bakery

The exciting bit

The reason I have been crocheting cup cozies is because the rather lovely Lucy, in charge of social media at Moorland Road's Bath Bakery, kindly commissioned some for them to sell at their lovely cafe. As you know I do love to crochet and I often frequent the Bath Bakery with hooks and wool in tow, so of course I jumped at the chance to make them some crochet pretties.

On Saturday 22nd December there will be a handful of my unique and lovingly hand-made cup cosies for sale at Oldfield Park's The Bath Bakery & Café. (Find the bakery on Twitter and Facebook.)


I am so so excited to be selling them on our wonderful local shopping street. Such a joy. They cost just £7.50 each - pretty cup included and are a Christmas exclusive to the bakery. Once they're gone, they're gone.

preparations for my cosy display

They are not yet for sale on-line, but I am happy to make you one if you contact me via my website.

Click here to jump there now.

Bye for now. Am off to put the kettle on.

Laura's Christmas present

For my mum-in-law's partner's Christmas prezzy (now there is a mouthful and a half) me and the hubby designed and crocheted a personalised iphone case. This is a great idea for a Christmas prezzy as long as you know what kind of phone somebody has as it is very easy to look up the dimensions on line.

For all you crochet geeks out there, the phone case we put together is made by using a double crochet stitch (UK terminology) in alternating colours of blue wool and cream cotton, 4ml hook.

We finished this stage on the train on our way to see them...

 I then darned in all of the tails and single crocheted a chain that I shaped  into her initials, double crocheted around, and appliquéd onto the case. I sewed on a long dark blue button and gave it a chain loop button hole.

I love the end result. Here it is complete and ready to wrap...

Jenny's headband

It's finished! 

This pretty and chunky headband took me a couple of evenings. I loved doing it. I learnt a new stitch
and I finished it with my triple layered flowers.

Chunky Winter Headband Pattern

With Christmas upon us I have been eager to teach myself to crochet really chunky headbands as Christmas prezzys. What with it being winter I decided the chunkier the better. This is the pattern I have decided to use after much interweb trawling.

It is cute because it is chunky and the pattern is very versatile.

The ties are a fab idea as they make the headband less bulky under the hair and make it adjustable to different sizes. Useful for a Christams prezzy. Don't you think? I probably won't follow the pattern exactly but I will definitely this to get me started...

You will need - 40 g any worsted weight yarn - 4mm hook - Yarn needle

Gauge -  Approx. 4 stitches per inch - Approx. 4 rows per inch

The Pattern

Chain 4

Increase

Row 1: sc in 2nd ch and across, ch 1, turn

Row 2: (2 sc) in 1st st, sc 1, (2 sc) in last ch, ch 1, turn

Row 3: sc across, ch 1, turn

Row 4: (2 sc) in 1st st, sc to next to last st, (2 sc) in last st, ch 1, turn

Repeat Rows 3 and 4 until you have 13 stitches. Work one row of plain sc, ch 1, turn. Now you are ready to begin your pattern. Feel free to insert any stitch pattern.

Main body of headband

 (You could use any stitch you want to for this part of the headband but I think this looks nice and solid) 

dc in first stitch, *skip 1 stitch, work (sc, dc) in next stitch; repeat from * repeat starred instruction until there are two stitches remaining. Skip 1 stitch, sc in the turning chain of the previous row, ch 1, turn

Repeat that sequence until it reaches approximately 12 inches from the start of your pattern (do not count the sc)

Note: If your stitch is particularly stretchy (like sc rib), you may want to work less than 12 inches. It would be a shame to have a floppy headband that looses its shape! If your stitch doesn't stretch much, you may want more, depending on the size of your head. 

When you finish that main body of your headband decrease as follows.

Decrease

Row 1 (of decreases): Sc dec 2 st, sc to last 2 st, sc dec, ch 1, turn

Row 2: sc across, ch 1, turn

Repeat these Rows 1 and 2 until you have 3 stitches remaining. Now you are ready to do the sc border and ties. 

Single crochet around the edge, and ties

(You may find it easier to read the entire next section before you begin!)

Ch 1, sc around the headband. 

Sc 3 in corners. 

When you reach the 3 sc at each end, sc in 1st 2 stitches, then ch approx 7 inches. 

Slip stitch in 2nd ch and across. 

When you reach the base, sc in the 2nd ch again, then continue around. 

When you get back to where you started, join to the first sc with a slip stitch. 

You may want to sc once more for extra stability. 

Fasten off and darn in ends. 

And finally

Wear your headband and feel more than just a little bit fabulous!

Hope you enjoy making and wearing this item!

I originally took this pattern from here  but then I did rewrite parts of it so that I would find it easier to follow. The pattern was originally put on-line with a creaive commons license.