The Wanderlust Scarf

This is a really creative and great looking scarf. The design is by Kirsten Holloway designs and can be found for free on her website and on Ravelry. The creativity of this pattern actually inspired me to try to make up my own patterns for scarves. (I will post pictures of them with patterns when I get around to making them.) I made one of these (with the matching hat) for my brother-in-law and one for my brother for Christmas gifts. I used Stitch Studio yarn in two different browns. I do think, however, that a pretty pink or purple yarn and this pattern would make a beautiful woman’s scarf. (I personally love to wear browns, blacks, and grays so I would be happy wearing one of the ones pictures above. :-))

Child’s Waffle Stitch Scarf and Hat Set

I did this child’s set with Caron One Pound in a gray color, and I love how it came out! To make the scarf I followed along with this YouTube tutorial (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRnJHytHN_w) by the wonderful Bella Coco.

The pattern for the hat is called the Alpine Nights Beanie by Maria on pattern-paradise.com. I used the instructions for the child’s size.

The waffle stitch is a great stitch to use when making winter accessories because it is soft and warm and squashy.

I gifted them to my 11 year old nephew for Christmas. He is an intelligent, handsome little boy who wears glasses. This hat and scarf set gave him a polished -even debonair- look when he put them on. They looked very smart with his black jacket.

Candy Ripple Baby Blanket

This is a cute blanket that I made with baby weight yarn leftover from other projects. I used a very simple ripple pattern with stripes of random widths. I actually used a random number sequence generator from the internet to decide how many rows to do in each color. Then I wove in all the ends (which I hate doing but in reality only took about half an hour), and worked a simple border with hdc shells on the short sides and single crochet on the long sides. Here’s the pattern:

Body:

Ch 115

Row 1: dc in 4th st from hook, *dc in each of next 4 st, dc2tog twice, dc in each of next 4 st, 2 dc in each of next 2 st, repeat from * to end, end with 2 dcs in last st, ch 3 and turn

Row 2: dc in same st as ch, *dc in each of the next 4 st, dc2tog twice, dc in each of next 4 st, 2 dc in each of next 2 st, repeat from * to end, end with 2 dcs in last st, ch 3 and turn

Row 3 to end: repeat Row 2 (make the blanket as big as you want, change colors whenever you want)

Weave in ends

Edging:

Round 1: After last stitch ch 1 and turn, sc around entire blanket (3 sc in corner stitches), sl st in first sc, ch 1 and turn

Round 2: sl st in 1st st, *sk next st, 5 hdc in next st, sk next st, sl st in next stitch, repeat from * to end of short side, 3 sc in corner stitch, sc down long side, hdc shells along the other short side, sc along other long side, sl st to first st, fasten off and weave in end.

Entrelac Crochet Baby Blanket

They call this Entrelac crochet, Tunisian crochet, or the Afghan stitch and you do it with the long crochet hook. (The word Entrelac actually refers to the diamond pattern as well as the hook.) This was my first project using the long hook and I will say that I enjoyed it…mostly.

Tunisian hook next to my regular H hook

The difference between regular crochet and Tunisian crochet is that with Tunisian crochet you start by pulling up a loop for each stitch in the row and keeping all the loops on the hook until you get to the end of the row. Then you pull through each loop on your way back to complete the row. This makes a very thick and pretty fabric.

I used a YouTube tutorial on the Red Heart Yarns channel called How to Entrelac Crochet. The tutorial is done by The Crochet Crowd’s Mikey and is very easy to follow. In the video he uses a regular crochet hook and his squares are seven stitches by seven rows. Because he never has more than seven loops on his hook at one time, he is able to use a regular crochet hook.

For my little blanket I did fifteen rows of fifteen stitches for each of my squares. This meant that I had to have fifteen loops on my hook at one time so I used the long Tunisian hook pictured above that I borrowed from my mother-in-law. The blanket is started in the center and worked in an around-the-world pattern, attaching each new square as it is made. When I decided it was big enough I filled in the sides with the black triangles (that was in the tutorial too) and did a little border that incorporated the three colors of the blanket.

It was fun to learn a new type of crochet and the fabric is very cool because it doesn’t have holes like you’re used to seeing in regular crochet. It’s also a nice way to do squares because you don’t have to sew or crochet them all together at the end.

Tunisian crochet does seem to take a lot longer to make a small blanket than regular crochet. I guess this is because the fabric is more dense. It uses more yarn per square inch than regular crochet, also because of the density of the fabric. Tunisian fabric has a tendency to curl up on you, but once you attach squares on the sides they pull it straight again.

Toddler Hat and Scarf Set (Using crossed double crochet)

    

    My mother in law had some of this Loops and Threads yarn in soft lilac left over a baby blanket she did. I knew there wasn’t enough for another baby blanket, but there was quite a lot left over. I ended up making this toddler size hat and scarf using the crossed double crochet stitch.

I started out with the hat. I knew I wanted something pretty for my two year old niece as a gift so I literally did an internet search for “pretty crochet hat.”  Wow, did I find a ton of cute patterns  that fit that criteria!  I settled on this Caron Pebbled Texture Crochet Hat that I found on the Yarnspirations site. It’s a free patten that you can instantly download, and there are different sizes available. I was using a number 3 light weight yarn instead of worsted weight (and a G size hook) so I ended up following the directions for the adult size and it fits her two year old head perfectly. 😀

     In the main body of the hat the pattern calls for alternating rows of double crochet and then crisscrossing front post double crochet. The front post stitches really give you that great “pebbled” texture, and the are pretty easy for a beginning crocheter. (I’ve only been crocheting for four months now, albeit obsessively.) The only other thing I did differently than the pattern called for was starting out with a magic circle instead of a chain. It was a little difficult to learn at first, but I love starting hats that way because you can pull it tightly closed and there’s no hole at the top of the hat. I also opted not to add the pom pom because the ones I make tend to fall apart when messed with by little kids. 😜

     I wanted to make a matching scarf so I did a search for “crossed double crochet scarf” and this patten by CraftElf was the first thing that came up. It looked like the perfect scarf to go with the hat. Again, I followed the directions for the adult size because of the lighter weight yarn and smaller hook that I was using. This pattern calls for alternating rows of single crochet and crossed double crochet, which is slightly different than the hat, because there are no post stitches. It works great for the scarf, however, because you want the back to look good too. With post stitches the back of your work can look quite different than the front. I also added 4 rows of back loop only single crochet to both ends of the scarf so that it would match the hat better. All in all I am happy with the way the set came out and my niece loves wearing it around the house even though it’s still August. 😄

The Every Man’s Scarf

This scarf was made from the pattern called The Every Man’s Scarf by Jennifer Dickerson and can be found on the Fiber Flux blog. I used Stitch Studio yarn from AC Moore in two different browns that I had left over from other scarves I had made. I gave this to my brother (I think) for Christmas. I love this pattern because it was easy as can be and the scarf looks so unique. It’s different (but stylish) from both the front and the back. There are these nice squishy ridges on one side and two toned stripes on the other. This pattern would be so cool with many different color combinations! The scarf definitely makes a great gift and it’s quick and easy to make. Honestly, what more could you want?