PlanetJune Blog: Latest News, Patterns and Tutorials

I’ve been sharing my process as I design my amigurumi Meerkat crochet pattern – hope you find this behind-the-scenes journey through what goes into a PlanetJune design interesting! To catch up, see:
– Part 1: Research, Shape, Colour and Sketch
– Part 2: Construction Decisions
– Part 3: Making The Head

Last time, I’d figured out the perfect colour changes for the head, and was ready for the final stage: finishing the rest of the head and designing the body, limbs and tail…

Part 4: Making the Body

I’m not sure if it’s because of the psychological aspect of showing you my progress as I go, or just something about the meerkat itself, but this design is proving to be really slow going. I’ve been struggling with proportion and had to draw myself a life-size reference sketch – I think it’s because meerkats are so long and thin, I kept underestimating how tall it should be!

Full-size sketch for proportion reference

I typically have several designs on the go at once, and if I get stuck on one, I set it aside and work on something else for a while. The solution usually pops into my head a few days later, while I’m doing something completely different. Trying to force it doesn’t seem to make my brain come up with the best solution any more quickly – I’ll come up with something if I force myself, but I’ll usually end up redoing that part later when I think of a better-looking or simpler solution, so it’s best for me to just let it sit and wait for inspiration to strike.

That’s what happened here: it took me 3 attempts to get the arms right, not because the shape was wrong, but to improve my technique so I could simplify the pattern while keeping that unmistakable shape – meerkats have very unusual arms! There’s always a trade-off between making a design more realistic and making it easier to crochet, and, in my opinion, the best pattern will give a good balance: a recognisable result combined with an enjoyable crocheting experience.

Before I release a design into the world, I always take the time to stand back and consider if I’ve really done my best or if anything could be improved. If I’m not satisfied, it goes on pause for a while until I figure out how to improve it. That’s the stage I’m at right now – I’ve roughly pinned all the pieces together so I can get a better idea of what else needs to be changed:

Almost there…

This isn’t the final design, but it’s pretty close! (I’ll save the full reveal for the finished design.) I have a little more work to do on the leg area, and some placements need adjusting, but next time you see my meerkat, he’ll be finished 🙂

So that’s really it for the design process – my next steps will be to make the final tweaks to the design and then, when I’m happy with all the pieces, to photograph the assembly process. I’ll write up my notes into proper crochet instructions, then edit my photos and describe the assembly process carefully so you’ll be able to easily understand how to turn the crocheted pieces of your meerkat into a close copy of my completed design.

After this, I have to set the pattern aside for a while so I can approach it with fresh eyes for technical editing and proofreading. During this break, I’ll be figuring out how to best photograph my meerkat so he’ll look at his most appealing, then take him into the studio (or out on location) for his cover photoshoot. I’ll select the best photos, edit them, and then add them to the pattern.

Once the pattern is complete, it’ll be time to do a final check for accuracy and clarity, then the pattern will – finally – be finished! Everyone who commissioned it will receive their copy, and then I’ll then publish it in my shop, so you’ll be able to buy my Meerkat crochet pattern if you aren’t among the commissioners.

UPDATE: See the finished Meerkat pattern here!

I hope this insight into what goes into making a PlanetJune design has been eye-opening for you. Some of my designs come together more quickly and easily than this, but there’s always a lot that goes on behind the scenes to create my deceptively simple-looking shapes and designs, and I don’t regret a second of that time – it’s always worth it 🙂

When I was writing my new book, I had a lot of project samples to crochet in a short period of time, and that’s pretty hard on the hands.

This is how I crochet (and this is my meerkat amigurumi, not a book project!)

When I’ve been crocheting for a while, the yarn starts to wear a groove in my forefinger as it rubs over it, and, if I keep going, my finger gets red and sore, and my skin condition gets aggravated. A chafed finger really isn’t something you want to see in close-up book tutorial photos, so I needed a solution to protect my finger.

Groovy (and not in a good way) – this is after just a few minutes of fast amigurumi crocheting

First I tried crocheting a finger sleeve, which worked really well for comfort and maintaining tension, but it looked clunky, and after a few minutes of use it began to spin around on my finger and wouldn’t hold in place. I also tried using plastic and metal yarn guides (meant for stranding multiple colours of yarn) which stopped the rubbing, but I found they messed with my tension.

Other suggestions from my ever-helpful Ravelry group members included finger cots, taping the finger, or wrapping paper towel around the finger and then taping over that.

In the end I found a very simple solution that works for me: I sewed a very basic finger sleeve from a smooth, stretchy, spandex-blend fabric. This fabric doesn’t fray, so all I needed was one row of stitching to turn a small rectangle of fabric into a tube that fits tightly over my finger.

It’s not pretty, but it works

When I wear it, my yarn runs smoothly over the fabric and it doesn’t affect my crocheting tension. The tube did stretch a bit after a few days of hard use and became too loose to be effective, but I just stitched another seam slightly further in (thanks to Kris for that suggestion) and it hasn’t stretched further since. The best part is it only takes a tiny scrap of a smooth stretch fabric, and you can customise it to exactly fit whichever part of your finger gets rubbed or irritated by your yarn.

I keep the seam on the outside so it doesn’t dig into my finger, but rotate the sleeve on my finger so the seam doesn’t touch the yarn. Sometimes a simple solution is best: this little tube took mere minutes to make but has already saved me a lot of discomfort as I worked on all my book projects.

I still use my finger sleeve when I have a heavy crocheting session or use yarn that chafes, and I think I’ll whip up another half dozen or so – the biggest problem with finger sleeves is that they seem as prone as yarn needles to being mislaid! If I have a few handy, I’ll be able to keep one in every project bag.

Problem solved!

If you’d like to try making a finger sleeve, look for a smooth fabric with spandex/lycra so it’s nice and stretchy. Or, if you don’t want to spend money when you only need a tiny scrap of fabric, I bet a piece snipped from an old swimsuit would work perfectly…

My starting fabric rectangle was 4cm long by 6cm around (about 1½ by 2⅜”) but I have small fingers, so you may want a longer and/or wider tube. Just measure your finger and remember to add a little extra width for the seam allowance (but not too much, as you need a tight fit so it won’t slip). If it’s too loose, just sew another seam to make the tube slightly narrower, as I did.

Do you have problems with yarn chafing your finger when you crochet or knit? Please share what works for you in the comments!

Today I have a new fast and easy donationware pattern for you: Tiny Eggs!

Make miniature (1″/2.5cm) crocheted eggs that are still egg-shaped despite their diminutive size. Decorate for Easter with a bowl of calorie-free ‘chocolate’ eggs (just don’t eat them!) or make them as realistic-sized songbird eggs.

Tiny Eggs is a free pattern, but I decided to go a step further with the donationware PDF version this time, so it gets its own name:

Tiny Eggs in a Nest is the PDF version, available for any size donation, and it includes a bonus pattern for a tiny textured bird’s nest (3″/7.5cm diameter) which I designed especially for these eggs.

The beautiful nest is smooth on the inside and textured on the outside, just like a real bird’s nest, so you can make a nestful of Tiny Eggs as a lovely decoration to celebrate spring, or as the perfect accompaniment to an amigurumi bird.

So, to show my appreciation, I give added value to the PDF version wherever I can, and in this case, it means the very special textured nest pattern, available exclusively in the Tiny Eggs in a Nest PDF pattern. With the bonus nest pattern, Tiny Eggs can do double duty as both a mini Easter Egg pattern and a sweet bird’s nest pattern.

I hope you enjoy making the teeniest tiniest crocheted eggs, with or without the nest!

Go to the free Tiny Eggs pattern >>

Or jump straight to donate:

Order the Tiny Eggs in a Nest pattern >>

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

PS – Don’t forget to share your eggs and/or nests in the PlanetJune Spring/Easter CAL on Ravelry 🙂

I’m still on the giddy high of being my own boss again and having real time to work on my business instead of squeezing PlanetJune things in around book priorities. It feels so satisfying every time I get to cross something off my to-do list; many items have been on there for well over a year, and that’s been weighing me down. Now I’m back in control, and in March I’ve made several behind-the-scenes improvements as well as publishing 2 new patterns and 8 re-releases, and making good progress on my meerkat commission, so I’m really making a dent in the to-do list.

The next challenge will be to pace myself – there’s just so much I want to do, it’s hard not to eat, breathe, and sleep PlanetJune. But my plan for this year was to slow down and find a healthy balance, and that’s still my goal. Let me finish just one more tempting design idea first, and then I’ll get right on that….

Spring/Easter CAL

The PlanetJune Spring/Easter CAL is going strong and continues until the end of April, so I hope you’ll join us! I’ve already released 2 new patterns since the start of this CAL, and there’s another new one on its way, so there’ll be even more options to choose from, including all these:

…and of course the new additions from March, Primroses and Baby Bunnies 2:

It’s even more fun to crochet when other people are making the same thing, and you can compare yarns and colour choices and enjoy seeing photos of their finished pieces too. For full details and to crochet any of these patterns along with us, see the CAL thread in the PlanetJune ravelry group 🙂

Review and Win contest

March’s ‘Review and Win’ winner is Jennifer B, with her review of my Brachiosaurus:

This brachiosaurus dinosaur is as cute as can be! I made one in neon red and the little boy loves him. It’s really easy for little hands to hold the dinosaur around the neck and over the back. The pattern instructions are clear and well-written – you will get the same dinosaur as pictured. Also to attach the body parts invisibly planetjune has an excellent youtube how-to video.

Congrats, Jennifer – I’ll email you to find out which pattern you’d like as your prize 🙂

Have you enjoyed any PlanetJune patterns recently? Please consider writing a review for them in my shop – you’ll automatically be entered into the monthly draw with every review, and you’ll help future customers make an informed decision about patterns they are considering buying. Thank you!

And I have one more new spring-themed crochet pattern ready to publish: it’s a sweet and quick-to-crochet new donationware pattern, and it’ll be coming tomorrow. (I was planning to release it today, but with it being April Fools’ Day, I thought it was safest to avoid confusion and hold off until tomorrow – PlanetJune patterns are no joke!)

I’ll be sharing my process as I design my amigurumi Meerkat crochet pattern – hope you find this behind-the-scenes journey through what goes into a PlanetJune design interesting! To catch up, see:
– Part 1: Research, Shape, Colour and Sketch
– Part 2: Construction Decisions

Last time, I’d decided how to approach my design, and was finally ready to start crocheting my Meerkat!

Part 3: Making the Head

Looking at the shape of a Meerkat, I know I shouldn’t try to work the head, muzzle and body as one continuous piece. As the nose is so long and pointy, the all-important nose shape would be compromised if I tried to build it with increases and decreases in a top-down shape, especially with the added complication of the facial markings. So my options are to:

• Crochet the head from the nose to the back of the head, and crochet the body from the bottom up, as a separate piece, to meet at the neck.
• Crochet the head and body as one piece, with the muzzle added separately.

I decided that the most elegant result will be from the latter, as it won’t introduce an artificial break at the neck, so I’m planning to build my Meerkat with a one-piece head and body.

It’s not easy to design an animal head: it always looks strange and wrong until the additional pieces (eyes, ears, muzzle) are attached. You’ll know this if you’ve made any of my animal designs! You just have to follow the pattern and trust that all the strange-looking pieces will magically come together in the end – they always do, I promise 🙂

But designing from scratch means I need to have test ears, muzzles, and heads all on the go at once, so I can hold them up to each other and see if they work together, or if/where the shape or colour patterning need to be modified. In my prototyping, I changed the shape of the head, and played with the shape, size and positioning of the markings:

Now, don’t be alarmed – I know that none of these prototypes looks anything like a meerkat! You’ll have to trust me on this; it’ll all make sense when the other pieces are attached…

To save time, I try to test a few changes at once, and then pick and choose aspects from all the prototypes and refine them to get the perfect result. I’m particularly happy that my innovations in amigurumi colourwork now let me create symmetrical patterning with smooth edges, although it takes some extra work to even things up once I’ve decided on the final shape and size of the markings. Below, you can see some of the undesirable features (asymmetry and jagged edges) in the early prototypes:

These ‘features’ won’t be a part of the final version!

After these 3 complete prototype attempts, and some more minor tweaks as I crocheted, I’m satisfied with the head shape and markings, and the 4th prototype will go on to become the final head. You can see how it turned out when the design is finished – you wouldn’t be able to appreciate the full effect if I showed it to you now, without the muzzle, eyes and ears 🙂

An aside, for a moment – this is a great example of how my failed prototypes can lead to inspiration for future designs! I can see the basis of an alien in the prototype on the right…

…do you see it too? I think a cute PlanetJune alien with big built-in colourwork eyes would make a good addition to my Mythical pattern collection!

Although I’m tempted to jump right into researching aliens, I don’t want to get distracted. I’ve added ‘Alien’ to my Ideas List (with a few construction notes so I don’t forget my plan for the colourwork eyes), and now I have to put those tempting aliens completely out of my mind and get back to thinking about Meerkats….

Next for the Meerkat, I have to design the final muzzle and ears, and then I can move onto the body, limbs and tail. Now I’ve completed the main head piece, the rest of the design should flow from there, as I can build each piece to match the scale of the head, following my original sketch for the general shapes, proportions and colours, and referring back to photos of real meerkats as I go.

Stay tuned for Part 4: Making the Body…

UPDATED: Continue to Meerkat Design Report #4 >>

I’m updating my entire back catalogue of patterns with extra information and tips and a new space-saving layout, and re-releasing them in batches as they are ready. Please see the Pattern Re-Release FAQ for more information.

With my Meerkat design in progress, it seemed fitting to select all my other African animal patterns for the next batch of re-releases. These include the AfricAmi trio (Elephant, Hippopotamus, and Rhinoceros), and my Ring-Tailed Lemur, Aardvark, and Lion & Lioness patterns.

If you’ve previously purchased any of these pattern(s) (individually, or in the AfricAmi Set 1 multipack), the update(s) are now ready for you to download in the new format!

Log back into your PlanetJune account at any time in the next 2 weeks and you’ll see the download buttons for these pattern purchases have been re-enabled, so you can click and download the new versions.

If you have lots of past orders in your PlanetJune account, you don’t have to hunt for the right ones; just follow these simple steps:

1. In your PlanetJune account, click Show All Orders.
2. At the top of that page, click to the list of all your past purchases.
3. Find the pattern name in the alphabetical list.
4. Click the order number to go directly to that order.
5. Re-save your pattern 🙂

If you have any questions about the pattern reformat project, or you received the patterns through a different mechanism (and so don’t have an order for them in the PlanetJune shop) but you’d still like the new versions, check the Pattern Re-Release FAQ for more information.

(There’ll be more pattern re-releases coming soon – if you’d like to get an email notification each time a new batch is ready, sign up for the Crochet Pattern Updates mailing list.)

I’ll be sharing my process as I design my amigurumi Meerkat crochet pattern – hope you find this behind-the-scenes journey through what goes into a PlanetJune design interesting!
To catch up, see Part 1: Research, Shape, Colour and Sketch

Last time, I’d completed my sketch and chosen my yarns, and was ready to start thinking about how to create a 3D crocheted Meerkat from these little rough sketches:

Part 2: Construction Decisions

There are several ways to achieve a specific 3D shape in crochet:

1. Build it up by stitching together smaller, simpler shapes
2. Create shape in a single piece through strategic placement of increases and decreases
3. Create shape in a single piece by varying the type and size of stitch used

The right solution for me depends on what I’m trying to achieve in a specific design; I may use some or all of these techniques within a single pattern to achieve the best result. For the Meerkat, I have to decide:

• Will the head, muzzle, ears, body, arms, legs, feet, tail, all be separate pieces, or should some (or all) of those be built in with shaping?
• Should I start from the bottom and work up, from the top and work down, or from the front and work back?

Making these decisions involves more trade-offs: what gives the cleanest look; what produces the best shape; what makes the pattern easy to follow; what makes the pieces easy to assemble.

At this stage, I often develop several partial prototypes using different techniques and see which looks best. It’s never wasted time, as even the terrible results help to point me towards the solution, and sometimes I come up with a technique that doesn’t work for the design I’m working on but gives me a great idea for something else!

In this case, I’ve been playing around with a new idea for leg shaping, using scrap yarn and just testing the principle. I wasn’t trying to create the exact shape I’d need for the Meerkat, so don’t be concerned that it doesn’t look like anything in particular:

Trying out a new shaping technique

To achieve more defined shaping than this, I’d need to either use multiple increases/decreases, or change the stitch – those are both techniques I try to avoid in my designs, as they spoil the smooth, regular look of the single crochet stitches. I think, though, that this approach I’ve been testing could work for my Meerkat’s legs, so that’s the direction I’m going to aim for (although it’s all subject to change if it doesn’t work out the way I hope…)

Next up, prototyping the head. I almost always start my real design with the head, as the head and face can make or break an amigurumi. The head is typically the most complex and detailed part of my designs, and I can build and shape the other pieces based on the size of the finished head. Working the other way and leaving the head until last, I may find that my Meerkat is so small I can’t make the eye patches look good, or I’d need a partial number of stitches or rounds to make the features the right size.

Red Panda head prototypes

So the next step will be trial and error prototyping until I create a good-looking Meerkat head. I still have most of my Red Panda prototype heads (although some are partially unravelled to reclaim the amber yarn), and, as you can see from the above photo, it took me at least 5 attempts to perfect the combination of shape and markings! This isn’t unusual, and it was worth every step to get to the final result. ‘Quick’ and ‘good’ aren’t words that work together in my design process 😉

My design is already further along than this post – I planned to post this last week, but my new Baby Bunnies pattern took precedence, so you’ll get 2 Meerkat updates this week instead! Stay tuned for Part 3: Making The Head.

UPDATED: Continue to Meerkat Design Report #3 >>

Once of my most popular crochet patterns is my Baby Bunnies set – they seem to have really captured my customers’ imaginations, and I’ve seen dozens of people who’ve each made dozens of baby bunnies – they’re multiplying like, um, rabbits! And now you can get even more value from this pattern, by buying my new Baby Bunnies 2 Expansion Pack, which will let you create baby bunnies with Pointed, Blazed and Dutch markings.

New Bunnies! L-R: Pointed Bunny, Dutch Bunny, Blazed Bunny

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.

I’ve only made one sample for each marking type, but, by swapping upright or lop ears with each type, you can make a total of 6 different new bunnies. (Then add the original bunnies, and all the different colourways, and you have dozens of different bunny options!)

Baby Bunnies 1 & 2 playing together – swap the ears and colours for even more options

Build your Colour-Changing Confidence

The original Baby Bunnies is a good pattern for fairly new crocheters, as there’s only one colour to deal with, the small size means you can finish it pretty quickly, and you get lots of practice with counting your stitches to achieve that perfect bunny shape! So I’m continuing that beginner’s crochet education with Baby Bunnies 2, as the 3 marking types are graded by difficulty:

1. Test the waters by making your first simple colour changes for the Pointed Bunny.
2. Get your feet wet with a few more colour changes in the Blazed Bunny markings.
3. Wade into multiple changes per round with the more complex Dutch Bunny markings.

Increasing difficulty, from top to bottom: Pointed, Blazed, Dutch markings

By the time you’ve completed all three of these bunnies, you’ll be a colour-changing expert, and ready to tackle one of my larger patterns with complex colours, such as the Emperor Penguin, the Kingfisher, or the Orca:

Ready to Buy?

You can buy the Baby Bunnies 2 Expansion Pack for only $3.50 individually from the shop, or, if you haven’t already bought the Baby Bunnies pattern, you can select it as an add-on to that pattern before you add it to your shopping cart, and save 50c on the pair.

Or, if you’re not quite ready to start bunny-making, why not favourite or queue the new set on Ravelry, so you don’t forget about them?

Launch Discount

If you’ve already bought the original Baby Bunnies, you won’t be able to save that 50c. But, for 7 days only, add the Baby Bunnies 2 Expansion Pack pattern to your shopping cart, together with anything else (totalling $5 or more), then use the code BUNNIES at checkout and you’ll still get your discount! (Valid until next Thursday: 27th March 2014.)

Note: If you don’t need anything else right now, this also applies to Gift Certificate purchases, so you can pick up a $5 gift certificate now, get your discount, and have $5 in your PlanetJune account ready for your next purchase, or to send to a crocheting friend!

Watch out world, I believe bunny season just started!

PS – Don’t forget to share photos of your Baby Bunnies in the Spring/Easter CAL thread on Ravelry too – you have until the end of April to post them…