Mistake rib neckwarmer free pattern

I needed a Christmas gift for my honey's mother, and I thought a smart-looking short scarf like the Mistake Rib Neck Warmer pattern designed by StitchyMama would be just right.

This was my first time working in mistake rib, and I found that I really love the extra-soft, extra-stretchy properties of the stitch. StitchyMama's patter was very easy to follow, and the project was quick to finish.

Now I plan to make a vest for myself using mistake rib. :-)

SpongeBob child's hat free pattern

A friend of mine is going through a rough patch financially this Christmas season, and since her grandson loves SpongeBob, I went looking for a free pattern to make him a nice warm hat that looks like his favorite character.

I found this really great looking SpongeHat design by Ashley Phelps on Ravelry. I hope my friend's grandson loves this hat as much as I do!

I hate yarn splices

Minion hat

This minion hat is a work in progress (meaning that I still need to sew on the smile and some strands of hair), but I have to admit — I've never seen the movie, which is making it difficult for me to decide which grandniece or -nephew to give it to. 

Any of you out there who have seen "Despicable Me," do you think it would be OK to give a minion hat to a preschooler? Or would that be considered too "edgy" or something? Please advise! Thanks!

I followed the quick, easy, and free Minion Hat pattern by Elizabeth Mohsin, which is available on Ravelry.

Jughead beanie free pattern

If you are of a certain age, you might recall a comic book character named Jughead, who wore a distinctive cap with a flipped-up jagged brim that kind of looked like a crown.

Well, my daughter had a wild-n-crazy college roommate who was graduating and about to depart the apartment, and my daughter thought it would be great to give her roomie a couple of hats in a few wild-n-crazy colors that her friend liked. And I thought a Jughead-style crown beanie would be just the thing for a wild-n-crazy college grad to wear.

So after searching the 'net and learning a whole lot more than I ever realized there was to know about the Jughead beanie's iconic place in American history, I came upon this free crochet pattern, Prince Jughead, at Nik's Knots blog.

The free pattern is well written and includes a lot of helpful photos, but what makes it even more awesome is that Nik included instructions in her pattern to fit sizes from newborn to adult!

The pattern can be adapted in so many fun ways to suit both boys and girls (or men and women) of all ages and tastes. For example, below is a photo of how I adapted the pattern for the newborn grandson of one of my friends who happens to be a Pittsburgh Steelers fanatic. Crochet the beanie, add a button, and voila:

Read about the football hat to the left of the Jughead beanie here.

V-stitch Headband a favorite free pattern

I've actually made this pattern several times. It's a great headband with lovely texture, quick and easy to make. Love it.

BUT ... several years after I first discovered her lovely V-Stitch Headband pattern Juli Chu unfortunately at some point took down her blog and stopped sharing the pattern. AUGH!!!

I tried to send Juli a message through Ravelry to ask if she'd still be willing to share her pattern but got an error saying she had turned off the messaging system. So that was a dead end.

Then I wrote to Tim of manmadecreationz to ask if he might have saved a copy of Juli's pattern, since he has project pages on Ravelry showing that he had made the headband several times. Unfortunately I didn't hear back from Tim.

I even tried using the Internet Wayback Machine to see if it would recover the pattern page from Juli's blog, but no luck there, either.

It really distressed me to think I'd never be able to make this headband again, so I took it upon myself to reverse engineer Juli's pattern from one of the existing headbands I had made ... because I LOVE this headband, and I just didn't want to leave it behind forever. Out of all the eleventy-bazillion headbands I've made over the years, I only love the Chic Aran Headband just a tiny bit more than this one. So this one is still strongly in second place in my list of favorites, and I just had to find a way to make it again.
 

V-stitch Headband Re-created

5mm hook
Worsted/Aran yarn
V-stitch: In st indicated - DC, ch 1, DC.
 

Row 1: Starting with a long tail below your slipknot (you can use this length to sew the button on later), FHDC 3. Ch 1; turn. (3 HDC)

Row 2: 2 HDC in first st; HDC to end of row. Ch 1; turn. (4 HDC)

Row 3: 2 HDC in first st; HDC to end of row. Ch 1; turn. (5 HDC)

Row 4: 2 HDC in first st; HDC to end of row. Ch 1; turn. (6 HDC)

Row 5: 2 HDC in first st; HDC to end of row. Ch 1; turn. (7 HDC)

Row 6: 2 HDC in first st; HDC to end of row. Ch 1; turn. (8 HDC)

Row 7: 2 HDC in first st; HDC to end of row. Ch 1; turn. (9 HDC)

Row 8: 2 HDC in first st; HDC to end of row. Ch 1; turn. (10 HDC)

Row 9: 2 HDC in first st; HDC to end of row. Ch 2; turn. (11 HDC)

Now we will begin the V-stitch section.

Row 10: DC in first st; [V-stitch in next st; DC in next st]. Repeat [] to last st; DC. Ch 2; turn. (6 DCs and 5 V-stitches)

Row 11: DC in first st; [DC in next ch space from V-stitch in row below; V-stitch in next DC from row below]. Repeat [] until 2 sts remain; DC in last 2 sts. Ch 2; turn. (7 DCs and 4 V-stitches)

Row 12: DC in first st; [V-stitch in next DC from row below; DC in next ch space from V-stitch in row below]. Repeat [] to last st; DC. Ch 2; turn. (6 DCs and 5 V-stitches) 

Repeat rows 11 and 12 until headband length measures about 18 inches, then begin decreases to buttonhole.

I JUST CAN'T GET THE V-STITCH SECTION TO LOOK THE SAME AS JULI DID!!! CAN ANYONE PLEASE HELP?!? 😭

Crochet or errands?

Why go grocery shopping when I could be sitting here working on this lovely pattern? Siiigh!!! 🙁

Unfortunately, I did go grocery shopping right after snapping this photo. But at least the shopping only took about 40 minutes. My husband was on his way home from work at the time, so I didn't want to look bad when he got here (you know, coming home to a house devoid of stuff like milk and bread). LOL!

CozyTote TM tall - free pattern

I originally tried listing this pattern for sale at $1.99, but it wasn't getting many buyers, so now I have made it available as a free Ravelry download.

CozyTote™ helps you carry a full (covered) container of your favorite drink just about anywhere, spill-free. All it takes to carry your CozyTote™ and keep it upright is one finger. The CozyTote™ makes it easy to carry a beverage with you anywhere you walk – while shopping, hiking, etc.

This quick-and-easy pattern is designed to fit a popular coffeehouse chain’s venti size double-walled reusable container with straw, but it will work well with any approximately 9-inch tall covered cup that is about 3.75 inches in diameter at its widest point.

When made using an absorbent cotton yarn, the CozyTote™ also serves as a built-in coaster, absorbing condensation from your cup before the moisture reaches your tabletop.

Pattern is written using American crochet terminology and includes photos.

For now, you can download a PDF of the pattern for free via Ravelry. I may eventually add a PDF download link here if I can figure out how to do it (without using some third-party file hosting service, ugh).

On the cover

Hey! It only took me 6-1/2 months to notice that a Yarncraft by Susan hat (that's me!) made the cover of the Appeal-Democrat's annual "New Neighbors" special section gracing the sweet newborn head of Leticia and Eric's grandson, Jacob. *woo-hoo!* Go me! LOL 🙂

Yarn meme

*guffaw*

For Grammie Laura

My friend Laura and her family are Pittsburgh Steelers fans. Laura's first grandchild is expected to arrive in time for football season, so I made this set just for them! 💜

Getting mathematical with hats

I recently made the Brain Waves Beanie by Liz McQueen.

When reading her pattern, I found it interesting the way she included measurements for the diameter of the top of the hat at the end of each increasing round. (Most hat patterns only include the number of stitches you should have at the end of the round.)

Information about the diameter is important because when you stop increasing the size of the circle, that measurement will determine the circumference of the hat when you multiply it by Pi (as we learned in school with our friendly geometric formula: Pi times Diameter equals Circumference). And the circumference should correspond to the size of the head on the person you're making the hat for. Therefore, if the diameter of the top of the hat is about 7 inches across, then the finished hat will be about 22 inches around, because 7 times 3.14 equals 22 (in round numbers).

Alternatively, if you know the person's head circumference and want to determine your pattern from that measurement, the formula to tell you how large the diameter should be is Circumference divided by Pi. Therefore, if you want your hat to have a finished circumference of 22 inches, then 22 divided by 3.14 equals a diameter of about 7 inches.

This disc measures about 6.5 inches across (when laid flat; the edges are trying to curl in the photo), so that means if I stop increasing here, the finished hat will be about 20.5 inches.

Each round of (in this case) double crochet worked with a J hook using worsted-weight yarn is about .5 inches high, which means that each successive round adds about 1 inch to the diameter of the circle. If I add another increasing round to what I have in the photo (making the diameter about 7.5 inches), the finished hat circumference will be 23.5 inches. (A bit on the large size for most folks.)

Alternatively, if I made the same hat top using half-double crochet, the diameter size would be proportionally smaller.

When you factor in the differences in height that the various stitches have, plus how those stitches are affected by the weight of the yarn and the size of your hook, the potential combinations can be mind-boggling. Which is probably why pattern designers emphasize the importance of always working a test swatch before attempting a pattern.

Are you ready for some football?

Naturally, I had a reason for exploring conical shapes: Football season begins soon.

And here's another adaptation for the newborn grandson of my friend who is a Pittsburgh Steelers fanatic:

Read about the Jughead beanie to the right of the football hat here.

I made a matching rattle for the brown football hat by adapting Jessica DiPaolo's free Simple Rattle pattern with football stripes and top stitching.

I also added a matching bib to the Pittsburgh Steelers set. Too fun! I adapted the free Crochet Bibs pattern from the Yarnspirations site.

Conical comparison

I decided to try an exercise in making three different cone shapes with some yarn that's essentially throwaway stuff (ancient creslan fiber circa the 1970s -- in orange, no less).

I made each cone using the same pattern/number of stitches; the only difference between them is cone 1 is stitched in single crochet, cone 2 in half-double crochet and cone 3 in double crochet. Each one starts with 5 stitches at the peak and uses a standard increase through seven rows to end up with 35 stitches around at the base.

Another toddler cardi

I couldn't resist making a second cardigan and hat set for my grandniece. The cardi pattern is Crochet Baby Cardigan (formerly Abby's Jacket) and the hat is Flower Power Cap; both patterns are by designer Britta Graham.

These pieces are made with Lily Sugar-n-Cream cotton yarn in Panorama.

Infinite Granny Square Baby Blankie no pattern needed

This is a simple baby blankie made with ever-increasing rounds in a classic granny square cluster stitch pattern. You can make it as large or as small as you like. I stopped at 30 rounds, making the blanket about 40 inches square, then added a basic shell trim around the edge.

 I made the blanket as part of a set for my grandniece Morgan, with a matching cardigan and hat.

The cardigan is Crochet Baby Cardigan (formerly called Abby's Jacket), and the hat is Flower Power Cap, both designed by Britta Graham.

These pieces were made with Lily Sugar-n-Cream cotton in Kaleidoscope.

Wide headband free pattern

I got a hankering to make some wide headbands in crochet, and the first pattern I tried was the Nadie wide headband pattern designed by Susan Iacuone.

It has a nice open weave and closes with a button. I made this blue one in Lily Sugar-n-Cream cotton.

But this design also looks cute in this Mini Mochi yarn in the Intense Rainbow colorway.

Knit to crochet: Lost in translation

I'm a firm believer that some patterns are best suited to knit and some patterns are best suited to crochet.

If you are like me and generally prefer one technique over the other (in my case, if given a choice, I would always choose to crochet a piece and only resort to knitting as a last resort).

But sometimes it's fun to take an attractive pattern that was designed in one technique and attempt to translate it to the other technique - for example, to take a pattern designed for knit and translate it into crochet.

That's what I recently attempted to do with Adela Illichmanova's lovely and unique Capucine hat, which she designed for knit. (The following samples were made with Lily Sugar'n Cream Cotton from 14-ounce cone in 02178 Potpourri.)

I worked up her basic pattern (meaning just the hat portion without adding the finishing tassels).

However, translating from one technique to another does not always yield the desired result - or if it does, sometimes it requires more than one attempt to be successful, as we will see here.

As I was working, I could tell that what I was crocheting was going to turn out to be far too small to fit an adult's head, and by the time I was about halfway through with the ridged portion, I could see what my piece was becoming: My first attempt to translate Adela's knitted Capucine design into crochet resulted in what I can only call a girl's pioneer-style sunbonnet. (And probably in a toddler girl's size at that.) So I finished it up by adding some chin ties and will pass this first translation "failure" along to one of my grandnieces for dress-up playtime. (Of course, it really isn't a "failure" if you end up with something usable, eh?)

But there is definitely a big difference between the knitted Capucine hat (left) and my first attempt to translate it to crochet (right).

Now back to the drawing board to try again! That's the fun part.

Friends on Ravelry

Are any of my friends on Ravelry, and if so, how do I find you there???

It seems that some people really get into the site, but it's taking me a while to figure it all out. As far as social networking goes, Ravelry is lacking a feature that many other social sites have: the option to search your email contacts for other site users (whom you would already know, obviously).

If you're seeing this blog post and you want to add me to your Ravelry friends, here's a link to my profile page: https://www.ravelry.com/people/booniesangel

Go to my page and click the little button to add me to your friends! 💜

Simple Mesh "Fishbowl" Project Tote with Bamboo Handles free pattern

Crochet pattern by Susan Benitez. Copyright 2012. All rights reserved. Pattern may not be sold or duplicated in any form. The written instructions, templates and illustrations are intended for personal, non-commercial use only.

Gauge: 

Gauge is not critical to this project.

Abbreviations used:

ch - chain

dc - double crochet

sc - single crochet

sl - slip stitch

st - stitch

yo - yarn over

Special stitch used:

dc2tog: To perform this stitch, yo, insert hook into next st, and pull up a loop. Yo and pull through first 2 loops. Yo, insert hook into next st, and pull up a loop. Yo and pull through first 2 loops. Yo and pull through all 3 loops on hook. Results in dc decrease by 1 st.

Materials list:

Crochet hook 5.5 mm (US size I)

Worsted weight cotton yarn, 2 balls (50 g each); sample was made using Lily Sugar-n-Cream
Pair of bamboo-style circular handles, 6-inch diameter

Notes:

Tote is worked in the round starting at the bottom. With the exception of the final round of the project, do NOT turn your work after you join the end of each round; continue working the following rounds in the same direction. For the FINAL round, when you join the handles, you will turn the piece and work because it results in a neater appearance on the outside (right side) of the tote.

Round 1

Ch 3. Work 11 dc in third chain from hook. Join round with sl at top of 1st dc. (11 dc made.)

Round 2

Ch 2 (does NOT count as 1st dc here and throughout). Work 2 dc in same st as ch 2. Work 2 dc in each stitch around. Join round with sl at top of 1st dc. (22 dc made.)

Round 3

Ch 2. Work 2 dc in same st as ch 2. Work 1 dc in next st. Work *(2 dc in next st; 1 dc in next st). Repeat from * around. Join round with sl at top of 1st dc. (33 dc made.)

Round 4

Ch 2. Work 2 dc in same st as ch 2. Work 1 dc in next 2 st. Work *(2 dc in next st; 1 dc in next 2 st). Repeat from * around. Join round with sl at top of 1st dc. (44 dc made.)

Round 5

Ch 2. Work 2 dc in same st as ch 2. Work 1 dc in next 3 st. Work *(2 dc in next st; 1 dc in next 3 st). Repeat from * around. Join round with sl at top of 1st dc. (55 dc made.)

Round 6

Ch 2. Work 2 dc in same st as ch 2. Work 1 dc in next 4 st. Work *(2 dc in next st; 1 dc in next 4 st). Repeat from * around. Join round with sl at top of 1st dc. (66 dc made.)

Round 7

Ch 2. Work 2 dc in same st as ch 2. Work 1 dc in next 5 st. Work *(2 dc in next st; 1 dc in next 5 st). Repeat from * around. Join round with sl at top of 1st dc. (77 dc made.)

Round 8

Ch 2. Work 2 dc in same st as ch 2. Work 1 dc in next 6 st. Work *(2 dc in next st; 1 dc in next 6 st). Repeat from * around. Join round with sl at top of 1st dc. (88 dc made.)

Round 9

Ch 2. Work 2 dc in same st as ch 2. Work 1 dc in next 7 st. Work *(2 dc in next st; 1 dc in next 7 st). Repeat from * around. Join round with sl at top of 1st dc. (99 dc made.)

Round 10

Ch 2. Work 1 dc in same st as ch 2. Work 1 dc in each st around. Join round with sl at top of 1st dc. (99 dc made.)

Rounds 11-18

Repeat round 10.

Round 19

Ch 2. Work 1 dc in same st as ch 2. Work 1 dc in next 6 st; dc2tog. Work *(1 dc in next 7 st; dc2tog). Repeat from * around. Join round with sl at top of 1st dc. (88 dc made.)

Round 20

Ch 2. Work 1 dc in same st as ch 2. Work 1 dc in next 5 st; dc2tog. Work *(1 dc in next 6 st; dc2tog). Repeat from * around. Join round with sl at top of 1st dc. (77 dc made.)

Round 21

Ch 2. Work 1 dc in same st as ch 2. Work 1 dc in next 4 st; dc2tog. Work *(1 dc in next 5 st; dc2tog). Repeat from * around. Join round with sl at top of 1st dc. (66 dc made.)

Round 22

Ch 2. Work 1 dc in same st as ch 2. Work 1 dc in next 3 st; dc2tog. Work *(1 dc in next 4 st; dc2tog). Repeat from * around. Join round with sl at top of 1st dc. (55 dc made.)

Round 23

Ch 2. Work 1 dc in same st as ch 2. Work 1 dc in each st around. Join round with sl at top of 1st dc. (55 dc made.)

Round 24

Repeat round 23.

Round 25

Ch 1. Work 1 sc in same st as ch 1. Work 1 sc in each st around. Join round with sl at top of 1st sc. (55 sc made.)

Round 26

Ch 1 and TURN. *(Hold 1 bamboo handle against the inside of the tote with the top of the handle in line with the top edge of the tote. Work [2 sc in each st] 7 times over bamboo handle; sl in next 21 st.) Repeat from * with second bamboo handle. Sl to join end of round.

Fasten off. Weave in ends and enjoy your new tote!