A head of rose(s)

This blog is a zoo, but the flora deserves to have a shot, too. This week I was inspired to make a headpiece. The result is this rose, that you wrap around your head asymmetrically (notice the shorter thread on one side). Alternatively, you can wear it around your neck, where it makes a pretty "Trachtenschmuck".

Thread

The thread is basically a string of crochets. Make sure to sew the loose end into the tread so that they don't stick out.

Rose

This flower consits of three layers of continued round. You can diversify how much you want to in the design, but you need to make the bottom one the largest and so on.

Your enthusiastic crocheter,
Fran

The Freeborn, Lovelorn, Forlorn Unicorn

It's magic time!!!! May I present the one and only unicorn?

Horse-shaped animals are actually really difficult to do. For starters, you have 7 pieces that you need to sew together. Moreover, the mane and tail have to be woven into the these pieces. And last but not least, you will have to make sure that all is well-proportioned. Huh.... Let's break it down.

The body is oval-shaped and quite easy to finish in comparison. The legs are simply made of a ring of 5 crochets until they are long enough. The head is oval-shaped, as well, only much smaller. It is the neck that poses that challenge!

For the neck, you will need to start with a fairly long row of crochets and then slowly decrease until you have a form looking like this:

 

By sewing it together at opposite ends, you create a tube - the neck! If necessary, you can get the neck into form with additional strings that you pull through it and knot at either side. 

The finishing touches consits of the attachment of the mane and tail and the design of the snout. For that, you pull ca. 5-8 strings through the rear and neck and knot them together. Then, fizz out the strings by pulling a needle through them. By being "fizzy", the strings widen and thus a dissolution of the knots are prevented. The snout can simply be stitched on and the eyes glued on.

Fell the magic yet? The Freeborn, Lovelorn, Forlorn Unicorn certainly does....

Guinea Pig

What you need:

1 ball of effect yarn (the "fluffy" kind), preferrably in beige or light brown
1 ball of beige wool
2 plastic eyes
a black thread for the snout
1 crocheting needle

The guinea pig is probably one of the easiest stuffed animals you will crochet. Why? All you need to do is produce an oval-shaped body, the ears and feet and that's it basically. Here's how you do it:

Body
Start by crocheting a disc (as shown in previous tutorials) and increase round by round until you arrive at a satisfying size. Then continue to crochet without increasing or decreasing until you have a satisfying length, as well. Then decrease and make sure to stuff the animal with batting before you close off the body.

Ears
Crochet a row of 4 stitches with the beige wool. Then decrease by taking two stitches together. Repeat that in round 3. Sew the ears onto the body.

Feet
Start by crocheting a tiny disc. Increase in round two and immediately decrease in round three, so that you get a voluminous effect. Sew the feet onto the body.

Face
Stitch on a snout by using the black or alternatively brown thread (depending on the shade and thickness of the wool). Glue on the plastic eyes.

Say hello to your little guniea piggy!