Helping you Get Ready for Valentine's Day with These Ten Ideas
- Alison Day
- Jan 24
- 8 min read
I know it's not quite February yet, but the way life is going right now, I'll blink and it'll be April! Time to get organized!
My girls used to love Valentine's Day and I've created all sorts of treats and decorations for them over the years. Mostly with paper as that was my first love, you know, before I fell down the Rabbit Hole that we call "yarn". LOL! (Best fall ever!)
Here are a couple examples from the archives.
Cute right? I mean, they were more interested in the candy inside but, I think on some level they appreciated the work I put into these.
That's what I tell myself anyway!
So how do I celebrate and decorate now?
With yarn of course! I made both these projects last year and absolutely love them. Now I'm looking for new patterns to make, because that's my jam. Always making, always planning, always scouring the internet for fun things to share with you.
Would you like a list of patterns to try so you can put your crochet passion to good use? Well, even if you don't that's what you're getting! I love to share what I know with others and I suspect if you're reading this, you're looking for inspiration too.
Starting with patterns I've made and working toward patterns on my 'to be made' list, here are ...
10 Fun Crocheted Valentine's Day Ideas
The first two patterns are from Simply Made by Erin and while the photos link to the blog posts where you'll find the pattern for FREE, she's also got a round up post of her own with even more patterns to check out. I've also made the heart coaster and hot pads from this list (in case you're curious).
1 - String of Hearts Crochet Garland
The Heart Garland was a fun project to make. It takes a super bulky yarn (I used Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick & Quick and Hue & Me) but you can use any yarn you like really. If you use a thinner yarn like a worsted weight, your hearts will be smaller unless you double or triple up on your strands.
Wait, triple up on your strands? That sounds hard!
Not so! I filmed a reel on just how to do this which you can view here on Instagram, or here on Facebook.
I strung mine on whatever twine I had laying about, but if you have one of those fancy new i-cord machines, you could make a long i-cord to hang everything from.
2 - The Puffy Heart Crocheted Basket
The yarn I used to make the garland was left over from making these baskets (except for the pink in the garland which is a Hue & Me yarn). I LOVE these baskets and if you've been in the classroom recently, you'll have seen them there. They were really easy to make, fairly sturdy for being made with a super soft yarn, and add the perfect festive touch while being completely practical!
These are made with Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick & Quick in the colours Cranberry, Love Potion, and Fisherman. Remember that my Lion Brand is all 40% off as I try to clear it out (so I can bring in other fun yarns). Colour selection is more limited and I've never been able to bring in that lovely pink colour (one of the reasons I decided to stop carrying Lion Brand is their reluctance to allow Canadian distributers to sell ALL their colours. I mean really, gate keep much?)
Moving on ...
While the pattern may resemble hearts, it's really just the super popular Wheat Stitch so you could make this in any colour to match your space. Gotta love 'thematic' patterns that can be used year round, right?
3 - Farmhouse Heart Coasters
If you were lucky enough to be one of the 20 or so women we welcomed for a Special WIP night with Tangled by Karina a year ago, then you have this pattern and got to learn how to make it from Karina herself. These sweet coasters always come out in February!
We made ours with Bobbiny Junior 3mm braided cord but they would work with bulky or super bulky yarn, or worsted weight held double or triple.
Click the image to buy Karina's pattern - support our local designers whenever and where ever possible! Bonus if you support 🇨🇦 designers like Karina!
Oh, and PS, the Farmhouse Heart Coaster has a big sister - the Farmhouse Heart Trivet that is equally gorgeous and would look amazing on your Valentine's Day table. The Trivet calls for a thicker macrame cord than I carry but if you double up the Bobbiny Junior, you'd get a very similar gauge to Karina.
4 - Granny's Heart Keychain
I was lucky to be one of the pattern testers for this sweet little project. It's quick, uses very little yarn, and can be turned into a keychain like suggested (and like I did) or strung onto a garland, or added to a gift. It can also be made in ANY yarn you have to hand. In the photo above I made it with Noble Cotton Hand Dyed yarn (Spring Bouquet) because I was working on washcloths for the washcloth series we ran last year, and that's what was easy to grab.
Seriously, sometimes making a thing is more about being able to grab a yarn, any yarn, and just start stitching, am I right?
5 - Sweetheart Beanie
I looked through my photos for a decent one of me wearing this hat, and even though I wear it all the time, I don't seem to have a single one that shows the actual pattern. Sigh. So the photo above is straight from the Rich Textures Crochet site. Sara is prolific and has a ton of hat patterns on her site. They are all free but I highly recommend purchasing the PDF versions from Ravelry or Etsy so you have something you can print out and make again and again without needing your device beside you.
Bonus, Sara is another 🇨🇦 designer!
If you took our Washcloth Wednesday series last year, I turned this stitch pattern into a washcloth for February. Not the most practical stitch for a washcloth I fully admit, but fun all the same.
I feel like I've made more heart themed items but those 5 are the ones that stick out. So let's look at 4 patterns that are on my wish list for 2026 and beyond.
6 - Wheat Stitch Snail with Heart
I'd already mentally tagged this pattern as one to try when Kim sent me this. Are you kidding me?!
The pattern is from one of my go to designers, Briana K Designs. It's brand new and therefore not free on her blog yet so I've linked the photo to the tutorial on her YouTube channel but seriously, go buy the pattern already. You know you're going to want to make a snail army of these, right?
7 - Valentine's Gnome
This pattern isn't a stand alone pattern, it's a compilation of MJ's Rustic Farmhouse Gnome Pattern and her Bulky & Quick Crocheted Hearts pattern. I love the variegated pink yarn that she used for the hat. I don't have anything like that in the shop but a solid would work just as well.
And gnomes don't seem to be losing their charm yet, right?
MJ's Off The Hook is another one of my go to designers and bonus, she's 🇨🇦!
8 - Mabel Pillow
Don't adjust your screen, I haven't gone black and white ... that's just the colours this designer chose for her crocheted pillow. I love the simplicity of this pillow. I love the stitch pattern (personally I get really tired of designers reaching for single and double crochets for everything!) And I love that she chose charcoal and off white. This feels like a timeless pillow, not a trendy pattern. If I'm gong to invest my time crocheting a set of pillows for my home, I want to be able to pull them out year after year and love them just as much as I did when I first made them.
And before you tell me this is a knitting pattern, it's not. It's crochet. Trust me!
For those of you who took the Market Bag class last summer, you'll recognize both the designer and the stitch she's using as she used it to make the Laurel Tote bag we all loved.
9 - Cordelia Toque
Setting aside everything I just said about designers always reaching for single and double crochet stitches for a moment ... this looks a fun toque to make. And yes, it's called a toque so clearly this is another 🇨🇦 designer! LOL. Courtney recently addressed this in an Instagram post and I am here for it. We call our winter hats toques not beanies and personally, I think all Canadian designers should embrace and celebrate this!
But back to this pattern. What makes this single crochet pattern appealing? It's made with sock yarn! That's right, you heard me, sock yarn. Otherwise known as fingering weight yarn. That's a size 1 yarn. So ... thin. And requiring a very small hook.
What's great about that, you ask? It sounds hard, you say?
First of all, yes it'll be a bit hard to adjust to at first. And if you're a brand new crocheter, I don't recommend trying fingering weight until you can comfortably see and count your stitches. BUT ... the drape you get from using finer yarns is gorgeous! And worth every tiny stitch! If you want to make yourself sweaters, t-shirts and even dresses, you'll need to embrace the finer yarns.
Secondly, one of the most sure fire ways to grow your skills in anything is to try new things. Worsted and bulky weight yarns are fantastic and projects made with them tend to work up fairly quickly. BUT ... they can be a bit limiting and repetitive IMHO. Remember what I said earlier about designers gravitating toward single and double crochet stitches all the time? It has a lot to do with us as consumers. We want projects that are easy and work up quickly because we are into instant gratification. Guess what? Knitting and crochet are in the "slow crafts" category for a reason!
Our knitting students were faced with the realities of working with sock yarn last week and it was a shock to the system. New cast on method aside, learning to work with smaller tools and finer yarn is hard! It takes time. For those that can persevere through the learning curve, the payoff will be worth it. Same goes for crocheting with fine yarns.
Okay, I'm off my soap box now! LOL
For my final pattern, I've got a FREEBIE for you. This is a pattern for a stuffed heart that can be made with any weight of yarn. Adjust your hook size accordingly and you'll be able to make hearts with all your stash yarn. Promise!
10 - FREE Stuffed Heart Pattern
To test if this could be made in any yarn, I made it with (from top left) Chenillove Sparkle in white, Noble Cotton in Molten Lava, and a random cotton in my stash that is similar to Sudz.
The patterns states this but it's worth repeating; whatever yarn you use, you'll want a crochet hook in a half to full size smaller than the label recommends. This will give you tighter stitches so the stuffing is less likely to show.
Also, yarning under will keep your stitches tighter than yarning over. I did an Instagram post on the difference between yarn overs and yarn unders which you can see here (sorry Facebook only people, for some reason it didn't auto-populate).
If you are looking to make these as gifts, there's a fun printable tag you can buy from The Knotty Boss.
That's all I have for you today. How do you celebrate minor holidays like Valentine's Day? Let me know in the comments. And if you have a favourite heart themed pattern, feel free to link it up in the comments. I'm always down for a new pattern! I mean, what's one more WIP .... 😆
Speaking of WIPs, if you're signed up for WIP night on February 4th or 11th, you might just see some of these patterns floating around. Just sayin'
See you in the classroom!
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