Simple Sachet Aromatherapy Set

An easy set to crochet with cotton yarn for bedside aromatherapy. I often have nasal congestion when I first lie down at bedtime, which can make it difficult to breathe, and thus to relax and fall asleep. I've found that using eucalyptus or peppermint essential oils can help make it easier for me to breathe, so I came up with the idea to crochet this aromatherapy sachet and stand set to place on my bedside table. (Actually, I use a CPAP machine at night, which I keep in a drawer of my nightstand, so I place this sachet a few inches away from the air intake of my machine, so the fragrance can reach it easily, and it works well.) You can somewhat control how strong the scent is by placing the sachet closer or farther away from you.

I will do my best to describe the process I used to create this, but please keep in mind that it's entirely possible that my descriptions and instructions might not make sense to you. I'm including photos of the finished items not only to show you what the finished product looks like, but also to help you visualize the steps you'll be doing along the way if you want to try to re-create my design. If my instructions don't make sense to you, please feel free to use my idea as a jumping-off point for your own creation that you make in whatever way that makes the best sense to you. Using just the sachet round by itself without the stand works just fine, too.

Materials: Cotton yarn, worsted weight (I used Lily Sugar n Cream in white), 5mm crochet hook, scissors, yarn needle 

For aromatherapy disc (worked in rounds, make 2):

Setup: Ch 4. Sl in 1st ch to join in a circle.

Round 1: DC 12 in circle. Join with sl in top of 1st st. (12 DC)

Round 2: 2 DC in each st. Join with a sl in top of 1st st. (24 DC)

Finish off and weave in ends but leave a long tail on one of the discs for sewing the two discs together.

Hold the two discs together with wrong sides facing and use a whip stitch or running stitch to sew the two discs together using the long tail. Finish off and weave in tail.

For base (worked flat, make 2):

Setup: FSC 12. Ch 1; turn.

Row 1: SC in each st across. Ch 1; turn. (12 SC)

Rows 2-5: Repeat row 1. (12 SC)

Finish by SCing evenly around all 4 sides, placing 2 or 3 SCs in each corner. Join with a sl to 1st SC. (Mine has about 40 SC all the way around.)

Finish off and weave in ends but leave a long tail on one of the bases for sewing the two bases together.

Before sewing the two base pieces together, work "stand" on the right side of one base.

For stand:

We are going to use a surface crochet technique to build a "stand" on the top of one of the base pieces; the stand will be where you can place the aromatherapy disc during use.

Stand foundation row: Place a slipknot on hook. Working into the spaces between stitches on the base piece, and staying about 3 stitches in from the edges, work surface SCs in the shape of the outline of a rectangle, placing 2 SCs in each corner. My sample ended up with 25 surface SCs in this foundation row. Join with a sl in the 1st SC. Now we will continue to SC rows on top of the foundation row in joined rounds to build the "sides" of the stand.

Rows 2-4: Ch 1. SC in the top of each SC from the previous row. Join with a sl in 1st SC. (About 25 SC in each round, depending on how many SCs you have in your foundation row.) Finish off and weave in the ends from the stand.

Now we will sew the two base pieces together. Hold the two bases together with wrong sides facing and use a whip stitch or running stitch to sew the two bases together using the long tail. Finish off and weave in tail.

Coasters in 316 Stitches - free pattern

I love this pattern for making coasters. They are very quick and easy to make. I made this set of four coasters all in one evening. The free pattern, Oval Table Lace Placemat and Coaster, is by Red Heart.

We needed a few new coasters for our breakfast nook table, and I thought this set made in Lily Sugar N Cream cotton in the Faded Denim colorway would look nice.

These coasters are made with a mere five rounds, and just for fun I counted up the total number of stitches as being 316 per coaster.

I also made these coasters back in 2012.

Soap Gripper free pattern

Back in August 2015 I was wanting to make a simple Soap Gripper to keep the soap from slipping out of my hand while bathing. For my first attempt I used a 6mm hook and some white Lily Sugar & Cream cotton yarn and came up with this:

 

 

This little sack is so well fitted to the bar of soap it contains, however, that it's actually difficult to generate suds with it while bathing. From this I have learned that some positive ease is a good thing in a soap holder.

 

The close fit does make it very easy to get a secure grip on the bar of soap, though. And if you're giving away a bar of soap (perhaps homemade?) as a gift, then this little holder is one way you can choose to present it.

 

I posted about this project on Ravelry and closed by saying that if anyone reading about it was interested in replicating the project, I would post my construction notes "below." BUT time went by, and, wouldn't you know it, before long I forgot all about posting my construction notes. And then I lost the little white Soap Gripper itself, so my ability to count its stitches and describe how it was made was also lost.

 

So today I tried to remedy that oversight by posting the following:

Well, I obviously forgot to add my notes here for how I made the white Soap Gripper shown in the photos. Sorry about that! I can tell from the photos that it was mostly worked in SC, and it looks like I started with a few chains at the closed end (to give it a more oval shape rather than working all the starting row of stitches into the center of a circle), then I ended with what appears to be a row or two of DCs alternating front-post and back-post for a ribbing effect at the open end. I can't tell for sure how many stitches around this was ... maybe 24. So if you want make one that closely approximates the white one in the top photos, I'd suggest you try these steps.

However, as I said before, it didn't take long for my husband and me to conclude that we prefer a tiny bit more positive ease in our Soap Grippers (to make lathering easier), and my husband also prefers a more open mesh (rather than the tight, closed fabric that the SC stitch gives).

So I've subsequently been making Soap Grippers for us as follows:

 

Using 100% cotton yarn, worsted weight (4) and a 5mm or 5.5mm hook. (The variegated blue yarn shown in my sample photos is Lily Sugar n'Cream Ombres in the Faded Denim colorway.)

Setup/round 1: In a magic circle, ch 1 then work the following stitches into the center of the circle (or chain 2 then work the following stitches into the second chain from the hook): 1 SC, 1 HDC, 6 DC. (8 stitches)

We will work subsequent rounds in a continuous spiral, without joining at the end of rounds, for a seamless appearance until the ribbing at the cuff. Use a stitch marker to keep track of the beginning of the round.

Round 2: 2 DC in each st. (16 DC)

Round 3: 2 DC in first st, 1 DC in next st. (2 DC in next st, 1 DC in the st after that.) Repeat from ( to ) around. (24 DC)

Rounds 4-9: DC in each st around. (24 DC)

To smooth out the edge: HDC in next stitch; SC in next st after that; SL in next st after that.

Now we will work some "ribbing" at the open end of the Soap Gripper. (These rounds are joined at the end.)

Round 10: Ch 2. FPDC in 1st st; BPDC in next st. (FPDC in next st; BPDC in next st after that.) Repeat from ( to ) around. Join with a sl to top of 1st st.

Round 11: Ch 2. FPDC in FPDC from previous row; BPDC in BPDC from previous row. Repeat around. Join with a sl to top of 1st st.

Finish off; weave in ends. Add a bar of soap and enjoy your new Soap Gripper.

 

For a slightly different looking mesh effect, instead of working stitches into the tops of stitches from the previous round, as directed above, you can opt to work stitches in between the stitches from the previous round.

These Soap Grippers are super quick and easy to make and are very useful to keep the soap from slipping out of your hand while bathing. After using, place Soap Gripper (with the soap still inside) on a soap drying rack and allow to dry. When your bar of soap is nearly depleted, add a new bar of soap and continue using. The Soap Gripper helps you to get every last bit of use out of your bars/slivers of soap, which is frugal and saves you money!

CPAP hose sleeve re-knit

A few years ago, I hand-knit a sleeve/cozy for the hose on my CPAP machine. It used one whole skein of Big Twist Sincerely Ombres in Gray Denim. I knit it flat on size 7 needles, then (without breaking the yarn) left a long tail and used a 5mm crochet hook to single-crochet the long seam together on the inside, which would make it easier for me to undo the work and reuse the yarn later if I decided to redo the hose sleeve, since that was my first attempt at knitting one.

It was around that same time when I first started hearing about the wonderful circular knitting machines like the Addi, Sentro, etc., and after spending some time studying what the machines could do, I was certain I could reknit this hose sleeve using a 22-needle machine. It would be a couple of years before I'd decide to invest in the Addi Express Professional, but that time finally came, and this is the first item I knitted on it.

I cast on with waste yarn for about 12-13 rows then started knitting with some Grey Heather Red Heart Super Saver. When I hand-knit the hose sleeve, it was only 17 stitches wide, and since the Addi has 22 needles, I wanted to be sure the reknit sleeve would be long enough, so I knit with the gray Red Heart yarn for 48 rows (about 11 inches). Then I changed to the Big Twist yarn and continued knitting. The counter read 358 rows when I stopped knitting with the Big Twist yarn and switched back to waste yarn for another 12-13 rows before casting off.

I had left a long tail (about 6 yards) before starting the Red Heart yarn in the machine. I used that long tail to pick up and SC in each stitch from the waste yarn on the cast-on end. Then I continued to SC in each stitch around in a continuous spiral (without joining at the end of rounds) until the yarn ran out. There was enough yarn for about 4 rounds of SC on that end. I finished off with the gray yarn and then removed the waste yarn from that end of the hose cover.

At the other end of the hose cover I had also left a long tail of the Big Twist yarn. I used that tail to pick up and SC in each stitch from the waste yarn. Then I chained 16 to form a long loop for the frame of my mask to slip through (to help hold the hose sleeve in place during use), then SC in the next stitch to join the loop to the edge of the hose sleeve, and SC in the next 10 stitches and chained 16 again for the second mask loop. I joined that loop with a SC in the next stitch and SC in all the stitches until I was back to where the first loop chain began. I put a SC in each chain of the loop, then continued with SC around the edge of the hose sleeve until reaching the second loop chain. I repeated putting a SC in each chain and then continued in SC along the edge of the hose sleeve until the yarn was about to run out and finished off there.

I think the extra stitches in the width of the Addi-knit hose sleeve will make it a little bit easier to put on and take off this version of the hose sleeve compared to my hand-knit version. These yarns are nice and soft (after machine washing and drying), so they make a nice hose cover.

Sack Saver Stuffie free recipe machine knitting

This is a quick, easy, and useful knit for storing extra used plastic grocery bags, which you can reuse later as trash can liners, etc. This Sack Saver Stuffie will keep your plastic bags neatly contained and stashed away until you need them. It has a hanging loop and an opening at each end for quick access to add/remove the bags.

Using the Addi Express King Size machine (or similar size) cast on with waste yarn and work for 5 to 6 rows. Drop the waste yarn and start working in the main color (I used Red Heart Super Saver in Neon Stripes colorway as my main color). Work 60 rows in main color, then drop main color and continue working in the contrast color (I used Red Heart Super Saver in Black as my contrast color). Work in contrast color for 60 rows; do not cut yarn. Drop contrast color into center of machine and continue working in waste yarn again for 5 to 6 rows. Cast off project from machine.

Gently stretch the project, then fold the contrast color side of the tube inside of the main color side of the tube so the cast on/cast off edges are aligned. Using a 5mm crochet hook, join the contrast color edge stitches to the main color stitches, alternating one stitch from each side until all stitches are secured all the way around. Pull the short tail from the start of the main color section through the last loop on your crochet hook to secure. Remove waste yarn.

Gently stretch the project a little more. Position the contrast color working yarn (still attached to its skein) to continue working around the edge you just used your crochet hook to secure. Being careful to work around two strands of yarn from the project for each stitch, SC around this edge of the tube (you should have 46 SC around). Join the end of the round of SC with a sl in the 1st SC. Ch 1. Holding a large ponytail elastic against the top of the round of SC stitches you just made, SC over the ponytail elastic and into the top of the SC stitches you just worked, placing 1 SC in each SC from the previous round. Continue all the way around to secure the ponytail elastic inside the crochet stitches. Join the end of the round with a sl in the 1st SC. Don't break yarn yet.

To make the hanging loop, ch 10 and sl to join the chain in the same st right beside where you started chaining. Sl into the next st over on top edge of tube, then turn your work and SC back over the 10 chains to make the hanging loop sturdier. Sl to the next st over from where you started making the hanging loop. Finish off with a secure knot. Hide yarn tails in between the knitted layers.

Turn the work so the folded/open end of the tube is facing you. Place a slipknot of the contrast color yarn on your crochet hook and (being careful to always work into two strands at the folded end of the knitted tube) join this yarn to the folded edge. Ch 1 and evenly work 46 SC around the folded edge. At the end of the round join with a sl to the 1st SC. Ch 1 and (as before) hold a large ponytail elastic against the top of the round of SC stitches you just made and SC over the ponytail elastic and into the top of the SC stitches you just worked. Place 1 SC in each SC from the previous round. Continue all the way around to secure the ponytail elastic inside the crochet stitches. Join the end of the round with a sl in the 1st SC. Finish off with a secure knot. Hide yarn tails in between the knitted layers.

All done! This Sack Saver Stuffie will easily store dozens of used plastic grocery bags.

Circle Hot Pad pattern - totally giftable

I consider myself a tight crocheter, but I did have to go down two hook sizes to match the designer's gauge on this Circle Hot Pad by Esther Thompson. As she said, gauge isn't very important for this potholder/trivet, but you do want to have a nice firm fabric to protect surfaces or your hands from the heat. This was very quick to make and is so cute and totally giftable. The Hobby Lobby Crafter's Secret Cotton in the Desert Gold colorway looks modern and chic. There is a free version of this pattern on the designer's website.

I added a hanging loop by chaining 10 at the end of the last round, slip stitching the chain to the trivet next to where I started chaining, then turning and working 20 SC's back over the chain. A 1-inch wooden or metal ring sewn to the trivet would also look nice as a hanging loop. 

There was also just enough of the main color (Desert Gold) left to make a coordinating 4-inch-diameter coaster in 6 rounds. I made it double-layered like the trivet, but for the coaster I slip stitched it together with the ivory yarn for a bit of contrast on the colorful side. 

The multicolored balls of this Crafter's Secret cotton are 57 grams, whereas the solid color balls are 71 grams. So, using the solid color as the contrast color for this project, you have enough of the solid color to make two trivets (if you don't use any to make a coaster, the way I did).

I gifted the colorful trivet set to my niece Renee, and I made another set to give to my sister Juanita in the Hobby Lobby Crafter's Secret Cotton in the more neutral-looking colorway called The City.

Quick and easy CPAP hose cozy

Knitting machines with 22 needles are the perfect size to knit cozies to cover a CPAP air hose. 

I didn't precisely count the rows on this project on the Sentro 22, but it's pretty close to 390 rows of knitting (about 72 inches) with a few rounds of SC (5.5mm hook) on each end for stability.

Red Heart Super Saver Neon Stripes colorway

I'll probably also add two straps with ends secured by small buttons at one end of the cozy so the straps can hold the wearer's mask end of the hose up close to the mask to keep the cozy from slipping down during use.

It only took about an hour to machine knit this piece. Attempting to knit the same thing by hand would have taken me weeks (and probably at least 12 hours) of work. So having a knitting machine available is a huge help to me for projects like this. I do love to hand knit (and there are lovely stitches you can hand knit that a machine like this will never be able to replicate), but I have chronic pain issues that severely limit how much hand knitting I can do.

**UPDATE**

I knitted another one of these using the Red Heart Super Saver Jumbo Stripes in the Bright Stripe colorway on my Addi 22, which has a row counter on it (hallelujah!!). On the Addi, I was getting about 5 rows per inch. At that gauge, it takes 360 rows to make a 72-inch-long tube, so that's how many rows I made the Bright Stripe cozy, plus leaving extra yarn at each end to crochet the edging and straps. (I forgot that I usually prefer to make the tubes more like 74 inches long to better fit the CPAP air hose ... so in that case the knitted tube should have been 370 rows. Mental note for next time!!)

Making a tube this long works best if you can mount your knitting machine on a table where the work can hang free down the middle, such as my Workmate table shown in the photos. Even at that height, I still had to tuck in the end of the tube for about the last 100 rows to keep it from dragging on the floor.

The mask-end straps are each 16 chains long, then slip stitch back across the chain to reinforce.

The colors are pretty similar between the Neon Stripes and the Bright Stripe colorways, but I think I like the Bright Stripe better because it doesn't have a black band in between every other color stripe. I guess whichever one would be better just depends on what you want your project to look like. They are both fun and funky colorways.

Little Rustic Pumpkin

Took me a while to get around to it, but I finally added the vines and stem. Pumpkin portion of pattern works up super quickly. This will be a lovely addition to fall decor around the house.

This is based on the free Little Rustic Pumpkin pattern by Rebecca Langford of Yarn and Chai. 

For the stem, using the green yarn, I FSC'd 22 then worked in continuous decreasing rounds (alternating SC, SC2tog) until 5 stitches were left. Then I SC'd in continuous 5-stitch rounds until stem was about the same length as a 12-inch pipe cleaner. I twisted two brown craft pipe cleaners together and threaded them into the slim cylinder of stitches to give coil-able structure to the pumpkin stem. I stitched the end of the stem closed then joined the yarn again at the base and worked some points onto the circle around the base of the stem. Stitched the triangle end of the stem to the top of the pumpkin and finished off. Voila!

 

Before adding stem

CPAP Hose II free recipe/pattern

Experimenting with another crochet CPAP hose cover design for 72-inch hose. My brother-in-law is new to using a CPAP and needs something to help make the experience more comfortable for him. This Red Heart Velvety yarn is super, super soft, but also machine washable/dryable, so it should work well.

Using 6mm hook, FSC 16 sts (about 6 inches long), then continue working in continuous rounds. I made the first round after foundation row in SC then switched to HDC to help the rest of the project grow faster. At my gauge two rows of HDC equaled about 1 inch in height. Working this way one skein yielded about 47 inches of tube, a little over half as long as I wanted, so I had to break into a second skein to reach the desired finished length.

I placed a marker to indicate when my tube had reached a length that was about half as long as the finished tube should be (for me this was after 2 rows SC plus 80 rows HDC). It’s important to measure the actual length of your work to determine where you’re at rather than to rely on row counts for length, just to make sure you end up with a finished tube that’s the right size. Once you’ve marked the halfway point, you can fold the tube at the marker as you work the second half to more easily figure the length of the second half. (At least for me this is easier than constantly using a tape measure to figure out where I’m at.)

Continue working until the tube you’re crocheting measures about 76 inches long. In my experience these hose covers work better if they’re a little longer than the hose itself. Switch to 5mm hook and finish with 4 rounds of FPDC/BPDC for a ribbing effect, then fasten off and weave in ends.

For better performance sew a couple of rows of silicone-striped grip elastic to the inside of the hose cover at the ribbed end (cut elastic to 3.5-inch lengths). This will be the end closest to the user. The grip elastic will cinch the cover against the hose, and the silicone grip will prevent the cover from slipping down the hose and away from the user. The whole point of using a hose cover is to keep the cold plastic away from the CPAP user. Well, that and a hose cover cuts down on air noise and prevents condensation buildup.

Placing the grip elastic at only one end also makes it easier to feed a fresh hose into the cover from the end without the elastic when it’s time to change the hose.

CPAP hose sleeve

This is my first attempt at making a CPAP hose sleeve. Even though this is a simple project I looked at some other similar projects to get ideas for how to go about it. I was originally thinking of knitting this seamlessly in the round but decided it would be easier for me to work this first one flat and seam it. 

This yarn and needle combination swatched at about 5 stitches/6 rows per inch. I'm using Big Twist Sincerely Ombres in the Gray Denim colorway and 4.5mm needles.

The CPAP hose end caps are about 3.5 inches in circumference at the widest point and the main hose tubing about 2.75 inches in circumference with a length of 72 inches (6 feet). 

Initially I cast on 15 stitches and worked in 2x1 ribbing for 24 rows/4 inches then switched to stockinette for the main body of the sleeve. But I decided I needed to add a couple more stitches to the sides to act as selvage for when I sewed the sides together to make the tube, so I ripped out what I had done and started over by casting on 17 stitches. The first stitch on each side would be a selvage worked in garter stitch. Again I did 24 rows/4 inches in 2x1 ribbing then switched to stockinette for the main body. I continued in stockinette (plus the selvage stitches) until the length measured about 68 inches, then I finished the other end with 24 rows/4 inches of ribbing.

To seam the length, without breaking the yarn I switched to a crochet hook, chained 1 and then single crocheted the length closed to form a long, thin tube. My thinking was in doing it this way it would be easy to "unzip" the seam and recover the yarn if I needed/wanted to redo this project later.

Simple Vertical Stripe Placemat free pattern

Just published on Ravelry: my new free crochet pattern for a Simple Vertical Stripe Placemat.



This super-easy project works up in just a few hours. I hope you will go check it out!

I made this one with Lily Sugar ’n Cream in Country Side Ombre, which gives the fabric almost an argyle plaid effect that I really like.