Women’s crochet basic slouchy hat

This is a very easy women’s slouchy hat to crochet. I used the free pattern by PDDesigns (click here for pattern). This pattern was well written and very easy to follow; suitable for a beginner.

For this slouchy hat, I used Paton’s Cosmos 12 ply yarn (50g, 85m, 47% wool and 50% acrylic and 3% polyester). This yarn was easy to work with and produced a slouchy hat with a very soft  finish.

Using a 6mm hook, the hat used just over one ball of yarn.

Although it is difficult to see clearly in the picture, the yarn has a nice shiny silver thread through parts of it. The yarn is also self striping, which I really liked.

Women’s crochet cloche hat

This is an easy women’s cloche hat to crochet.

For this hat, I used Lincraft’s Lucciola 12 ply yarn (50g, 48m, 60% wool and 40% acrylic) and Lincraft’s Merrijig 12 ply yarn (50g, 64m, 100% wool). These yarns were easy to work with and produced a hat with a soft yet chunky finish.

Using a 6mm hook, the hat used two balls of the Lucciola yarn (for the body of the hat) and a small amount of the Merrijig yarn (for the rim). I would have preferred to make the entire hat in the Lucciola yarn, however I did not have enough yarn and the colour was sold out at my local store. Luckily, I found a matching colour yarn for the rim.

Pattern:

I used the excellent 1920s Great Gatsby Inspired Cloche Hat Crochet Pattern provided by Hopeful Honey (click here for pattern).

The end product is a very comfortable hat that has good stretchiness.

Women’s crochet scarf using Dentelle pattern

This is an easy scarf pattern by Shara Lambeth (click here for pattern). It makes up light and drapey using a fine 8 ply yarn and 3.5 mm hook. This type of pattern is great when you’re not sure if you have enough yarn for a long scarf because you just decide the width and then keep crocheting until the yarn runs out.

For this scarf, I used Lincraft’s Marmaris yarn (100g (550m), 80% acrylic 10% mohair 10% angora effect,  fine 8 ply maybe 6 ply?, colour grape). Recommended needle size 3.75mm. This was a nice yarn to work with, and created a soft drapey finish that I’m very pleased with.

Using a 3.5mm hook, and starting with 39 chain, the scarf used 1 ball of yarn, and had a finished size of 7 inches wide and 65 inches long.

This pattern is suitable for any size yarn or hook. Simply start with any number of chain divisable by 7 plus 4, which gives the desired width, and then work the pattern to the desired length.

The scarf is really soft and drapes beautifully. It is also soft enough to tie in a loose knot or just fold and wrap.

I like crocheting scarfs on the train because they’re small and the patterns are easily remembered so you don’t need a pattern open on your lap. Because I used a 3.5mm hook for this scarf, it provided many train hours of entertainment.

Women’s crochet fingerless gloves

These gloves were made using a fabulous pattern by Maaike van Koert (click here for pattern). The instructions are very good and include lots of photographs to assist understanding.

The pattern uses 4 ply yarn and a 3mm hook. I used 5 ply yarn instead, plus the 3mm hook, and started with the suggested 50 chain. The gloves are a good fit (I have  a small wrist and medium sized hand and these gloves would fit a thinner hand and wrist equally well).

For these gloves, I used Paton’s Bluebell 5 ply yarn (50g, 135m, 100% wool, colour 4368 purple). This yarn was great to work with and I would definitely use it again.

Using a 3.0 mm hook, and starting with 50 chain, the pair of gloves used just over one ball of yarn (the pattern stated the pair of gloves would use 183 to 201m of yarn).

I am very happy with the finished product J

Crochet shoulder bag

This is the first shoulder bag I have crocheted. I wasn’t sure what type of bag I wanted to make, and changed my mind part way through, so ended up using a combination of two different patterns.

I started with Crochet N Crafts moss stitch beginner crochet bag (click here), though started with only 20 chain, and then followed the pattern for the base plus 30 rows. Then I switched to a Lion Brand market bag pattern (click here) for the shoulder strap design. I still used the single crochet moss stitch, but followed the principles in the Lion Brand pattern, decreasing the stitches until each strap had 5 single crochet per row. As instructed in the Lion Brand pattern, I also crocheted around the straps with a row of single crochet.

To finish off the bag, I stitched on some buttons and lined it with a floral fabric.

For this shoulder bag, I used Mondial Merino Special Superwash 12 ply yarn (50g, 75m, 60% wool and 40% acrylic). This yarn is lovely to use and has a soft yet chunky finish.

Using a 5.5mm hook, the bag used about 6 balls of yarn, and had a finished size of 14 inches wide by 9 inches high, with a base width of 4.5 inches.

  

Men’s easy beanie crochet pattern

This is an easy man’s beanie to crochet.

For this beanie, I used Mondial Merino Special Superwash 12 ply yarn (50g, 75m, 60% wool and 40% acrylic). This yarn is lovely to use and has a soft yet chunky finish.

Using a 6mm hook, each man sized beanie uses about 1 and a half balls of yarn.

Pattern:

I used the excellent beanie instructions provided by The Lazy Hobbyhopper (click here).

For my man sized beanie, and following the Hobbyhopper pattern, I started with 2 chain and then crocheted 8 dc into second chain from hook. As per this pattern, I then increased each row for 7 rows, doing one single crochet at the start of each row and then a double crochet into the same stitch as the beginning double crochet. I then crocheted four more rows of 1 dc in each dc from previous row. To add a rib finish, I used the hat ribbing pattern provided by Recycle Cindy (click here), doing 4 rows of ribbing.

The end product is a very comfy beanie that has good stretchiness.

Crochet Baby Blanket

This is an easy baby blanket inspired by Lisa Charbonneau (click here for link).

For this blanket, I used Panda Magnum Soft 8 ply acrylic yarn (100g, 189m), in colours: pink, butter, and white. This yarn was good to work with and produced a nice, soft blanket.  

Using a 4mm hook, and 4 balls each of both pink and butter and 1 ball of white, the blanket had a finished size of 104 cm square, with some yarn left over.

The blanket consists of 36 squares in a 6 x 6 arrangement. It has 9 pink solid squares, 9 butter solid squares, 9 granny squares with a pink centre, and 9 granny squares with a butter centre. These were then arranged in alternating rows of pink and butter (ie row of pink solid and pink centre squares alternating, followed by a row of butter solid and butter centre squares alternating).

The granny squares consisted of 7 rows of alternating pink and butter yarn. To make these I started with 5 chain to form a circle, and then:

Row 1: 4 lots of 3 dc with 3 chain between;

Row 2 to Row 7: groups of 3 dc in the chain spaces, with 3 dc 3 chain 3 dc in the corners, and one chain between the groups of 3 dc elsewhere.

For the solid colour squares, I started with 29 chain, and then crocheted 14 rows of double crochet, turning at each end.

To stitch the squares together, I used single crochet in white yarn, with the wrong side of squares facing together. The border consists of two rows of single crochet, also in the white yarn.

Women’s crochet scarf using Chevron pattern, plus headband and other bits

This is an easy scarf pattern by Dena Stelley click here for pattern). It makes up light and drapey using an 8 ply yarn and 3.5 mm hook. This type of pattern is great when you’re not sure if you have enough yarn for a long scarf because you just decide the width and then keep crocheting until the yarn runs out.

For this scarf, I used Lincraft’s Splendour yarn (50g (135m), 50% wool and 50% acrylic, 8 ply, colour Monet). This yarn was a bit tricky to work with as it had lots of light wispy bits which caught on the hook. Nonetheless, it was so worth it. The colour and the self striping produced a really nice finish that I am very very happy with. Would definitely use this type of yarn again.

Using a 3.5mm hook, and starting with 42 chain, the scarf used almost 4 balls of yarn, and had a finished size of 6.5 inches wide and 71 inches long.

This pattern includes 3 widths to choose from, and has a base pattern of 10 chain. Because I was using an 8 ply yarn and a 3.5mm hook, I chose to use the widest 42 chain option.

The scarf is really soft and drapes beautifully. I could have used a larger hook which would have given a looser finish that would still have been very nice, and would have been somewhat quicker to make; using a 3.5mm hook meant that lots of hours went into making this scarf.

Because I had some yarn left over, and it was so pretty, I decided to make a headband, wrist band, and hair band.

For the headband, I chose the Genious Headband pattern by Elizabeth Alan (click here for pattern), which is very net like and has lots of stretch. I left off the flower, and increased the width to about 5 inches. Nice tension and feels very secure without being tight.

For the wristband, I chose the Spokes Crochet Cuff pattern by Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark (click here for pattern). I modified this slightly and used the net stitch from the headband rather than the band and button used in the Spokes pattern. Easy to slip on and off, and it sits comfortably on the wrist.

I tried to make 2 of these, but did not have enough yarn, so made the second one smaller to use as a hair band.

Had lots of fun crocheting with this yarn. Looking forward to giving these as a present.

Women’s crochet scarf using Spring Petals pattern

This is a quick and easy scarf pattern by Ragamuffin (click here for pattern). It will be loose or chunky depending on the yarn and hook used. This type of pattern is great when you’re not sure if you have enough yarn for a long scarf because you just decide the width and then keep crocheting until the yarn runs out. In addition, it has a nice scalloped edge along the length.

For this scarf, I used Mondial’s Merino Special Superwash yarn (50g (75m), 60% wool and 40% acrylic, 12 ply, colour 359 [teal]). This was a beautiful and soft yarn to work with.

Using a 6mm hook, and starting with 25 chain, the scarf used 4.75 balls of yarn, and had a finished size of 6.5 inches wide and 70.5 inches long.

Note that this pattern starts with 25 chain, and has a base pattern using 4 chain in multiples plus 5 chain. Therefore, if using a different size yarn and/or hook, increase or decrease the starting chain in multiples of 4 to reach the desired width for your scarf. 

The scarf is lovely and soft, holds its shape, and is slightly chunky. I’m happy with the size of the hook used for this yarn and pattern, though it would be interesting to try this pattern in a lighter yarn and smaller hook to see what results.

Scarves like this one are great weekend projects as they only take about 4 to 5 hours to make, so do not need a lot of staying power to complete.

I’m making a lot of scarves at the moment to give to my family at Christmas. Hopefully they enjoy wearing them as much as I am enjoying making them.

Women’s crochet scarf using Isar pattern in blue

This is a quick and easy scarf pattern by Julia Vaconsin (click here for pattern). It makes up loose or chunky depending on the yarn and hook used. This type of pattern is great when you’re not sure if you have enough yarn for a long scarf because you just decide the width and then keep crocheting until the yarn runs out. In addition, the original pattern includes fringes.

For this scarf, I used Lincraft’s Lucciola yarn (50g (48m), 60% wool and 40% acrylic, 10-12 ply, colour 4). This was an ordinary yarn to work with, having a somewhat ropey feel to it. Nonetheless, the finished product still looked nice, thanks to the shiny ribbon that was woven into the yarn.

Using a 6mm hook, and starting with 20 chain, the scarf used 5 balls of yarn, and had a finished size of 5.5 inches wide and 70 inches long.

Note that the Isar scarf pattern starts with 40 chain, and has a base pattern using 8 chain in multiples plus 8 chain. Therefore, because I used a thicker yarn and hook, I opted for 1.5 x 8 chain for the base pattern plus 8 chain = 20 chain to start. 

The scarf is soft though holds its shape, and is slightly chunky. It would probably have been better to have used a larger hook, which would have given the scarf a looser, more drapey, finish.

Women’s crochet scarf using Isar pattern

This is a quick and easy scarf pattern by Julia Vaconsin (click for pattern). It makes up loose or chunky depending on the yarn and hook used. In addition, the original pattern includes fringes.

For this scarf, I used Lincraft’s Allegro yarn (50g (70m), 30% wool and 70% acrylic, 10-12 ply, colour 07). This was a great yarn to work with, and its thin/thick texture was fabulous for hiding small errors in tension.

Using a 6mm hook, and starting with 24 chain, the scarf used 4 balls of yarn, and had a finished size of 6.5 inches wide and 72 inches long.

Note that the Isar scarf pattern starts with 40 chain, and has a base pattern using 8 chain in multiples plus 8 chain. Therefore, because I used a thicker yarn and hook, I opted for 2x8 chain for the base pattern plus 8 chain = 24 chain to start.

The scarf is soft though holds its shape, slightly chunky, and very warm.

Men's crochet scarf

This is a great pattern for a men’s scarf. It is easy to make and has a lovely texture. The pattern is by Suzanne Resaul (click here for pattern).

This scarf was made with Mondial Merino Special Superwash 50g balls (75m), colour 957; the yarn is about a 12 ply. The scarf used 5 and a half balls of yarn, with a finished size of 6.75 inches wide by 72 inches in length.

I used a 6mm hook for the scarf, though used a 7mm hook for the beginning chain. The first two rows are a bit fiddly, but from Row 3 on it is very easy crochet.

Close up view of the crochet pattern. It is basically a combination of single crochet and chain stitches, worked back and forth along the length of the scarf.

Finished scarf.

Hearts and Flowers Granny Square Single Bed Blanket

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

The yarn used was Lincraft’s Double Knitting 8 ply acrylic. Each 100g ball contained about 250m of yarn. The blanket used about 15 balls of yarn, and was crocheted with a 4.5mm hook.

The granny squares are a selection of flower, heart and other patterns which were obtained free online from Pinterest and Ravelry. Some of my favourite granny square patterns are the Cow Parsley Afghan Square by Lettice Rose, Veronica’s Rose by Melissa Green, Spring Fling by April Moreland, Heart Mandala granny square, and the Grandma’s Heart Square by Carola Wijma. I particularly like the textured designs.

Once the granny squares were made, I laid them on the floor and spent time arranging them into a pattern that I liked. To stitch them together, I used single crochet. This is a really simple method that involves holding two granny squares wrong sides together, and carefully joining using a single crochet stitch through the top of each. Essentially a single crotchet stitch in each crochet stitch or space, but in both squares at once. Because it is a bit fiddly, I joined squares across the width (which was narrower), rather than the length, which meant joining the first row of six squares to the next row of six, and then joining on the next row and so on, working from the right side to the left side. Once all the rows were added, I then joined the squares down each length. This gives a nice raised single crochet finish and brings out the colour of the yarn chosen, which in this case was fuschia.  

For the border, I used the border pattern from 124-1 Bohemian Oasis by Drops Design, which is on Ravelry. It consists of 4 rounds. The first round is single crochet, with two single crochet in each corner. Because my squares all had a different number of stitches in the final row (varying from 26 to 45), I decided to make a uniform 40 single crochet along each 9” square, which meant counting the crochet stitches on the edge of each square and then spacing the 40 single crochet evenly. Row two is a round of double crochet, with one double crochet in each single crochet, and two double crochet in each of the two single crochet in each corner (giving four double crochet in each corner). Row three is another round of double crochet, with one double crochet in each double crochet, and two double crochet in each of the four double crochet in the corners (giving 8 double crochet in each corner). The final round has a scalloped edge. Start in a corner and chain 3, *skip 3 dc, 1 sc in next dc, skip 3 dc, 10 dc in next dc *, repeat from * to * to the end, finishing with 9 dc and a slip stitch into the third chain of the initial chain 3; adjust so that there is a scallop in each corner.

I really enjoyed making this blanket. It was fun finding new patterns to try, and making up lots of different patterns kept it interesting.