Super Sprout

Well hello lovely ones. How are we all on this chilly wet November evening? Hope you are all snuggled up with a crochet hook and a bundle of yarn. It’s a bit nippy isn’t it. We braved the weather for a spot of Park Runs and National Trusts today, but I’m rather pleased to be tucked up inside now with my little tribe in the warm.

So I thought I would go back in time and bring you this little man’s pattern again from a couple of years ago. It’s a lovely little pattern, perfect for a winters evening to make up and would be great for a Christmas present for someone.

I’m sure you are wondering why I even came round to crocheting a Sprout, well here’s how.

A winters day, a few years ago, we were in the supermarket, getting our big Christmas shop and we spotted a lowly little Sprout all by itself on the floor. It was nowhere near its little friends! My daughter immediately said it must have been a Super Sprout, that spends its evenings keeping the naughty peas in check in the supermarket. “It’s just like in the book!” She squealed!! She was referring to the Supertato book that they had read in Reception as a class.

The super potato basically saves the vegetables from a naughty pea that escapes from the freezer and causes havoc!!! She then insisted that I must crochet one and that I could put it on my blog! So without further a do. May I present Super Sprout. (You have to admit, he’s rather sweet!) He’s been snuggled up in my daughter’s bed time ever since. Anywho, back to crocheting. Right usual information on stitches here and supplies and then the pattern. Photos are on the go, so hope they all make sense. I only had a day to make him. So it was a bit of a quick one this one. She definitely loved finding him under the Christmas tree.

Stitches

Slip stitch (ss) – This is where there is no height to the stitch. It’s usually used to join rounds. So insert the hook into the front of the stitch you are joining to. This is usually the first stitch you made in that round/row. So yarn over hook and pull through that first stitch then also through the loop on your hook.

Double Crochet (dc) – Insert the hook through the stitch, front to back, then yarn over hook and pull back through stitch. You will have two loops on your hook. Then yarn over your hook and pull through both loops.

Double Crochet Decrease (2dctog) – This is where you crochet two stitches together to decrease the amount of stitches in the round. So insert the hook through the front of the first stitch only (the front V) and then insert again through the front of the second stitch (the front V). Now yarn over your hook and pull it back through both stitches, so you will then have 2 loops on your hook. Yarn over your hook again and pull through both loops. And there is your 2dctog. (Basically 2 double crochet stitches crocheted together.)

Treble (tr) – To make a treble crochet, firstly yarn over your hook, insert through space/stitch, yarn over your hook, pull back through space/stitch. There should now be 3 loops on your hook. Then yarn over hook and pull through the first two loops, yarn over hook and pull through the last two loops.

Half treble (htr) – A half treble crochet is basically one less movement than a treble. So yarn over hook, insert through space/stitch, yarn over hook, pull back through space/stitch. There should be 3 loops on your hook. Then yarn over hook and pull through all 3 loops.

Double treble (dtr) – A double treble is quite a tall stitch. So yarn over hook twice, insert hook through the stitch/space and then yarn over hook again. Now pull the yarn through the stitch. There will now be 4 loops on the hook. Now place the yarn over the hook and pull through the first 2 loops. Then yarn over the hook again and pull through the next two loops. Haha, now place the yarn over the hook again and pull through the last 2 loops. Phew! It’s a bit of a long process, but a lovely stitch with the height that it gives.

Supplies

So for Mr Super Sprout you will need some green yarn, I have used stylecraft cotton, but you can use wool or any green yarn really. Some scissors, a blunt ended tapestry needle, some toy stuffing and little bit of black yarn for the face. Oh and I nearly forgot a 3mm and a 4mm hook. The 3mm hook is for the body and the 4mm hook is for the leaves.

So here we go…

Body – use a 3mm hook with your green yarn. You are working in the round for the body.

1 – Make a magic ring, chain 1, then dc6 into the ring. Then pull the tail tight to create the first round. (6)

2 – 2dc into each stitch. Work ** 6 times. (12)

3 – 1dc, then 2dc into each stitch. Work ** 6 times. (18)

4 – 2dc, then 2dc into each stitch. Work ** 6 times. (24)

5 – 3dc, then 2dc into each stitch. Work ** 6 times. (30)

6 – 4dc, then 2dc into each stitch. Work ** 6 times. (36)

7 – 5dc, then 2dc into each stitch. Work ** 6 times. (42)

8 – 13 For each round, 1dc in each stitch. (42)

14 – 5dc, then 2dctog. Work ** 6 times. (See stitches explanation above if you are unsure of 2dctog.) (36)

15 – 4dc, then 2dctog Work ** 6 times. (30)

16 – *3dc, then 2dctog. Work ** 6 times. (24)

17 – 2dc, then 2dctog. Work ** 6 times.(18)

18 – 1dc, then 2dctog. Work ** 6 times.(12)

Now it’s time to stuff your body with toy stuffing,

19 – Work 2dctog 6 times (6)

Now sew up and fasten off your body using a blunt ended tapestry needle. You will notice that it gives a little bit of a point. This is where you can attach the base of your 4 leaves to.

Leaves – use a 4mm hook with your green yarn. Make two of each size. (Two small and two large.) For all of the leaves you are now working in rows and not rounds.

For both leaves –

1 – Make a slip knot on your hook and chain 4.

2 – Now work a htr into the third stitch from the hook and another htr into the next stitch from the hook. Turn your work now, so that you can crochet back along the row. (2)

3 – In this row, chain 2 and work 2htr stitches into each stitch and turn your work. (4)

4 – Then chain 2 and work 1htr into the same stitch, then 2htr into the next stitch. Repeat ** twice and then turn your work. (6)

5 – Then chain 2 and work 2htr, then 2htr into the next stitch Repeat ** twice and turn your work. (8)

6 – Now chain 2 then work 3htr, then 2htr into the next stitch. Repeat ** twice and turn. (10)

7 – Now chain 2 and then work 4htr, then 2htr in the next stitch. Repeat ** twice and turn your work. (12)

Now make two small leaves:

8 – 9 For each row, chain 2 then work 1htr into each stitch and turn. (12)

Now make two large stitches:

8 – 11 For each row, chain 2 then work 1htr into each stitch and turn. (12)

Now the next two rows are the same for both the small and the large leaves. So you are either on round 10 for the small leaf or round 12 for your large leaf.

  • Slip stitch into the first stitch, dc, htr, tr, tr, dtr, dtr, tr, tr, htr, dc then lastly a slip stitch. Then turn your work. (12)
  • For the last row, miss the first stitch then slip stitch into the next stitch, then dc, htr, tr, dtr, dtr, tr, htr, dc, then miss a stitch and slip stitch into the last stitch and fasten off. (10)

Right so this is what you should now have in front of you. One round ball, two large leaves and two small sprout leaves.

Now it’s time to sew the Sprout leaves in place. So start off by using the tail from the base of the leaf. So find the tip of the Sprout ball (its slightly raised) and using a blunt ended needle, sew on the first leaf base and fasten off. You will only be able to sew on the base as your tail of yarn is quite short.

Now move to the top of your sprout and using the top tail sew on the sides on the leaf but not the top.

Leaving the top part free, allows the leaf to have some movement.

Then carry on adding the other 3 leaves in the same way.

And now for the fun part. The eyes, eyebrows and smile. You need your black yarn, needle and scissors. (Don’t forget you can make the expression anyway you like.)

For the eyes. Attach by knotting one end and threading it through a gap in between a stitch at the back of the body. This will hide the end. Now pull the needle through where you would like the eye to be. I tend to sew over one stitch to make the eye and sew over this stitch about 5 times. You can add eyebrows in the same way but with one stitch. I love the simpleness of the eyebrows. They can make such a difference to a face!!

For the mouth. Pull the yarn through where you would like the mouth to start then thread back through where you want the mouth to finish. Now here’s the tricky part. You now need to anchor the mouth in the middle to make it a smile. So simply push the yarn back up in the middle of the mouth by one stitch lower, go over the top of the mouth, then back through the same stitch. This will give you the smile. Again simple, but effective.

And there you have it – one little Super Sprout to start you feeling that little bit Christmassy. I was thinking today, you could make a whole family of sprouts or even crochet them some Santa hats!! Proper cute.

Well I hope you have enjoyed my pattern. As always, if you have any questions or queries at all, please don’t hesitate to ask!! Looking forward to seeing all other little sprouts made – don’t forget to share your little fellas on here or on instagram/facebook.

Happy hooking everyone!!

🌈 Xx

(Free pattern designed and brought to you by PipsRainbow. Thank you for not copying or recreating it. ☺️Xx)

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Mr & Mrs Eggy

Hello my lovely ones. How are we all? Are we all getting ready for Easter? Not long now. It definitely feels like it’s come around quickly this year. We’re all looking forward to having a break and a bit of a slower pace in our house, from the usual school run craziness!! I think I will get my daughter to make a mindmap of all the things she wants to do in the holidays again. It worked really well at half term. We had great fun, ticking them all off.

Hoping to start her off with some Grannie Squares this holiday too. Think the blanket might have to be put on hold for a bit. Bless her. Might have been a bit too ambitious with that one!! Whoops!!

So I reckon it’s time to introduce you guys to Mr & Mrs Eggy.

They seem to be sheltering under their umbrella from all this wind and rain at the moment. I don’t blame them. These two have been hiding in the playroom for the last month or so. They seem to spend most of their time snuggled up together. Bless. Everything I make at the minute seems to be in twos!! I don’t know why! I never seem to set out to make two, it just seems to happen!!! Funny!!

Right, so this is where my Using Up Year and Easter have joined forces to create these two lovely Eggs! They are the healthy alternative to any yummy chocolatey heavenly Easter Egg that you might be thinking about buying for your loved ones!! Haha! Only joking. These little guys would be a great accompaniment to any chocolatey egg and will be there to snuggle your little bods, when the sad day arrives when all the chocolate has been eaten. A sad day indeed…

Really hope you enjoy this pattern. It’s ever so simple and quick to whip up. They are created by using the ever so simple Treble Crochet stitch, so it gives a nice alternative to the normal double crochet Amigurumi patterns and also works up a lot quicker.

Ok so off we go…

Level – Easy

Supplies –

So for Mr & Mrs Eggy I have used soft double knit wool, but you can choose whatever yarn you would like. Now you are going to need a 3mm crochet hook. (The reason we use a smaller hook size to the yarn, is so that the weave is smaller, thus making sure no toy stuffing comes out.) So for the double knit yarn – you will need about 140g, but I used all my bits up, so up to you what you can find in your stash!!

Don’t forget you also need a bit of white and black yarn for the eyes and face. And also your scissors, toy stuffing and blunt ended tapestry needle. Oh and a pom pom! The best bit!!

Stitches –

Magic Ring – Fold over the yarn to make the loop. Insert your hook through the loop and grab the working yarn (long piece) and pull through the loop. Hold the tail and the working yarn and pull so that the knot tightens, but you still have a loop. This has created a magic ring.

Slip stitch (ss) – This is where there is no height to the stitch. It’s usually used to join rounds. So insert the hook into the front of the stitch you are joining to. This is usually the first stitch you made in that round/row. So yarn over hook and pull through that first stitch then also through the loop on your hook.

Chain (ch) – To make a chain, place the yarn over the hook then pull it through the loop on your hook.

Treble (tr) – To make a treble crochet, firstly yarn over your hook, insert through space/stitch, yarn over your hook, pull back through space/stitch. There should now be 3 loops on your hook. Then yarn over hook and pull through the first two loops, yarn over hook and pull through the last two loops.

Double Crochet (dc) – Insert the hook through the stitch, front to back, then yarn over hook and pull back through stitch. You will have two loops on your hook. Then yarn over your hook and pull through both loops.

Decrease with treble (tr2tog) – ok so basically you need to crochet 2 stitches together, but still keep the height of a tr. So yarn over your hook and insert into stitch. Then yarn over hook and pull back through. This leaves you with 3 loops on your hook. Now yarn over your hook and pull through first 2 loops. This will leave you with 2 loops on your hook. Now yarn over hook and insert into the next stitch. Then yarn over your hook again and pull yarn back through. This leaves you with 4 loops on your hook. So yarn over your hook and pull through the first 2 loops. Then to finish, yarn over your hook and pull through the last 3 loops.

Double Treble Stitch (dtr) – A double treble is quite a tall stitch. So yarn over hook twice, insert hook through the stitch/space and then yarn over hook again. Now pull the yarn through the stitch. There will now be 4 loops on the hook. Now place the yarn over the hook and pull through the first 2 loops. Then yarn over the hook again and pull through the next two loops. Haha, now place the yarn over the hook again and pull through the last 2 loops. Phew! It’s a bit of a long process, but a lovely stitch with the height that it gives.

Body –

Now as this is a great Using Up Project, you can either use lots of little bits of yarn for the body like Mrs Eggy or one ball of yarn like Mr Eggy. Depends what look you are going for or how much yarn you have of each colour. For Mr Eggy I used about half a ball of a colour changing yarn. He seemed to work up quite nicely in that.

1 – Right then, so first things first, make your magic ring and chain 3. (Remember if you’re unsure of how to do this, see the tutorial section. Just remember you are working a Treble Crochet Stitch into the magic ring.) 

Now work 12tr stitches into the ring itself.

To make a Treble Crochet Stitch – firstly yarn over your hook, insert through space/stitch, yarn over your hook, pull back through space/stitch. There should now be 3 loops on your hook. Then yarn over hook and pull through the first two loops, yarn over hook and pull through the last two loops.

Here’s your 12 treble Crochet stitches.

You can now pull the little tail to close the ring. (12)

2 – Work 2tr into each stitch. (24)

3 – Work 2tr into each stitch. (48)

4 – Work 1tr in each stitch. (48)

5 – Now work *7tr, then 2tr into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (54)

6 – 7 (2 rounds) Work 1tr into each stitch. (54)

8 – *8tr, then 2tr into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (60)

9 – *9tr, then 2tr into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (66)

10 – *10tr, then 2tr into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (72)

11 – 13 (3 rounds) Work 1tr into each stitch. (72)

14 – *11tr, then 2tr into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (78)

15 – Work 1tr into each stitch. (78)

16 – Now work *11tr stitches, then tr2tog* repeat ** 6 times. (72)

Right then, so to work a tr2tog Stitch – Yarn over your hook and insert into stitch. Then yarn over hook and pull back through. This leaves you with 3 loops on your hook. Now yarn over your hook and pull through first 2 loops. This will leave you with 2 loops on your hook. Now yarn over hook and insert into the next stitch. Then yarn over your hook again and pull yarn back through. This leaves you with 4 loops on your hook. So yarn over your hook and pull through the first 2 loops. Then to finish, yarn over your hook and pull through the last 3 loops. And there you have your tr2tog.

17 – Work 1tr into each stitch. (72)

18 – Now work *10tr stitches, then tr2tog* repeat ** 6 times. (66)

19 – Work 1tr into each stitch. (66)

20 – Now work *9tr stitches, then tr2tog* repeat ** 6 times. (60)

21 – Work 1tr into each stitch. (60)

22 – Now work *8tr stitches, then tr2tog* repeat ** 6 times. (54)

23 – Work 1tr into each stitch. (54)

24 – Now work *7tr stitches, then tr2tog* repeat ** 6 times. (48)

25 – Work 1tr into each stitch. (48)

26 – Now work *6tr stitches, then tr2tog* repeat ** 6 times. (42)

27 – Now work *5tr stitches, then tr2tog* repeat ** 6 times. (36)

28 – Now work *4tr stitches, then tr2tog* repeat ** 6 times. (30)

29 – Now work *3tr stitches, then tr2tog* repeat ** 6 times. (24)

This would be a good time to stuff your body with stuffing.

30 – Now work *2tr stitches, then tr2tog* repeat ** 6 times. (18)

31 – Now work *tr2tog* repeat ** 6 times. (9)

Now slip stitch into the first stitch, sew up the hole and fasten off leaving a tail to sew the pom pom onto the top of the body later on.


Eyes – Make 2 using your white yarn.

Right so for the eyes you can either make two of the same or two different shaped ones. So I have included a round pattern and an oval pattern. So it’s totally up to you.

Eye 1 (The round one)

1 – Right then, so make your magic ring and chain 1. Now work 6dc stitches into the chain itself. You can now pull the little tail to close the ring. (6)

2 – *Now work 2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (12)

3 – *Now work 1dc, then 2dc in the next stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (18)

4 – *Now work 2dc, then 2dc in the next stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (24)

Now slip stitch into the first stitch and fasten off leaving a tail to sew the eye onto the body.

Eye 2 (The Oval one)

1 – Right then, so make your magic ring and chain 1. Now work 6dc stitches into the chain itself. You can now pull the little tail to close the ring. (6)

2 – *Now work 2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (12)

3 – Then work 2dc in the 3 next stitches, then 3dc stitches, followed by 2dc in the next 3 stitches. Then finish with 3dc stitches. (18)

4 – Ok so for the last round, it’s a bit of a concoction of stitches. So start by 1htr, then 1tr and 1dtr in the next stitch. Then 1dtr and 1tr in the next stitch. Follow this with 1htr in the next stitch and then 5dc stitches. Now work 1htr stitch and then 1tr and 1dtr in the next stitch. Then 1dtr and 1tr in the next stitch. Follow this with 1htr in the next stitch and finish with 5dc stitches. (Hope that all makes sense!!) (22)

(Remember if you are unsure of any stitches, just look above at the stitch section.)

Now slip stitch into the first stitch and fasten off leaving a tail to sew the eye onto the body.

Arms and Legs – Make 2 of each

Now you can use whatever combo of colours you fancy with these. I have paired up the arms and the legs, but it’s totally up to you what you do. They start off the same and then just change on the length. Just make sure you read the pattern careful, as in some parts you are going to switching between double and treble crochet stitches.

1 – Make a magic ring, chain 1, then work 6dc into the ring. (6)

2 – Now work 2dc into each stitch in the round. (12)

3 – *1dc, then 2dc in each stitch* Work ** 6 times. (18)

4 – *2dc, then 2dc in each stitch* Work ** 6 times. (24)

5 –  6 (2rounds) Now work 1tr in each stitch. (24)

7 – Work *2dc, 2dctog.* Work ** 6 times. (18)

8 – Work *1dc, 2dctog.* Work ** 6 times. (12)

For the legs (Make 2) –

9 – 27 (18 rows) Work 1dc for in each stitch in the round. (12)

For the arms (Make 2) –

9 – 28 (19 rows) Work 1dc in each stitch in the round. (12)

29 – *1dc, 2dctog* Work ** 4 times. (8)

Now make a slip stitch and fasten off. Now it’s time to stuff the legs and the arms if you want to. Now you can either leave the arms/legs empty or give them a little stuffing, but not too much. You don’t want them to stick out too much and not have any movement! For this pattern I like to keep the arms and hands completely free of stuffing, but stuff my feet and a little of the legs, but it really doesn’t matter either way.

Now you have 2 arms and 2 legs done. You’ll be able to tell the difference easily between the two, as the arms are a little longer and taper in at the top.

And there we have it. All body parts made…

Sewing Up –

Right then, so all we need to do now is sew it altogether and add the face and most importantly, the pom pom!!

So you are going to need your scissors and blunt ended needle to sew up your body parts and some black yarn for the face.

First things first, use the tail from the top of the arms to sew each arm on to the top of the body.

When you’re sewing on the arms and legs, make sure you sew the top of the arm/leg and the under side of it too.

Right now for those legs. You need to decide how you want them to lie, but this is the angle I tend to use.

Sew your legs on with the same kind of technique as the arms. You just need to make sure you keep checking the angle they are sitting at to each other.

Ok so now for the eyes. So to sew them on, grab the middle little tail and using your needle, just loosely sew the tail through to the other side and cut off the visible end. This will gently anchor the eye in place, which will make it easier for you to sew around the edges.

So the best way to sew them on is to work your way up and down in and out of each stitch. You can see in the picture below how I am coming back up through the next stitch. This will ensure the sewing on thread is hidden and will give a much neater finish to your project.

Once you have finished your first eye, I insert the needle through to the back of the body, where I make a simple knot and insert that back through to the side of the body. This will ensure that the eye is anchored properly. Now onto the second eye and sew on as before. Make sure that you keep checking the eyes are level and placed where you want them to be. Don’t be afraid to undo and start again, if it goes a little wonky!!

Ok, so now it’s time to finish the eyes and create the eyebrows. For the eye, start by threading your needle with black yarn and then knotting the end. Then thread it through from the back of the body, through the middle of the white part of the eye. The knot at the back should be small enough to fit through the middle of a stitch so that it is hidden, but be able to nestle in the stuffing to anchor the eye in place. Now finish your eyes by working little pupils on each eye, by sewing up and over a stitch. You can make these pupils as small or as big as you like. I seem to usually go over 2 stitches and usually sew it over about 4 times.

To work the eyebrows, you can carry on using the black yarn from the eyes. So come up where you want the eyebrow to start and then literally insert it back into the stitch where you want the eye brow to end. It’s pretty simple, but very effective. Don’t make it too big, as they can get caught and snag later on! Obviously you can make any expression you would like to, just by changing the angle of the eyebrows!

To make the smile, literally come up about two rounds under the first eye. Then over to the second eye in the same place. Now here’s the tricky part, find the middle of the smile and make a little stitch a few rounds underneath, but make sure your stitch goes over the smile.

This is to ensure the mouth is anchored down. Once again as before thread your black yarn to the back of the body, make a simple knot and then sew back through the body and cut off the end.

Right then, now it’s pom pom time!! Most pom poms have little loops. So use the thread from the top of the body, to sew on your pom pom!!

Well, I hope you have enjoyed this pattern. I know they went down well in our household.

Please let me know if you get stuck, I will endeavour to help in anyway I can.

Thanks ever so much for following me.

Happy hooking!

🌈Xx

(Free pattern designed and brought to you by PipsRainbow. Thank you for not copying or recreating it. ☺️Xx)


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