Hungry Caterpillar Baby Cocoon and Hat crochet project

This is a very cute baby cocoon and hat combo for everyday use and photo fun. It is very easy to make, using a crochet pattern called Snug as a Bug by Little Crochet Shop (click here).

The original pattern is for babies aged newborn to 2 months. I needed to make a slightly larger cocoon and hat to fit a baby aged 3 to 6 months.

My larger cocoon had a finished size of:

length – 56cm (22”)

smallest circumference – ~58cm (23”)

largest circumference – ~63cm (25”)

The modifications made to the cocoon pattern were as follows.

Cocoon:

·         Use a 9mm crochet hook.
Crochet one extra increase row in the first colour section to give 60 stitches (rather than 54).
Crochet one extra row in the centre of each of the 4 coloured sections.

Decrease rows as follows:

HDC 8, SC dec (54 st)

HDC 5, SC dec, plus SC dec last 2 st (46 st)

Increase rows as follows:

HDC inc, HDC 5 (54 st)

HDC inc, HDC 8 (60 st).

 Hat

I made the hat as per the pattern, and then added an extra three rows at the end (giving 24 rows in total).

Chunky Crochet Blanket Pattern

This blanket is very fast to crochet as it uses super chunky yarn and a large crochet hook. It is also a wonderful gift to make if you are short on time, and I like this design so much I’m making three of these (one to keep and two for gifts).

The blanket is made using a pattern by Mama In A Stitch (click here).  I used a slightly smaller 9mm crochet hook and King Cole’s Big Value Super Chunky 100g acrylic yarn, which is very soft. One blanket is made using the Glacier colour (a beautiful grey green shade), and the others with the Champagne colour.

The Glacier blanket has a finished size of 170cm (67”) long and 130cm (51”) wide, and used 24 balls of yarn (about 1940m). The dimensions can easily be altered by adjusting the number of beginning chain (keeping an even number). For this blanket I began with 130 chain (which produced a length of 170cm, however you simply begin with an even number of beginning chain to achieve your desired length or width.  

Note: the original pattern used an 11.5mm crochet hook and Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick N Quick in Fisherman. I used a 9mm crochet hook instead. 

This is a great cold weather project as the blanket is made in one piece, and therefore by the end you have a rather large lap blanket whilst you're crocheting! 

Made myself a Market Bag using the crochet pattern by Simply Collectible

This is a fabulous looking market bag, and so easy to make, using a crochet pattern by Simply Collectible (click here for pattern).

Due to the heavy yarn load and large hook, it is a bit hard on the hands (if you have arthritis). On the plus side, it does make up quickly.

The pattern calls for using two strands of worsted weight cotton (~440m). However, I didn’t have any in my stash so instead used some Moda Vera Elenna yarn in a light sand colour. This is a bulky (12 ply?) 50% acrylic 50% cotton yarn in 100g balls (85m). Using a single strand, instead of the double, and a 6.5mm hook, my bag used almost 2 balls of yarn.

The finished bag has a length of about 11 inches (not including the straps).  I am very happy with my new market bag and definitely would like to make another one using 2 strands of worsted cotton as per the pattern.  Next time, however, I’ll make the straps a little longer.

July 2017 update: made another one of these and added 10 stitches to each strap (53 instead of 43) - and I find it more comfortable to use.

Crochet a Woman’s Scarf using Tamara Kelly’s Chevron Lace Wrap pattern

This is a quick and easy crochet pattern by Tamara Kelly (click here for pattern).

To make my scarf, I used about 3 and a half balls of Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable yarn in Echo. This 100% acrylic yarn has an aran weight with varying thicknesses, and the 100g balls contain about 250m of yarn.

The scarf I made had a finished size of about 70” long by 16” wide. I used a size 5mm crochet hook, and began with 92 chain as per the pattern.

The finished scarf is very soft, has a lovely drape, and is almost wide enough to double as a wrap.

Eevee’s Big Bed Blanket

 This granny square blanket is made of 54 granny squares which each measure about nine inches wide, laid in a 9 x 6 arrangement. It is large enough to use as a single bed bedspread.

The granny square is made using Chris Simon’s flower burst pattern which is available free on Ravelry. Click here for pattern.

The concept was taken from AnnabelsArmoire Big Bed Blanket, also on Ravelry.

The yarn used was Paintbox Simply DK yarn from LoveKnitting.  This blanket used the following:

4 balls Vanilla Cream (107);

4 balls Slate Green (126);

3 balls Pistachio Green (124);

3 balls Tea Rose (142);

3 balls Dusty Lilac (146).

These are 100g balls with 276m each.

A 4.5mm hook was used.

The squares were joined in the Vanilla Cream using slip stitch on the right side. The border consisted of 3 rounds of single crochet (first in Vanilla Cream, rest in Slate Green), and the low row of the border (also in Slate Green) was done as follows: 8 double crochet in a corner stitch, *skip 2 stitches, single crochet in next stitch, skip 2 stitches, 6 double crochet in next stitch**. Repeat from * to ** around blanket, except make 8 double crochet in the corner stitches.

Weave in ends and enjoy J

Minion Fingerless Gloves for child - free crochet pattern

These child-sized Minion fingerless gloves were adapted from a pattern for adult sized Minion gloves by Tink Jones.

These will fit a 2-3 year old child, and are made using 8 ply yarn – you will need yellow, blue, white, grey and black, and a 4.5mm hook.

To make them larger or smaller, adapt the starting number of stitches to suit.

PATTERN

FSC: foundation single crochet

CH: chain

SC:  single crochet

HDC:  half double crochet

When changing colours, I usually do this when making the slip stitch at the end of the previous round.

Gloves

Begin with yellow

R1: FSC 22, join with a slip stitch to first FSC – it is important to use FSC stitches for the beginning row to give better stretch for the gloves.

R2-4: ch1, HDC into all 22 stitches, slip stitch into first HDC.

Change to black

R5: ch1 and sc into first stitch, ch 3, skip 3 stitches, sc into next stitch, HDC into next 17 stitches, slip stitch to first sc.

R6: ch1, HDC into first stitch, 3HDC into 3 ch space, HDC into next 17 stitches, slip stitch to first HDC.

Change to yellow

R7-12: ch 1, HDC into 22 stitches, join to beg HDC.

Change to blue

R13-16: ch 1, HDC into 22 stitches, join to beg HDC .

R17: ch 1, sc in 22 stitches, join to beg sc.

Break off yarn and weave in all ends.

Made another glove, except when making rows 5 and 6 put the (sc, 3 chain space, sc) section at the end of the round. This allows the “seam” to be put on the underside of each glove.

Eyes (make 3)

Black

R1: chain 2, 6 sc into second chain from hook.

Change to white

R2: ch1, 2sc in each of 6 stitches, join to beg sc (12 stitches)

R3: ch 1, *sc in first st, 2sc in next st**. Repeat from * to ** five more times, join with slip stitch to first sc (18 stitches) – also keep a long tail of white yarn for stitching the eyes to the gloves.

Change to grey

R4: ch1, sc in front loop of each stitch

R5: ch1, sc in each stitch, join to beg sc. Break yarn and weave in ends.

Mouth (make 2)

With black yarn, chain 12, keep a long tail for stitching on gloves.

To assemble:

Position the eyes on the black stripe of the gloves – one eye on one glove and two eyes on the other. Stitch onto the gloves using the white tail and stitching through the back loops of R3.

Position the chain mouth on the gloves and sew on.

Weave in all ends.

Baby crochet blanket for a cot

This crochet baby blanket is made using a lovely crochet throw design by Marianne Forrestal click here for link.  

The original pattern uses aran yarn however I had already purchased 8 ply yarn for this project so I modified the pattern a little and used a 4mm hook, instead of the 5mm hook used by the pattern.

I made this blanket using seven balls of Paintbox Simply DK yarn – 2 x Pistachio Green, 2 x Vanilla Cream, and 1 each of Peach Orange, Blush Pink and Duck Egg Blue - I have about half a ball of Vanilla Cream left over. Paintbox Simply DK are 100g balls with about 276m of yarn, so my blanket used about 1800m of yarn.

Making blankets using squares is my preference because little squares are so portable and you are not toting around a half made blanket while you crochet.

To make my squares a little larger, I also added an extra row of double crochet (US terminology) to each of the 42 squares. I made 11 squares in Pistachio Green, 10 in Vanilla Cream, and 7 each of the other three colours.

This blanket has a finished size of 45.5 inches (115.5cm) long and 39.5 inches (100cm) wide, suitable for a cot.