Felted Mushroom Pattern (Crochet)

So here are the mushrooms I made for the I Knit Brisbane project. Not knowing how to knit at the time I attempted to translate Grace Schnebly mushroom pattern’s into crochet and kinda succeeded.

Here are the patterns for anyone that would like to have a go. Please be aware that they are in English Terms.

Rnd = Round
Ch = Chain
SS = Slip Stitch
DC = Double Crochet (Single Crochet)
Inc = Increase
Dec = Decrease

Mushroom Cap Pattern (Small & Large)
Hook: 6.00mm (J)

With this pattern you can make all the different shaped caps from the photos (except the wavy edged one, he's special), the shape is really defined when you felt the cap. By felting the edges more you end up with a bell shape, felt the whole thing evenly and you get a flat cap etc. Have fun and experiment.

There are two ways to make this pattern, if you want the caps to be pointer, add a chain to the beginning of each round (Do not count this chain in your stitch count, just ignore it). Then end the round by Slip Stitching in to your first Double Crochet (Mark the SS as the last stitch in the round). This extra chain makes you go up in 'steps' instead of a continuous spiral.

Rnd 1: Ch 2, DC6 into 2nd Ch from hook. (6) Or DC6 into a magic ring.
Rnd 2: Inc in each stitch. (12)
Rnd 3: DC in each stitch. (12)
Rnd 4: *Inc, DC*. (18)
Rnd 5: *Inc, DC2*. (24)
Rnd 6: DC in each stitch. (24)
Rnd 7: *Inc, DC3*. (30)
Rnd 8: *Inc, DC4*. (36) Small Cap is finished at the end of round 8!
Rnd 9: DC in each stitch. (36)
Rnd 10: *Inc, DC5*. (42)
Rnd 11: *Inc, DC6*. (48)
Rnd 12: DC in each stitch. (48)
Rnd 13: *Inc, DC7*. (54)
Rnd 14: DC in each stitch. (54)
Rnd 15: *Inc, DC8*. (60)
Rnd 16: DC in each stitch. (60)

Mushroom Cap Pattern (Wavy)
Hook: 6.00mm (J)

This one was an experiment that turned out ok (it needs a little refining, but it's ok). It ends up being very flat and floppy upon completion, but don't worry, once it's felted it will lose all that flop.

Rnd 1: Ch 2, DC6 into 2nd chain from hook. (6)
Rnd 2: Inc in every stitch. (12)
Rnd 3: *Inc, DC*. (18)
Rnd 4: *Inc, DC2*. (24)
Rnd 5: *Inc, DC3*. (30)
Rnd 6: *Inc, DC4*. (36)
Rnd 7: *Inc, DC3*. (45)
Rnds 8 & 9: DC in every stitch. (45)
Rnd 10: *Inc, DC2*. (60)
Rnd 11: *Inc, DC5*. (70)
Rnd 12: *Inc, DC3, Inc*. (98)
Rnd 13: *Inc, DC6*. (112)
Inc, SS and tie off.

Mushroom Stem (Small)
Hook: 6.00mm (J)

There are a couple of ways to work this work the stem patterns as well. If you want your mushroom stem to have a rounded base just follow the pattern as it is. But if you want your mushroom to be able to stand on its own, I suggest you Double Crochet into the Back Loops when you get to Round 4. This gives you a nice flat stem base.

Rnd 1: Ch 2, DC4 into 2nd Ch from hook. (4) Or DC4 into a magic ring.
Rnd 2: *Inc, DC*. (6)
Rnd 3: Inc in every stitch. (12)
Rnds 4-6: DC in every stitch. (12) DC into Back Loops at the start of round 4 if you want a flat base.
Rnd 7: *DC4, Dec*. (10)
Rnds 8-10: DC in every stitch. (10)
Rnd 11: *DC2, Dec, DC*. (8)
Rnds 12 & 13: DC in every stitch. (8)

Mushroom Stem (Large)
Hook: 6.00mm (J)

There are a couple of ways to work this work the stem patterns as well. If you want your mushroom stem to have a rounded base just follow the pattern as it is. But if you want your mushroom to be able to stand on its own, I suggest you Double Crochet into the Back Loops when you get to Round 6. This gives you a nice flat stem base.

Rnd 1: Ch 2, DC8 into 2nd Ch from hook. (8) Or DC8 into a magic ring.
Rnd 2: *Inc, DC*. (12)
Rnd 3: *Inc, DC2*. (16)
Rnd 4: *Inc, DC3*. (20)
Rnd 5: *Inc, DC4*. (24)
Rnds 6-8: DC in every stitch. (24) DC into Back Loops at the start of round 6 if you want a flat base.
Rnd 9: *DC4, Dec*. (20)
Rnds 10-12: DC in every stitch. (20)
Rnd 13: *DC3, Dec*. (16)
Rnds 14-16: DC in every stitch. (16)
Rnd 17: *DC2, Dec*. (12)
Rnds 18-20: DC in every stitch. (12)
Rnd 21: *DC4, Dec*. (10)
Rnds 22 & 23: DC in every stitch. (10)

Felting

To felt fill a bowl (or the kitchen sink) with enough warm water to cover the shrooms, add a little dish soap and leave to sit for 30minutes. Rub or roll your cap or stem with your hands until you achieve your desired shape and the stitches are no longer visable (I found they felted easier if you rubbed/rolled them gently at first). Rise with cold water, stretch into shape and leave to dry.

Building

Partly fill your stems with something heavy like sand (rice would be fine too, just watch out for rodents...). Then top up the stems with some toy stuffing. This makes the base heavier and the top of the stem lighter so it's easier to stand up. Then sew the cap to the stem and you're done!

If you find any errors or suggestions let me know. :)

Lazy girl is lazy

So 3 months have passed and I have not posted anything on this blog. There's no dramatic reason behind this, I just lost interest. I do that...

I've taken a bunch of photos in the last few months though and will try to post a couple each day for the next 2 weeks.

Now I shall leave you with an image of our refrigerators power at level 3 coldness.

That's right, frozen.

Pinata!

Gaze if you dare upon Diablo Lord of Terror!

RAWR!

GRR...

This fearsome beast was crafted by yours truly in August last year for Tom's (aka Spiritwolf) 21st birtday. It took about 3 days working on and off to get this fellow finished.

The design was inspired by Blizzards April fool joke from that year (2008). Here's a link to the original joke page.

Since the Lord of Terror turned out quite well I had to show Blizzard. So I posted his glorious image in Blizzards Diablo 3 forum. (My main is now a mage pew pew pew!)


N.B. No, I won't make you one. Why? Cause I'm mean :P

A blog is born

Good evening Blog, I spent quite a few hours baking Easter presents for my friends and family. Check it out!

Easter Egg Nests

This is a vanilla cupcake decorated with chocolate flakes and mini chocolate eggs, to resemble a birds nest. The chocolate flakes were quite fiddly, but they turned out alright.




Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

Ah, these were quite the challenge to make. I learnt quite a bit from these. Like cookie dough won't expand in the oven if it is chilled. Some ended up being the same size as the cookie cutter, others expanded to mammoth proportions.
I also learnt how to make royal icing. It was also the perfect chance to use sprinkles.

Triple Chocolate Muffins

I had lots of trouble with these. Oh, it's really quite an embarrassing tale. See the chocolate egg on top? They were originally supposed to be baked inside the muffin.
The first batch burnt (they had eggs inside). They were left in for the full 25 minutes that the recipe suggested. Turns out they're cooked at 15 minutes. I simply forgot to put the eggs in before the second batch went in the oven. So I stuck the eggs on with a dollop of double cream. They actually look quite lovely like that.

This was the largest baking project I've undertaken so far. The most challenging before would of been the Chocolate Peanut Butter Kisses that I baked my beloved for Valentines day. Pictures!

They were coated with white chocolate, milk chocolate and dark chocolate. Then the milk and dark chocolate ones had white chocolate piped over them. The white chocolate ones had milk chocolate with some white chocolate (I had lots of white chocolate left) mixed in piped over them.

Hmm, what will my next project be? I'm not sure, perhaps I'll make that paper mache Zeplin or Tyreal pinata...