Weathered Glory Patriotic Afghan free pattern

It shouldn’t have taken me five months to crochet this afghan (the virus pattern is usually quick and easy to make) , but I suffered a terrible tendon flare in the elbow of my dominant arm when I was about 80 percent done with the blanket and it took me several months to get back to working on it. Sigh! Anyway, at least it’s done now. Made this in colors to coordinate with the decor in our guest room.

Linked below is a great free video tutorial by Jonna Martinez that details how to make the virus blanket.

Changing yarn

Doggone, I HATE IT when yarn manufacturers change the character of a yarn but try to pass it off as the same color. I bought the original version of this blue just six months ago, but when I went back today to get one more skein to finish my project, this is what it looks like now. Argh.

Of course, I'm going to look around online to see if I can find another skein of the old blue somewhere. If I continued with this the way it is it would drive me crazy. LOL If I can find another skein of the old blue I'll go with that. But if not then I'm going to have to rip back this entire blue stripe and make it entirely with the new blue.

The old and the new versions of this blue even have the same frickin barcode. Sheesh!!! 😅 But, yes, I do see that the date codes are different, and the company probably considers that to be equivalent to dye lot coding.

The Third Loop Reversible Messy Bun Beanie

Extra long for a bit of slouch and stretchy with good coverage for ears. The "right" side looks knit while the other side resembles garter stitch.

[I'm placing this post here as a placeholder to remind me to write up this pattern!]

Kinderspiel or Seamless Kitty Cat Hat free pattern

Here's a pattern that will add a bit of fun to your day.

I'm calling it Kinderspiel because that means "child's game," but the real name given to the pattern by its designer, Valerie Johnson, is Seamless Kitty Cat Hat.

Not only could this be a wonderfully warm hat/hood to keep you or your little one's head and ears warm on a blustery winter day, but the built-in ears would make this a great addition to a homemade cat costume. 😻

I wanted to make this large enough to fit a bigger child or adult so I deviated from the pattern by starting with a cast-on of 96 stitches.

Chic Aran Headband free pattern

I made this Chic Aran Headband to keep my ears warm. The pattern by Kinga Erdem is free on her blog at My Hobby Is Crochet! (Big cat ears not included. Bah-ha-ha.)

I would say this is an intermediate-level pattern because of a couple of techniques it utilizes: crossed stitches and yarn-over slip stitches. But once you get a feel for these techniques, the pattern itself is quite easy and intuitive.