These little ghosts are a great way to decorate your own home or they can be given as great presents to friends and family.

Never crocheted before? Never fear, these are quick and easy, and a great way to learn. You only need to know how to do two things: chain and single crochet, both of which can be learned through youtube videos.

What you'll need:

1. White Yarn (Red Heart or similar stiffness)
2. Black Yarn (for details - brand/feel does not matter)
3. Scissors
4. Ruler
5. Darning Needle
6. Crochet Hook (I used a J/10 sized hook)

Total time spent on project: About 30 minutes average. The smaller you make them, the quicker they come out.

DISCLAIMER: Once you know how to make them, these little ghosts have a tendency to breed. I invented one and then next day their were ten in my living room!

Step 1: Starting Your Ghost

Sometimes the first step is the hardest. This isn't too bad if you've crocheted before, if you haven't, hang in there I'll get you through it!

First, take your white yarn and make a slip knot about an inch and a half up the end. Chain two stitches, take your hook and go back into the first chain you created. Single crochet once then go right back into that same hole. Do this over and over again until you produce a circle.

CONGRATS! If you have gotten this far, it gets easier from here on out. Pat yourself on the back if you've never crocheted before!

Step 2: Making the Top

Now you're going to keep going around the circle you've just created, but since you want it to widen out we're going to do some increasing. All this means is that every other stitch (aka hole) you're going to single crochet into it twice instead of once before moving to the next stitch. It should widen out with a slight inward curve to it.

Try to relax when you crochet or this may be more difficult for you (getting your hook in and out of tight holes is a pain -- I had this problem when I first started).

For your first ghost, I encourage you to keep it small just to get the feel for it. I made mine about 2 1/2 inches in diameter. When it gets to be about that wide, stop increasing. Don't worry if it's not exact.

Step 3: Making the Body

This is the easiest and longest part of creating your ghost. Now that you have your ghost top around 2 1/2 inches in diameter, all you're going to do is single crochet around and around and around for a while.

Keep your ruler handy -- from time to time flatten the body out and measure. When you get to be around 3 inches in length from top to bottom you are ready for the next step.

Important: If this is your second or third time making a ghost and you've decided to make your ghost bigger, you can usually add about 1/2 an inch to an inch to the diameter to get your adjusted length. I like a roundish ghost, but you can always play with the measurements for a different look.

Step 4: Pinch the Bottom

It's time for one row of decreasing. You can use a stitch marker if you have one or even a paper clip will do. Anything to hold your starting point.

Go around your ghost once using this pattern:

Skip a hole and single crochet, single crochet, single crochet. Repeat until you return to your stitch marker.

Step 5: Ghostly Ruffles

You're almost done! Now it's time for those ghostly ruffles. This is not an exact science, so I'll be walking you through two different outcomes.

Use this pattern once around the bottom --
Single crochet 4 times into one hole, single crochet, single crochet. Repeat.

Ideally, this will wind up having two stitches to go between your first hump and your last one. If it looks like you're not going to be even you can single crochet once between two of the humps instead of twice to even it out a bit. Better to have too many ruffles than to have a lop-sided ghost.

Once you have the humps, it's time to go back over them to add a bit of volume. The trick to making the ruffles seem bigger is single crocheting twice into the three peak stitches in each ruffle. By this I mean, you single crochet like normal until you get to the top of a hump, then crochet twice into three of the stitches on top of the hump.

Make it all the way around and it's time to tie off. To make your tie off invisible, single crochet into the inside of the ghost, widen your loop (it's just like the first slip knot you made), cut your yarn giving yourself a little extra yarn tail, and put the end through the loop creating a knot.

Hooray! The body is DONE! You just have to weave in your ends -- you can do this with the darning needle. I usually work them both into the inside and tie them off again for safety, just like you would tie off a thread when stitching up a hole in your jeans.

Step 6: Make a Face

Here you have choices:

1. I love crocheting, give me more!

Create a circle from black yarn using step one. Sew two of these to the front of your ghost. This option results in the style of ghost seen in the intro image.

2. If I have to crochet one more thing, I'm going to puke!

Stitch on your own eyes, or use buttons.

Both options will need the mouth to be stitched on. Slip your yarn through loops in the front to create the shape of the smile, don't go front to back in stitching if you like the way mine look. This is easier to do and you can tie it off on the inside.

Step 7: Finishing Your Ghost

Now you just need something to make him hang up! Again, you have two options:

1. Keeping with the theme, I'll crochet just a bit more:

Chain stitch what's going to be your loop and leave two tails long enough to tie them together. This can be done in any color yarn, I used black. Pull the tails into the inside of the ghost (at the top) and tie them together. You're done!

2. I'd rather not crochet anymore:

Just use a piece of yarn cut a bit longer than what you want your loop to be, pull the two tails into the inside of the ghost (at the top) and tie them together. You're done!

Congratulations! I hope you are smiling just as big as your new little ghost!
If you have any questions on this instructable, please feel free to message me or ask me in the comments.

If you want to have more fun with these and you're a fan of video games, the same pattern can be used to make Pacman ghosts; Inky and Pinky are pictured below. I'm currently working on Blinky and Clyde.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!