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/