Three reasons why a crochet dog is awesome!

Posted in Amigurumi, Crochet, Deramores Designer Shop, Designing, Pattern Release, Tah-Dah by Keep Calm and Crochet On UK

Edit: Links to Deramores removed after it’s closure in January 2022

Are you an ‘ultimutt’ dog lover? Recently my life has been cute little pups – well crocheted ones … I’m very excited to tell you that I’ve been busy adding to the Deramores Deradog pack!

If you remember we’ve had a Poodle, a Schnauzer, a Spaniel, a French Bulldog, a Pug and a Rottweiler. Well there’s now another THREE brand new breeds that have been added to the pack.

Allow me to introduce Ali the Alsatian, Dakota the Dalmation and Luna the Labrador! My apologies in advance for my use of a-paw-ling dog puns now scattered through this post!

Ali the Alsatian dreams of growing up to be a big brave police dog. This K-9 wannabee can help snare suspect WIPs, track down missing yarn and sniff out your next big crochet project!

Dakota the Dalmation on the other hand aspires to be a movie star. She’s hoping for a ‘spot’ in the next 101 Dalmatians movie. She’s already doing well for herself – the pup-arazzi just love to take photos of her!

Last, but certainly not least, we have Luna the Labrador who wants to be a magician. She’ll say the magic words ‘labracadabrador’ and pull a ball of yarn for you out of a bag.

Now maybe you can’t have a dog because of space, or allergies or kids, well that’s where the beauty of a crocheted dog comes in. I can give you three reasons a crochet dog would make your life awesome:

They are very easy to take care of! Don’t need walking or feeding – for a pet that’s incredibly low maintenance!
They don’t take up a lot of space in your house – and they are sort of squashy so they can fit just about anywhere.
You can hug and squeeze these dogs to your heart’s content without fear of squishing them or of them running away!

Just like all the other Dera-animals I have been making these new dogs have been made from Deramores Studio DK, if you’ve not used it before you should really give it a go. It’s lovely and soft and it’s anti-piling-ness is fab stuff for amigurumi’s.

And do you want to know the most awesome thing! All three dogs are available for FREE in my Designer Shop where you can pick up just the pattern, or the yarn kit to make all of the dogs.

I hope you like all the new additions to the pack, and out of interest, if I were to make some more dog breeds in the future to join the Deradog clan what breeds would you most like to see?

As always if you hook up any of the deradogs I hope you’ll tag kcaco.uk on Instagram or share your projects in my Facebook group as I love to see your finished work!

Until next time folks! Happy hooking, keep calm and crochet on my friends xx

P.S don’t forget if you are more of a cat person (or even horses) then you might like the Dera-cats or Dera-Donkey and Horse, also available in my Deramores Designer Shop xx

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14Jan2020

Deramores | Dera-Horse Hettie and Dera-Donkey Dougie

Posted in Amigurumi, Crochet, Deramores Designer Shop, Designing, Pattern Release, Tah-Dah by Keep Calm and Crochet On UK

Edit: Links to Deramores removed after it’s closure in January 2022

If you just happened to be watching Create and Craft TV this weekend you may have just seen (and possibly shared my squeals) at some brand new patterns that I’ve designed for Deramores. The first two new projects for your hook are amigurumi farm yard pals Hettie the Horse and Dougie the Donkey.

Hettie loves quiet trots in the park, hay on a Sunday and having her long silky mane combed through. Whilst Dougie is an intelligent social animal with a strong need for companionship and a natural curiosity!

It was extremely exciting to see the launch – I mean it’s not everyday that you get to see something you’ve crocheted appear on TV is it!

I really enjoyed creating these two farmyard friends! They are made from Deramores Studio DK, which is a pleasure to work with, and they both came together quite nicely once I started crocheting them up.

I’ve designed this patterns with both beginners and intermediate crocheters in mind. I think they are perfect for beginners as they are not complex shapes or instructions – and there is enough interest that more experienced crocheters can enjoy too.

Excitingly both of these animals come on a single pattern which is available for FREE in my Designer Shop where you can pick up just the pattern, or the yarn kit (including pattern, yarn, stuffing and eyes) to make both animals.

And if you are interested in watching future Deramores episodes on TV you can find them every two weeks on a Sunday (so the next one will be 26 Jan) Create and Craft TV on the following channels and devices:

Sky 683
Freeview 23
Virgin 748
Freesat 813
Apple TV
Amazon Fire

They also add some of the recent episodes on the Deramores TV page on their website – here.

I hope you like all the new additions to the Dera-animal family! I’m happy to say I’m in development of some more animals, so watch this space! What animals would you love to see appear? More dog breeds? Other creatures?

SAVE THE DERADONKEY AND DERAHORSE TO YOUR FAVOURITES ON RAVELRY HERE

As always if you hook up either the Dera-Horse or Dera-Donkey I hope you’ll tag kcaco.uk and Deramores on Instagram or share your projects in my Facebook group as I love to see your finished work!

Until next time folks! Happy hooking, keep calm and crochet on my friends xx

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26Jul2019

More Deradogs and Create and Craft TV

Posted in Amigurumi, Crochet, Deramores Designer Shop, Designing, Pattern Release, Tah-Dah by Keep Calm and Crochet On UK

Edit: Links to Deramores removed after it’s closure in January 2022

I’ve had a lovely response for all the deradogs I’ve made for the lovely people at Deramores – thank you very much. If you remember we’ve had a Poodle, a Schnauzer and most recently a Spaniel. Well I thought today I’d share with you the last three pups of the pack!

The other dog breeds I’ve been happily hooking are a French Bulldog, a Pug and a Rottweiler. The first dog I made was Rocky the little Rottweiler pup – all puppies are cute when they are little but have you seen images for rottweiler puppies? Cuteness overload!!

As I was designing these little dogs I did some research on them all and I thought I’d share a couple facts with you. Did you know that Rottweiler’s were original bred to drive cattle to market and they often used to pull carts for butchers because of their large size.

I don’t know whether I’ve mentioned it previously but every little dog includes the details for a removable crocheted dog collar – fastened with a little button (you might just be able to see it on the photo of Rocky above).

Next we have Pugsey the Pug with his short muzzled face and his curled tail! Pug’s for me will always make me think of the fictional dog Little Willy from the BBC soap opera EastEnders (anyone else remember him?).

What I like about pugs is that apparently they have a great sense of humour and like to show off! And I know you totally wanted to see his curled tail, so here is his behind!

And last but certainly not least we have Buster the French Bulldog with his pointy alert ears. Historically this kind of dog accompanied English lacemakers to France, where they acquired the ‘French’ moniker. I think therefore it’s very suitable that this breed has now been immortalised in crochet – just keeping it yarny!

And now for the exciting news! I’ve been told that Deramores are launching on TV at the end of July on Create and Craft show. On the 28th July at 9am there’s going to be a showcase of what Deramores designers have been up to and the deradogs are going to be featured! I can’t quite believe that one of my designs is going to be on TV!!

The show will also feature other fab designers like Emma Leith, who is doing a main interview slot about the 4 Seasons Deramores Crochet Along, and will feature designs from crochet and knit designers Zoe Potrac, Nicola Valiji and Amanda Berry.

If you want to watch the show can find Create and Craft TV on the following channels and devices:

Sky 683
Freeview 23
Virgin 748
Freesat 813
Apple TV
Amazon Fire

But back to the dog crochet patterns. All three dogs are available in a pattern together in my Designer Shop where you can purchase just the pattern, or the yarn kit to make all of the dogs.

I hope you like all the new additions to the pack, and out of interest, if I were to make some more dog breeds in the future to join the Deradog clan what breeds would you most like to see?

As always if you hook up any of the deradogs I hope you’ll tag kcaco.uk on Instagram or share your projects in my Facebook group as I love to see your finished work!

Until next time folks! Happy hooking, keep calm and crochet on my friends xx

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15Jul2019

Crochet Club Magazine | Bramble the Spaniel Crochet Dog

Posted in Amigurumi, Crochet, Deramores Designer Shop, Designing, Pattern Release by Keep Calm and Crochet On UK

Edit: Links to Deramores removed after it’s closure in January 2022

Looking for a new amigurumi dog pattern to tackle? Of course you are! Well I’m thrilled to tell you that there’s another one of my Deradog patterns this time in Make it Today Crochet Club Magazine.

You may remember me saying a few posts ago that I’d been busy designing some new fun amigurumi’s for Deramores. So far we’ve had a Poodle, a Schnauzer and now we are joined by a cute little Spaniel.

© Make It Today: Crochet Club – Issue 45

The magazine held a competition to give this little character a name and he’s been given the name Bramble by one of the readers – I love it! He totally looks like a Bramble! And actually it’s a name I’ve used before for one of my own pets (though that wasn’t a dog it was a hamster).

The pattern is an exclusive to Issue 45 of Make it Today Crochet Club Magazine, so only available there for now. I can thoroughly recommend Deramores yarn for everything you need to make him – their Studio DK Yarn that I used for all the Deradogs and Deracats is lovely stuff.

I was most pleased with how Bramble’s ears turned out – it was a bit of a head scratcher to begin with as I played around with stitches but they didn’t seem quite right. Then I tried a loop stitch and it was definitely a winner, it created just the texture and look I was aiming for.

Issue 45 is on sale until 25 July so you’ve got a couple of weeks to go and pick up a copy if you fancy making Bramble.

And don’t forget to pick up your FREE copy of Poppy the Poodle deradog in my Deramores Designer Shop too.

If you hook up Bramble the Spaniel I hope you’ll tag kcaco.uk on Instagram or share your projects in my Facebook group as I love to see your finished work!

Until next time folks! Happy hooking, keep calm and crochet on my friends xx

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12Jun2019

Simply Crochet Magazine | Amigurumi Schnauzer Pattern

Posted in Amigurumi, Crochet, Deramores Designer Shop, Designing, Magazine, Pattern Release by Keep Calm and Crochet On UK

Edit: Links to Deramores removed after it’s closure in January 2022

Issue 85 of Simply Crochet Magazine is out now and I’m very pleased to tell you that I’ve got a new pattern inside.

You may remember me saying a few posts ago that I’d been busy designing some new fun amigurumi’s for Deramores well today I get to introduce you to another of the Deradog pack that’s appearing in the magazine – and this one is a bit of a favourite of mine…

It’s a little Schnauzer pupper! I love how this little doggo turned out and if you haven’t seen the cute little video that Simply Crochet have made of him (on Facebook) then you really need to check it out! I squealed when I saw it!

And I squealed again when I saw that Simply Crochet had added him on the header of their website!! Look he’s just perched on the top there! Squeek!

This little Schnauzer turned out just how I wanted him to – and I seem to know a lot of people who have Schnauzers so I was conscious that I had to do them justice.

The pattern is an exclusive to Issue 85 of Simply Crochet magazine, so only available there for now, and Deramores have put together a kit for everything you need to make him – which you can get directly from the website here.

And right now over on Facebook Simply Crochet are holding a mini competition to give this little pup a name! Just pop on over to the SCtreblemakers Facebook group where you can leave your suggested name in the comments section of the competition post.

The magazine will be picking two winning names at random who will each win the yarn pack to make the Deradog – how cool is that AND the winners will also get a £20 Deramores voucher! Names will be put up for public vote to decide the winner and the deadline for entries is 17 June 2019 (UK entrants only I’m afraid).

What do you think he / or she should be called? As well as entering the competition I hope you’ll let me know in the comments below as I’d love to hear your suggestions!

SAVE THE SCHNAUZER ON RAVELRY HERE

And don’t forget to pick up your FREE copy of Poppy the Poodle deradog in my Deramores Designer Shop whilst you are over on the Deramores site!

If you hook up the Amigurumi Schnauzer I hope you’ll tag kcaco.uk on Instagram or share your projects in my Facebook group as I love to see your finished work!

Until next time folks! Happy hooking, keep calm and crochet on my friends xx

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8May2019

Deramores | Free Amigurumi Poodle Pattern

Posted in Amigurumi, Crochet, Deramores Designer Shop, Designing, Free Patterns, Pattern Release by Keep Calm and Crochet On UK

Edit: Links to Deramores removed after it’s closure in January 2022

Guess what! I’ve got double exciting news to tell you all! The first is that I’ve partnered up with fabbo yarn house Deramores and we’ve got some fun amigurumi patterns coming this way! Today I’d like to introduce you to the first one – here’s Poppy the Poodle!

If you are a toy knitter then you may have already come across the classic knitted Dera-Dog family by designer Amanda Berry. Deramores asked me if I’d like to have a go at creating a crochet version of the Deradogs for them and of course I jumped at the chance of such an exciting challenge.

It was an interesting challenge as knitted toys are totally different from crocheted toys. Most knitted toys are worked flat and then seamed together which is totally different from working in rounds like you do when you work in the usual amigurumi style. Both crafts create different textures and different shapes which was something I had to consider before I started.

It was important to me to try and capture the essence of the classic knitted Dera-dog but to also make the crocheted version my own. It also hopefully shows that crochet is just as versatile (if not more so in my opinion) to create great shapes that can become terrific little characters.

For Poppy I used Deramores Studio Anti-Piling DK which is a 100% acrylic yarn that is super soft and has been developed with anti-pilling technology. In a nutshell this just means that any fabric you make with this yarn, whether it’s a garment or a toy, should avoid going bobbly or thinner over time.

It was my first time using this yarn, and I think the first time I’ve used an anti-piling yarn, and I have to say I LOVE it! It really is just nice to work with; very soft on the fingers and it comes in 48 different shades so there’s a nice variety to choose from – I’m definitely going to be using it in future projects.

And now I’m going to share with you the second bit of exciting news! You can get Poppy the Poodle pattern for FREE right now in my very own Deramores Designer Shop!

I’m so excited to say that I’ve joined a wonderful group of knit and crochet designers from across the globe who have shared some of there favourite patterns via a Deramores Designer Shop.

The great thing about the designer shops with Deramores is that you can choose whether you just want the pattern, or if you want the pattern + yarn! Cool right? Takes away the chore of sorting out buying stuff as you can just get what you need to get started on your next project.

Deramores have shops for the US and Australia as well as the UK which you can check out and add to your favourites at the links below:

Deramores US – Keep Calm and Crochet On
Deramores AU – Keep Calm and Crochet On

If you want to you can also add Poppy to your favourites or save her for later on Ravelry too as they are all linked up.

SAVE POPPY THE POODLE ON RAVELRY HERE

The shop is brand new so will be growing all the time so be sure to check back occasionally to see what’s new – though of course I’ll let you know if I add anything new here on the blog too (so if you haven’t already you might want to subscribe to the blog so you get all the news).

If you hook up Poppy the Poodle I hope you’ll tag kcaco.uk on Instagram or share your projects in my Facebook group as I love to see your finished work!

Until next time folks! Happy hooking, keep calm and crochet on my friends xx