Not So Ugly Duckling ~ Free Pattern

Download Free Pattern Here!

For anyone who wants to try their hand at amigurumi this little duckling is for you! He's small and completely adorable.

This is the first amigurumi pattern I've written so I'd love to hear from anyone who uses it, or even see pictures of your little ducklings! If you're having trouble, keep in mind that it's all in the details. Amigurumi is an art, and no two pieces are going to be exactly the same. Where and how you stitch pieces together can change the entire personality of the piece. 

Look at that little tail! It's my favorite part.

Little ducky feet, and also the tail again!

This is the last in my series of my free patterns, but that means I can put even more detail and time into my future work. I've got a few ideas for future projects, but are there any patterns you'd like me to try? I'm always open to suggestions! (Bonus! If I decide to sell a pattern from your suggestion, you can have it for free!)

For the Beginners

This is for all those beginner crochet artists out there!
I've got two (that's right, TWO) free patterns for you today. They're both super easy, and don't require anything more difficult than a dc stitch. The best part? These are awesome projects that look and work great (without making you look like a noob). 

The first pattern is one you may recognize if you've read my old posts from 2012. It first appeared last January in Baby it's Cold Outside. Here is an example and a close up of the stitch.

Example from 2012

Close up of Kelsey's Shell Scarf

It's mainly just a super simple shell stitch, but if you need help starting & finishing for a scarf you can just check out my Shell Scarf pattern! My biggest tip for anyone doing a project with shells is to always end with a half shell. If you do it this way, every row will be exactly the same (instead of having to go back and forth between two kinds of rows), AND all your turns will only be ch 1 which (in my opinion) makes the sides of the scarf look a lot better. 

The second pattern I have for you today is a dish cloth, and it's not just any dishcloth, it's an Epic Dishcloth. 

Epic Dishcloth (Folded)

I call it epic because it has a great texture for hand washing dishes and it's also easy to make. It's the perfect combination, don't you think? The best yarn to use for dishcloths is definitely Sugar'n Cream. If you choose not to use it, just make sure your yarn is 100% cotton. Why? Cotton absorbs up to 27 times it's weight in water. If you need an idea for what to do with the rest of your cotton yarn, I highly recommend one of these lovely scrubbies!

Happy Hooking!

Quick Update

Not a lot to post, but I've been working on a bunch of things for the blog. Get excited!

If you haven't noticed, I've updated the blog a bit. To the left, I added a few social media buttons if you want to find me elsewhere on the internet. These buttons include one for Pinterest, which is super cool, because I spent several hours moving all my crochet pins onto their own separate Pinterest page. So, if you follow all "iloveicraft" boards on Pinterest, you can get lots of awesome crochet pins and none of my personal ones. Yay!

I've also been working on the three FREE patterns I have yet to post. They're all planned out and include a dishcloth, my favorite scarf, and something amigurumi! The amigurumi pattern is a surprise, but I love making critters and plan on writing plenty of amigurumi patterns to sell later on, so I'm going to do one for free to give you a taste.

Another Pattern, and a bit of News

The Pattern

Everyone has to keep warm in these cold cold months. Especially your little ones! 

I made this hat for a family friend of mine and decided to write a pattern for it as well. Isn't it cute? The ridges are my favorite part, but it also is doubly warm over the ears because the black portion is flipped up! 

It also combines my favorite yarns in one project. The top part is a gorgeous blue sock yarn that's good and stretchy, while the band is super soft and cozy. 

If you'd like to make a hat like this for your little guy or gal click for a link to the download the FREE pattern.

The News

At the beginning of the year, my goal was to write and publish five crochet patterns. This is the second. As my life stands right now, I should be at five in no time at all. 
Some of my patterns can get a bit complicated though, and just from personal experience I know that visuals are always a benefit when reading patterns. So I did a little research, and found this great program that is set up specifically to diagram crochet patterns! How cool is that? The issue, is that it costs $50. $50 that I don't have right now, but I have a plan. 

The Plan

• Write 5 patterns and publish them for FREE so other crochet artists can see my work. 2 down, 3 to go. (These patterns will always be free.)
• Continue writing patterns, but put them up for sale. (I may continue to publish freebies now and then.)
• After sales reach $50 or more, I can get the program and my patterns with be THAT much nicer and easier to understand.
• Retroactively update previous patters to make all of them equally awesome.

In the mean time, if you want to help out - and help me get the program sooner - I've added a donation button on the left! Any and all contributions are appreciated. 

So if you download one of my free patterns and think to your self, "This pattern would be a lot easier to understand if there were some diagrams," just keep in mind that I think so too! I  don't have the tools to do that right now, but I'm working on it!

My First Pattern!!

I wrote a pattern!!!! Can you tell I'm excited?

I'm not sure how many exactly, but I've made at least 25-30 hats in my crochet history. Over half of them have been along the same lines as far as a pattern. In fact, the first thing I ever crocheted was a hat!! I'm not sure where that particular hat is, but the majority of the hats I've made since have been an evolution of that pattern. It's not really anything like the original anymore, since I've tweaked it a bit every time I made a new one, but I'm really proud of it's most recent reincarnation. And now I'm sharing it with the world!!!

Ta-Da!!

Here's the link to download the pattern!!
I used Deborah Norville Collection Serenity Garden Yarn in Hibiscus. 

Since this is the first pattern I've written for the public, comments and feedback would be wonderful!! Happy Crocheting!