Author Archives: amysolovay

Fun Toys to Make for Christmas

‘Tis the season for toy shopping, but shopping for toys isn’t your only option. Have you given any thought to the possibility of making the dolls or toys you’ll give to the children on your gift list? It’s totally do-able considering there are many, many patterns available for sewing, knitting and crocheting adorable toys.

You aren’t limited to these craft techniques, by any means. Lately my niece has been begging me for tiny, cute needle felted toy animals (which I don’t know how to make — so I have no recommendations for needle felting patterns. Yet.) Right now, knitting and crocheting are my top craft techniques, so this post will focus primarily on pattern recommendations for crocheted and knitted toys.

Knitted Dolls and Teddy Bears

If you want to knit a teddy bear for a special child on your gift list, consider using this cute teddy bear knitting pattern from Arne & Carlos Favorite Designs, published by Trafalgar Square Books.

If you want to knit truly wonderful holiday gifts for anyone in your inner circle, my top pattern book recommendation of the moment would be Arne & Carlos Favorite Designs. This book isn’t specifically intended to be a toy pattern book, but it does have some fantastic options for fun toys you can make — including a vibrant and colorful teddy bear, bunches of different dolls and doll clothes, plus assorted other toys. The book also includes patterns for slippers, socks, and all kinds of other gift-worthy items.

Learn More About This Book:

Click or tap here to shop for this book at Amazon.

Amigurumi: Cute Crocheted Stuffed Animal Toys

Amigurumi Adorable Collection Crochet Pattern Book

Reasons I love this book:

These patterns are super fun, super cool and super cute. Well, OK, not all of these designs are cute, but most of them are.
There are designs suitable for both boys and girls, so the boys are not left out of the fun.
The book format is totally logical and user-friendly, with gorgeous full-color photography and readable fonts.

Learn More About This Book:

Click here to shop for this book at Amazon.

See Also:

Happy crafting, and happy holidays to you and yours. I hope your family will have a delightful holiday season this year.

By Amy Solovay

Crocheting Easy Snowflake Designs

Gift-Worthy DIY Christmas Bracelet Patterns

Christmas is fast approaching. The holiday season is a fantastic time for going out to holiday parties, dressing up in our most festive clothes and accessorizing to look our best; it’s also a wonderful time for making the loveliest gifts we can manage and presenting them to our loved ones. In either case, you might enjoy making yourself or your loved ones some new Christmas-friendly bracelets or other jewelry. In this post, I’ll be sharing gift-worthy DIY Christmas bracelet patterns; but if that isn’t what you’re interested in working on right now, please check out our main directory of craft project ideas to find a wide variety of other projects you might enjoy.

Southwestern Turquoise and Red Coral Chip Bead Bracelet: Free Pattern

Southwestern Turquoise and Red Coral Chip Bead Bracelet: Free Crochet Pattern

Do you like making Christmas projects that only get used once a year? Some people love doing that, while other people find it hard to want to invest the time it takes to make projects that aren’t useful all year around. I designed this bracelet in hopes that this style would be wearable for the holiday season, but that it would also look lovely for everyday wear as well. To make it work, I used traditional Christmas colors of red and green, plus I also added touches of turquoise as well.

Of course, if you make a bracelet like this one for yourself or a friend, you can use whichever bead colors you find most appealing.

Wire Crochet Lace Cuff Bracelet: Free Pattern

Gift-Worthy DIY Christmas Bracelet Pattern: A Red and Green Wire Crochet Lace Cuff Bracelet -- Free Instructions

Gift-Worthy DIY Christmas Bracelet Patterns: A Red and Green Wire Crochet Lace Cuff Bracelet

This cuff-style bracelet is crocheted in two colors of wire, and it’s accented with contrasting yet coordinating beads. I crocheted my sample bracelet in Christmas colors — red and green wire, with bronze-colored seed bead accents. As is, it’s a great look for those of you who would like to get a jump start on your Christmas crocheting. But, if you’re not feeling Christmas-y right now, all it would take is a color change to make the bracelet in more of an everyday look. I can see making it in silver, gold and bronze, or in other hues of colored wire.

Grab This Free Crochet Bracelet Pattern:

Click here to get the free crochet cuff bracelet pattern.

Holiday Sparkle Bracelet

Holiday Sparkle Bracelet — A Free Christmas Crochet Pattern

You can crochet this glittery bracelet using metallic embroidery floss and faceted beads; if you use supplies similar to these, you’ll end up with a festive bracelet design that’s perfect for the holiday season but also wearable all year around.

Want to make one of these bracelets for yourself or a friend? Grab the free crochet bracelet pattern HERE.

The bracelets pictured above are all designs that I specifically intended to be Christmas friendly. I’ve shared free crochet patterns for bunches of bracelet styles other than these; most are made in everyday colors, but a color change is all it would take to make the others suitable for Christmas, too. So if you like the idea of making a Christmas bracelet, but you aren’t in love with any of the bracelet styles shown above, you are invited to check out the rest of the list of crochet bracelet patterns HERE.

If bracelets aren’t your thing, you could try our list of DIY jewelry making ideas HERE, our accessory patterns HERE, our Christmas craft ideas HERE, our Christmas crochet and knitting patterns HERE, or our holiday craft ideas HERE.

Thanks so much for dropping by the blog today! I really appreciate your interest.

Posted By: Amy Solovay

Craft Ideas for the Month of November

November Happy Planner Dashboard and Monthly Habit Tracker

Hello, crafty friend! I hope your autumn 2023 has been lovely so far, and that your November got off to an amazing start.

Are you hoping to find unique, interesting and useful craft ideas for November? If so, I invite you to consider the following suggestions:

We’ve put together a list of fall crafts that are seasonally appropriate for November crafting in many regions of the Western hemisphere.

Thanksgiving is one of the more prominent November holidays on the Gregorian calendar in the United States. If you’re the USA, you still have plenty of time left before the holiday to check out our list of Thanksgiving crafts.

Pictured above is a monthly planner dashboard I made to track my November goals this month. I used supplies from several manufacturers to make these pages:

The planner is a Classic Happy Planner with upgraded metal discs.
The habit tracker page is from a Girl With Goals Guided Journal.
I used embellishments by Graphic 45 to decorate these pages; the die-cut flower and leaves are from the PS I Love You Flower Assortment. Most of the other fall-themed embellishments are from Graphic 45’s “Time to Flourish” collection.
A couple of the embellishments are stickers from a Happy Planner Sticker Book.
The pens are Sakura Gelly Rolls.

November Garden Journal Pages

November Garden Journal Pages for Discbound Planners Including Happy Planner, Tul and Arc

You can find bunches of other planner layouts and planner inspiration HERE.

I hope these ideas are useful to you as you start on your November crafting. Thanks so much for your interest!

Posted By: Amy Solovay

Knit and Crochet Cozy Hats for Fall

Find Fall-Friendly Knit and Crochet Hat Patterns for Men, Women, Children and Babies.

In the Northern Hemisphere, fall is here. This is the season when we knitters and crocheters can finally get out all our glorious handmade accessories and flaunt them. Have you knitted or crocheted any new hats lately?

If you don’t have any lovely handmade hats to wear this fall and winter, now is the time to start thinking about whipping up some new ones. Need ideas or pattern suggestions? We’ve got you covered.

Hat Knitting Patterns You Should Know About

Knockout Knit Hats and Hoods by Diane Serviss

Knockout Knit Hats and Hoods, a Knitting Pattern Book by Diane Serviss, published by Stackpole Books.

This book has its fair share of slouchy hat patterns including patterns for knitting slouchy berets and slouchy beanies. The book also features patterns for traditional tams, fitted beanies and fanciful hoods. I love the variety of stylish hats in this book, and I think you will be quite enchanted by these DIY hat designs, too.

Some of these hats feature intricate cable designs. Some of them are lacy and feminine. Some of them feature interesting texture patterns. There’s a mix of casual and dressy looks, although the majority of these patterns lean towards the casual side.

Want more details? Click or tap here for my detailed book review of this title, or click / tap here if you want to shop for the book at Amazon.

Fabulous Crochet Hat Patterns to Consider

Learn to Crochet Mosaic Hats

Learn to Crochet Mosaic Hats Book by Melissa Leapman, Published by Annie’s Crochet

Melissa Leapman has written an ingenious crochet pattern booklet that will accomplish two goals at the same time:

It will provide you with fantastic patterns for crocheting cozy, warm, fall-friendly hats.
It will teach you the mosaic crochet technique. The book includes a useful step-by-step mosaic crochet tutorial in addition to all the hat patterns.

So, basically, this book is both a technique book and a pattern book. There is a whole lot of value packed in this portable little booklet.

Even better: These patterns are suitable for men, women and teens. So you can use these patterns to make hats that are suitable for yourself, plus lots of the other people you love.

Learn More: Click or tap here to read my book review of Learn to Crochet Mosaic Hats by Melissa Leapman; click or tap here to shop for this book at Amazon.

Crocheted Beanies & Slouchy Hats by Julie King

Crocheted Beanies and Slouchy Hats Book

If you want to crochet a slouchy beanie-style hat or a slouchy beret, this book has bunches of fabulous patterns you’ll want to take a look at. The book also features one pattern for an earflap beanie, plus bunches of patterns for traditional, fitted beanies.

These patterns will give you a broad variety of different hat styles to add to your wardrobe. The majority of these hats are casual styles that would be fun to wear with jeans, khakis or your favorite athleisure gear.

There are also some dressier styles, like the lacy beret pictured on the front cover of the book. I could see dressing that hat either up or down — perhaps wearing it with lovely, drapey dresses or a frilly blouse paired with a ladylike skirt. Some of the hat designs feature button details — and, if you like dressing up, I think you could make those particular hat styles look dressier simply by choosing fancy, elegant buttons to use for your accents.

Whatever your personal style is like, if it includes crocheted hats, you’re sure to find some suitable styles included in this book.

Learn More: Click or tap here to read my detailed book review of this title, or click / tap here if you want to shop for the book at Amazon.