Pattern Highlights: Cephalopods!

A few years back, starting in 2007, I was pretty obsessed with making these creatures. I sold hundreds of them on Etsy, often crocheting dozens of tiny arms while working at a call center.

A few years later, I wrote a pattern...

... and then another...





... and another.





I am still very proud of these patterns, and I am so happy that many of you have continued to connect with them and make tons of sea creatures for your friends, family, and self!

To see each pattern's info, click the picture. <3 p="">

Hot Time knitting and crochet

Let's face it, the weather affects what you want to work on, right? Here in Chicago it is a humid 83 Fahrenheit and I am avoiding the presence of my woollier, warmer yarns for the time being.

So, what to do? My answer is usually: Cotton or small or quick or all of the above.

Melt Slouch Hat

Realistic Crochet Octopus

crochet headband party!

Some random tips for making yarn-crafting bearable during the warmer months:

• Drink more water! (basically my solution for everything)
• Put your project and/or yarn into a bag so they don't get fuzzies all over you
• invest in a spray bottle from the Dollar Store or something, mist yourself like an orchid when you get hot
• stick to smooth fibers like cotton, linen, hemp, bamboo, viscose 

I'm getting ready to make a few pairs of cotton socks. Keepin' it cool and small.

Has summer crafting season reached you yet? Got any more tips? Because you know we're not just gonna stop just because it's hot!

Which creature to feature next? Vote vote vote

I just posted a poll asking crafters far and wide to VOTE on which sea creature they'd like to see next as a pattern. Stop by and tell me what you think!

Click here and scroll down a tad

It's a bebeh!

I am torn between writing a knit octopus pattern (I just have a crochet octopus so far), super-cute amigurumi style baby octopus and squid combo pattern (see above), a crochet seahorse (which I KEEP TYPING as seahore... um), a knit tentacle scarf (see previous post for a taste of that sauce), or a starfish/sea star.

Sea-lady-of-the-night

As always, it will be a blend of anatomically correct/realistic and cute.

There's also a write-in option. What critter are you itchin' to make? Let me know!

Octopus Crochet Pattern at last...

Happy April Fools! Um, I wish I had thought of something tricky or clever for this post, but you see, I have been distracted.

IT. HAS. RISEN.

The octopus crochet pattern is here. I didn't sleep much last night, but it was totally worth it. I have wanted to release this for about four years... a sorta-realistic octopus with curly tendril-like arms.

Any weight of yarn can be used for this, it will just change the size of the creature. For an octopus with a large egg-sized head, I used chunky weight yarn, a G hook for the head and a J hook for the rest. Just make sure your smaller hook size is small enough to prevent holes in the fabric so the head stuffing doesn't come spilling out. No one likes to see that.

Please enjoy, and spread the cephalopod love!

Realistic Octopus crochet pattern PDF

$6

OMG OCTO

My friend Tara made the octopus!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(insert Leah's happy dance here)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Look at eeet!

IT'S ALIVE!

I have never seen it made by someone else, and I am so ecstatic I can barely handle it.

She test crocheted it for me, the pattern is almost ready. I am hoping to release it just in time for April Fools Day. Not sure why, but that seems fitting.

Coming soon... the Octopus crochet pattern

Oh, little curly arms, how you have long haunted my dreams.

I have churned out many hundred -- actually, over a thousand-- little curly arms for the octopodes I have made over the years. I have loved each and every creature I have created... but. But. I am over-the-moon happy that other people will soon be able to make them too.

Finally. I am finally getting the pattern together, four years after making the first cephalopod as a birthday gift for my dad. I have sent the pattern to June Gilbank, a wonderful tech editor over at Planet June, and after she works her magic and I come up with some images, I will release it into the wild.

My experience with crochet is very experimental and free-form (in fact, all the critters I have made were improvised, and each one was slightly different), so nailing down a precise pattern has been a little tricky. I think I have come up with a formula that consistently creates the shapes I want, and I am pretty happy.

Stay tuned!

In the meantime, ghosts of critters past...