Boho Crochet Hexi Cardigan

This is a hexi cardigan designed using a modified version of the stitch pattern from the Lazy Diamond Boho Pocket Shawl by Crystal White-Van Cleemput.

Toggles and twisted fringe added

I started out using a six-sided hexagon instead of a four-sided square, but other than that, the stitch sequence is identical to the pattern in the original design. I think this design lends itself well to the hexi cardi style, and I'm looking forward to being able to wear this because it's cozy and looks super cute in this Red Heart Super Saver Ombre yarn in the Anthracite colorway. 

Hexagon

The magic of the hexi cardi is what happens to the shape when you fold the hexagon in half: You instantly have the shape of half of a cardigan with a sleeve and half of the body.

Folded in half, plus extension rows on body edges

It's easy to crochet a hexi cardi shaped in a way that best fits your unique body. Begin by crocheting the two hexagons until they have enough rounds for the sleeves to easily fit around the widest part of your arms. If you still need additional rows to make the body of the cardi fit around your torso, you can add those rows later on the just center-back and center-front edges.

I suggest that you fold each hexagon in half and mark the edges that you intend to join across the top of the sleeve, then join those edges together before moving on to add any extra rows to the center-back and center-front edges. Sewing the sleeves closed first helps to make it easier to see which edges you should be adding to for extra width around the body.

Each hexagon is one-half of the cardigan, and the hexagons are joined at the center-back to create the cardigan.

Assembled, with extra length rows before adding pockets

If you want your cardigan to be longer, I suggest adding more rows to the bottom edge after joining the two halves together for a more polished finish. If you want to add pockets to your cardigan (and who doesn't love having pockets?!?!), wait to add those until you have finished adding any length to the bottom edge, to help ensure that you are able to position the pockets where they are most comfortable for you.

With pockets added

After completing those steps, you can then choose whether to add cuffs to the ends of the sleeves and/or whether to add a placket to the front edges. These cardigans can be worn without any fasteners, so you might not need to add a placket at all if you choose not to use buttons or a zipper on the front of your cardi.

I also added twisted fringe along the bottom edge using my handy Maple Quad End Fringe Twister from Etsy seller theknitstore. 

I debated whether I wanted to leave the front of my cardi open, but after my husband found a set of nice toggle closures (similar to these), I decided they would be a nice finishing touch.

I will be entering this project in our local fair this year.

Pen Pocket for my Doc

At my recent checkup, my doctor, who is an active duty officer in the Air Force, was complaining that she didn't have anywhere to carry her pen in her Class B uniform blouse. (The Air Force women's Class B uniform blouse doesn't have any pockets.)

My husband mentioned to her that when he's wearing a shirt without a pocket (which almost never happens anymore), he would clip his pen so that it was sticking out between the buttons in the front button placket. My doc thanked him for the suggestion but pointed out that wearing a pen that way would not only technically make her be "out of uniform," but that it also wouldn't sit as well on a woman (breasts, obvs). I included a random photo from the internet, below, to show (more or less) the way my husband was suggesting she could wear her pen, except that this picture doesn't show the pen's clip holding onto the front of the button placket the way my husband was describing.

My doc was wearing an ID lanyard, however, so the idea that popped into my head was to sew a pen pocket for her that could be attached to her lanyard and was made from a similar-color fabric as the light, almost baby blue of her uniform blouse (in the hope that the color would make it less conspicuous). The only way I would ever be able to exactly match the fabric color is if I were to buy a woman's Class B uniform blouse at the AAFES clothing sales and cut it up to use the fabric to sew the pen pocket. So I'm hoping that the fabric I used will be a close-enough match.

I asked her if adding a pen pocket like that to her lanyard would make her be considered to be "out of uniform," and she didn't think that it would, so we agreed that a pen pocket on her lanyard could maybe work for her.

I told her I would sew one for her and bring it to my next appointment (whenever that is! LOL! I don't actually see her very often).

After searching around online, I settled on this tutorial by Ashley Hough for how to sew an elastic bookmark, because the pen/pencil pouch portion of the tutorial was a close match to what I had in mind to give to my doctor. The only real difference with mine is that instead of sewing the pouch to the long loop of elastic, I added a button hole to the top flap for the lanyard's plastic loop to fit through. (This was the first time I'd ever used the button hole function on my new sewing machine, so that was exciting, too. I think it turned out pretty well and was a lot easier than the way I used to have to sew button holes.)

The finished dimensions are about 6.5 inches long by about 1.75 inches wide. It has two pockets, so it can hold two pens or one pen and one pencil. It was a quick and easy project and only required just a small amount of fabric. I also added featherweight fusible interfacing to the back of both pieces of fabric to help them hold their shape. 

I hope my doctor finds this little accessory helpful while she's on the job!

Tooth Fairy Pillow pocket lovey

This tooth fairy pillow is going to be a gift for my wonderful dental hygienist, Carra.

In recent years, I've developed awful sensitivity in my teeth from enamel damage incurred from grinding my teeth and/or clenching my jaw during sleep. I started wearing a mouth guard at night, but not until after the damage was already done.

Ever since my teeth were damaged, having dental cleanings done has been terribly painful, to the point where I even considered not going to the dentist at all anymore (yeah, of course, I know that skipping dental visits wouldn't have made my situation any better, obviously, but ugh). I even felt that I had to change dental practices because my previous dentist didn't seem to be sufficiently sympathetic to my pain and wasn't really working with me to follow a plan to manage it.

My new hygienist, Carra (and, really, the entire team at Dr. Shelton's), has been nothing short of AMAZING. Carra has been very sympathetic and gentle with me at every visit and always gives me and my teeth the most wonderful care.

I always try to profusely thank Carra each time I see her, to let her know how much I appreciate her wonderful "bedside manner," as it were, but in addition to saying thank you, I wanted to give her a small, tangible token to express my gratitude, and thus I went searching for a crochet tooth pattern that was both super adorable and also sort of representative of who she is in her career. To me, Carra is my personal tooth fairy angel! 👼

This free Tooth Fairy Pillow pattern by Heather Corinne Smith is just right in every way. (She also has a video tutorial you can follow.) The design makes a tooth softie/lovey of a nice size (mine is about 6 inches tall, not including the hanging loop, by 6 inches wide), and the kawaii embroidered facial features are just so cute. The pocket on the back (about 3.75 inches wide by 2.5 inches tall) is the perfect size for holding a Dutch Bros gift card and sticker to add an extra touch of sweetness to the gift. I finished mine by adding a bow made of a small scrap of hot pink ribbon (it was only about 8 inches long to start with, so it was barely long enough, but it worked!!) that I had in my stash and followed this quick tutorial on YouTube to tie it, then I carefully sewed it to the tooth using a needle and thread.

Back with pocket

This turned out so cute, and I think Carra is going to love it. So if you love your dental hygienist as much as I love mine, maybe you should make one of these for your hygienist, too!

Handy little earbuds pocket - free pattern

Here's a super-quick to make little pocket to help keep your wired earbuds wrangled and hopefully less tangled.

I keep a set of wired earbuds near my chair in the living room so they are handy whenever I want to listen to a video on my laptop or phone while my husband is next to me watching TV. That way I can listen to my thing without competing with the sound coming from the TV.

But the problem with wired earbuds is: How do you keep them neatly coiled and out of the way when you aren't using them? I would wrap the wire around my hand into a neat roll, but after I set it down, the wire would inevitably come unrolled and turn into a tangled mess.

So eventually I thought if I crocheted a little pocket to tuck my rolled-up earbuds into, it would hold everything together until I was ready to use them again.

You could make this with just about any yarn or hook size, but I used a worsted weight cotton (Lily Sugar 'n Cream Ombres in the Faded Denim colorway) and a 6mm hook. If you use lighter or heavier yarn, you would need to alter the stitch count to make a pocket that's approximately 2.5 inches in diameter at its widest point.

Setup: I started with a magic circle and worked in a continuous spiral (no joining at the end of rounds).

Row 1: 6 SC in magic circle. Use a stitch marker to keep track of the beginning of the rounds and move up when you start each new round. (6 SC)

Row 2: 2 SC in each st around. (12 SC)

Row 3: 2 SC in next st, 1 SC in next st. Repeat around. (18 SC)

Row 4: 2 SC in next st, 1 SC in each of next 2 sts. Repeat around. (24 SC)

Rows 5-6: 1 SC in each st around. (24 SC)

Row 7: Dec SC over next 2 sts, 1 SC in each of next 2 sts. Repeat around. (18 SC)

Row 8: Dec SC over next 2 sts, 1 SC in next st. Repeat around. (12 SC)

Row 9: SC in each st around. (12 SC)

Finishing: Sl in next st. Use an invisible join technique and finish off. Weave in ends. Enjoy your handy little earbuds pocket.