Tag: crochet pattern

Shawls, Bags and a Cardigan, Oh My!

Shawls, Bags and a Cardigan, Oh My!

Nikki Zeo

If you’ve been following me on YouTube you have probably heard me talk about my obsession with bags and shawls. I have been into making bags lately and it’s been fun. The last bag I finished was my daughter’s bunny bag. The video for the finished bag with be up this Friday. I don’t have a tutorial for it so it’s a pretty chill, grab your WIP kind of video. The first bag of 2025 was this granny square bag.

If you saw my short, I was in the process of making the Rebecca cardigan from This is Us and I totally made the wrong granny squares. They weren’t even close to being what they looked like on the cardigan. I made traditional granny squares and the cardigan required a type of sunburst granny square. I filmed myself crocheting the square for each round and then I just didn’t have the time to film because I had other videos to post. I might make another video showing you how to make one. It’s not my pattern because all I did was look at a picture and figure out how to make it. I didn’t buy the pattern but if you want to, it’s available on Etsy. Just search for the Rebecca cardigan pattern and you will find it. The squares I made were the wrong ones so I decided to make a bag out of them.

After that I made this bag as a homage to the Sackboy doll who made my whole YouTube channel possible. I made him into a bag and it doesn’t carry much but he’s cute to carry around. My son can put his cars and small toys in it.

Next I finished the bunny bag which was my most detailed bag this year. If you have any suggestions on what bags to make next please let me know. I have a plan for my next one which is related to an upcoming movie in September.

So the shawls I have been making are pretty fun but takes a while to finish just like any wearable. The first one is this one: https://mijocrochet.se/2016/11/23/secret-paths-sjal-shawl/ The pattern is very easy to follow and its very pretty. I used Red Heart Melange. It’s ok to work with. It’s not consistent in the weight. There are some parts that are fuzzy and then thin. I like the over all look but it’s not the easiest to work with. I can’t just pull a whole lot of it when crocheting because it twists when it’s unraveled. Frogging it is also a pain. The yarn tends to grab onto itself and gets stuck when you have to start over a part of your work. This is probably the last shawl I will make with this particular yarn. The next shawl I started (Yes, my WIPs are slowly growing. I get really impatient so I start more while I’m working on one.) is going to be in Lion Brand’s Mandala. It soft and very nice to work with so far. I will give my final thoughts when I have worked up a little more of the scarf. I’m following this video for it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxvhTUGWM0U&t=12s&ab_channel=HookedbyRobin . It’s a lightweight one and it seems a little more lacey than the first one I’m working on. I’m just really excited for Fall and Winter!! I can’t wait to finish my shawls and cardigan and finally use them. How about you guys? What are you working on? Please leave a comment and I hope you are having a great day 🙂

Crochet a Tempura Labubu with me!!

Crochet a Tempura Labubu with me!!

Nikki Zeo

Materials:

  1. Red Heart Super Saver in cream, red, white and black
  2. Big Twist Baby Bear in yellow
  3. Darning needle
  4. Size 3.5mm hook
  5. Stuffing
  6. Scissors

You can replace any of the yarn brands with anything you prefer 🙂 I know that Big Twist Baby Bear isn’t available anymore and the alternative is Loops and Threads. I’m not quite sure if they are exact dupes because Erica from  Doseofkawaii  showed that the Big Twist Posh isn’t the exact same as the Loops and Threads Posh Purl. They mention that it is the same on their website but it might not be. Maybe in the future they might change it but for now it’s as good as it’s going to get. Or you can use Premier Parfait Chunky. I love that brand too 🙂

Head:

Rnd 1. Using cream color of Red Heart. 6sc in magic circle. (6)
Rnd 2. Inc x 6. (12)
Rnd 3. (1sc. Inc.) x 6. (18)
Rnd 4. (2sc. Inc.) x 6. (24)
Rnd 5. (3sc. Inc.) x 6. (30)
Rnd 6. (4sc. Inc.) x 6. (36)
Rnd 7. Change to Big Twist Baby Bear in yellow. (5sc. Inc) x 6. (42)
Rnd 8-13. 42sc. (42)
You can stuff the body at this time and along the way as well. But before stuffing, I embroidered the eyes, nose and mouth. I also sewed on their ears before finishing up the head.
Rnd 14. (5sc. Dec.) x 6. (36)
Rnd 15. (4sc. Dec.) x 6. (30)
Rnd 16. (3sc. Dec.) x 6. (24)
Rnd 17. (2sc. Dec.) x 6. (18)
Rnd 18. (1sc. Dec.) x 6. (12)
Rnd 19. Dec x 6. (6)
FO. Sew the gap closed.

Ears:

For the ears, follow the video on how to do that. Use Red Heart in cream for the middle of the ear and Big Twist Baby Bear for the outer portion.

Body:

Rnd 1. Use Big Twist Baby Bear in yellow. In this section you are going to do some surface crocheting. Follow the video for more instructions. In total you are going to have 42 stitches for the body. This will be your first round.
Rnd 2. (12sc. Dec.) x 3. (39)
Rnd 3. (11sc. Dec.) x 3. (36)
Rnd 4-11. 36sc. (36)
I sewed the arms in before finishing up the body. Also stuff the body and along the way.
Rnd 12. (7sc. Dec.) x 4. (32)
Rnd 13. (6sc. Dec.) x 4. (28)
Rnd 14. (2sc. Dec.) x 7. (21)
Rnd 15. (1sc. Dec.) x 7. (14)
Rnd 16. Dec x 7. (7)
FO. Sew gap closed.

Tail end of body:

Rnd 1. Use Big Twist Baby Bear in yellow. Surface crochet this as well. Follow the video. You should have a total of 24 stitches. (24)
Rnd 2. (1sc. Dec.) x 8. (16)
Rnd 3-4. 16sc. (16)
Rnd 5. (2sc. Dec.) x 4. (12)
Stuff this part of the body.
Rnd 6. 12sc. (12)
Rnd 7. Dec x 6. (6)
FO. Sew the gap closed.

Tail:

Use Red Heart in red. Follow the video for instructions.

Giant Labubu Pattern

Giant Labubu Pattern

Nikki Zeo

I posted a video tutorial for the Giant Labubu on my YouTube here: Giant Labubu (Part 1); Giant Labubu (Part 2).

Materials:

  1. Bernat Blanket yarn, your choice of color.
  2. Medium worsted yarn, cream, white, black and your choice of accent color.
  3. Darning needle
  4. 3.5mm, 4mm, 5mm size hooks.
  5. Scissors
  6. Stuffing
  7. Hot glue (optional)

Head:

Rnd 1. Start with the cream color for the face. 6sc in magic circle. (6)
Rnd 2. Inc x 6. (12)
Rnd 3. (1sc. Inc.) x 6. (18)
Rnd 4. (2sc. Inc.) x 6. (24)
Rnd 5. (3sc. Inc.) x 6. (30)
Rnd 6. (4sc. Inc.) x 6. (36)
Rnd 7. (5sc. Inc.) x 6. (42)
Rnd 8. (6sc. Inc.) x 6. (48)
Rnd 9. (7sc. Inc.) x 6. (54)
Rnd 10. (8sc. Inc.) x 6. (60)
Rnd 11. (9sc. Inc.) x 6. (66)
Rnd 12. (10sc. Inc.) x 6. (72)
Rnd 13. (11sc. Inc.) x 6. (78)
Rnd 14. (12sc. Inc.) x 6. (84)
Rnd 15-17. 84sc. (84)
Rnd 18-28. Change to the Bernat Blanket yarn you chose. I chose lime green. 84sc. (84)

At this time I sewed the eyes on an embroidered on the rest. you can see how I did this in the video. Position is mentioned in the video tutorial. For the eyes, follow the video for instruction. I also show me embroidering the nose on with the accent color.

Rnd 29. (12sc. Inc.) x 6. (78)
Rnd 30. (11sc. Inc.) x 6. (72)
Rnd 31. (10sc. Inc.) x 6. (66)
Rnd 32. (9sc. Inc.) x 6. (60)
Rnd 33. (8sc. Inc.) x 6. (54)
Rnd 34. (7sc. Inc.) x 6. (48)
Rnd 35. (6sc. Inc.) x 6. (42)

Start stuffing the head now and remember to stuff along the way.

Rnd 36. (5sc. Inc.) x 6. (36)
Rnd 37. (4sc. Inc.) x 6. (30)
Rnd 38. (3sc. Inc.) x 6. (24)
Rnd 39. (2sc. Inc.) x 6. (18)
Rnd 40. (1sc. Inc.) x 6. (12)
Rnd 41. Inc x 6. (6)
FO. Sew the gap closed.

Ears (Make 2):

Rnd 1. Use a size 4mm hook for the ears. Use the Bernat Blanket yarn you chose. 8sc in magic circle. (8)
Rnd 2. Inc x 8. (16)
Rnd 3-11. 16sc. (16)
FO. Now make the inner part of the ear.

Inner Part of Ear (Make 2):

Use a 3.5mm hook.
Use the cream color medium worsted.
Row 1. Chain 8.
Row 2. 7sc starting in the second chain from the hook. (7)
Row 3-16. Chain 1. Turn. 7sc. (7)
Row 17. Chain 1. Turn. Dec. 3sc. Dec. (5)
Row 18. Chain 1. Turn. Dec. 1sc. Dec. (3)
Row 19. Chain 1. Turn. Crochet 3 stitches together (1)
FO. Sew onto the front of the ears. Line the bottoms together. Center it as well.
See video for how I did the middle blue part of the ears. This is the accent color I used. You can use a different color.

Legs (Make 2):

Rnd 1. Use a 5mm hook. Use the Bernat Blanket yarn for this. 8sc in magic circle. (8)
Rnd 2. Inc x 2. (16)
Rnd 3. (1sc. Inc.) x 8. (24)
Rnd 4. (2sc. Inc.) x 6. (30)
Rnd 5-13. 30sc. (30)

Follow the video to put the legs together.

This is the pattern for when the legs are already together and the rectangular part you made is already sewn and attached as well. We will continue from where we left of from the legs with the number of rounds.

Rnd 14-15. 54sc (54)
Rnd 16. (5sc. Inc.) x 9. (63)
Rnd 17-18. 63sc. (63)
Rnd 19. (2sc. Inc.) x 21. (84)
Rnd 20-26. 84sc. (84)
Rnd 27. (5sc. Dec.) x 14. (70)
Rnd 28-30. 70sc. (70)
Rnd 31. (5sc. Dec.) x 10. (60)
Rnd 32-34. 60sc. (60)

Don’t forget to stuff along the way. Make sure to put a good amount of stuffing so she can stand.

Rnd 35. (4sc. Dec.) x 10. (50)
Rnd 36. (3sc. Dec.) x 10. (40)
Rnd 37. (2sc. Dec.) x 10. (30)
Rnd 38. (4sc. Dec.) x 6. (24)
Rnd 39. (3sc. Dec.) x 6. (18)
Rnd 40. (2sc. Dec.) x 6. (12)
Rnd 41. (1sc. Dec.) x 6. (6)
FO. Sew gap closed.

Hands: Follow the pattern for the hands in the video. You can either sew the hands into the arm holes or glue them. Gluing them didn’t work as well. I sewed them on instead. Since you are using medium worsted yarn to sew the hands into the arms, you won’t see the seams as much because the Bernat Blanket yarn is so thick, it hides the yarn in its fluffiness.

Feet (Make 2):

Rnd 1. Use cream color medium worsted for this. 6sc in magic circle. (6)
Rnd 2. Inc x 6. (12)
Rnd 3. (1sc. Inc.) x 6. (18)
Rnd 4. (2sc. Inc.) x 6. (24)
Rnd 5. (3sc. Inc.) x 6. (30)
Rnd 6. (4sc. Inc.) x 6. (36)
Rnd 7. (5sc. Inc.) x 6. (42)
Rnd 8. (6sc. Inc.) x 6. (48)
Rnd 9. Crochet in the back loops only here. 48sc. (48)
Rnd 10. (6sc. Inc.) x 6. (42)
Rnd 11. (5sc. Inc.) x 6. (36)
Rnd 12. (4sc. Inc.) x 6. (30)
Rnd 13. (3sc. Inc.) x 6. (24)
Rnd 14. (2sc. Inc.) x 6. (18)
Rnd 13. (1sc. Inc.) x 6. (12)
Rnd 12. Inc x 6. (6)
FO. Sew gap closed.
Please watch the video on how to make the toes. There are three on each foot. Then, same with the hands, you can either sew or glue them on. I sewed them on.

The Labubu Craze

The Labubu Craze

Nikki Zeo

It all began in 1972 when the character was created by Kasing Lung. This character, despite what some people believe, is actually a mischievous and happy little girl monster. She was introduced in The Monsters Trilogy and it is a story of her, her boyfriends and other friends. I have yet to see this story and I really want to read it but if you search, it is out of print and very expensive on eBay. If anyone has the story please let me know because I would be very happy to see its contents. There are those who say that Labubu is evil but when you watch a video about it, Kasing Lung tells a story about a harmless little monster.

There’s really nothing evil about her. I think social media just likes to spread things like this to scare people and get views. There are more terrible and sad things on social media nowadays and we should really spread nicer things on the internet. There is no use discouraging people from collecting this little cutie. I have a theory that just because this character is so hard to get, this story just spread like wildfire.

So I got into the game pretty late and I was only able to find them on eBay and sites like that. For some reason it fakes didn’t really come to mind when buying these so I just went on and impulse bought the first one I found. It was a fake and you guys probably saw me post a video about it asking if it was a Labubu or a Lafufu (a name given to fake Labubus). It wasn’t bad and I gave that one to my son. My second and last fake was so demented looking. I filmed that one too. It had hands and feet that turned. The image on her right food was a plastic cutout of a Labubu. Her smile was creepy and her head was crooked. Both the colors of the fakes were a brighter light green. The boxes were all wrong too. There was no QR code on any of the boxes. The tags on the doll didn’t have codes either. Also, the little tag for her keychain was backwards. After I got my first 2 fakes it was easy to spot the fakes. The fake posts are the ones with big capital letters in the descriptions and there are also a lot of asterisks. The wording of the descriptions are off and the company name is something like “blah blah blah auto store” or something similar to that. Why would an auto shop be selling collectibles and there were quite a few of those shady sounding stores too. Also, some of the posts share the same generic pictures. Some even take “real” pictures from other posts where it shows a person holding the Labubu or the box. I’ve seen a couple of different accounts have the same exact picture. Its crazy how many fakes and how crazy this trend has been. It all started when a Korean star, Lisa, from Blackpink used it on her bag. After that, Labubu became sort of a household name. Labubu has a cult following wherever she goes. Labubu even made a guest appearance at the 2024 Thai Festival in Beijing.

I was lucky enough to find a couple trustworthy sellers I buy my Labubus from. They were both selling their extras because they were searching for the secret. The exlusive secret on blind boxes that are rare and hard to find. I haven’t seen it or found it yet. I’ve only been buying confirmed ones to complete my collection. So far I have acquired most of the Have a Seat Labubus (I’m still waiting for Dada in the mail. I placed an order today). I bought one Exciting Macaron. Green Grape because she is in my favorite color. I think that might be it for now because I’ve purchased too many. I haven’t been able to get any of the V3 ones because on launch day, the site crashed and there were too many bots buying up all the Labubus. V3s are also very expensive on eBay and everywhere else. One tip I have is to not purchase them on Amazon. Those are probably fake and you can’t tell if they are authentic because there are no pictures posted except the generic ones from the official Pop Mart. So for now I will be content with the ones I have gotten and will wait for the V3 Labubus to come down in price. Right now they are going for at least $60. It’s not as crazy when you look at other collectibles but they are suppose to be about $25 MSRP. I don’t think a $60 price tag is worth it.

I do want to crochet a Labubu for those who want to get one but can’t find one. I will be filming the tutorial tonight and probably will have the video up for next Fridays weekly tutorial. I also have a few other tutorials I have posted recently if you want to check them out. One for Usahana, Tophat and a Long Bear Bag. Please give them some love…like, comment and subscribe! Thanks for being awesome 🙂 Until next time!

YouTube Crochet Inspirations: Channels to Follow

YouTube Crochet Inspirations: Channels to Follow

Nikki Zeo

Recently I have been watching more and more crochet market vlogs and crochet studio vlogs. But let’s backtrack to the beginning of this year in January. I was asked, along with other small business owners, to apply to sell our items in their cafe shop. I had sold my items there before so I gladly said yes. Several day went by and I had started to make some inventory because I didn’t have anything. I don’t normally sell my items in my Etsy shop so I didn’t have anything made. So I frantically started crocheting bubble tea keychains. I also started going on line for more ideas. I’m not sure how I came across it but I happened upon someone who made something with chunkier yarns. In the past I stayed away from these because they were very expensive. They cost twice or three times as much as Red Heart Super Saver. Many times I would buy Red Heart on sale and it was a great deal.

So I finally caved and ordered several skeins of Premier Parfait Chunky. They were so soft and amazing to crochet with but I went through them very fast. I also tried out Bernat Blanket. Oh and to finish my story about the cafe shop, I was turned down so I had this extra inventory I had to sell. I also bought so much extra yarn. I wanted to make my money back so I decided to make more dolls to recoup my losses. I was planning on doing a market this year, sometime in the Fall or Winter but I already spent so much on yarn that I didn’t have enough to get packaging, a tent, display items and other things I needed to make my booth look nice. Meanwhile I started watching market videos on YouTube. I had seen one crocheter (madewithapril) make crocheted flowers and I thought I would try to attempt it. Crochet flowers were actually the ones I wanted to initially make for the cafe. I bought the wire and everything. So now I’m left with a whole bunch of wire that I have to use. Crocheting flowers is pretty easy but taxing on my hands. I only created a few. I might make more in the future but my 41 year old hands need a rest.

So I continued to grow my inventory and started watching market videos/vlogs. From Instagram, I found madewithapril. Her video style is so down-to-earth that I continued watching her other videos as well. Then I went on to watch many other videos from amazing YouTubers who don’t get quite as many subs and views as they should. Here I want to list the YouTubers I really enjoyed watching. They’re videos are so informative and friendly. They’re cozy vibes really makes them a wonder to watch and listen to.

I want to start with Made With April. She’s already got quite a following and her videos are amazing. I posted all the channels below. Just click on the image to go to their YouTube page.