Fat friends polar bear free pattern

The free pattern for January is this new member of the fat friends family.

Link to pattern

This polar bear is the first of the winter fat friends and is available below as a free pattern. 

I will be posting a new free pattern next month please comment with any suggestions as to what that pattern should be.

Happy crocheting

love Liz xxx

Fat friends polar bear by Liz Ward

You will need

DK weight yarn in white

3.5mm crochet hook

12mm safety toy eyes

Wool needle

Toy stuffing

Embroidery thread

Embroidery needle

Scraps of grey felt

Fabric Glue

Abbreviations

Sl st –slip stitch

dc – double crochet

htr – half treble crochet

tr – treble crochet

st/sts – stitch/stitches

dc2tog – double crochet the next two stitches together

 Feet.

Make two in white yarn

Make a magic ring and work 6dc into the ring. 6sts

Rnd 1: 2dc into each st to the end. 12sts

Rnd 2: (dc in the first st, 2dc in the next st) repeat to end. 18sts

Rnd 3-4: dc in each st to end. 18sts

Rnd 5: (dc2tog) repeat to end. 9sts

  Cut the yarn leaving a long tail and pull through loop to secure.

Stuff your feet and leave them to one side for now.

Arms

Make two in white yarn

Make a magic ring and work 6dc into the ring. 6sts

Rnd 1: 2dc into each st to the end. 12sts

Rnd 2-3: dc in each st around. 12sts

Rnd 4-7: dc2tog, dc in next and each following st to end. 8sts at end of round 7

Rnd 8-15: dc in each st to end. 8sts                           

Cut the yarn leaving a long tail and pull through loop to secure.

Stuff your arm lightly and leave them to one side for now.

Ears

Make two in white yarn

Make a magic ring and work 6dc into the ring. 6sts

Rnd 1: 2dc into each st to the end. 12sts

Rnd 2: (dc in the first st, 2dc in the next st) repeat to end. 18sts

Rnd 3: (dc2tog, dc in next seven sts) repeat to end. 48sts

Rnd 4: (dc2tog, dc in next six sts) repeat to end. 42sts

Rnd 5: (dc2tog, dc in next five sts) repeat to end. 36sts

Rnd 6: (dc2tog, dc in next four sts) repeat to end. 30sts

Fasten off and press flat to form shape.

Body

Make one in white yarn

Make a magic ring and work 6dc into the ring. 6sts

Rnd 1: 2dc into each st to the end. 12sts

Rnd 2: (dc in the first st, 2dc in the next st) repeat to end. 18sts

Rnd 3: (dc in the first two sts, 2dc in the next st) repeat to end. 24sts

Rnd 4: (dc in the first three Sts, 2dc in the next st) repeat to end. 30sts

Rnd 5: (dc in the first nine Sts, 2dc in the next st) repeat to end. 33sts

Rnd 6: (dc in the first ten Sts, 2dc in the next st) repeat to end. 36sts 

*Mark this round with a contrasting thread*

Rnd 7: (dc in the first eleven Sts, 2dc in the next st) repeat to end. 39sts

Rnd 8: (dc in the first twelve Sts, 2dc in the next st) repeat to end. 42sts

Rnd 9: (dc in the first thirteen Sts, 2dc in the next st) repeat to end. 45sts

Rnd 10: (dc in the first fourteen Sts, 2dc in the next st) repeat to end. 48sts

Rnd 11: (dc in the first fifteen Sts, 2dc in the next st) repeat to end. 51sts

Rnd 12: (dc in the first sixteen Sts, 2dc in the next st) repeat to end. 54 Sts

Rnd 13 - 14: dc in each st to the end. 54sts

*pause to insert the toy eyes. These go on the marked round 6 stitches apart*

Rnd 15: (dc2tog, dc in next seven sts) repeat to end. 48sts

Rnd 16: (dc2tog, dc in next six sts) repeat to end. 42sts

Rnd 17: (dc2tog, dc in next five sts) repeat to end. 36sts

Rnd 18: (dc2tog, dc in next four sts) repeat to end. 30sts

Rnd 19: (dc2tog, dc in next three sts) repeat to end. 24sts

Rnd 20: (dc2tog, dc in next two sts) repeat to end. 18sts

Rnd 21: (dc2tog, dc in next st) repeat to end.           12sts *stuff your toy now*

Rnd 20: (dc2tog) repeat to end                                    6sts

Cut the yarn leaving a long tail and pull through loop to secure.

Using a wool needle weave the yarn through the last 6 Stitches and pull tight to close. Weave in yarn ends and cut off remaining yarn.

Now attach the arms, legs and ears to body using the photo as a guide

Cut a small oval of grey felt and use grey thread to work long embroidery stitches to form the nose and mouth. Glue or sew onto face to finish.

amigurumi live stripy elephant

This is the screenshots from the live twitter feed I did for making the pattern of the week 24/01/16

Link to pattern

To join me for the next amigurumi live follow me on twitter @lizwardcrochet 

Pattern of the week 2

This weeks pattern is one of my all time favorites. It was one of the first magazine commissions I got and I put a lot of thought and time into creating it.

Link to pattern

Owl doorstop pattern pattern of the week 25/01/16

only £1

This weeks pattern of the week is my owl doorstop. This one one of the first magazine commission I ever received and I took a long time working out the pattern so it would be really good.

It uses chunky yarn and you need a multi colour and a plain in the same yarn weight. You will also need felt in the colours that go with the yarn and something to make it heavy.

It was first published in Craftseller magazine and it was the first of my patterns to come out in a magazine. You can imagine my delight at seeing my first ever pattern in print and on the cover. Its in the bottom corner.

Then to my surprise a while later it turned up again and this time as the main feature of the cover of love crochet magazine.

So for one week only you can grab this cute pattern for only £1

I am hoping to re-making this design again this week. I'll be going for different colours this time as its a good excuses to have a yarn shop visit and pick out something pretty :)

It'll be next Sunday as long as I have all my other work done and I'll be live tweeting it as I did the re-make of last weeks pattern of the week. You can follow me @lizwardcrochet or follow the hashtag #amigurumibarmylive

This was last weeks pattern of the week. Its back to full price now but you can still get the pattern here

Yesterday I live tweeted the re-making of this elephant it was great fun. It took longer than expected, 6 hours in total. I'll be adding the tweet feed to this blog later today so if you are not on twitter you can still join in the fun.

For now, Happy crocheting
Love Liz xxx

One ball of yarn

A wile ago I mentioned I had another book out with contained some of my work.

The book is called one ball of wool and if you click on this link you can find it on amazon. It will also be in any good bookshop.

 The idea is that all the projects in the book can be made from just one ball of wool. Its a combination of knitting and crochet projects. Its a pretty cool book, both the look of the photos and the designs very on trend.

 The first project I was asked to design was a clutch bag.I had just had an order of yarn come in and I'd treated myself to a couple of colours in the drops cotton viscose range. The blue was just perfect for this project as it has a real metallic shine to it that give the clutch bag an evening look.
 Its lined with hot pink silk as a lovely contrast and finished with a large crystal button.

It has a fine strap that you can't see in these pic aswell so you can pop it over your shoulder if you need your hands free.

I please to say that the editors were very happy with this project and asked if I would be happy to come up with some more designs.

 The next project was a dog bone chew toy.
I had made a toy bone for my Rusty dog pattern for Love crochet magazine

Link to pattern

 This bone wanted to be bigger and stronger as its for real dogs to chew. In the end I adapted the rusty bine pattern and made it with a thick cotton yarn. Its probably not indestructible but it'll last a long time and be a great fun toy for your pooch.

 

Another doggie project. I was asked to design a bow tie for a dog. I figured if your gonna put a bow tie on your dog it might as well be bright red and sparkly :)

This is made so its adjustable so it'll fit most dogs. I love the picture they have used the dog is rocking the sparkly bowtie, bless him.

I was also asked to do some projects for humans.

A child's beanie hat.

A hat/cowl. This is a slouchy beanie hat that is also a neck cowl.

I have to say I love this pattern. I wear a cowl similar to this nearly everyday that I made for myself ages ago. I decided to use the idea of my cowl and its rib effect to create this design. A simple drawstring inside changes it from hat to neck cowl. I think its great and I'm gonna be making myself some more.

Last up for today is this coin purse.

This is really simple but you do need to buy one of the frames. Its called a coin purse frame and you can get them from any craft shop or off amazon.
These are seriously easy to make with the pattern. There is a little bit to do in the making up and lining process but if you wanted a pattern for a great gift, this is it.

There are many other patterns in this book and they are all lovely. I always feel honored  to see my work printed. I am very proud of the work I produce and seeing the finished books are just lovely.

Till next time
happy crocheting
love Liz xxx

Pattern of the week 1

As I mentioned on a previous post I am going to be doing a pattern of the week section.

The pattern of the week will be knocked down to just £1 and will be available all week 18/01/16-24/01/16

This weeks pattern is.....

 

Link to pattern

This stripy elephant was originally designed well over a year ago for Love Crochet magazine. It was one of those designs that didn't go to plan but actually turned out better because of that.

 This was my second cover of Love crochet magazine and I designed the elephant on the cover and the panda and monkey in the top corner.

The reason I have chosen this as the first pattern of the week is that I will be remaking it myself this week so if you want to crochet along with me you can join me on my facebook page here

I'm remaking it because I need to take some more photos for my website and I don't know where the originals have gone. The plus of this is I can play around with colour and make a few elephants in different colour themes.

If anyone has any colour suggestions please comment and let me know.

happy crocheting
love Liz   xxx

Underwater dummy buddies LGC

Earlier this month I announced the very exciting news that I am now working with Lets get Crafting magazine and shared the first project I have created for them this rather cute frog. You can read about it in this blog post if you would like.

The patterns have now been released on Ravelry for the next issue, issue 77 so I can share my project.

I was asked to create a set of three dummy buddies. little toys that can hang off dummy's or can be hooked onto a pram for a child to play with.

The inspiration image I was sent was of a little blue bunny, so my first suggestion was to go down the traditional baby toy route of bear, bunny and duckie. I wanted to give my editor another option though and after a bit of thought I suggested a underwater theme with a octopus, fish and baby mermaid.

      Well I'm sure you can tell by the photos of this pattern set what my editor went for. I think it was the baby mermaid that swung it, she got a bit excited about that.

Lets get crafting magazine comes with the yarn and hooks you need so I had the colours I would be using provided for me.

I love this photo of them all hanging together. They came out just how I wanted and I'm not sure which is my favorite now.



I was going to attach them to dummies but in the end put them on swivel clips so the can be attached and detached. In hindsight this seems like a better idea but it was actually because I failed at buying dummies.
 I don't have any kiddies and I'm not a fan of shopping so I bought what I thought was a pack of four dummies of amazon. When the arrived there was only two.
 Next I tried nipping to the pound shop but they only had pink and I didn't want them all to be on pink dummies.
 Finally with only a day left before these guys had to be in the post. I got some from the supermarket while shopping with my mum. They were a perfect set of 4 bright colours to match the toys. I only went and left them in my mums car, didn't I. Fool that I am.

 So with no time left I bought swivel clips from the haberdashery I work at and sent them off like that.

Alls well that ends well though :)



I hope you all enjoy this new pattern design and don't forget to share your projects on ravelry or my facebook page








Thats all for today.
 Don't forget to vote on this months free pattern by checking out this blog post here


happy crocheting
love Liz xxx

Etsy pattern shop update

Its that time of year and I'm updating my pattern shop.

My pattern shop is where you can find all my new and original amigurumi and crochet patterns. It is also where you can get hold of any patterns I have done for magazines after they have come back from being owned by the magazines copyright.

The link to my etsy shop is here. 
If you click the above sentence it will open up my etsy shop in a new window on your computer.

The first thing I'm going to be doing is updating any patterns that are getting a bit tired and discontinuing any that have been around for a long time and not selling.

If I discontinue a pattern that you have had your eye on and you can no longer find it in my etsy shop. Email me at lizwardcrochet@mail.com or message me via my facebook page or etsy shop and I'll be able to provide the pattern for you.

There are going to be lots of new patterns coming this year. I have a lot of designs coming back from publishers and I've been working on some really cute designs just for my etsy shop.

There are going to be some price changes mainly because if writing crochet pattern doesn't start making me a living I'm going to have to give it up and get a proper job.


A single pattern like teddy heart above will be £3

A group pattern like my mermaid and friends will be £5

A large group of patterns will be like the fat friends set will be £10

I will also introducing a basic range of little patterns like this cute mini owl that will all be £2.50 each.

There are a couple of other things I'll be introducing.

First if anyone buys two or more patterns they will be sent a free pattern by email. I will choose the pattern for you but you can leave me a message in your order if there is one you would particularly like me to send you.

I will also be having a pattern of the week which will be available for a discount price throughout the week. This will be announced here and on my facebook page every Monday starting Jan 18th. Make sure you following my blog or my facebook page so you don't miss out on your favorite pattern.

As a thank-you, for you all supporting me and my etsy shop this year I am aiming to post a free pattern every month. The first new pattern will be here on the blog by the end of the month and you get to choose what it will be.

The choices are

The perfect easy star
Afternoon teacosy
Easter eggs and basket
Fat friends polar bear

Leave a comment here or on my facebook page  and the winning design will be posted as a free pattern very soon


Thats it for now.
Happy crocheting
Love Liz xxx