Crochet Multi colored star blanket

I've always liked the star pattern. This is a 5 point and based on a pattern tutorial by Mikey. Its really easy and once you get it started its one of those repetitive, relax and do on auto pilot patterns. What I was looking for was a project to use up the many balls of yarn I have collected. After doing many "tapestry" style blankets I have an over abundance of Sm , med, and lg balls of many colors of yarn

That is my bag of balls AFTER completing the blanket to the size you see in the pics. Its what my sleeping bag came rolled up in, like the bags that comforters and bed sets come in. They are perfect for projects as you can see exactly whats inside even if their stacked in the closet or something.

The first thing I did was dump all those balls on the floor and separate by color, then by shade. I picked out several balls of ascending size that would make up whole rounds of the center few rings. I got 14 rings out before I used most of the large balls, There where a few colors like blue and black that I had alot of small balls for I saved those knowing that from the middle out I was going to use up the one or 2 small balls of color that wouldn't make a full round of the blanket. But then I knew I could make a band of blue of progressing shades and a band of black. After round 14 I began to use all the small balls of color. color changing whenever the ball ended. I did a complete round of white then faded the blue light to dark then made the 3rd variegated round which used more then one yarn as opposed to the 2 smaller rings made of one color variation. After that came black to set of the variegated yarn. Which is where I'm at. I cant decide weather this should be done. Its the size of a lap or couch blanket but I still have a bag of balls I could go through and the brown yarn in the center was the only yarn from a skein and I could always finish it off in a solid round of the brown. Hmmm cant decide, I was going to give this as a gift to my uncle but although I really like the "granny" older style feel of the color changes in the blanket I'm not sure anyone else would appreciate it. I don't want to give it only to be seen and that ugly old blanket I got from my niece. Sigh.

Wrist warmers in brown

Well these are the wrist warmers I made for my aunt to go along with the infinity scarf n purse. This is a different yarn and not the same color, but it is heartier that I think will suit itself to more use.

My aunt is small so these are purposely smaller then I made my own warmers.
The design is also slightly different. I made the cuff first. It is dc front post stitches, the starting chain I measured to be 7 inches long which tuned out to be 30 chains for me. It's 5 rows tall with each row slip stitched to join. After the 5th row, not detaching the yarn although you could, I made a foundation dc chain of 19 dc long. repeat that back n forth for 12 rows. Use an even amount of rows so you can slip stitch the piece closed from finger tips to wrist. (5 sl st, then only slip stitch on one side leaving a hole for thumb, then finish to end. The two "gloves" are made exactly the same except for the sl st for thumb hole I always made the single sided sl st on the top side of glove, which you just reverse sides for other glove) At that pt I flipped the cuff inside out and whip stitched the cuff to the hand piece. I finished the top edge with a smaller hook and one row of single crochet. There is also 2 rows of sc with two dec in second row around thumb hole, just for comfort and look.  I noticed on my own pair the last 2 stitches under the thumb pull open, which is fine but I'm thinking the sc around with hold those stitches in place or perhaps if I make myself another pair I will leave more then 5 stitches for the thumb, 7 I would guess. The gap may be to large then though. :) Do whatever you think best the stitches aren't pulled entirely apart they are just loosened.

Cd Carry Case

Look an original design! Wondering what my other grandmother could want for Christmas, I decided to make her some Cds. She has eye issues and I figure somewhere online I can find some books on Cd to download. But I didn't just want to hand her some lonely Cds. So... tada my Cd carry case. This would have looked so awesome felted. But I didn't have all wool yarn. I used scraps and made a circle increase. Oh how i hate the slip stitch line.

The case is 71/2 in wide and 7 in high with 2 in extra for the handle height. It's large enough to hold a Cd player and headphones and couple of Cds. Since she listens to books and not music I'm not worried about her having massive amounts of Cds to tote around. But you could line this and provide separate pockets. I may still add a small pocket to the inside to carry extra batteries It will probably just be a circular piece sewn to inside center.

I was originally thinking of something expandable with sleeves for the Cds. I did make the sides larger at the top then the bottom. I'm quite proud of how that came out. The lg section is a double crochet join and it goes to hdc, 2sc join and a reg sc join and then back up the other side.

The join is like your crocheting down the middle of the above stitches. it leaves a ridge like a reg sc join but I joined with right sides together and then turned right side out so you don't see the ridge. It's not terribly unsightly. I can imagine a project or 2 where I would want to leave it visible. So now all I have to do is find some content to download and I can strike another grandmother off my Christmas list.

Multi colored round Cd carry case

Scraps of yarn  - I used 8 different color scraps
Med to small ball of MC color for boarder, join, and handles
I* and H hook

* you don't have to use the I hook, I just began the project with that hook and realized it was larger then I wanted. The centers only (R1&2) were made with the larger hook in my version

Bobble stitch : (yo, insert hook in st, pull up lp, pull thru 2 lps) repeat 3 times total in same st, yo, pull thru 4 lps on hook

You will be using dc joining and sc foundation stitches- both can be found in tutorials online.

Also note my bag has a bit of buckle in it, probably too many increase rounds, you could try adding a sc only round somewhere  between 3 or 5. But there was also a suspicious yarn, the yellow was from my mom's stash and could well be older then me and god knows what its made of.

Pattern:

My version has a color change every row from R2 to R10

Front (make 2)
ch 4, join with sl st to form ring
R1: ch3 (yo, insert hook in ring and pull up lp, pull thru 2 lps on hook) twice - semi-bobble, yo pull thru 3 lps on hook, ch 3, (bobble in ring, ch 3)3 times, join with sl st in top of semi-bobble
R2: ch1, sc in same st, (5 sc in ch space, sc in bobble)3 times, 5 sc in last ch space, sl st in first sc to join
R3: ch 1, sc in same st, (2 sc in next st, sc in next st) around with 2 sc in last sc, sl st to join
R4: ch1, sc in same st and next , (2 sc in next st, sc in next 2 st) around 2 sc in last st, sl st to join
R5: ch 1, sc in same st and next 2 st, (2 sc in nest st, sc in next 3 st) around 2 sc in last st, sl st to join
R6: ch 1, sc in same st and next 3, (2 sc in next st, sc in  next 4 st) around 2 sc in last st, sl st to join
R7 & R8: ch1, sc in every st around, sl st to join
R9: ch1, sc in same st and next 4, (2 sc in next st, sc in next 5 st) around 2 in last st, sl st to join
R10:(with MC) ch1, sc in every st around, sl st to join, fasten off

With right sides together you will need to mark off where your handle opening will be and mark each st change for the join.
Lining up both sides mark the same st at the top(12 o'clock), 11 st to the right was where my joining would start with marker 1. 5 st to marker 2, 10 st to marker 3. 10 st to marker 4, 10 st to marker 5, 10 st to marker 6, 10 st to marker 7, and 5 st to marker 8. It's very important to have your stitches from both pieces lined up. If for any reason there are extra st we would prefer those be under the handle.

Join MC with sl st in side 1 the first marked st, ch 2, dc in side 2 first st. Using dc joining method go back n forth from said 1 to 2 completing dc, when you reach marker you will switch to hdc, then 2 sc, then sc, then back up to 2 sc, hdc. and finally dc at each marker. fasten off

Handles:

You could crochet a single strap. 3 or 4 st wide as long as you desire and sew it into top of join on either side.

I preferred 2 handles.

from the original 12 o'clock marker , mark 9th st from center thru both sides, left and right of center. You should use 4 separate markers, as we will be crocheting each side separately.
Join with sl st in any st outside of marked area, ch1, sc in same st, sc around to first marker, you will be making 20 sc foundation stitches. (see mention of stitches above for links to tutorial), insert hook in bottom of last foundation ch, insert hook into first st past marker, you pull thru st and bottom of foundation ch, yo and pull thru 2 lps left on hook, sc around to 3rd marker for next handle, 20 sc foundation st, join as before to first st past 4th marker, sc around, sl st to join in first sc
ch1, sc in same st and each st around. (around sides and in sc over handles), sl st to join, fasten off

Make sure all your ends are hidden and you're done

This project would look so awesome felted that I'm tempted to go buy the wool just to see. Even small skeins would make a few of these to give as gifts

Baby Christening Robe

 Well it's done. I really want to sneak it into their doorway. We shall see. If i catch them tomorrow or the Christening is on Sunday were good!
With more time I would have added the baby mitten and thread bib I found to match

Winter Weather Set in Pink

So the neighbors gave my parents a "Thanksgiving Day' gift. So maybe they aren't as bad as their hellion of a daughter. So I decided that the blanket for the baby would come as a Christmas present and I'd make the girl a little something. Why I have all this pink yarn I don't know. I hardly ever have pink projects. I have 2 boys. Blue I could understand but alas I have an over abundance of pink yarn so I hope the kid next door likes pink.

I was going to make a cowl just because it seemed faster but I found the center piece of this scarf in my yarn bin. It was a test piece for a mile a minute pattern for an afghan. It was just a series of popcorn stitches I probably intended to unwind, its been like that for over 2 yrs, so why waste it. Add a few shell stitches in white and pink and then a darker border and there is a nifty scarf...in pink.

I'd been making my mother headbands which I'm sure she didn't appreciate when she told me I ought to make them wider to cover the ears for winter. I've seen these online and they happen to be very fashionable. So I altered what I was already doing and added 2 buttons in the back to adjust for size a bit and a pretty rose on the top...in pink.

I made my son try that headband on. HAh! So now I'm not sure if it's a tiny bit small or my son has a big head. So I found a nice fashionable hat to add to the set. It's called a Kingston hat and I figure with the 6 in fro my Lil friend next door sports on occasion this might work for her. It's really cute...and it's pink

Lastly we have Mittens! I really liked these. I think my son's are getting pairs maybe even a pair for me. A nice pair to match my wrist warmers and I could wear them over top. Or maybe I could just make a mitten end to attach to my warmers. I had a nice fleece pair like that once but everything of mine disappears. Hazard of being a mother I think.  So I think it's a nice set. Stuffed into one of the traditional Stockings I made. I'll make a first Christmas stocking for her new baby brother but I don't think the blanket would fit inside. I am working on a Christening Shawl for him but I don't think I'll have it done in time considering I'm now procrastinating on here and tomorrow I have an early meeting about my son, which will be Friday and all I know is that he is to be christened this weekend. And I'll probably play WOW after this. So there is a 60/40 chance that project will end up in the missed gifts bin. Shrug.

Twist Christmas Gift Bag

There is an older video for a Peppermint twist hat at Mikey's youtube site. It's made to be a baby's hat but I don't have too many of those around to crochet for. Mikey mentions in the intro about it possibly being a Candy dish and the more I watched the more I thought I could make cookies and give them in it.

As the piece progressed I thought to add a simple drawstring and make it more of a gift bag. My project used Red Heart worsted 4 ply yarn and  J hook. I did not use a starting chain but a foundation chain which is basically the chain and 1st row of sc in one. Variegated yarn looks better when done this way you don't have the mismatched edge. If you want to use this method there are plenty of tutorials out there just search 'foundation crochet' 

                                    

My foundation was 35 st and I had 37 rows, following Mikey's pattern. I also left off the very last row of the brim although you could use it and make your chain drawstring pull from the inside so as not to mess up the look of the edging.

The gold, drawstring, is just a chain. I lost count somewhere after 120 but I'd say it's likely 150 ch's long, threaded through every forth space made by the 2sc in the end rows. You could make that row 2 dc's to make it a larger gap but I didn't see the need and the ruffle hides most of it. There ends up being a loop on either side and I pulled them up and looped them in a lose knot. The ends of the chain are just woven together. This pattern would look cute any time of the year done in different colors. make a purse for every outfit. Christmas colored or not I know this one will be well used even after the holiday.

Infinity Scarf finished

Yay! It's finished. I should get a foam head to show this stuff off. The stitch is great. I may make another one for my other grandmother. I also finished the croc stitch purse in the matching yarn they will both go to my aunt for x-mas.