Autumn is my favourite time of year, when the weather starts to cool and the leaves turn glorious colours, and I’m celebrating that now with the second addition to my autumn leaf designs: the Oak Leaf Collection (with a bonus matching tiny acorn design!)

Oak Leaf Collection & Life-Sized Acorn includes two different sizes of oak leaf to crochet, and a realistic life-sized acorn pattern. Each leaf is worked in one piece, with a clever construction that gives a realistic shape and the suggestion of veins. The acorns are worked amigurumi-style, with an ingenious no-sew construction. So the entire project has no sewing – you’ll only need your needle to weave in the yarn ends!

Ideas for Use

• Make a pile of acorns as a tasty snack for an amigurumi Squirrel
• Use a single crocheted oak leaf as an appliqué on a hat or sweater, glue it onto a greetings card, or add a pin back and an acorn to make a brooch
• Make a simple ornament by adding a hanging loop to a pair of oak leaves and one or two acorns.
• Crochet lots of leaves in a variety of colours and add a handful of acorns: scatter them on your mantelpiece or Thanksgiving table, or group them together into a beautiful fall garland or wreath.

About the Patterns

Although they are only available together, I’ve separated the oak leaves and acorns into two separate PDF files, as the crochet and construction techniques are completely different for each, so there’s no info that’s common to both patterns. Here’s a brief intro to each:

Oak Leaf Collection

• This pattern includes large (9-lobed) and small (7-lobed) realistically sized and shaped oak leaves.
• For each leaf size, you’ll find both the written instructions and a complete stitch diagram on a single easy-to-print page.
• For more detailed assistance, the pattern also includes general instructions with photos to help you understand the construction of the leaves, and separate appendices for right- and left-handers including row-by-row photos and stitch diagrams for each leaf.

Life-Sized Acorn

• This acorn is approximately life-sized (only 1.5″/4cm long) and realistically shaped, and has an ingenious no-sew construction.
• The pattern is fully illustrated throughout with lots of step-by-step photos to explain the unique one-piece construction.
• For ease of printing, it also includes a single-page text-only printable version at the end of the pattern.
• Note: This is a completely different acorn from my Amigurumi Acorn design from 2007! That one is cute, round and vastly oversized, with the cap and stalk as separate pieces that need to be sewn together.

About the Designs

I’m really pleased with the work I’ve been doing on applique design in recent years. I’m evolving a new style of applique where I shape the piece with single crochet stitches, which gives a sturdy result without any holes – it’s the 2D version of my amigurumi style! As I develop this style, I’m learning how to create different shapes and angles with each new design, and the oak leaves are the epitome of my work so far in this field.

Spot the difference! Real and crocheted oak leaves

It’s fascinating to me – to have the lobes of the leaf sit at realistic angles and create a symmetrical leaf, the number and position of the stitches has to be different on each side of the leaf… It’s not at all obvious how to do this, but the beauty of it is that once I’ve created the design and written and charted the pattern for you, you can simply follow it to make perfectly-shaped leaves without having to understand any of that!

And the acorn was a different sort of design challenge: making a realistic size and shape when you have so few stitches to work with – even one stitch makes a huge difference! I tried many different ideas (there are well over a dozen green-and-purple acorn prototypes still littering my desk…)

This no-sew method, although unconventional, was by far the best in terms of a good result. After you’ve made the first one and learnt how it comes together, it’s not difficult at all and they’re quick to crochet with no assembly at the end – you’ll love it!

Buy Now

Ready to get started? Pick up the Oak Leaf Collection & Life-Sized Acorn crochet patterns from my shop right now.

Or, if you’re not ready to make them just yet, add them to your Ravelry queue or favourites so you don’t forget:

I hope you’ll love these new seasonal designs and that they’ll spark ideas for your Fall, Thanksgiving and Halloween decorating! And they’d be even more spectacular if you combine them with my Maple Leaf Collection and Pine Cone Collection patterns… I can’t wait to see what you do with them!

Trying something new today: I’ve created my first pattern-exclusive video tutorial: a quick video demonstration that’s only available to purchasers of a specific pattern, and that demonstrates a specific part of the pattern that might trip you up.

In this case, I’m demonstrating the optional Puffy Seafoam add-on for my Turtle Beach blankets, found in the donationware version of the Ribbed Ripple/Turtle Beach pattern.

Isn’t it a lovely effect?

This addition lets you add a row of 3-dimensional seafoam to any of my Turtle Beach blanket patterns. It’s crocheted as an afterthought directly onto the completed blanket, so if you’ve already made a turtle beach blanket, you can add the puffy seafoam at any time!

A Little Background…

Turtle Beach Collection is my most popular pattern set, having gone viral multiple times since I first released the original donationware blanket pattern to accompany my baby sea turtles in 2016, and I’ve been improving and expanding the collection ever since then, with more blanket patterns, flat and stuffed turtles, starfish, and additional modification ideas.

In 2019 I first added a brief explanation for the Puffy Seafoam at the end of the basic Ribbed Ripple/Turtle Beach Donationware pattern. It’s a fast and fun addition with a realistic 3D effect, but the construction is a little unusual, so I thought it deserved a bit more detail to help you make it!

Now, I’ve updated the tutorial in the pattern (it now includes full right-handed and left-handed instructions) and I’ve created an exclusive video tutorial (with right- and left-handed versions) to accompany this, so you can watch it in action – isn’t that cool?

How to Get the Video

If you’ve ever donated for the Ribbed Ripple/Turtle Beach blanket pattern, you can log back into your PlanetJune account and download the new Ribbed Ripple pattern PDF from ‘My Patterns‘.

On page 9 of the PDF, you’ll find the updated Puffy Seafoam add-on instructions, including the links to both the right-handed and left-handed versions of the new video.

Left: Classic Blue blanket; stuffed 3D turtles
Right: Teal Ombre blanket; flat appliqué turtles

You can also add the seafoam to my Classic Blue (above, left) or Teal Ombré (above, right) Turtle Beach blankets, so if you haven’t bought the Ribbed Ripple pattern too, you might like to think about grabbing it now!

For your minimum $2 donation you’ll get the Puffy Seafoam add-on – including the video links – and also an optional edging you can use if you’d like to square off the edges of your finished blanket, to turn it into a rectangle or use as a base to add any fancy crocheted edging. These options work with any of my Turtle Beach blanket patterns.

3D seafoam, squared-off edging

Pattern-Exclusive Videos: Good Idea?

This project was an experiment for me in two ways:

1. To see if I can make a ‘quick’ video that doesn’t take hours of my time to produce and edit (the answer to that is no!)
2. To see how well this idea of making bonus pattern-exclusive video content works – and that’s where you come in…

Please watch the video and let me know what you think!

• Is the video demo a valuable addition to a pattern?
• Is it useful to have the video link on the same page, so it’s right there as soon as you get stuck?
• Would you like to see more patterns with private video tutorials for any tricky bits?

Please email me or comment below with your feedback!

What’s Next

I hope you’ll enjoy the new video! It’s a novel method with a lovely 3D result, and I think the video will really help you to visualize what you’ll be doing as you crochet the seafoam, and how it comes together.

If this ‘pattern-exclusive video’ idea is popular, I’ll start keeping an eye on my customer support requests for any other common questions that would benefit from a quick video tutorial, and then update the relevant pattern with the link once I’ve made the private video.

Tip: From now on, I’ll notify you of any pattern updates in my monthly newsletter, so if you don’t already subscribe, please sign up to make sure you know about any bonus content and improvements I’ve added for the patterns you own!

Amigurumi Beach Ball is a fun no-sew pattern for summer – or for any time of year!

• Make a play ball for the kids, a set of juggling balls, or a stress ball to play with at your desk.
• Make it interactive by adding a squeaker, rattle or bell when you stuff it.
• Stuff it with plastic pellets to make your ball into a bean bag or hacky sack.

For this pattern, crisp colour changes are essential, and I’ve come up with a special new technique (a variant of my invisible increase) that makes the colour changes look extra neat at the increase points, plus I’ve included lots of tips for dealing with the yarn as you go – there’s no cutting or knot-tying required!

This pattern is great for using up scraps of brightly-coloured yarn! You can choose any 6 colours of yarn for this pattern, and the main colour you choose will also be the colour of the top and bottom circles on the beach ball. I made my main beach ball (above) in light worsted weight yarns (Bernat Satin and Red Heart Soft) with an E US/3.5mm hook, using ‘classic beach ball’ saturated colours.

I also made a second beach ball (below, left) from Patons Grace, a sport weight mercerized cotton, with a C US/2.75mm hook and whatever colours I happened to have in my stash. This gave me a slightly smaller ball (2.5″ vs 2.75″), and I love how it looks in the cotton too!

Both balls are a great size for playing with, juggling, etc.

And can I just mention that I designed this pattern very carefully, so the bottom of the ball looks just as good as the top! Look:

Yep, these are the bottoms of the balls! They look good from all sides 🙂

As I like to reward people who choose to donate for my donationware patterns, the PDF version of the Amigurumi Beach Ball pattern also includes additional tips and photos that you’ll only find in the PDF version (including instructions for how to fix any too-tight stitches on your finished ball), and the crochet instructions are all included on one printer-friendly page, so you can save paper and ink by printing only that page.

As always, the pattern is free for you to use online, and you need only donate if you’d like to thank me for my time in creating it, or if you’d like the easy-to-print PDF version with the bonuses.

Go to the free Amigurumi Beach Ball pattern >>

Or jump straight to donate:

Order the Amigurumi Beach Ball pattern >>

Not ready to make one yet? Add this pattern to your Ravelry queue:

Summer Fun CAL

If you’re about to make a beach ball, why not join a relaxed PlanetJune crochetalong (CAL) while you make it? The rules of the Summer Fun CAL are simple: make any PlanetJune pattern in July or August 2022, and share photos of what you’re making!

Here’s a selection of quick and/or summery PlanetJune patterns to give you some ideas…

If you want to join in with the community and see what everyone else is making, come and hang out in the Summer Fun CAL thread in the PlanetJune group on Ravelry or the #crochetalongs channel on the PlanetJune Discord server.

You can also join in by posting your pics on your social media, and remember to tag me (@planetjune) so I can see what you’ve been making!

I hope to see lots of Beach Balls in different colourways and yarns this summer – this is going to be fun 🙂

Today I have a brand new PlanetJune crochet pattern to share with you. I’ve been wanting to make a realistic Squirrel crochet pattern for a long time, and it’s turned out just as cute as I’d hoped!

Which is your favourite? It doesn’t matter – you can make both!

I started this design during the Ravellenic Games, but I had to set it aside for a while – it took 6 prototypes to get that perfect squirrel tail, but I’m so glad I stuck with it. All those curves are built right in, and I love the result 🙂

Squirrel Fun Facts

Note: If you hear an animal called just a ‘squirrel’ that means it’s a tree squirrel, but there are also other types of squirrel (ground squirrels and flying squirrels). My pattern, and these fun facts, specifically relate to tree squirrels!

• Squirrels are rodents that are found all over the world.
• They live in trees and eat nuts, seeds and berries.
• Squirrels have long bushy tails that help them to balance as they run and jump through the trees.
• Their tails are also used to keep them warm in winter, and for communication. For example, they flick their tails rapidly when they sense danger!
• Squirrels hoard their food, and hide caches of nuts and seeds in trees or buried in the ground.

About the Design

With this design, my goal was to capture the smooth curves of the essential squirrel pose: perfectly balanced while standing up on its back legs with its beautiful bushy tail curving up behind it.

The front legs are crocheted right into the body, so there are very few parts to assemble at the end, and you can choose to attach the head at any angle, to give your squirrel its own personality – will your squirrel be cute and bashful, or bold and inquisitive?

I’ve included two versions in this pattern: a standard Grey Squirrel (aka Eastern Gray Squirrel):

…and an adorable European Red Squirrel with long tufted ears:

Ideas for variations:

• Despite their names, ‘grey’ squirrels can be brownish, black, orange or white as well as grey, and ‘red’ squirrels vary from orange through deep red to black, so you have lots of colour choices, even if you want to make a realistically-coloured squirrel.
• Although I designed both my squirrels to use regular yarn, you can brush your squirrel’s tail before assembly to give it a fluffy, furry look (and you can brush the tips of the red squirrel’s ear tufts too!) See my brushed crochet tutorial for instructions.

About the Pattern

The Squirrel pattern includes 4 pages of step-by-step bonus info in 2 two-page appendices (for both right- and left-handers) that clearly explain my innovative method for joining the front legs and body while you crochet so they sit at exactly the right angle in the finished squirrel.

If you’ve made any of my AmiCats, you’ll already be familiar with the concept of this technique and how well it works – the assembly method is the same here, although of course the squirrel shape is very different!

Buy Now

Ready to get started? Pick up my Squirrel crochet pattern  from my shop right now. Or, if you’re not ready to make it just yet, add it to your Ravelry queue or favourites so you don’t forget about it:

By the way, I’m sure you know that squirrels love to gather and hoard their pine cones – and mine are no exception! My Pine Cone Collection pattern is now officially squirrel-approved 😉

I hope you’ll love my Squirrel pattern and will start making your own adorable squirrels right away. And please do let me know what you think of them!

I’m so happy to present another new design that was many years in the making: the Barn Owl!

Barn Owls are my favourite owl, and adding a Barn Owl option to my Owl Collection was always part of my plan. Out of interest, I thought I’d look back at my digital notes to see how long it’s taken to bring it to life…

I first came up with the seeds of this idea in March 2014. It took until 2017 (and a whole year of prototyping) to figure out the unique shaping for the smooth lines and minimal sewing of the main Owl Collection design, but I couldn’t quite get the barn owl right… At that time, I said:

Fun Fact: Owls are divided into two families: Strigidae (typical owls) and Tytonidae (barn owls). With this pattern, you can choose appropriate colours to make any of the typical (true) owls.

Note: I’d love to design a barn owl too, but to make it look right it’d need lots of colour changes and special shaping to make the distinctive heart-shaped face, so that’s a challenge I’ll have to save for some future point in time!

I’m so glad I decided to publish the single-colour owls in June 2017 instead of waiting for the inspiration to finish the barn owl as well, because it took another 5 years to figure out how to add the barn owl’s distinctive facial features and get the colour changes that run all the way down the body just right!

Whoooo’s this then?! My owls are delighted that their beautiful cousin, the Barn Owl, has joined them to complete the owl family.

Barn Owl Fun Facts

• There are species of barn owl living almost all over the world.
• It’s easy to recognise a barn owl by its heart-shaped facial disc and dark eyes.
• The facial disc isn’t just an attractive feature! It helps barn owls to locate their prey by funneling sounds to their ears when they are hunting.
• Unlike typical owls, barn owls don’t hoot: they have a loud shrieking cry.
• Barn owls hunt at night, and they are often mistaken for ghosts when people see a white face with staring black eyes floating above the ground!

About the Pattern

Barn Owl is an Expansion Pack for my Owl Collection pattern, and includes all the modifications required to crochet a Barn Owl with realistic face shape and markings.

Although it’s only an Expansion Pack, there’s a lot to this pattern – the special stitches that make the raised part of the face are all crocheted while you make the head, so I’ve included right- and left-handed appendices that walk you through exactly where and how to make those stitches so your barn owl will be perfect!

Aside from the colouring and facial features, the Barn Owl has all the same features as the Owl Collection – the smooth, seamless head, body, wings and legs, giving you the perfect elegant owl posture with minimal assembly.

(And btw, I’ve also updated the Owl Collection pattern in my new publishing software so both patterns will match, so you may as well re-download it too if you’ve already bought it! The new layout doesn’t look very different, but it’s higher quality, and all the round numbers are bolded to make for easier reading.)

What is an Expansion Pack?

• An Expansion Pack is an add-on to an existing PlanetJune pattern.
• The Expansion Pack lets you modify or add to the original pattern to create something else.
• You cannot use the Expansion Pack alone – you must also purchase the original pattern in order to be able to complete the pictured items in the Expansion Pack pattern.

Links to Buy

You can buy the Barn Owl Expansion Pack for only $3.50 individually from the shop, or, if you haven’t yet bought the Owl Collection pattern, you can buy the multipack of both owl patterns, and save 50c on the pair.

Not ready to make it yet? Add Barn Owl to your queue on Ravelry:

Although it’s ridiculous how long some of my designs take to be birthed, I’m so happy I waited until I could do justice to the gorgeous Barn Owl – this design is exactly what I pictured in my head, eight years ago…

I hope you’ll love it too!

I had a request earlier this week in the PlanetJune Discord group to modify my Love Hearts pattern to look like the Ukrainian flag, and that was a request I just couldn’t refuse.

I thought it would be simple, but I made prototypes to figure out the straightest line…

It’s *not* what you’d think – crochet stitches aren’t straight, so the straightest line is not formed from a symmetrical pattern…

And then more prototypes to figure out whether hook size affects the straightness of the colour change line (it does – smaller is better) and the best way to manage the yarns with all the colour changes…

Cut-and-tie gives the cleanest result on the front, but a messy back with lots of yarn ends to deal with. Tapestry crochet (working over the unused colour with every stitch) gives a neat front and back, with only two yarn ends from each colour to weave in, but the unworked yarn colour is slightly visible between the stitches (especially in the yellow half).

After several rounds of prototyping, the final pattern is ready for you, in flat and puffy versions, with colour change recommendations for how to get the best balance of appearance, speed, and simplicity.

Please use this pattern however you wish, and especially to make hearts in the colour of the Ukrainian flag to show your support during this crisis. You can also sell hearts to fundraise (look for an accredited humanitarian aid charity in your country).

Go to the Two-Tone Heart crochet pattern >>

Just in time for the holiday season, and in honour of the PlanetJune Reindeer Games, allow me to present my latest design: the Reindeer/Caribou!

I’ve had a realistic reindeer on my list of ideas for the past few years, but, with the PlanetJune Reindeer Games CAL in full swing, this seemed like the perfect time to bring my idea to life. There are dozens of cartoony reindeer amigurumi patterns out there, but I’ve never seen one that actually looks like a real-life caribou!

Reindeer/Caribou Fun Facts

• Reindeer/Caribou are found in cold Northern climates around the world: Canada, Alaska, Scandinavia and Russia.
• Why two names? Although they are the same species, they are called Caribou in Canada and Alaska and Reindeer in Europe.
• In winter, their soft hoof pads retract to keep their feet warm and expose the sharp hoof rims, which let them dig through the snow to find their favourite food: reindeer lichen!
• They are the only deer species where the females have antlers as well as the males.
• And an extra fun fact for Christmas: Male reindeer shed their antlers before Christmas, while females don’t shed theirs until spring… That means, as all Santa’s reindeer have antlers, they must all be female! 😀

About the Pattern

I’ve tried to capture the essence of the Caribou in this pattern – long body, short legs, wide hooves, tiny tail, shoulder hump, colouring, and, of course, the spectacular antlers (more on those in a bit!)

I’ve included two versions in this pattern – as well as a realistic Caribou, with just a couple of modifications (larger eyes and a red nose), you can make your very own adorable Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer!

The most exciting part of this pattern has to be the antlers – each antler is all crocheted together, with no sewing involved! They are a little fiddly because they’re so thin, but I’ve explained it all step-by-step in the pattern, so take it slowly and you’ll end up with stunning realistically-shaped reindeer antlers.

Note: I do recommend you check out my Narrow Pointed Tubes tutorial (also linked in the pattern) if you’re not used to making narrow tubes or turning them right-side out – if you watch my video, you’ll know exactly what to expect when you make the branches of the antlers!

Buy Now

Ready to get started? Pick up my Reindeer/Caribou crochet pattern  from my shop right now. Or, if you’re not ready to make it just yet, add it to your Ravelry queue or favourites so you don’t forget about it:

I really hope you’ll enjoy this pattern, whether you want to make Rudolph as a Christmas gift for a special someone, a realistic Caribou, or some amigurumi Reindeer as holiday décor!

And, if you’re a Ravelry user, I do hope you’ll join us for the PlanetJune Reindeer Games – this crochet-along runs until the end of the year, and I’m hoping we’ll see enough amigurumi reindeer to have a full team to pull Santa’s sleigh this year. 🙂

I’ve revamped my incredibly popular Turtle Beach blanket design into two new patterns, showcasing two different designs and two different colour schemes that you can mix and match: cool and calm true blues or tropical teals, in the classic colourblock design or my new ombré version.

Left: Classic Blue Turtle Beach blanket; Right: Teal Ombré Turtle Beach blanket

The more I look at them, the more undecided I am about which Turtle Beach blanket I like best – how about you?

Here’s the Classic Blue Version:

And the Teal Ombré Version:

Just look at that rippling wave effect!

The good news is you don’t have to choose; you can make either colour scheme in either style, or one of each! And, as well as selling the patterns separately, I’ve bundled them into a Turtle Beach Blanket multipack, including both the Classic Blue and Teal Ombré blanket patterns.

About the Patterns

I’ve packed these patterns full of information – each one includes complete row by row crochet instructions for the 8 most common classic afghan sizes, ranging from a small baby blanket through to a king size afghan. For each afghan size, the yardage for each colour is also provided, so you’ll be able to order all your yarn at once and know you have enough.

Blanket/Afghan sizes included:

• Baby (approx 24×32″, 60x80cm)
• Lapghan/crib (approx 36×48″, 90x120cm)
• Toddler (approx 40×48″, 100x120cm)
• Throw (approx 48×60″, 120x150cm)
• Twin (approx 60×85″, 150x215cm)
• Full/double (approx 74×85″, 190x215cm)
• Queen (approx 80×90″, 200x230cm)
• King (approx 96×90″, 245x230cm)

Choosing Yarns

For this pattern I’ve used light worsted weight yarns (medium #4 weight), specifically Red Heart Soft and Bernat Satin. You don’t need to use exactly the same yarn as me – the most important factors are to find colours that you like and that work well together, and that are readily available to you!

As worsted weight yarns can vary considerably in thickness and sheen, I also recommend that you try to choose yarns that are similar to each other if you can’t find all the shades you need within one brand and line of yarn. See my worsted weight yarn comparison for examples and my recommendations for which yarns can be mixed and matched.

The Turtle Beach Collection

With the release of these patterns, I’ve also taken the opportunity to revamp all my other related patterns into a full Turtle Beach Crochet Pattern Collection. You can mix and match patterns within the collection to make your own custom blanket:

• Mix and match colour schemes and stripe patterns with the Classic Blue and Teal Ombré blankets.
• Add custom details (an edging and puffy 3D seafoam effect) with the Ribbed Ripple/Turtle Beach donationware blanket pattern.
• Add any combination of the original 3D stuffed baby sea turtles, the new flat appliqué turtles, and puffy or flat starfish.

Left: Classic Blue blanket; stuffed 3D turtles
Right: Teal Ombre blanket; flat appliqué turtles

Clockwise from top left: 3D seafoam, puffy starfish, flat starfish, squared-off edging

Turtle Beach Collection Deals!

You can explore the details of all the patterns in the Turtle Beach Collection here, but here’s a rundown of just the new deals:

• I’ve bundled both new blanket patterns into a Turtle Beach Blanket multipack, including both the Classic Blue and Teal Ombre blanket patterns.
  
• Baby Sea Turtle Collection now includes a full bonus pattern for a Swimming Turtle to stitch to your blanket. (If you’ve already bought this pattern, you can download it again from your PlanetJune account and you’ll automatically get the latest version.)
  
• You can also now buy a multipack of all 8 baby sea turtle patterns (turtle, hatching turtle, swimming turtle, turtle egg, with all four options in both 3D and flat versions).
  
• And, if you already donated more than the average amount of $3.50 for the original Ribbed Ripple/Turtle Beach blanket pattern, and you’d like to buy the new blanket pattern(s), I can issue you with a credit for the additional amount you paid (over $3.50), to put towards the new Classic Blue version. ETA: For the rest of October 2021 only, even if you donated under $3.50, I’ll still send you a discount code!To get your discount, just email me with the following details:
  1. The order number for your original donation (you can find this in your PlanetJune account or your confirmation email)
  2. Which option you’d like to apply your credit to:
     • Turtle Beach Blanket (Classic Blue Version)
     • Turtle Beach Blanket multipack (includes both the Classic Blue and Teal Ombre blanket patterns)

  I’ll send you a discount code, or, if you’ve already ordered the new patterns, let me know and I’ll send you a gift certificate for you to use later!

Phew! That was a lot of info to get through! I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing all the options in this post, and that you’ll have fun choosing your favourite options from the Turtle Beach Collection. Once you’ve selected your blanket size, colourway and stripe pattern, flat and/or stuffed turtles, and any of the other optional extras, you’ll be able to mix-and-match to make a gorgeous one-of-a-kind blanket.

I’d love to see your finished blankets (or anything else you’ve made from my patterns) – please do share photos with me! I’m @PlanetJune everywhere (on ravelry and social media) or you can email me – I always love to hear from you 🙂