Super Mario 3 Mushrooms (Half Double Crochet)

Believe it or not the Mario Mushrooms change in each game! So it is very important to get the right graph for the right mushroom. I was very lucky I grew up with Mario so I knew the difference right away, so if you are crocheting this for a true die hard gamer, you will want to know the difference because they will appreciate the accuracy.

These are mushrooms from the first two Super Mario Games (2 on the left and 1 on the right) Below is what the Super Mario 3 mushrooms look like. 

These are the mushrooms we want! I have seen a few patterns online so I created my own from them and followed it to make the mushrooms. As you can see and may already know there is the red mushroom, that makes Mario grow in size, and there is the green mushroom that gives an extra life. But there is also another colour for these mushrooms. When Mario gets a mushroom to add to his inventory the mushroom is the colour of the inventory with black spots. Since I want to make the mushroom stand out I am going to make it black with white spots. (White with black spots would stand out too). So in total, we will be crocheting three Mario mushrooms. (One red, one green and one black). If you wish to add more of them to the seen by all means do so. 

I drew this graph myself. As you can see at the top, this graph is 20 stitches by 20 stitches. This mushroom will more than likely be up in the air, so the background should be whatever colour you choose for the sky. 

Colours:

Red Mushroom:

Cherry Red (any red will do though as long as it is not too dark)

Black

White

Sky Colour (I used Aqua)

Green Mushroom:

Green (I used Grass)

Black 

White

Sky Colour (Aqua)

Black Mushroom:

Black

White

Inventory Colour (I used Rose)

Hook Size: 4.5 mm

** I used Impeccable yarn but any yarn is fine **

3 in 1 Household Crochet Project

I found this project when I had left over yarn from another project and I didn't know what to do with it. This yarn is like nylon, kind of stretchy like elastic and it is very soft. I used it to make a pair of flipflops and then had a whole ball left! The paper suggested to make a rug out of it or a t-shirt but I found, following their pattern made the yarn twist. The more rows I added the worse it became so I gave up and figured I would be suck with this yarn forever. Until I saw scrubbies on a Facebook group. This inspired me.



I started off making round coasters out of this first. Then I figured out of you make two coasters and sew them together you get a dish scrubby. And finally, if you keep adding rows you get a pot holder!


Circle Coasters
I started with a Magic Ring, and crocheted 12 double crochets into the ring. Once I had the ring, I chained two and crocheted two double crochets into each stitch. The reason I did this, not only to grow it but also because I found the yarn curls if you do not grow it in each turn.

The magic ring, plus one round is perfect for a coaster. Once you have joined the round with a slip stitch, cut the yarn (giving a lot of slack before hand), and pull the end through the final stitch. Create a knot as close to the coaster as possible with both ends before cutting the extra off. 

Pot and Pan Scrubby

To make the scrubbies, you need to first crochet two coaster (directions above). Once you have the two coasters, take the same type of yarn you are using give yourself a lot of slack and cut. At two knots to the end of your yarn and threat a needle with it. Use this yarn and needle to sew the two pieces together using the each stitch. 

Once the full circle is done, sew in the end and cut any excess off. 

Pot Holder:
Once you get the hang of working in the round, simply continue (chain two and make two double crochets in each stitch) until you have the size you would like. Finish the project off the same way you would for the coasters.

Magic Ring

A Magic Ring is usually called for when working in the round. This is usually for slippers, hats, socks, that type of thing. And often for anything circular. It is very easy to do however it does take some practice.

Step one:
You want to start a magic ring the same way you would any crocheting project, expect you do not want to pull the yarn tight to a knot. As you can see in the picture below if you would pull the loop tight you would get a knot, instead you want to place your hook there and chain two. For Magic Rings, you can use half double or double crochets depending on the project. Now you want to yarn over and treat the loop like any stitch, go through the loop, yarn over again and bring it back to the starting side. At this point you will finish your stitch like normal.

Step two:

My magic number is usually 12. I crochet ten hdc or dc into the ring and then pull the hanging tail to tighten the right. Then I crochet my last two into the tight ring, this sometimes causes it to loosen but you just need to pull it tight again. 

Step three:

To finish the round, slip stitch into the first stitch that started the round (the chain). To continue the project you will want to chain two and start crocheting into the stitch you crocheted up from and then each stitch after it. 

Baby Blocks Crochet Quilt

There is no creator listed to credit with this blanket but it is very nice. It says for baby but by simply adding more squares it would make a great blanket for an adult also, or a wedding gift in the right colours. The pattern is free here.

Caron International's Majestic Butterfly Afghan by Susan Lowman

This afghan is very beautiful and is a great gift for anyone who loves the outdoors. The pattern is free here, it works in single crochet  with Caron Simply Soft medium (worsted) weight acrylic yarn and the finished size is 50 1/2 by 66 inches.

Karen Buhr's Around the World Crochet Quilt CAL

The pattern for the quilt is available here for free. It's a very colourful blanket made of granny squares; it looks beautiful and it is very simple to make.

Mel & Vince's Wedding Graphgan

I have been teaching myself new crochet stitches and trying new projects out. I had always seen beautiful graphaghans but never thought I could make one. Until one of my friends sent out her wedding invitations it never even entered my mind that I could make something like that! So I started searching the internet for a pattern I liked, that was also wallet friendly. I couldn't find anything that I really liked so I took on the task of making my own! (I used: Stitchboard.com) The graph I made was not perfect but after printing it out I could make the changes I wanted and could see the pattern and where little imperfections would be.

Their wedding colours are blue and yellow so I made a blue blanket with the yellow details (replaced white in the pattern with blue and black with yellow). I also decided to make the birds all yellow (so i had to replace the white inside the outline with yellow instead of blue). The pattern worked from bottom to top so I started with the date.

I started with a few double crochets in yellow and in blue (10-30), and then I did 10 single crochets in blue before starting the pattern.  This is the date finished, as you can see I sewed in the ends on the front but not on the back yet. You can sew in the ends whenever you want, but try not to do them close to the row you were working on or it may make the stitches too tight. 

Between the date and the birds I did 11 rows of white (blue in this case) to space it out. You need to make sure that you follow the pattern. for example because the called for lets say 15 rows of white you must make the number you change to an odd number also. If you do not, say if I would have done 10 or 12, I would have started on the opposite side of where the pattern should be. (Patterns work from left to right, so you must follow them or you will end up working right to left when you should be working left to right). 

Here are the birds, all done, the ends are sewn in on the front. After this I did 13 single crochets in white (blue), to space the birds out.  

I only had the name left after the birds, and once the names were done I finished it the way I started, with 10 single crochets in blue and 10 - 30 in blue and yellow (repeating what I did to start the blanket). 

This is the final product! 

I am very happy with the way it came out. Not too bad for my first graphgan! The Pdf file for this pattern is available on our facebook page! 

I can not post the pdf file here or I would.  To finish off the gift I made a cute picture with a nice poem called Saying I Do.

Helpful Crochet Tips

http://andreasnotebook.com/cheat-sheets-crocheters/

Sewing in the Ends

When making any crocheting project there is usually always a "tail" to be sewn into the project. This happens often with graphgans because of the colour change. They are really easy to sew in and once you cut away the extra bits of yarn you can not even notice where you sewed in the tails. Sewing in tails helps make the project more professional looking than just tying a knot and it secures the end. This makes sure your project will not unravel.

This is a picture of a graphgan I made. As you can see with each colour change, I left a long tail to sew in.

Sewing in the tails is an easy process, you have to threat a needle with the ends. (Most people like a tapestry needle for this but anyone you're comfortable with will do.) Next to want to sew them through two or three stitches in your project.

You want to make sure you go side to side a total of three times. This "locks" it in place, because your work can not go in both directions at the same time. 

You may notice holes in your work where the colour change happened, sometimes this happens because the yarn isn't the same, sometimes this happens because the tails weren't pulled tight. If you find the holes are two big you can always sew the parts together while hiding the tails. This will cause the project to become tighter. 

Once all the ends are sewn in, you can cut away any excess, you should have a clean and crisp looking final project. It is important to make sure you are sewing the ends into the making colour. (In the example above, the yellow got sewn into the yellow stitches and the blue into the blue stitches.) 

This video is a good visual aid to help out with sewing in the ends.

Graphgans

What is a graphgan?
A graphgan is an Afghan that is made using a graphing pattern.

What is a graphing pattern?
A graphing pattern is a picture that has been made into a graph. A graph is a bunch of boxes over a picture in a grid-line form to symbolize stitches.

How do you read graphs?
Some graphs have written instructions. Some do not. When looking at the graph, each square represents one stitch.

What stitch should be done with graphgans?
Most graphgans use single crochets, half double crochets or tunisian crocheting.

How do you change colours?
There are a few ways to change colours on a project. These can be very complicated and stressful sometimes so here will be a post dedicated to how to change colours.

How do you start a graphgan?
Graphgans start the same way any other crocheting project starts, by chaining. (Most graphgans are 150 chains by 200 rows).

Do you have to follow the graph?
You don't have to however I suggest you do for the first few graphs you try until you become comfortable with the way they work.

How do you finish a graphgan?
You finish the graphgan the same way you finish any other project by pulling a long tail through the last stitch.

What is the most important thing to remember when making a graphgan?
The most important thing to remember is to count your stitches. This is especially important when you're just starting to learn how to make graphgrans. You stitch count should always equal the same number as your starting chain. (For example: If you start with a chain of 150 every row from start to finish should have 150 stitches.) If at some point you have more than what you started with you can always do a decrease by one, where needed. (It is rare you will lose a stitch, most often you gain one; this is usually because the colour change is done incorrectly.)

What can be made into a graphgan pattern?
Any picture can be make into a graph.

On the left is the original picture I used for my project. On the right is what the graph will look like that I need to follow to make the graphgan. 

Crochet Stitches (Symbols)

This chat was found of Facebook and illustrates the symbols a pattern could call for.

Skin Colour Yarns

Some projects whether it be knitting, crocheting, cross stitching, etc; require exact colours. This often is when doing portraits of people, or characters. It is not always easy picking the right colour for a project, often times picking yarn is like picking a crayon out of the box, there are all kinds of different shades of certain colours and it can be hard to pick the perfect one. The following image was found on facebook to help with picking skin tone yarns.

V Stitch Crocheted Blanket

This blanket is super simple to make and all you need to know how to do is make a V stitch (two double crochets). The video tutorial I watched for this blanket started with a chain of 42 with a thick ball of yarn. You can use any type of yarn for this, if you are a beginner you may find it easier with a thicker ball because the holes will be larger but it doesn't really matter. I used a fluffy yarn and because it wasn't as thick I chained 84 as a base foundation.

This is the yarn I used. I chose this yarn because this blanket doesn't work with the stitches it works with the holes created. It is hard to see the stitches with this yarn so I wouldn't suggest it for a normal crochet pattern but it works for this blanket. 

Once you have your chain foundation, you need to chain two to start your next row. (As I said in my double crochet post, some crochet three t start the next row I crochet two). Since you use two chain stitches to create the wall of the next row, you want to skip those two and one more. In the forth chain stitch you want to create one double crochet and than another in the same stitch. Once you have your two double crochets, or V stitch, you want to skip one stitch and start over in the next one. Continue this to the end. For the last stitch of all the rows you want to create one double crochet and then chain two stitches before continuing. 

This is what one row of V stitches looks like. 

Once you have the first row, you want to stitch your double crochets into the holes left between the V stitches, this will cause the pattern to grow like a brick wall lay out. 

This is what it looks like with normal yarn. 

Continue in this same style until you have the size of blanket you want. I am creating a baby blanket so I only used two balls but you can add as many as you want. (For a bigger blanket I would also suggest adding more chains to your foundation). 

This is a close up of my finished blanket. I loved this blanket so much I created a pink one for a friend having a baby girl. 

(The Yellow is called Lemon Swirl and the Pink above is called Peach Swirl)

UPDATE: This blanket became so popular that I was asked to create an adult blanket. With the baby blanket I chained 82, for this adult blanket I doubled that to make it 164. It is still the same process, however it will take more balls of yarn. 

V Stitch

This stitch combines two double crochets to make the stitch. All a V stitch is is two double crochets in the same stitch. So you would chain the same way but when you start your new row you would do one double crochet into the first stitch and than another in the same stitch. Once you have done two double crochets in the same stitch you want to skip a stitch and start in the next one.

This is what one row of V stitches looks like. It may not be evident in the first row but you should be able to see the two double crochets make a V shape. 

This is what two rows look like and the Vs are more evident here. 

A great way to practice V stitches and double crochet would be with a V stitched crocheted blanket.

NOTE: I have also heard of Half Double Crochet V Stitch. This would be practically the same thing except the double crochets would be half double crochets.