Author: Secret Crochet Box

amigurumi, Uncategorized

German Christmass Cookies “Nüsschen” Free Crochet Tutorial

Secret Crochet Box

These cookies are very traditional German Christmas cookies every family bakes in December. This is my very first recipy and these cookies are my husband’s favourite! The crocheted version would be a cute decoration for your kitchen or a beloved toy for your kid!

Here you can find both the free crochet pattern and the original recipy!

Ingredients:

  • 3 mm crochet hook
  • stitch marker
  • dark brown and light brown (or even yellow) yarn
  • scissors
  • sewing needle
  • yarn leftovers for stuffing

Abbreviations:

  • ch – chain
  • st – stitch
  • sc – single crochet
  • inc – 2 sc in one st (used to increase the number of stitches)
  • X 6 – repeat 6 times
  • at the end of every round total number of stitches is shown

The pattern:

Top part:

Start with dark brown yarn: 6 sc in Magic Ring

Round 1: Sc in each st (6)

Change to the light brown yarn.

Round 2: Inc X 6 (12)

Round 3: (sc in next st, inc) X 6 (18)

Round 4: (sc in next 2 st, inc) X 6 (24)

Rounds 5-6: sc in all st (24). Fasten off and cut the yarn, weave in the end.

Bottom part:

Crochet with the light brown yarn: 6 sc in Magic Ring

Round 1: Sc in each st (6)

Round 2: Inc X 6 (12)

Round 3: (sc in next st, inc) X 6 (18)

Round 4: (sc in next 2 st, inc) X 6 (24)

Round 5: (sc in next 3 st, inc) X 6 (30). Fasten off, cut the yarn leaving a longer tail for sewing.

Sew two parts together, stuff it with yarn leftovers. Note: the bottom part has to be inside out (the “right” side should be inside, see the pics).

Taadaaaaa, finished!

Now check out the eatable recipe 🙂

Plätzchen “Nüßchen”

  • 300 g ground haselnuts
  • 300 g soft butter
  • 200 g sugar
  • 300 g flour
  • 1 tea spoon baking powder
  • 2 packages vanilla sugar
  • about 100 whole haselnuts for decoration

Preparation:

  • Preheat the oven 180°C, soft butter and sugar mix together, add other ingridients.
  • Mix everything in a homogeneous dough
  • Shape small balls (2 cm diameter) and put it on a baking sheet
  • Press a whole haselnut in each dough ball (until a half of the nut will be inside).
  • Bake 12 minutes and let the cookies cool down (When you get the cookies out of the oven, they will still feel very soft. Dont worry about it and let them cool down, they will ge harder very fast!).

Bon appetit!

amigurumi, Uncategorized

Christmas Cookies Free Crochet Pattern

Secret Crochet Box

I continue introducing original German cookie recipes to you. Crocheted version you can use as Christmas decorations! And today’s cookie is the Nougat Rings!

This recipe is very special to me because I am making it for the first time this year! Usually I am quite conservative if it’s about Christmas recipes but this year is so different in many ways, so I have tried something new.

At the end of the pattern you can also find the real recipe!

You will need:

  • 3 mm crochet hook
  • stitch marker
  • dark brown yarn
  • light brown yarn
  • scissors
  • sewing needle
  • colourful yarn leftovers for decorating

Abbriviations

  • ch – chain
  • st – stitch
  • sc – single crochet
  • inc – 2 sc in one st (used to increase the number of stitches)
  • dec – 2 sc together (used to decrease the number of stitches)
  • X 6 – repeat 6 times
  • at the end of every round total number of stitches is shown

Note:

  • Every next round is crocheted in the back loop only!!!!
  • Colour change tails can be used as stuffing

The pattern:

Dark brown Ch 6, change to the light yarn and ch 6, sl st to the first ch to join the circle.

Now the colours will be kept as in the chain. So change the yarn to the light one after a half of the circle and change back to the dark yarn at the end of every round. The tails can be left here to serve as a stuffing of the cookie. Remember to crochet in back loops only!

Rounds 1-2: sc in all st (12)

Round 3: (inc, sc in next st) X 6 (18)

Round 4: (inc, sc in next 2 st) X 6 (24)

Rounds 5-6: sc in all st (24)

Now you crochet using the light yarn only.

Round 7: (dec, sc in next 2 st) X 6 (18)

Round 8: (dec, sc in next st) X 6 (12)

Now use colourful short yarn leftovers to make the sugar.

Sew the round 8 with the base chain.

Congratulations, the cookie is finished!

And as promised, here is the real recipe of the Nougat Rings Cookies:

  • 40 g nougat
  • 120 g soft butter
  • 120 g powdered sugar
  • 160 g flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 90 g instant flakes
  • chocolate and colourful sugar for decorating

Preparation:

  • Preheat the oven 200°C, soft butter and nougat mix together, add sugar.
  • Add flour, eggs and flakes to the dough and put it in a fridge for 30 minutes.
  • Put the dough in a plastic bag with a small hole (around 1 cm diameter).
  • Press the dough out of the bag in ring shapes on a baking sheet.
  • Bake 12 minutes and let the cookies cool down.
  • Decorate with chocolate and sugar. Enjoy!

I hope you had fun baking and crocheting these beauties with me!

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Crochet Christmas Cookie Free Pattern and Recipe!

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Uncategorized

Christmas Chocolate Cookies Free Crochet Pattern

Secret Crochet Box

You might have noticed that I was baking a lot lately. Christmas atmosphere at home is especially important this year, when we don’t have a Christmas market to go to… And baking Christmas cookies is the best and the most tasty way to create the atmosphere. And you know what, I was not only baking cookies but also crocheted them!

To introduce original German cookie recipes to you, I have decided to design a crochet pattern for every kind. And at the end of the pattern tutorials you can also find the real recipes!

So the first ones to go are chocolate cookies (Schneebällchen Plätzchen). This recipe is one of the very special to me. 2 years ago I had a baking date with a friend of mine and we both brought our favourite cookie recipes. On this day she introduced this recipe to me and now it has become my favourite, too!

So, the crochet “recipe” first!

Ingredients:

  • 3 mm crochet hook
  • stitch marker
  • dark brown yarn
  • scissors
  • sewing needle

Abbreviations:

  • ch – chain
  • st – stitch
  • sc – single crochet
  • inc – 2 sc in one st (used to increase the number of stitches)
  • dec – 2 sc together (used to decrease the number of stitches)
  • X 6 – repeat 6 times
  • at the end of every round total number of stitches is shown

The pattern:

Note: the cookie will be “inside out”. This means that you crochet around but hold the cookie in the way that the front side looks to the inside. Place a stitch marker in the first st on every round as you go.
Round 1: 6 sc in magic ring (6 )
Round 2: inc X 6 (12)
Round 3: (sc in next st, inc) X 6 (18)
Rounds 4-5: sc in all st (18)
Round 5: (sc in next st, dec) X 6 (12)
Round 6: dec X 6 (6)
Sew the hole.

All done!!! Easy, right?

And now, as promised, the real recipe:

Ingridients:

  • 250 g – butter
  • 250 g – cornstarch
  • 75 g – flour
  • 50 g – cacao power
  • 1 package – vanilla sugar

Instructions:

Pre-heat the oven (180 degrees C) and smash the soft butter. Now add all the dry ingridients (sieve them in) and mix everything together.

Shape small balls (2 cm diameter) and bake them around 12 min. Enjoy!

What was easier, crochet recipe or the eatable one?

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10 Reasons Why I was Scared to Try Crocheting Irish Lace

Secret Crochet Box

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One of the crochet goals I have had for a long time is to try irish lace. It looks so pretty and complex and very different from other crochet styles.

But I was pushing it forward for almost 3 years… Why?

I thought about it and wrote the reasons why I was so afraid to try the irish lace technique. I have counted 10 reasons!

  1. I have not found a clear tutorial for beginners. It looks so complicated and I had the impression that it is assumed that I have to be an expert to follow the instructions.
  2. Most of the tutorials I could not understand because of different languages and/or styles to present the information.
  3. I like tutorials with pictures and not video tutorials, so my search was hopeless. Most of the irish lace elements patterns are presented in schemes, which is fine for me but they can be written in different terms and the terms should be indicated. Often it is not the case and the schemes are presented as screenshots and the quality is usually not the best.
  4. I dont really have time for searching instructions/learning. I have a job, family, real life.
  5. Please do not judge me but I did not want to pay for a tutorial. First of all, I was not sure if I like the technique. Second, there are so many pretty free patterns so I did not really feel like buying classes or anything like that.
  6. Irish lace is used for clothes and I cant really design clothes and cuts. I love crochet, not sewing or designing cuts.
  7. Most of the video tutorials start with showing weird tools I am supposed to have.
  8. I dont really have a small hook. I used to crochet winter accessories and home decorations so I did not really need it.
  9. I dont have so thin yarn. Why? It is usually expensive and I suspect it takes forever to crochet it. Should I buy it just for trying a technique I cant even understand?
  10. The most important: would I even enjoy crocheting Irish lace as much as I am enjoying regular crochet? It seems so defferent and I want that my hobby bring more pleasure than stress.

So all these points were holding me from even trying the IL until now, when I realized that it doesn’t have to be perfect or exactly in the way others do that.

So I just decided to try by myself and see how it turns out. So I call it Lazy Irish Lace, maybe real experts will think that it doesnt even have anything to do with real IR, but it is good enough for me.

If you find yourselves in any of these points, I invite you to make your first steps in IL with me.

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