Cookie Monster Pattern

He is complete!

Its been a long time coming but I have finally gotten round to re-making cookie monster and writing up the pattern and I'd just like to say now that I never want to crochet with eyelash yarn every again. Night mare!

Anyway I am pretty pleased with the way he turned out, he is smaller than the last cookie monster but I feel that the mouth turned out better this time, The dec rounds on the body are a bit rough but as long as he is
getting smaller at that part thats all you need to worry about.

You will need:

150g of Stylecraft Eskimo Double Knit Blue eyelash yarn
Small amounts of white and black DK
10mm safety eyes
3.5mm hook
Stitch marker
Fibre Fill to stuff and a needle to sew

NOTE: this is an intermediate to advanced pattern, if you are having problems check the comments below the pattern as the answer may be there or there is always Google.

Mouth Black (make 2)

R1: 4sc in ring, ch 1 turn
R2: inc in every st, ch 1 turn (8sc)
R3: sc in first, inc in next, rep (12sc)
R4: sc in next 2, inc in next, rep (16sc)
R5: sc in next 3, inc in next, rep (20sc)
R6: sc in next 4, inc in next, rep (24sc)
R7: sc in next 5, inc in next, rep (28sc)
Sc along straight edge
Attach blue fuzzy yarn and sc around curved edge, sew flat edges together


Head and Body
6sc in ring
R2:inc in every st around (12sc)
R3: ssc in first, inc in next, rep around (18sc)
R4sc in first 2, inc n next, rep around (24sc)
R5:sc in first 3, inc in next, rep around (30sc)
R6: sc in first 4, inc in next, rep around (36sc)
R7:sc in first 5, inc in next, rep around (42sc)
R8: sc in first 6, inc in next, rep around (48sc)
R9: sc in first7, inc in next, rep around (54sc)
R10: sc in first8, inc in next, rep around (60sc)
R11-16 sc around
R17: sc in first 5, ch 25, skip next 25 sts, sc in next 30 to end (35sc 25ch)
(The chain creates a gap in the head for you to sew the mouth onto, on the next round you single crochet onto this chain and continue with the rest of the head and body. You sew the mouth in after you have completed the body.)
R18: sc in first 5, sc 25times on chain, sc in last 30 to end (60sc)
R19 sc in first 4, dec in next, rep 4 more times, sc to end (55sc)
R20: sc in first 3, dec in next, rep 5 more times, sc to end (54sc)
R21: sc in first 2, dec in next, rep 6 more times, sc to end (47sc)
R22: sc in first 6, dec in next, *sc in next, dec, rep from * 4 more times, sc to end (41sc)
R23-28: sc around
Sew in mouth segments with blue fuzzy yarn


R29: sc in next 4, inc in next, rep 3 more times, sc to end (45sc)
R30: sc in next 4, inc in next, rep 3 more times, sc to end (49sc)
R31: sc around
R32: sc in next 4, inc in next, rep 3 more times, sc to end (53sc)
R33: sc around
R34: sc in next 4, inc in next, rep 4 more times, sc to end (58sc)
R35-50: sc around
R51: sc in first 3, dec in next, rep 9 more times, sc in last few stitches
Stuff as you are going along
R52: sc in first 2, dec in next, rep 9 more times,
R53:sc in first, dec in next, rep around
Dec until closed


Eyes (make 2)
R1: 6sc in ring
R2: inc in every st around
R3-5 sc around insert safety eye
R6:Dec and stuff until closed, FO leave tail to sew


Arms
R1: 6sc in ring
R2:inc in every st around (12sc)
R3: sc in first, inc in next rep around (18sc)
R4: sc in first 2, inc in next, rep around (24sc)
R5: sc in first 3, inc in next, rep around (30sc)
R6: sc in first 4, inc in next, rep around (36sc)
R7-10 sc around
R11: sc in first 4, dec in next, rep around (30sc)
R12:sc in first 3, dec in next, rep around (24sc)
R13: sc around
R14: sc around, dec randomly 4 times (20sc)
R15-22 Stuff
FO leave tail to sew


Legs (make 2)
R1: 6sc in ring
R2: inc in every st around (12sc)
R3: sc in first, inc in next, rep around (18sc)
R4:sc in first 2, inc in next, rep around (24sc)
R5: sc in first 3, inc in next, rep around (30sc)
R6: sc in first 4, inc in next, rep around (36sc)
R7: sc in first 5, inc in next, rep around (42sc)
R8-11 sc around
R12: sc in first 8, dec 8 times, sc to end (34sc)
R13: sc in net 6, dec 8 times, sc to end (26sc)
R14-24 Stuff


FO leave tail to sew
Sew body parts where they should go and enjoy

This weekend!

This weekend I will be re-crocheting the famous cookie monster

I made this in 2008 and didn't write the pattern so now I have more yarn to do it again and I will write the pattern this time. If you would like to follow my progress over the weekend and see how he is coming along you can follow me on twitter @MaggieVassie and hopefully by the end of the weekend we will have an all new pattern for the blog :)

Happy New Year

Well it certainly has been an interesting festive season. Thankfully I got all of the Christmas presents made in time. Next year I must start earlier. We had some real trauma just before Christmas. I got my boyfriend a pet snake for Christmas and gave it to him early as you can't really wrap it up and put it under the tree. He is a milk snake and we called him Merlin:

This is him having a bath. Anyway a few weeks ago he disappeared, we tore the house apart looking for him, set noise traps, left food out, put flour on the floor so we could see if he moved through it but after two weeks there was no sign of him and I was beginning to loose hope. But thankfully, the day after my birthday the neighbour who lives in the flat below us knocked on the door and asked if we had lost a reptile. I was thrilled! He had some how got into their fireplace and was hanging out there. Thank God the decided to clean it out before they lit it and that they were very calm and didn't kill him.

He is now back in his viv and we keep checking it every two seconds to make sure he is still there, very paranoid now! But to celebrate his valiant return I decided to crochet him a effigy:

He's not finished yet and the stuffing is a bit dodgy but it's nice to immortalize him in wool. The real Merlin has a mark on his head that we call his centre parting so I had to put that in so there was no mistake who this snake is.

Right well down to business. I having been doing lots of planning for the crochet year ahead and I just can't wait to see how this will all unfold. I have two free patterns to make and write up in the pipeline:

1. Kitty hooded scarf 2.0 and toddler version
2. COOKIE MONSTER!

I got an email today (as I do about once every month) asking for the cookie monster pattern and it reminded me that I have the yarn just sitting there waiting to be done. So in the next few months there will be a cookie monster pattern! I can't wait.

I need to start stock piling finished projects for my etsy store that currently has nothing in it, But fear not, when I have enough stock to make it look good you will know about it as I will be doing a ridiculous amount of shameless self promotion.

I am feeling really good about this year and I'm looking forward to sharing my journey with you all :)

200 FOLLOWERS!!!!!!!!

Wow!
What a wonderful surprise this afternoon to log in and see that I have 200 of you lovely people wanting to see what I'm up to :) I feel so special.
I really want to celebrate now but I have derby practice tonight and work tomorrow and as I have learnt from experience drinking and skating is a dangerous combo, ha ha!

Well the Christmas crafting is coming along but is starting to drag like a dog with no legs. I have about 8 projects left to make and 11 day s till Christmas, will I get it done in time?

My mum has been dropping hints for a while that she would like a light weight shawl to take on holiday so I made her the sweet pea shawl from The Happy Hooker

I love the yarn for this shawl, Reflections, its nice and light weight with a metallic thread running through it to make it glitter in the light, also 100g of this yarn has over 200meters in it, more that enough to do this shawl. i have made this pattern 8 times now and i am currently on my 9th for my grans Christmas present. What can I say, it's a really good pattern.

I have redesigned the Kitty Hooded Scarf now with extra paws:

I'm sure I'll get round to writing up the pattern at some point and then we can have a beginners and intermediate pattern :)

In a moment of madness I decided to organise my yarn stash:

I took ages but it was worth it as it saved me buying more yarn that I didn't need and sort some of it into future projects, though trying to organise it into categories was confusing.

Right I have yet more projects to get done!
TTFN

Getting there

I knew it would be insane to make my niece's a blanket each for Christmas but by golly did I do it!

I was so glad that I got them done. Its the largest of the projects I had to get done for Christmas. I used the pattern from Angel Fire. Now it's time to get on with the ridiculous amount of cowls I'll be making for everyone.

I had some devastating news yesterday on the way to derby practice. My favorite shop the Pin Tin is closing down :'( they have such a lovely selection of yarn and fabric. I plan to go there on Friday and stock up, and also take advantage of the 20% discount that is on everything until Nov the 30th. It's such a  shame that we are losing yet another haberdashery in Plymouth, earlier this year we lost Derrys due to the recession and it is even sadder that we are losing the Pin Tin because it's an independent store. I hope that the reason the Pin Tin is closing is for something good like moving to a new premises but from the posters in the window it doesn't look like it. There is a new haberdashery opening soon in Plymouth but I'm not holding my breath for quality yarn, i have a feeling that there will be lots of synthetic novelty yarn :s

Keep Crocheting!

So the Christmas crochet saga continues. I was writing a list of all the presents I need to make then I remembered that the is also 5 birthdays in December not including my own. E'gad! I'm going to need joint replacements in my fingers in January! I am so glad i have discovered the cowl, Its so easy to make and is unisex, Fantastic!

The magazine contacted me yesterday. Although some of my patterns have been moved back i have one or two patterns in the next issue out in December and I get sent a free copy of the issue every time I am in it, gotta love the perks of the job :)

I'm trying to set up an Etsy shop at the moment but making my banner look good is driving me crazy. Any suggestions or help?

I was reading the Woo Work blog today. I love it, every post has a little story of what he has crocheted, its wonderful and definitely worth a read :)

Going Cowl Crazy

Hey there.

I'd like to start by saying I am not Simon Cowl crazy, he is rubbish and I get the impression he smells like TCP.......Anyway! I've been making a bunch of Cowls of the woolen kind as presents for Jen my graphic designer and I have decided that everyone needs a cowl in their life. Maybe its the fact that the chunky wool is so easy to work up that I love them.

Sorry I am in my bathroom taking these pictures so that I could see myself in the mirror.
The crochet cowl in the top is very simple:

You will need:
7mm hook
chunky yarn of your choice

ch48
R1, sl st into first ch, ch 2, dc in every st around, sl st to join
R2-9 ch 2 dc in every st around

Shell edging
ch1, *sk 1, 5dc in next st, sk1, sc* rep around
attach yarn to the bottom and do the same.

See, easy :)