Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Sugar Skull Bunting

Ready for Halloween?  How about Autumn?


Every year I like to make a new bit of Halloween/Autumn decor to install around the house.  This past weekend and up until yesterday mid-morning, the weather was freaky warm... hot and humid even.  It was not October.  The skies were grey the leaves were blowing around on the streets but the temperature didn't match the rest of the scene.  After a few wet downpours, the temperature dropped and dropped and now it feels like fall!  Welcome cool and windy weather - LOVE IT!

I've been eyeing up some groovy skull buntings on pinterest and yesterday I sat down and crafted one of my own - can I tell you something?  IT IS AWESOME...just exactly what I wanted and now it's hanging across the mantle just waiting to scare all who enter my living room.

Want to make one of your own?  Well here's how.


I found this cute skull pattern here.  It's from a blog called Kristen's Krazy Knits.  It is crochet however.  I pretty much followed the pattern as written.  I'm not sure if there's an error in the instructions or if I made the same error six times repeated, but when the instructions say," This should get you back to the chain 2 you made to create the nose," I found myself off by two stitches every time.  Nonetheless, I did manage to make it work and I'm happy with my rainbow colored skulls.  I used sugar and cream cotton yarn and an H sized hook to make the skulls.


I also loved the sugar skulls in this crochet bunting from Red Heart.

Sugar Skull Garland

Red Heart provides an entire pdf with instructions for this bunting.  I could have just used it entirely.  I did look at the photo up close and figure out that the white skull part was a sc circle with a rectangular off one end to place the teeth, but I didn't follow the pattern, just winged it on my own.  I liked the eyes, the teeth and the flower on the forehead - however, I wanted a heart for a nose.  I also winged the teeth.

I used this flower pattern for the eyes.  I had this heart pattern saved in my crochet heart board on pinterest. I added a row of crochet chain stitch to the heart and attached it upside down.  I used this pattern for the forehead flower but winged a set of double leaves to look like the sample.  The forehead flower pattern is in a non-English language and even with translation, I couldn't quite follow.


Most of the sugar skull was made with the same sugar and cream cotton yarn.  Most of it was done with an H crochet hook but I did switch to an F sized hook to make some of the skull face parts a bit smaller.

I stitched the parts to the white background with a weaving-in needle and a bit of knot tying to the back.

The whole thing was assembled into a bunting using the H hook, some black cotton yarn, and a bit of chain stitching.  It looks just like I wanted!


With the drop in temperature I decided it was full time to hang my FAVORITE crochet wreath back on the door... check out my Autumn Wreath Pattern here - one of my most loved crochet creations.

6 comments:

Amjaylou said...

Hi Sher, love these prettified skulls and the Autumn wreath. Great minds think alike!...I'm making an Autumn wreath and bunting at the moment, and will be posting a free pattern soon. Thanks for sharing this. X

Barbara said...

Super cool! Glad you've shared your bunting at The Crochet Boulevard, so I could discover your blog! Now I'm off to look around some more! :)

Have a lovely week-end,

Barbara

Pammy Sue said...

Saw your skull bunting on the Crochet Boulevard link-up. VERY cute! I love them. They are perfect and a little edgy...great decoration for Halloween! Thanks for the info.

Sher said...

Thanks for your enthusiastic comments - I follow The Crochet Boulevard on my RSS feeds (for a few years now - great site!) Sher

Jennifer Hays said...

Hi Sher, I just found your blog through one of your comments on Attic 24. I'm a new follower too, I love your blog. This post is awesome, I was just searching for crochet skull patterns and these are perfect. I just shared an Etsy treasury on my blog this afternoon that I made of sugar skull-themed items and I would love to try crocheting one. Thanks for these links and photos, I really love them. :)

Jennifer
http://thistlebearhome.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Hi,... I am Linda and have just read your comment about hot water bottles.
I, too would never go to bed when it us cold without a hottie.
They are made of think rubber and you fill them with boiling water. They are best with a very cosy insulated cover ..yarn is great and they stay hot for ages. When I was a little girl and I went to visit my Grandma who only had a pump.No running water I had to wash my face the next morning with the water from the bottle. I hated that because it smelt of rubber.
If you would email me your address( it is on my sidebar at Chalky's World) I would love to send you one in the post.
Love your bunting and I am off to have a poodle around your blog.
Kindest regards Linda

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