Animal Appliques: Pug Applique Pattern

When I started crocheting, I wanted to do simple things first like appliqués to boost my confidence as well as to practice my pattern-reading skills. Being a practical person (and a bit of a braggart among friends), I thought of making some things I can give to my friends, and at the same time practice my crochet skills. Two birds with one stone!

So what to crochet? As I was making a cat face appliqué the shape of Hello Kitty's head (which I also gave away, to my cousin), I thought maybe I can also give them something animal.

We've always had "animal nicknames" for each other, mainly because we are animal people, among other things. Friend number 1 is a pug, because she has a pug and she has a tiny nose much like that of a pug's (haha!). Friend number 2 is a duck primarily because he has ducks for pets, and also because he has a protruding bottom :D Friend number 3 is a penguin, not because she has a pet penguin (sadly!) but because she looks like Gunther from Adventure Time, and also either because she's a slow walker/waddler or she hates hot weather, or both. :)

So I decided to make some simple and cute animal appliqués for my friends, and I hope they find it funny and cute!

The pattern for the duck can be found here, and the penguin can be found here. And instead of sewing in eyes, I glued googly eyes to them :D They turned out to be cute, and I was able to save time because sewing has always been a challenge for me.

For the pug, I had quite a difficult time looking for a free pattern, and I did fail to find one so I thought of improvising my own.


Pug Applique

Materials:
Hook: 4mm crochet hook
Yarns:
Creme de la Creme Dark Linen
Creme de la Creme Brown
Other stuff:
a pair of googly eyes
glue

Base

Using the dark linen yarn, make a magic ring.

Row 1: Ch2, 6 dc in the ring, sl st with the first dc (6 st).

Row 2: Ch2, 3 dc in the first st, *2 dc in the next st* 2 times, then 3 dc in the next st, 2 dc in the rest sts. Sl st with the first dc (14 sts).

Row 3: Ch 2, 2 dc in each st all around. Sl st with the first dc. FO.

You should get a somewhat slightly oval base.

Nose/Snout

Using the brown yarn, ch 4. 2 dc in the 3rd st from the hook, then 4 dc in the next st (you should end up turning to the other side when you finish the 4th dc). 2dc in the next st, FO.

Ears

Using the brown yarn, ch 3. Hdc in the 2nd ch from the hook, ch1, sl st in the same stitch. You can FO here or keep the yarn in the hook to attach the ear to the base.

Putting them together

Choose one st in the top of the base (the slightly longer side), and sew the ear in that st using a tapestry needle, or sl st through the chosen base st if your yarn is still in your hook. Do this for the other ear - I placed mine with 9 sts between each ear.

You can either sew the nose in, or be lazy like me and just glue it to the base. Then position the eyes so that they are a bit far away from each other, similar to how it is on a pug's face. Glue them in and let it dry.

And voila! You're done with the pug face. Very easy, right?

Pug face! Measures a little less than 3 inches in length.

This was one of the first projects I did without a pattern, so I had a number of trial and errors before I was able to complete it.

If you have any questions or corrections, let me know in the comments below and I will be glad to respond.

Enjoy crocheting AF! \m/



This pattern is free and not for sale. Please credit and link back to this site when sharing, using for business, etc. Thanks! :)

Adventure Time Finn and Jake Mini Baskets

When my friends went to Seoul last March, I asked them to buy me Brownie Cookies from Petite France. These are one of my favorite cookies, because brownie and cookie in one! I intended to pay for these cookies, but my friends insisted on giving them for free. Being the shy person that I am, I couldn't just let them do that, so I decided to make them some simple crochet stuff in return.

The prize.

They both like Adventure Time, and good thing I had the yarn colors I needed for Finn and Jake, so I looked for some easy Adventure Time crochet patterns. I found a couple of mini amigurumis, but I thought maybe I should give them something they can use. I can't make them phone cases because I don't know what sizes their phones are, and I thought coasters would be too simple. Then I remembered the mini square basket I made from before to put our coins in, so I decided on doing that, and then just improvise for the Finn and Jake details.

Somehow some part of me regrets this, and tells me I should have gone with the coaster. Because I had less than a day's notice of our rendezvous and I wanted to impress my friends with my new-found crochet skills, I crocheted AF to finish these in a few hours.

Without further ado! The pattern. (This is the first pattern I've ever written, so please bear with me :) )

Algebraic! Finn and Jake mini baskets.

Materials:

Hook: 4 mm crochet hook

Yarns:

Red Heart White high bulk acrylic

Red Heart Light Blue high bulk acrylic

Gantsilyo Guru Milk Cotton (light medium) Yellow

Creme de la Creme Dark Linen

Some black yarn

I based and used the basket pattern here and just adjusted the size and switched colors for Finn.

Finn Pattern:

Yield is approximately 3 inches on one side. I did Finn's face first so I'll know the basket size I need to make for the face to fit.

Finn's Face

I just made a simple oval shape I learned from doing a cat applique before. I really can't remember how I did this, but here's a great tutorial on how to make an oval shape.

You can use felt for the face details, but I didn't have any so I just sewed in the eyes and mouth with some black yarn.

Basket Base

Using the light blue yarn, Ch 12.

Crochet hdc in 3rd ch from hook. Continue hdc for the rest of the 9 ch (10 sts).

*Ch 2, turn, hdc 10 times* repeat 7 times

Crochet around the sides: *ch1, sc 10 times* repeat 4 times for all sides

Crochet 1 extra sc to get to the corner. Ch 2.

Basket sides

Row 1: *sc 10 in BLO (back loop only), in the corner sc 2 in the same space* repeat 4 times for all sides. Sl st on top of the starting ch 2.

Row 2: Ch 2, hdc in all stitches in both loops. Sl st on the ch 2 at the beginning of this row.

Row 3: Ch 1, sc in BLO. Sl st on top of the starting ch.

Row 4: repeat row 2

Row 5: repeat row 3

Switch to white, and fasten off the light blue yarn.

Row 6 - 13: repeat rows 2 and 3, alternating. Or you can continue doing this until your desired basket height.

Face off!

Attaching Finn's face to the basket

I was supposed to use the light brown yarn to attach Finn's face, but I forgot to bring it to the office so I just used the white yarn. I recommend using light brown for this, because using the white yarn will result to some light brown showing on the sides.

You can sew the face to the basket using a tapestry needle, which I think will be easier, but I wasn't in my right mind or I just don't have a needle, so I did the more difficult way.

Position Finn's face on one side of the basket. Start at any side of Finn's face. Sl st through the basket and BLO of Finn's face, all around. Fasten off.

The instructions for this is not very clear (I know!), but I learned this technique when I was doing baby sandals before. Here's the video tutorial for slip stitching together.

Finn!

Jake Pattern:

The pattern is similar to Finn's, only this time I made it smaller because I wanted them to be nested. Yield is approximately 2 inches on one side. Again, I did the face details first to gauge the basket size I need.

Jake's face

Like Finn, you can also use felt which will be easier, but I didn't have felt so I crocheted the details too. You can make your own if you have a faster / easier / preferred way, but I'm just gonna put mine here.

Eyes (make 2): Using white yarn, ch 4, sl st in the first ch to make a ring. Sc 5 in the ring, sl st in to the first sc.

Switch to black yarn. Sc 2 times in each st, sl st in the first sc to finish. Fasten off.

Nose: Make an oval shape using black yarn. Ch 3, hdc in the 2nd ch from the hook, sc in the last st, fasten off.

Snout: Using yellow yarn, ch  8 (or until the whole thing can wrap the nose on one side, you know, how Jake's snout and nose looks like). Sc into the 2nd ch from the hook, continue sc until the last st. Fasten off. Note: slightly tighten the stitches, so that it will curl a bit.

Basket Base

Using the yellow yarn, Ch 8.

Crochet hdc in 3rd ch from hook. Continue hdc for the rest of the 5 ch (6 sts).

*Ch 2, turn, hdc 6 times* repeat 3 times

Crochet around the sides: *ch1, sc 6 times* repeat 4 times for all sides

Crochet 1 extra sc to get to the corner. Ch 2.

Basket sides

Row 1: *sc 6 in BLO (back loop only), in the corner sc 2 in the same space* repeat 4 times for all sides. Sl st on top of the starting ch 2.

Row 2: Ch 2, hdc in all stitches in both loops. Sl st on the ch 2 at the beginning of this row.

Row 3: Ch 1, sc in BLO. Sl st on top of the starting ch.

Continue repeating rows 2 and 3, alternating, until your desired basket height. I based the height on Finn's height, and for Jake's face details to fit.

So many pieces! @__@

Attaching Jake's face

This was the hardest part of doing these baskets. I spent the most time stitching the details than crocheting the baskets themselves. :( I would recommend using a tapestry needle, because these details are so small and very difficult to keep in place.

Position Jake's nose on one side of the basket. Sew it in. Next, position Jake's snout to curl around the nose. I did the same technique I used sewing in Finn's face, but sewing only on one side of the snout.

Last, sew in Jake's eyes near the snout. Then you're done :)

Duuuuude.

Final products:

Mathematical!

Nested Finn and Jake

My baskets are not very square, most likely because of the yarn types I used. But I still like how they turned out. As you can see, Jake's eyes are not symmetric because as I've said, I had a difficult time sewing them in. Also, Finn's face had some brown peeping on the sides because I did not use the brown yarn for sewing (bad Raine!).

Final recommendations:

1. Use felt for easier face details.
2. If you don't have felt, use the same light brown yarn to sew in Finn's face. Also, use tapestry needle (or any needle that can hold your yarn) and sew Finn's face and especially Jake's like a normal person would.
3. Use a lighter shade of brown for Finn. And more mustard-y yellow color for Jake.

I enjoyed doing these so much, I'm planning on doing Marceline and LSP versions once I get the colors for them. And I'm also thinking of doing other Adventure Time projects. :)

If you have any questions or corrections, please feel free to share in the comments below, I'll be glad to answer and respond. After all, homies help homies, right? :)

Enjoy crocheting AF! \m/

This pattern is free and not for sale. Please credit and link back to this site when sharing, using for business, etc. Thanks! :)