Illumination

This is the 133rd anniversary of the opening of the Savoy Theatre in Westminster, London, which was the first public building in the world to be lit entirely with electricity. In honor of that I have old and new lightbulb patterns for you.

three light bulbs in crochet

Lightbulbs Aplenty Pattern

In the early days of this blog I designed a compact fluorescent lightbulb and stitched an incandescent bulb to go along with it. In honor of today I thought I’d write a pattern for the incandescent bulb, clean up the CFL pattern if possible, and add an LED bulb pattern to the mix!

LED lightbulb

The CFL changes have been made to the original blog post, and for the LED pattern you’ll have to get the Name-Your-Price pattern in the store (which includes all three bulbs). The incandescent pattern is below.

Incandescent Light Bulb

incandescent lightbulb Gauge is not terribly important, but since I use an E/4 hook (3.5mm) on the CFL, I used it on the incandescent as well. You’ll need worsted weight yarn in two colors, stuffing, and (optionally) something to weight the bottom with (I have used tangled necklace chains, beads, pebbles, and coins). My crochet abbreviations and conventions are on the crochet reference page, and any stitch instruction you might want is linked to from the pattern page.

In bulb color:
1. Form magic ring, ch 1, and sc 6.
2. 2sc around (12).
3. *Sc, 2sc* around (18).
4. *2sc, sc 2* around (24).
5. Sc 2, *2sc, sc 3* five times, 2sc, sc (30).
6-8. Sc around (30 sc; 3 rnds).
9. *Dec, sc 5* four times, sc 2 (26).
10. Sc 2, *dec, sc 4* four times (22).
11. *Dec, sc 3* four times, sc 2 (18).
12-13. Sc around (18 sc, 2 rnds).
14. *Dec, sc 4* around (15).
15-17. Sc around (15 sc; 3 rnds).
18. *Dec, sc 3* around (12). Stuff bulb.

Cut yarn and needle join in second stitch from end; FO bulb color.

In base color: tie slip knot and place on hook. Insert into any stitch of rnd 18 and attach with slip stitch.
19. Starting in next st and ended in same st as sl st, sc around (12).
20-23. Sc around (12 sc; 4 rnds). Stuff, finishing with bottom weight if using.
24. *Dec* around (6). FO.

Grrrain monster

A new monster! Whether this is a friendly monster or a mean monster probably depends on your digestive system.

grain monsters from ReveDreams
Grain Monster Pattern

You’ll find grain monsters in many places….

grain monster on the flour canister

The flour canister is an obvious place to look.

grain monster in the mixing bowl

The mixing bowl likewise, but….

grain monster hiding in the soy sauce

They can appear in places you wouldn’t expect, as well!

Mean or nice, however, they like to play, especially if they can build something.

flour and barley sandcastle!

For more portraits and details about the pattern, visit the pattern page.

Mud monster

April showers bring Mud Monsters!

Mud Monster
Mud Monster Pattern

He’s a sloppy little guy, inspired by frogs and mudskippers — not to mention mud season. The pattern page has more about what’s required to make your own; here I just thought I’d show you an adventure we had. Just to warn you, there are a lot of photos past the cut in this post.

We got a good bit of rain this weekend, so it was perfectly wet. Down by the river, Muddy made a sand castle amid the pawprints and then posed with it.

Mud Monster makes a sand castle

Continue reading Mud monster