No-Sew Flip Coffee

 I've been selling my Happy / Sad / Angry coffee cups at craft shows for a couple of years now... but at a show last year or so, a guy said, "You know what you should make? A coffee that flips from angry to sad." 

At first, I was using the same pattern as my Happy/Sad coffee, but then I realized they were a little too small to flip easily, so I played with the pattern a bit. Here is the result: 

Each coffee cup takes about .4 oz yarn (worsted weight). I used an F hook (3.75 mm)

Worsted weight yarns can vary in weight, so it's important that the yarn for both cups is the same wraps per inch. If you don't want to mess with wraps per inch, you could do the first two rounds in each yarn and make sure they're the same size. 

Round 1: 6 sc in MR

Round 2: inc x 6 (12)

Round 3: *sc, inc* x 6 (18)

Round 4: *sc 2, inc* x 6 (24)

Round 5: *sc 3, inc* x 6 (30)

Round 6: sc in BLO (30)

Round 7: make handle - ch 10, starting in 2nd ch from hook, hdc 9. Sl st in the side of the last sc of  Round 6. Sc around (30)

Round 8: sc around, pushing handle to front. (30)

Rounds 9-11: sc (30)

Round 12: attach handle with your first two sc, then continuing sc around (30)

Round 13: sc (30) For your first cup, finish off. Embroider a face centered on the cup (fold the cup in half to find your center). For second cup, don't finish off. Continue on to join the cups. 

Once you have both cups finished, with faces, place them with their rims together and sc around both rims. 

For best results, work with the first cup (not the color you are crocheting with) facing you, as the right side. 

August Monster of the Month

 

August Monster

By Elaine Okupski of Penguin Place Crafts

Uses 1.4 oz worsted weight yarn in your main body color, with less than a yard of red needed for embroidering the mouth, and a few yards of white for the antenna.

Size F hook (3.75 mm)

I used 12 mm safety eyes. I think he would look cute with even bigger eyes. He measures about 6.5” tall (including antenna) when made with worsted weight yarn.

I made my legs first, so I could crochet them in as I went. I like putting the arms on at an angle, so I sewed them on. If you wanted your arms to stick out to the side, you could make them before the body and crochet them in, too.

 

Leg (make 2)

Round 1: 6 sc in MR (6)

Round 2-4: sc (6)

Round 5: dc 3, sc 3 (this helps to make the transition from foot to leg) (6)

Round 6-8: dc (6)

Round 9 is a short row to even out the row: hdc, sc, sl st. FO. Do not stuff legs. If you are crocheting them into the body, you stuff your yarn tail into the leg. If you prefer to sew the legs on, leave a long tail.

 

Head:

Round 1: 6 sc in MR (6)

Round 2: inc x 6 (12)

Round 3: *sc, inc* x 6 (18)

Round 4: *sc 2, inc* x 6 (24)

Round 5: *sc 3, inc* x 6 (30)

Round 6: *sc 4, inc* x 6 (36)

Round 7: *sc 5, inc* x 6 (42)

Rounds 8-13: sc (42)

Round 14: sc 19, (2dc bobble), (4 dc bobble), (2 dc bobble) (nose finished), sc 20 (42)

Eyes go between rows 11-12, centered over the nose. There are about 6 stitches between.

Rounds 15-16: sc (42)

Round 17: *sc 5, dec* x 6 (36) We’re decreasing for the neck. Stuff head, and stuff body as you go.

Round 18: *sc 4, dec* x 6 (30)

Embroider a smile below the nose.

Round 19: *sc 3, dec* x 6 (24)

Round 20: *sc 2, inc* x 8 (32)

Round 21: *sc 3, inc* x 8 (40)

Round 22: *sc 4, inc* x 8 (48)

Rounds 23-29: sc (48) If  you are crocheting your arms in, you can do so around rounds 23-25.

At this point, make sure your starting point is at the center back, so your tail is centered. You can fold your monster in half using the nose as the center front, and move your stitch marker if needed.

Make tail – ch 20, starting with 2^nd chain from hook, sc inc, sc inc, hdc 7, dc 9, sl st to last stitch of round 29.

Secure  the legs with stitch markers to be crocheted on in Row 30. I put my blue monster’s legs under the eyes, about 8 stitches apart, but further apart with the brown monster. Placement is up to you! After all, it’s your monster! Continue on as usual with the rest of round 30. When I got to the stitch where a leg was placed, I removed the stitch markers and crocheted through both the leg and the body. Make sure the foot faces forward!

Round 30: *sc 4, dec* x 8 (40)

Round 31: *sc 3, dec* x 8 (32)

Round 32: *sc 2, dec* x 8 (24)

Round 33: *sc, dec* x 8 (16)

Round 34: dec x 8 (8) FO, leaving tail to close up round 34.

Arms: make 2 or 4, depending on how much yarn you have, and how crazy you want your monster to be.

Round 1: 8 sc in MR (8)

Rounds 2-7: sc (8)

FO, leaving a tail if you are sewing the arms on, or weave in the tail if you are crocheting the arms on. Arms are not stuffed.

Sew arms to body over rounds 23-25, angled toward the belly.

 

Antenna: make 2 with white yarn

Ch 6

Round 1: Starting in 2^nd ch from hook, sc 4, 3 sc in last chain, sc 4 on back of chain. (11) Ch 3 and turn

Round 2: Sl st in first stitch. *ch 3, sl st in next stitch* x 10. (11 loops). FO, leaving tail to sew to head. Sew on sides of head over rows 6-7.

 

Thank you to Strawberry Bonnie for testing my monster! She used 14 mm eyes and I think they make her monster look adorable! 

 

 

 

July Monster of the Month

 

July Monster of the Month

By Elaine Okupski

Penguin Place Crafts

I made this guy with Lion Brand Homespun yarn and an H hook. He used 1.5 ounces of homespun, with a very small amount of red worsted weight needed to embroider his mouth (You could also use black or pink. I felt that red would show up best with this color Homespun). I used 12 mm safety eyes, but you could go bigger.

As you can see, my samples are very different. The guy in the middle is the original, which is presented below as "body one"... then I made the red guy... while watching Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, and with all the numbers being mentioned, I messed up my row counts and he ended up taller and skinnier. Putting the short, stubby legs on him made him look inappropriate, so I updated the legs and made them longer (so we have short stubby legs and longer legs in the pattern). And my tester Bonnie made another set of arms and added them for legs! 

For the guy on the right, I changed up the rows to make him chubbier, more of a pear shape. That is body 2! 

So you can mix and match the body and legs and get some very different looks from this pattern! 

You start at the bottom and work up, adding the arms as you go, then sew on the tail and legs and add the mohawk.

Body 1:

R1: 6 sc in MR (6)

R2: inc x 6 (12)

R3: *sc, inc* x 6 (18)

R4: *sc 2, inc* x 6 (24)

R5-7: sc (24)

R8: *sc 2, dec* x 6 (18)

R9-11: sc (18)

R12: *sc 4, dec* x 3 (15)

R13: sc (15)

R14: sc 4, (ch 20, starting in 2^nd ch from hook, sc back – arm made), sc 7, make another arm, sc 4 (15)

R15-17: sc (15)

Place eyes (I used 12 mm) between rounds 16 & 17, with two stitches between. Sew a mouth 1-2 rows below the eyes, centered between them. Add stuffing to the head, and continue to stuff the body as you go.

R18: *sc 3, dec* x 3 (12)

R19: *sc 2, dec* x 3 (9)

R20: dec x 4, sc (5)

FO, leaving tail to close. Weave tail through FLO of the stitches of round 20 and pull closed. Weave in tail end.

Body 2:

R1: 6 sc in MR (6)

R2: inc x 6 (12)

R3: *sc, inc* x 6 (18)

R4: *sc 2, inc* x 6 (24)

R5: *sc 3, inc* x 6 (30)

R6-7: sc (30)

R8: *sc 3, dec* x 6 (24)

R9-10: sc (24)

R11: *sc 2, dec* x 6 (18)

R12: sc (18)

R13: *sc 4, dec* x 3 (15)

R14: sc (15)

R15: sc 4, (ch 20, starting in 2^nd ch from hook, sc back – arm made), sc 7, make another arm, sc 4 (15)

R16-18: sc (15)

Place eyes (I used 12 mm) between rounds 16 & 17, with two stitches between. Sew a mouth 1-2 rows below the eyes, centered between them. Add stuffing to the head, and continue to stuff the body as you go.

R18: *sc 3, dec* x 3 (12)

R19: *sc 2, dec* x 3 (9)

R20: dec x 4, sc (5)

FO, leaving tail to close. Weave tail through FLO of the stitches of round 20 and pull closed. Weave in tail end.

 

Tail

R1: 6 sc in MR (6)

R2: sc (6)

R3: *sc, inc* x 3 (9)

R4: sc (9)

R5: *sc 2, inc* x 3 (12)

R6: sc (12)

R7: *sc 3, inc* x 3 (15)

R8: sc (15)

FO, leaving tail to sew to body.

 

Short Stubby Legs (make 2)

R1: 6 sc in MR (6)

R2: inc x 6 (12)

R3-4: sc (12)

FO, leaving tail to sew to body.

Longer, skinnier legs:

R1: 6 sc in MR (6)

R2: inc x 6 (12)

R3-4: sc (12)

R5: *sc 2, dec* x 3 (9)

R6-7: sc (9)

FO, leaving tail to sew to body.

Set your monster down on a flat surface and place the stuffed tail on the back so that the bottom of tail lays flat on the surface. Pin in place and sew. Set the monster back on the flat surface and pin the stuffed legs in place on the front of the body, so they are also laying flat on the surface. Sew them to the body. Mine had one stitch between them on the front of the monster for my original monster with stubby legs, but I put the long skinny legs about 6 stitches apart.

Cut 15-20 strands of yarn about 5” long. Loop the strands from the back of the head (at round 19) to the tip of the tail. Brush them out to give your monster a nice fuzzy mohawk. Trim as needed. 

I hope you enjoyed making your Monster of the Month!

 

Tester Photo from Strawberry Bonnie

 

 

Monster of the Month: June

 I'm sorry for the delay in getting this guy published! Just as I finished up version 1.0, we found out that we were getting some out-of-town company. It was a mad dash to clean up, getting the dining room table (currently being used as a computer desk for my laptop) ready for family meals, and the craft room ready to accommodate guests. 

In the clean-up flurry, I lost my copy of the pattern with changes marked! Then I had two big craft shows in July, so I was more focused on preparing for those shows than looking for the pattern. 

So now, the shows are done, the pattern is found, and I present to you my June Monster! 

June Monster

By Elaine Okupski of Penguin Place Crafts

Made with worsted weight yarn and an F hook (3.75 mm), it measures 7” long and 4” high.

Uses 1 oz main color and small amounts of contrasting color for mouth, spikes and horns.

 

Starting at front with main color:

R1: sc 2, 5-dc Bobble, sc 2 in MR. (5) (Bobble is his nose. You can see with my yellow monster that I changed color for the bobble.)

R2: inc x 5. (10)

R3: *sc, inc* x 5. (15)

R4: *sc 2, inc* x 5. (20)

R5: *sc 3, inc* x 5. (25)

R6: sc 3, inc, *sc x 2, inc* x 6, sc 3. (32)

 You are leaving 6 stitches on the bottom without increases to keep the bottom flat, and keep him from rolling over.

R7: sc 4, (sc 3, inc) x 6, sc 4. (38)

Place safety eyes between rounds 4 & 5, with 6 stitches between. Embroider mouth below nose, between rounds 4 & 5.

Rounds 8-10: sc. (38) Stuff as you go.

Rounds 11-24: sc around, decreasing at the top center. This takes your stitch count down to 24.

Round 25: *sc 6, dec* x 3. (21) Stuff body well, and continue to stuff tail as you go.

Round 26: *sc 5, dec* x 3. (18)

Round 27: *sc 4, dec* x 3. (15)

Round 28: *sc 3, dec* x 3. (12)

Rounds 29-30: sc (12)

Round 31: *sc 2, dec* x 3 (9)

Round 32: *sc, dec* x 3. (6) FO, leaving tail to close hole. Weave tail through the FLO of round 32 and pull closed. Hide yarn tail inside tail.

Spikes: make one with contrasting color

*Chain 5. Starting in 2^nd chain from hook, sl st, sc, hdc, dc.* Repeat until your spikes reach from the end of the tail to the center of head (around row 10). My monster had 10 spikes. FO, leaving a long tail to sew to back.

Horns (make two)

R 1: with contrasting color, 4 sc in MR. (4)

R2: with body color: *sc, inc* x 2. (6)

R3: with contrasting color: *2 sc, inc* x 2. (8)

R4: with body color: *3 sc, inc* x 2. (10)

R5: with contrasting color: *4 sc, inc* x 2. (12)

R6: with body color: *5 sc, inc* x 2. (14)

FO, leaving tail to sew to body.

Assembly: sew spikes to body, centering on the top of the body. Sew horns to head, over rounds 10-13. evenly spaced from the spikes.

Thanks to my tester Bonnie!