Acorn Ornaments

Here are the acorn ornaments I made this week for the Thanksgiving Tree.





They were pretty quick to make. And they turned out way better than I thought they would.

Here is the pattern:
1. Create a magic ring and sc 6 sts into ring. Or ch 2, crochet 2 into the 2nd ch from the hook. (total 6 sc)
2. 2 sc in each sc; repeat until you get 12 sc
3. 2 sc in next sc, 1 sc in next sc; repeat until you get 18 sc
4. 2 sc in next sc, 1 sc in next 2 sc; repeat until you get 24 sc
5. 1 sc in next sc repeat for 24 sc6. sc2tog, 1 sc into next sc; repeat until you get 18

That's it for the cap. Then you just create a pompom much bigger than you need and shape it down to the right acorn nut shape.

Tipis or Teepees, however you want to spell it.

I know, I know, its most likely that the indians that the settlers ran into didn't live in tipis. They most likely lived in something like a wigwam or some other more permanent structure. But when you think of indians, tipis is often one of the things that comes to mind. So I made some for my thanksgiving tree.

They were really easy to make. It would be a great craft for adults to do with kiddos. I wouldn't consider it a kids only craft because you need to use hot glue at one point but other than that, its a kids craft.





Supplies
tan craft foam
permanent markers or paint with brushes
wooden toothpicks
brown embroidery floss or other matching colors
needle for floss
hot glue gun
hole punch - very small or something to carefully poke small holes into the craft foam

Enlarge the pattern to size.
Trace pattern onto tan craft foam.
Decorate the outside of the tipi with permanent markers or paint. Find books with tipi designs. I recommend "The Indian Tipi" by Reginald & Gladys Laubin. Its a great reference book on indian culture as well (for a few tribes anyway).
Punch holes where the pattern indicates.
Circle the tipi into the correct shape and sew together with embroidery floss.
Fold back smoke flaps and glue underside with hot glue to keep open.
Glue wooden toothpicks into top but running a bead of hot glue on the inside then inserting the glue through the hole into the glue.
Your done. I just put mine on the tree branches of my Thanksgiving tree, but you can used them for any kind of decorations.

Pattern:



Enlarge until the longest side is about 9 inches long.

Don't forget the bats!

I love the way my bat turned out. I used the simple ball pattern then added wings.

Here is the pattern for the wings, crochet 2(let me know if you find a mistake):

1. ch 8 , slst in last stitch, ch 8
2. slst in last stitch, 1 sc in next 2 sc, 1 hdc in next 2sc , 1 dc in next 3 sc, 1tr in next sc, 1 dc in next 3 sc, 1 hdc in next 2 sc, 1 sc in next 2sc
3. 1 sc , 1 sc in the next 2sts , 1hdc & 1dc in next st, ch 1, slst into ch, dbc into next st, sc2tog, sc into next st, sc2tog, 2 dbc in next st, ch1, slst into ch, 1dbc into next st, 1 hdc into next st, 1 sc into next st, sl st.
Tie off.

Sew wings onto the sides of the ball with matching yarn.

Use felt and/or buttons for eyes and stitch a mouth on with embroidery floss. Don't forget to add a loop so that you can hang your bats.

The Basic Ball

Here is a pattern for the basic crocheted ball. I used this ball pattern for several of my patterns so I thought I'd post it seperately also.

1. Create a magic ring and sc 6 sts into ring. Or ch 2, crochet 2 into the 2nd ch from the hook. (total 6 sc)
2. 2 sc in each sc; repeat until you get 12 sc
3. 2 sc in next sc, 1 sc in next sc; repeat until you get 18 sc
4. 2 sc in next sc, 1 sc in next 2 sc; repeat until you get 24 sc
5-8. 1 sc into each sc.
9. sc2tog, 1 sc into next 2 sc; repeat until you get 18
10. sc2tog, 1 sc into next sc; repeat until you get 12
Take time to stuff ball now
11. sc2tog; repeat until you get 6.
Tie off leaving a long piece of yarn. Use yarn needle as pull 6 stitches together, tie off and finish.

Personally I don't like to see polyfil through my crochet efforts so often I stuff my creations with the same yarn or matching yarn. If I'm using a cheap yarn, I just use that yarn, if I'm using a more expensive yarn, I will find a yarn that matches.

I use this basic shape for several of my creations.

Eek! Spiders

His pic is a little fuzzy, sorry.

Supplies:
Large wooden beads
smaller wooden balls
pipe cleaners in halloween colors
black paint
paint brush
strong glue, I used Goop, but you could use a high melt hot glue gun
craft glue or school glue



Take a wooden bead and a smaller wooden ball and glued them together with a strong glue.
Then paint the spider bodies black.
I found some really cool pipe cleaners in Halloween colors to use as the legs. Take 2 pipe cleaners and cut them in half. Thread them through the wooden bead until the pipe cleaners were sticking out evenly on both sides.
Put a small amount of craft glue or school glue in the hole to secure the pipe cleaners. Let the glue dry and then shape the legs.

You can place these around or you can add string and hang them from a tree branches or light fixtures, etc. These would be great to do with kiddos as long as an adult glued the wooden pieces together first. You do have to do it in stages though, there is alot of waiting for glue and paint to dry.