Crochet Pattern: Snowflake Ornament

This Christmas I wanted to do something crafty to give as gifts. I searched and searched for a nice ornament pattern I could easily follow and finally found something I had pinned on Pinterest last year, but never attempted. Sorry this post is late for anyone wanting to try this pattern, I had to keep it secret until I gave these as gifts! I'm now toying with the idea of crocheting Christmas stockings for us to have next year. With our new addition we'll be a family of three next Christmas so I thought it would be great for each of us to have a stocking. We shall see!

Back to the crochet snowflake. I thought the pattern I found was pretty easy to read, but like always I made a few tweaks and then wanted to record my version. Once I got the hang of this pattern I could whip one of these out in about 15 minutes. The perfect project to work on while watching TV!

Crochet Pattern: Snowflake Ornament
adapted from the new crochet

Abbreviations
ch = chain
sl st = slip stitch
sc = single crochet
dc = double crochet

Size K hook

Row 1: ch 7 and form a ring with 1 sl st in first ch.
Row 2: ch 1, 11 sc in ring, finish with 1 sl st in first ch.
Row 3: ch 2 * 1 dc in next sc, ch 6, 1 dc in next sc * repeat 4 times, 1 dc in next sc, ch 6, finish with 1 sl st in 2nd ch from beg of round. End with 6 ch spaces.
Row 4: ch 1 * 1 sc between the next 2 dc, 4 sc in ch space, ch 3, 1 sc in 3rd ch from hook, 4 sc in ch space * repeat 4 times, 1 sc between the next 2 dc, 4 sc in the ch space, ch 20, sl st in last sc, 4 sc in the ch space, finish with 1 sl st in ch from beginning of round. Fasten off, weave ends in.

Ombré Baby Blanket

One more project completed! This one took me longer than it should have. Good thing I got an early start since I had a deadline! I decided to make a baby blanket for some friends who are expecting their second child in May. Here was my inspiration, of course found on Pinterest. As you can tell from my color selection, they're having a boy. I went with an ombré effect. According to Webster's dictionary, ombré is described as "colors or tones that shade into each other" in case you were wondering.

I basically used 7 skeins of yarn starting at the darkest shade (navy blue) and working my way to the lighest shade (white). When one skein ran out I switched to the next one. Of course I only buy yarn on sale and of course I only buy Vanna's Choice. I used a simple single crochet stitch for the entire blanket starting with 150 chain stiches for the first row. It ended up being about a 3 x 3 ft blanket, perfect for a little baby.

I think this could be a great go-to when I need a great baby gift. 

Crochet Pattern: Beard

Oh boy I have been waiting a long time to post this fun pattern. I made this as a Christmas present so I couldn't share it with the world wide web in case that certain someone saw. Well I actually ended up making one of these for Joe and each of his brothers. One skein of yarn (I used Vann'as Choice like always) made about 4 beards.

This was my first attempt at reading a pattern. My experience with crochet has been just blankets and creating the size/style I wanted. This was considered a victory for me to master the pattern. Enough so that now I've made about 5 of these!

Crochet Pattern: Beard
Adapted from Mad Min

Abbreviations
ch: chain
sc: single crochet
sts: stitches

Size J hook

Start: ch 7
Row 1: sc in 2nd ch from hook and in remaining ch sts. turn (6sc)
Row 2: ch 1, *Bobble stitch in first stitch. sc in second stitch* repeat 2 times, turn (3 bobbles and 3 sc)
Row 3: ch 1, 2 sc in first stitch, sc across next 4 sts, 2 sc in last stitch, turn (8 sc)
Row 4: ch 1, *Bobble in first stitch, sc in second stitch* repeat 3 times, turn (4 Bobbles, 4 sc)
Row 5: ch 1, 2 sc in first stitch, sc across next 6 sts, 2 sc in last stitch (10 sc)
Row 6: ch 1, *Bobble stitch in first stitch. sc in second stitch* repeat 4 times, turn (5 bobbles and 5 sc)
Row 7: ch 1, sc across, turn (10 sc)
Row 8: ch 1,*Bobble in first stitch, sc in second stitch* repeat 3 times, turn (5 Bobbles, 5 sc)
Rows 9-22: repeat rows 7 & 8
Row 23: ch 1, decrease sc in first 2 stitches, sc across 6 sts, decrease sc last two sts, turn (8 sc)
Row 24: ch 1, *Bobble stitch in first stitch. sc in second stitch* repeat 3 times, turn (4 bobbles, 4 sc)
Row 25: ch 1, decrease sc in first 2 stitches, sc across 4 sts, decrease sc last two sts, turn (6 sc)
Row 26: ch 1, *Bobble stitch in first stitch. sc in second stitch* repeat 2 times, turn (3 bobbles, 3 sc)
Row 27: ch 1, sc across, turn (6sc)

Earloops:
Chain 20 (if you can measure on someone, even better). slip stitch to last stitch on Row 27 creating a loop for ear. Fasten off. Attach yarn to first stitch on Row 1. Chain 20 (or whatever you did on other side), slip stitch to last stitch of Row 1. Fasten off

Mustache:
Connect yarn to first Bobble stitch on Row 6 with a sc, begin crocheting a chain that will reach over to the opposite side snugly. ( I crocheted 10). Sc into first Bobble on Row 20 and then turn. ch 1, dc into first sc, dc into 3 chain sts, sc in next two ch sts, dc over last 3 chain stitches, dc into last sc, slip stitch next to last sc into beard. (10 dc, 2 sc) Fasten off and weave in ends.

Don't know what a bobble stitch is? Don't worry, I didn't either when I started this project. Just YouTube it and find a tutorial video on how to make that stitch. That's exactly what I did and it worked perfect. Surprisingly there is a ton of crochet tutorials on YouTube. Just search for them!

Remember these guys?

I also made a white beard and paired it with a Santa hat for a work Christmas party gift. I wish I had a picture of the person who won the gift, it was a huge hit. I hope to make more of those for next year. Thanks to my grandma I have a bunch of left over yarn and a good amount of white.

Large Granny Square Blanket

I shared my very first crochet project a while back. Even though this post is long over due, I still wanted to share with you my second crochet project. I guess when I start a project I go big. No messing around with small items, I must make huge blankets.

Anyways, I embarked on a project with a deadline. I wanted to make my future sister-in-law a blanket for Christmas. But instead of having Christmas Eve as a deadline, I had Thanksgiving as a strict date. Why you ask? Because we saw my brother and his fiance over Thanksgiving and knew we wouldn't see each other over Christmas. Plus it would be so much easier (and cheaper) to hand them the presents rather than mail then later. Can you believe Joe and I had all their presents bought and wrapped before Thanksgiving? No procrastinating in this house!

When I took crochet class (way back when we lived in Des Moines!) I bought a Vanna White pattern book. Crazy, I know, but I love it! The book it all about blankets and her yarn (Vanna's Choice) is the best. The colors are great and they blend together so easily. Anyways, I made one of the blankets from this book. It's basically a huge granny square using two colors of yarn together. It was nice to finish the project once I was out of yarn and not have to go back and stitch together multiple squares like I did with the Iowa blanket. That was just an extra step I didn't have to worry about with this project.

I used linen and taupe which really blend well together without being in your face crazy.

All together the blanket took 20 skeins of yarn. It sounds like a lot, but the blanket is really good sized (covering almost this entire bed) and is super heavy. Not too heavy though, just perfect. I really like this patten and will definitely use the method of 2 yarn colors together for future projects. I hope it keeps you warm Amy!

First Complete Crochet Project

Put this one in the books. I have officially completed my very first crochet project. Granted, this took me probably about 2 years to finally get put together. In my defense we did move to San Francisco for six months and I did not bring any yarn with me. We had to pack light, all right?

Anyways, I promised Joe a Hawkeye blanket ever since I took that crochet class back in Des Moines. You can see below this blanket consists of 63 individually stitched granny squares which were then all stitched together. Can't say this will be my best work, but I think it's pretty darn good for a first try. Oh and I also told Joe I never plan on using black yarn again, that was a pain!

Thank you Joe for being my model.

I'm happy to say I've moved on to my next project and can't wait to share!