Little Gingerbread Boy and Girl; a free crochet pattern for you

Are you ready for Christmas yet? I am almost finished with my shopping, I have the tree up and the decorating done, my cards went out a couple of weeks ago-so I guess I am as ready as I am going get.
But there are still a few things left to do, like baking cookies! Every year my grandchildren and I get together for a day of baking and decorating cookies- I look forward to it all year! We usually choose easy recipes, and put most of our time into decorating them. Truthfully, I am much better at crocheting than I am at baking!
So with that in mind, I decided to design a little crocheted gingerbread boy and girl as my second gift pattern to you this year. I think they turned out really cute!

The pattern is fairly easy; I wanted to make it all in one piece, but couldn't get it to look right. In this pattern, you only have to fasten off 0nce, so it is still pretty quick to make. Just like my real cookies, I spent much more time decorating them than I did actually making them! They are made with size 3 cotton; you can make them with 2 strands of size 10 thread held together as one if you cannot find size 3.

Gingerbread Boy and Girl Ornaments

by Elizabeth Ann White

for BellaCrochet

Size: About 2 1/2” long
Skill level: Intermediate
Materials:
25 yards brown size 3 cotton crochet thread (Aunt Lydia's Fashion Crochet Thread in Copper Mist was used for models)
10 yards white size 3 cotton crochet thread (for Girl's Skirt and mouths)
Scraps of red size 10 cotton crochet thread (for Bows)
Four 4mm white glass beads (for Eyes)
Six 4mm red glass beads
Fabric Glue
Toothpick for applying glue
Fray Check (available in the sewing department)
Heavy spray starch
Size 00 (3.5mm) Steel hook
Special Stitch:
For 2 tr cluster: (yo 2 times, insert hook in st or sp indicated, yo, pull hook through, yo, work off 2 loops, yo, work off next 2 loops) 2 times, yo, work off all 3 loops on hook

Rnd 1: With brown, starting at head, ch 4, 11 dc in 4th ch from hook, join with sl st in top of ch-4. (First 3 chs count as first dc; 12 dc made. Right side of first round is right side of work.)

Row 2: Ch 1, sc in each of first 3 sts; leaving remaining sts unworked, turn. (3 sc made)

Row 3: Ch 1, 2 sc in each st across, turn. (6 sc made)

Row 4: For first Arm, (ch 4, 2 tr cluster-see Special Stitch-, ch 4, sl st) in first st, sc in each of next 4 sts;  for second Arm, (sl st, ch 4, 2 tr cluster, ch 4, sl st) in last st, do not turn. Fasten off.

Row 5: For Body, working in the 4-sc sts between Arms on Row 4, with right side facing, join with sc in first st, sc in same st as joining, sc in each of next 2 sts, 2 sc in last st, turn. (6 sc made)

Rows 6- 8 : Ch 1, sc in each st across, turn.

Row 9: Ch 4, (2 tr cluster, ch 4) in second st, sl st in next st, (sl st, ch 4) in next st, (2 tr cluster, ch 4) in next st, sl st in last st. Fasten off.

For Girl's Skirt, with white size 3 cotton, ch 5, dc in 5th ch from hook, (ch 1, dc in same ch that the first dc was worked in) 4 times. Fasten off.

Finishing
Note: When gluing, it is helpful to place a small drop of glue to the end of a toothpick; this will allow you to apply the glue more precisely.

1: Place all crocheted pieces on a blocking surface; spray with heavy starch; shape and allow to dry.

2: Tie two small bows from red thread.

3: Glue white beads to Gingerbread Boy and Girl for eyes. Allow to dry.

4: Cut two small scraps of white thread for mouths. Touch ends of thread with Fray Check to prevent raveling. Allow to dry.

5: Glue white thread to Gingerbread Boy and Girl for mouths. Allow to dry.

6: Glue Skirt to Girl. Glue red beads to bodies. Glue bows as shown in photo. Allow all to dry. Glue ends of a folded 8" strand of red thread to back of head for hanger, if desired.
"Run, run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!" "The Gingerbread Boy" was my son Sammy's favorite story when he was a little boy.

What a sweet little girl! I think I will call her 'Ginger'; maybe the boy can be 'Snap'?

I hope you will enjoy the pattern. Merry Christmas!

Copyright BellaCrochet 2009.  All rights reserved. Please do not distribute or post this pattern on any website, group or page; please share the Link to this page only. 

A Note from Ann: If you like this pattern, I hope you will check out my other free patterns:

BellaCrochetFreePatterns