Candy Cane Hobby Horse cover cozy

Because sometimes you DO need a hobby horse candy cane cover.  [Pattern at end of post.]

Many years ago, I came across this photo below, but it has disappeared from the internet, never to be found. If it belongs to YOU, please leave a comment below and let me know. Meanwhile, I intended to make these for many years, and never got around to it.  I crochet more than I knit, and I tend to crochet gifts, and i tend to get tied up in all of that. 

This year, I went looking for the pattern, and I found this photo over at yarnyuck.blogspot.com:

It seemed to me, these were from the same pattern, but Yarnyuck didn't have the pattern; nor did Yarnyuck give these a thumbs up.  What I know about "crochet kitsch" is that one person's trash is another person's treasure, and a few comments were looking for the pattern. I'm in the "yay" column, not the "neigh" column.  I'm punny, yes, I am.

This year, I stole some time from the hectic festivities of Christmas shopping, partying, celebrating and seasonal gift making, and tried my hand at this hobby horse candy cane cover/cozy.  I LOVE IT.

The 3 differences are, no bells under the nose, no chain stitch for the rein - just plain red yarn, and I didn't tie it in a bow around the candy cane.  Totally unneeded.  The cane stays in all by itself by hooking into the nose.  In all its glory, here is my take on the pony, together with a pattern I wrote up below if you, like me, think this is a holiday project to give and/or hang on your tree.  Enjoy.

Pattern:    Worsted weight yarn, any color.  Size G American hook.

Ch 25.

Rows 1- 6 :  sc in each stitch and DO NOT make a turning chain at the end/start of the row.

Row 7:  Fold in half.  Ch 1, sc 5 stitches through both loops of each stitch to close neck.

Working in continuous rounds, do not join.  Use the bottom of the nose as your "marker" for each round.

Round 1:  SC 2, DECREASE, SC completely around to bottom.

Round 2:  SC 8, DECREASE, SC completely around to bottom.

(with the first 2 rounds, you accomplished a decrease on each side of the nose; you'll continue with a few more decreases)

Round 3:  SC to top of nose, DECREASE, SC around to bottom.

Round 4:  SC in each stitch around to bottom.

Round 5:  1 SC, DEC, SC 4, DEC, SC to bottom.

Round 6:  SC 1, DEC, around, fasten off, use tail to sew nose closed.

MANE:   Using 2 strands for each fringe (I used horse color and a contrasting color) close up back of head by pulling fringe through both sides from top of head to bottom of head.  At the bottom of the neck, catch the starting tail in the fringe to secure.  When done fringing, cut it all to an even length.

EARS:  Make 2 - leave a starting and ending tail to affix to head - ch 3, 1SC into 2nd ch from hook, 1hdc into next chain; fasten off. For FIRST ear, using both starting and ending tails, pull tails through both sides of the heat to affix, tie in a knot, weave tails through the fringe on mane, and cut to length of fringe.  For SECOND ear, pull tails through to affix, with one of the tails, FASTEN A LOOP TO THE TOP OF THE HORSE FOR HANGING, then weave the remainder through the mane, and cut to size.

For the rein, I did not chain…I used red yarn, and threaded a needed.  Through the bottom of the nose/neck area, I pulled the yarn through one stitch from side to side, leaving the tails hang down.  Using each tail, I separately threaded a needle and pulled one tail around the nose and under 1 stitch at the top of the nose from right to left; then the other from left to right.  At the top of the nose, I tied the tails together, and ran them down the sides of the nose and under the nose, tacked them under the nose with a stitch, tied a bow, double knotted the bow and cut the unneeded  extra length.  If YOU wanted to use chained yarn for the rein, I suggest a thin sock weight yarn, otherwise I think it would look clunky.  

I was playing with working the ears directly into the row where they are placed, but it was frustrating me, so I did them separately.  If anyone can figure out a better way to do the ears, feel free.

Lastly, I affixed with glue the google eyes; one could easily make stitched eyes instead.

If you like the pattern, please leave a comment below.  HAPPY HOLIDAYS.

Never before taken a bathroom selfie...

...but this warranted one.

When I was 10, living in Newark, NJ, I spent a lot of after school and evening time at the Salvation Army "Boys" Club on Providence Street.  It kept me, heck, it kept us all, off the streets and out of trouble.  Part of belonging to "the Boys Club" was going to summer camp, at Camp Tecumseh in Pittstown, NJ.  During the ride to camp, we'd sing on the bus. I loved the bus rides, and really loved going to camp each summer.  And, I was a pretty good singer.  

So when I was 10, I went to camp for 2 sessions - if I'm not mistaken, a session was 8 or 9 days, and I was there for 2x as long.  When I returned, all the girls at the Boys Club were wearing crocheted vests.   I asked them - where'd you get that.  Oh, they all said "I made it myself."  I was intrigued, interested.  I wanted one. Badly.  I wanted to learn to make one for myself.   I asked the ladies in charge if I could learn, and I was told "sorry - we've moved on to other things."   That was that.   I think we learned next how to make paper mache.  Or play bingo.  Or basketball.  Or, we put on a show.  Or....        At 13, we moved, and hanging out at the Boys Club was over for me.

When I was 16ish, I learned how to crochet.  Not because I wanted to make myself a vest - that wasn't a thought in my brain.  I wanted to make a blanket. Blankets. Lots and lots of blankets.  I made granny square blankets for everyone I loved (and some I didn't love) because I was so excited to be doing it.  And, lets face it, back in 1975/1976, acrylic yarn was cheap!  

I continued to crochet - hats, scarves, baby blankets.  Thread doll clothes for my daughter's Barbie dolls (I loved them, and still do - especially knit doll clothes).  Then, comes along the INTERNET - where one can find a treasure trove of patterns, photos, directions, instructions.....for crochet and any craft you can think of.  So one evening I discovered the pattern for this vest. IT BROUGHT BACK SO MANY MEMORIES - and one memory of loss and denial.  I didn't get to make that vest....when I was 10.   But there it was on a GROOVY site.   Now, it can be found via the wayback machine:  http://web.archive.org/web/20001013071332/www.cei.net/~vchisam/groovy/7502.html

In my forties, I decided to make this vest - in all its ugliness.  Worsted weight acrylic yarn, in my favorite color (teal), totally made of chains, totally awful, totally ugly, and, with pompons~!  I love it.  I wear it from time to time (maybe 3 times a year),  It isn't the prettiest item in my wardrobe, but it is one of my favorites.  

So, I call this my "unbreak my 10-year-old heart vest" because it healed a wound caused in my childhood that I didn't even realize I was harboring.  I know, I know - worse things can happen in our childhoods than this - and believe me, they did.  But, THIS is not the place for that...THIS is a place of yarny joy.

I am never so self-indulgent here, and I have not been posting here so much anymore (there are so many better blogs/websites for you to visit), but, I was posting this on Ravelry, and the story behind this vest was just too much to put there.  So, I put it here.

Recently, someone told me a similar story.  She wanted a set of bride/groom "toasting glasses" for her wedding 20 years ago.  "Champagne flutes" in fancy words.  Sounds ritzy titzy, huh?   She was talked out of buying them by her mother (or was it her mother-in-law?) - because they were useless, an indulgence, too expensive, would be used just once and put in a cupboard --- so many "reasons." She said that still, 20 years later, she wishes she had bought those flutes.  I told her about my vest, and how making it in my 40s (and I'm now approaching 60) healed my own little girl heart.  I suggested she treat herself this holiday season, if she needed a REASON, to those champagne flutes - and to enjoy them, and start tradition, and toast her husband every New Year with them.  It will heal her.   I hope she bought them~!