Crochet Candy Cottage Gingerbread House Tutorial Part 3

Today we are ready for the third and final installment of the crochet Candy Cottage Gingerbread House. It’s time to add the decorations—door with heart, candy stick doorposts, gumdrops and icicles. I went pretty simple with this gingerbread house. My others, Gingerbread Cottage for example, are festooned with lots of candies, peppermints, candy canes and more. I decided this time to go with a simple tan, pink and white confection.

I’ve divided the tutorials into three posts. Here are the links:

Part 1: Gathering materials and making the chipboard support structure

Part 2: Crocheting and affixing the gingerbread parts

Part 3: Frosting and candy decorations

Crochet Candy Cottage Gingerbread House Tutorial Part 3

By Carolyn Christmas

Notes

Finished house size: 9” tall x 10” wide x 8” deep

Yarn: I used I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby in toasted almond, pink, soft pink and white.

Gauge: 4” x 4 rows sc = 1”

Crochet terminology: This pattern is written in American terminology.

Special Stitches

How to crochet 2 sc together: Pull up a loop in each of next 2 sc, yo and pull through all 3 lps on hook.

Instructions

Icicles

Side icicle strip (make 2)

Icicle #1 (medium length): With white, ch 7, sc in second ch from hook and in each ch across, do not turn. (6 sc)

Icicle #2 (short length): Ch 5, sc in second ch from hook and in each ch across, do not turn. (4 sc)

Icicle #3 (long length): Ch 9, sc in second ch from hook and in each ch across, do not turn. (8 sc)

Continue to make icicles in this manner, following this pattern for 11 icicles:

#4 medium

#5 short

#6 medium

#7 short

#8 long

#9 medium

#10 short

#11 medium

Do not fasten off or turn. Work a row of sc evenly across top edge of icicles. Piece will curl and twist; don’t worry about this.

Roof peak icicle strip (make 2)

Begin and work 11 icicles same as side icicles. Add the following:

#12 short

#13 long

Work row of sc across top edge as before.

Joining two roof peak strips together

Holding sc rows wrong sides together, and working through back lps only of both thicknesses, sl st together forming roof peak center.

Front and back icicle strips (make 2)

Begin and make same as roof peak piece, continuing pattern of (medium, short, long, medium, short) across until you have 25 icicles. Work sc row across top as before. Fasten off.

Door

Row 1: With light pink, ch 16, sc in second ch form hook and in each ch across, turn. (15)

Rows 2-10: Ch 1, sc in each st across, turn. (15)

Rows 11-14 (decrease rows): Ch 1, skip first sc, sc in next sc, sc in each sc across to last 2 sc, sc last 2 sc together, turn. (13, 11, 9, 7 sc)

Fasten off after last row.

Border row

Join soft pink at bottom right corner of door; working up side, across top and down remaining side to left bottom corner, sc in end of each row and in each sc across. Fasten off.

Door frame

Join with with sl st in first st in border row, sl st in each st of border row. Fasten off.

Doorknob

For doorknob, embroider French knot with white at doorknob position on right side of door.

Heart for door

Rnd 1: With pink, ch 5, join with sl st in first ch to form ring (or make a magic ring), ch 1, 8 sc in ring, join with sl st in first sc. (8 sc)

Rnd 2: Ch 1, sc in first 2 sts, (sc, ch 1, sc, ch 1, sc) in next st, sc in next 2 sts, 5 dc in next st, sl st in next st, 5 dc in next st, join with sl st in first sc. Fasten off.

Doorjamb and corner candy sticks

Chains (make 5 pink and 5 white)

Ch 20. Fasten off leaving 4” tail.

Tie yarn tails of one pink and one white chain together with square knot at each end of chain. Repeat for remaining pairs.

Door post candy sticks

Chains (make 2 pink and 2 light pink)

Ch 12. Fasten off leaving 4” tail.

Tie yarn tails of one pink and one light pink chain together with square knot at each end of chain. Repeat for remaining pair.

Gumdrops (make 14 pink and 12 light pink)

Ch 4, 4 dc in fourth ch from hook; remove hook from lp, insert hook in top of ch 4, pull dropped lp through, ch 1. Fasten off. Tie yarn tails together in square knot to create rounded shape. Bring yarn tails to inside of gumdrop and out top. Trim so that ends recede inside gumdrop.

Assembly

Note: Allow glue a moment to cool and set after each bit of gluing.

Door

Glue door to center front of house with bottom edge of door even with bottom edge of house. Glue heart at center top of door.

For door jamb, glue one square knot of one pair of chains securely to one bottom corner of door. Let glue cool completely. Twist chains to form candy stick; run a line of glue across bottom of door. Press twisted candy stick into glue. Be sure to glue remaining square knot securely. Thread tapestry needle and take yarn ends to inside crochet for a short distance; trim so yarn ends recede behind crochet.

Remaining candy sticks

For house corner candy sticks, apply in same manner as door jamb along each corner of the house.

For doorpost candy sticks, use shorter pairs of chains; apply in same manner as previous candy sticks vertically about ½-3/4” on each side of door.

Icicles

Step 1: Using hot glue gun and glue sticks, stretching strip slightly if needed, glue the sc row of one side icicle strip up under overhang of roof. One at a time, uncurl icicles so they lie flat and place a dot of glue on underside of tip of icicle; press in place. You can use a popsicle stick or something similar for this step if needed so you won’t burn your fingers. Repeat across until all icicles are glued in place along side. Repeat for remaining side piece.

Step 2: Stretching crochet slightly if needed, glue center of roof peak icicle strip to center of roof peak. Then smooth icicles down as before and glue in place one by one on each side.

Step 3: Locate center icicle of back of house icicle strip. Glue center of sc strip in place up under point of roof. I used a chopstick to poke this up into the corner. Then glue sides of sc row along slope under overhang, one side at a time. Smooth icicles down as before and glue in place one by one, stretching icicles as needed to make them random lengths. The way the roof slopes this stretching is necessary to get random icicle lengths on front and back of house. Repeat for front of house.

Gumdrops

Roof peak: Alternating colors, beginning with pink at front of roof peak, glue gumdrops at roof peak and between overhanging shells on front slopes of roof. There are 9 gumdrops on front of roof. Repeat for back of house.

Door posts: Glue one pink gumdrop at bottom of each door post; glue one light pink gumdrop at top of each.

I’ve ended my decorations here preferring to keep it rather understated as gingerbread houses go, but if you want more decorations you can glue alternating gumdrops along roof peak, add more short candy sticks and gumdrops to sides and back of house, and make some kind of candy dot to go above door. You can even add alternating gumdrops all around bottom edge of house.

And that’s it! I hope it’s been fun for you and hope you will enjoy having this as a Christmas decoration this year!