Food With Faces... NIce Cream Cone Mini's for the Mad Menagerie

Hi there! Ruth here with a crochet tutorial for you.

I have seen these cute things all over the place and watched a tutorial yesterday and my head almost popped off. The cutest one was being done by someone using a hot glue gun and oddly off base and incorrect crochet terms!!!

Once I found my brains and got over the grumbling old lady gripes that were just kind of leaking from me I decided this would be the first tutorial I post after all this time because OMG... NO HOT GLUE GUN FOR CROCHET TOYS! OMG... yeah... I know... I have high standards. I know I am sometimes a purist and don't even know why I am. I mean, I KNOW logically that hot glue doesn't hurt it but... UGH... hot glue RUINS it!!!

So... without further ado... :D My own pattern and not based on the ones I have seen intentionally. Here are links to the two that I personally like because I am certain they "inspired" my pattern (no hot glue was used) and I would hate for them not to get credit because I love and adore them both for different reasons... YarnYard and Yarnistry


NIce Cream Cone Mini's... a whole menagerie of them

Chick, Bunny, Bear, Kitty and Frog

What you will need:
a pair of safety eyes (8mm are shown here on all but frogs and 6mm are shown here on frogs)
10" of black yarn or orange yarn for nose and/or mouth/beak
yarn needle for sewing
scissors for trimming yarn
crochet hook (I used 4.5mm or US size 7)
worsted weight yarn in colors of your choice... ice cream and cone (I am using up Big Twist Value in Cream for the cones and balls of Fair Isle yarns from the Powder tin in Blossom, Lilac and Wave as well as Big Twist Value in Light Teal and Buttercup)
doll stuffing and/or yarn ends (I use them both usually mixed)

With my hook size this takes VERY LITTLE YARN... not even 16 yards of either cone or top color and that includes the ears... it's a great stash buster.

Abbreviations:
american crochet terms are used
m/c = Magic Circle or Magic Ring (you can also use chain 2 and crochet in the first second chain from hook)
sc = Single Crochet
1/2 dc = 1/2 Double Crochet
dc = Double Crochet
tc = Treble (triple) Crochet
inc = Increase (2 sc in the same stitch)
flo = Front Loop Only
sl = Slip Stitch (used only on the ice cream frill) NOTE: I also use a sl to finish off, not everyone does
single crochet picot = chain one on top of existing stitch, put hook through top of original stitch (both loops) and pull through like a slip stitch then continue to next stitch
(#) = stitches in round

Cone
Round 1: 4 sc in m/c - pull tight and sew in after round 2 so you can still tie it down. a single knot will do. leave string and work around it as filler for the bottom of the cone.
Round 2: sc + inc x 2 (6)
Round 3: sc in each stitch around (6)
Round 4: sc + inc x 3 (9)
Round 5: sc in each stitch around (9)
Round 6: 2 sc + inc x 3 (12)
Round 7: sc in each stitch around (12)
Round 8: 3 sc + inc x 3 (15)
Round 9: sc in each stitch around (15)
Round 10: 4 sc + inc x 3 (18)
Round 11: sc in each stitch around (18)
Round 12: 5 sc + inc x 3 (21)
Round 13: 6 sc + inc x 3 (24)
finish off with short string, you wont use this color to sew together so tie off and tuck string inside as stuffing
-use end of hook to push string end down into point gently and then slowly fill and "pack" stuffing into the cone until the shape is firm and full. Don't worry about super stuffing right now, you can add as you attach the pieces later.

Ice Cream
Round 1: 6 sc in m/c. pull tight and tie down after round 2. Leave string as stuffing.
Round 2: inc in each stitch around (12)
Round 3: sc + inc x 6 (18)
Round 4: 2 sc + inc x 6 (24)
Rounds 5 - 8: sc in each stitch around (24)
Round 9: work in flo in segments of 4 stitches per pattern so you get 6 "petals" or drips of ice cream (see photos below)
1st stitch sc + 1/2 dc, 2nd stitch 1/2 dc + dc, 3rd stitch dc + 1/2 dc, 4th stitch 1/2 dc + slip stitch
Repeat 5 more times and sl to secure then finish off with long string for sewing to cone
-make and attatch ears/eyes before stuffing
-put in the safety eyes (for bears, kitties, chicks and bunnies these go in the 2nd row from the bottom and I place them 5 stitches apart)
-sew the nose/mouth using black yarn (the bear, kitty and bunny nose goes between the eyes and then in the middle one stitch down, in a V for bunnies with a line down and the chick just gets a little beak "embroidered" by stitching a V between the eyes... the frog mouth goes across the whole face, I go exactly 1/2 of the number of stitches and "tack" it down in the front middle of the face one row lower by sewing through from the back and catching just a strand of the yarn before going back through to the back so it has a slight smile, see pictures below)
-stuff ice cream until round and firm but because of the size of the opening you'll need to stuff as you attach the cone to the ice cream ball later

 each stitch looks like a v from the top

 flo = front loop only hook through the front side of the v only, leaving the back side behind

the remaining part of the stitch stays behind the ruffle so we can use it to 

sew the cone to the ice cream

stitch across the face and then out from the middle

loop through just part of the yarn (this is 4 ply so I have caught through 2 of the threads) and poke back through the same hole to the middle tugging gently so as not to split or V the yarn

 tie off to the inside and you have a smiling face

sew around the eyes through the last row of stitches and strands on the ice cream top

Bear Ears
Round 1: work the following in a m/c  sc, 1/2 dc, dc, tc, dc, 1/2 dc, sc and pull tight (7)
leave a long tail for sewing
-you can adjust the ears a little to make them clearly 1/2 circles... tie the string from the m/c and the end of your yarn together once and use these strings to sew to the ice cream top
-attach before stuffing the ice cream head

Bunny Ears
Round 1: work the following in a m/c chain 3, tc, tc, chain 3 sl to tie to m/c and pull tight
leave a long tail for sewing
-you can adjust the ears to make them more tear drop shaped... tie the string from the m/c and the end of your yarn together once and use these strings to sew to the ice cream top
-attach before stuffing ice cream head

Kitty Ears
Round 1: work the following in a m/c sc, dc, tc with 1 stitch picot on top, dc, sc and sl to finish then pull tight
leave a long tail for sewing
-you can adjust the ears a little to make them more clearly pointy but they will stay round topped... tie the string from the m/c and the end of your yarn together once and use these strings to sew to the ice cream top
-attach before stuffing the ice cream head

Frog Eyes
Round 1: 6 sc in m/c. tighten and tie in on second round (6)
Round 2: inc in each stitch around (12)
Rounds 3+4: sc in each stitch around (12) finish off and leave long tail for attaching
-put safety eye in bottom row of eye before stuffing
-lightly stuff eyes before attaching to ice cream head
-attach eyes to ice cream head before stuffing and assembling head to cone

Chick = stitch orange beak instead of mouth or nose

Assembly
Once eyes/ears and faces have been put onto your ice cream top and the cone has been created and stuffed you are ready to loosely stuff the ice cream top and sew the ice cream to the cone.

Match up the back of the ice cream and the cone (your finishing thread should already 

be here on the ice cream) and stitch through both loops of the cone and only the 

leftover loop from making the frilly ice cream drips on the top.

You can continue this around and stuff when you have only an inch or so left open and then finish off and tie the yarn off as with any other amigurumi doll.

I actually pull the yarn through to tighten my stitch and then go back down through the next stitch in the ice cream top and through the back of both loops on the cone and then forward through the next pair of loops on the cone and up through the back of the stitch on the ice cream top back and forth, like sewing top bottom then bottom top... this is about what your hands are comfortable with, really.

The point is just not to leave big blue loops on the cone where they are highly visible.

my personal favorite... :D mint frog, anyone?

Enjoy! And remember, while there are few calories in cute crocheted food with faces, they are still less healthy for little babies because there are hard bits... these are fun play food for toddlers and those of us who have forgotten we are no longer teenagers!