This is part 5 of my 2020 lockdown crochet diary, including a roundup of all the free patterns I used in my window display. If you want to catch up on earlier posts, here are part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4. A summary list of the patterns and tutorials used is included at the bottom of each post.

Day 41: Asked folks what to make next, and one of my friends said, “Make a spider! A big fuzzy one.” Happy to oblige, with this YouTube tutorial from Custom Comfy Crochet.

I don’t think I nailed this one. I used two different coloured strands of eyelash yarn on the body. If I did it again I think I’d use one plain DK and one eyelash to make it look more hairy than furry. I had to give her quite a trim so she looked less like an 8 legged hedgehog! I gave her 8 little beady eyes to finish her off.

Day 42: Was going to make my lockdown display spider a web, but forgot that my silver yarn had been used by the Hellbeast to do her own freestyle macrame with. It was finally restored to a useable ball, but the web had to wait until the next day.

Day 43: Finally got to make a web, using this pattern from Thomasina Cummings Designs which is easy to expand to any size you like.

The crochet garden also needed some more flowers. Tulip appliqué pattern (brand new at the time) from Repeat Crafter Me.

The tulips came out a bit wonky. (Again it’s me, not the pattern.) But they are colourful!

Day 44 : Inspired by the forget-me-nots in the garden, I made my own pattern for these.

Pattern uses UK terms.

• Make a magic ring.
• Slip stitch into the ring. Then, working into the ring, (treble, slip stitch) x 5 to make five petals.
• Pull the magic ring tight. Cut the end, and pull through the last loop.
• Use your hook to pull the tail end through the centre of the flower. At back of flower, either weave ends in or tie start and finish ends together tightly in a double knot and cut loose ends.
• Use yellow yarn to embroider the centre. Come up through the centre of the flower, and down through the middle of each petal.

Days 45 & 46: Like everyone else, my energy and motivation levels were all over the place. I skipped day 45 and made two things on day 46.

The collage’s sky was looking a bit empty, so I wanted to make a bird. I loved Cherry Heart’s bluebird pattern on Ravelry.

And I found this cute little squirrel appliqué from Wild Daffodil.

Not really happy with how the bird turned out (mea culpa again). I think this one would work better with cotton yarn, and I was using acrylic. I gave the squirrel a beady eye and put him in the cherry blossom tree. Still plenty of room in the sky for more flying critters!

Day 47: I was really excited to make this snail pattern by Lesley Stanfield. It was free at the time I made it, but has since been taken down. It is included in Ms. Stanfield’s book, 75 Birds, Butterflies & Beautiful Beasties to Knit & Crochet.

Not quite sure I understood some of the finer points of the pattern but I liked how my snail turned out! He was quite big, though, and had to wait until the next day to find a place on the collage.

Day 48: I think lockdown was getting to me, as I was in a terrible mood that day for no reason at all. Chose this pretty tree appliqué from Niftyniffer as the lockdown display was getting very full of critters and they needed some greenery!

My little tree suffered a bit from my temper, and was a rough approximation of the actual pattern. I recommend taking a look at the videos for the tricky bits of this one. I managed to get over my grump enough to add a little blossom to my tree before sewing it onto the background.

Day 49: Needed a few more trees on my crochet collage. This gorgeous lace tree pattern from Chisako only has the Japanese crochet symbols. If you’ve been following, you’ll know I’m not the best at reading charts, and this was the most complicated one I’d attempted yet.

Ta dah! did it! And I didn’t even have to guess any bits (although I did have a few aha! moments and have to rework some of it). I was a wee bit chuffed with myself about that. It turned out bigger than I was expecting, but not to worry. Still had plenty of space to fill.

Day 50: Wanted a bird to sit in the huge tree I made the day before. Found this lovely screech owl appliqué by Tricia Scott. Isn’t it great? Just the right level of realism. Mine looked like an offended cat crossed with a discombobulated chicken.

In retrospect, a finer yarn might have been better, but I’m sharing my mistakes as well as my successes, so onto the collage he went. I used teeny tiny doll buttons for the eyes instead of embroidery (from malyns-crafts on ebay). In the final picture, you can see the whole window display at the end of lockdown day 50 (May 11th 2020).

Anyway, I blame my wonky owl on my supervisor, who was asleep on the job.

Next installment soon!

Pattern summary list:

• Big fuzzy spider YouTube tutorial from Custom Comfy Crochet.
• Spider web pattern from Thomasina Cummings Designs.
• Tulip appliqué pattern from Repeat Crafter Me.
• Forget-me-nots see text above.
• Bluebird appliqué pattern from Cherry Heart.
• Squirrel appliqué pattern from Wild Daffodil.
• Snail pattern by Lesley Stanfield no longer available for free online. It is included in her book, 75 Birds, Butterflies & Beautiful Beasties to Knit & Crochet. Try amazon or abebooks.co.uk.
• Tree appliqué pattern from Niftyniffer.
• Lace tree chart from Chisako.
• Screech owl appliqué pattern by Tricia Scott.