Crocheted Plush Cars Playnket

I had to wait to post this one since is was a gift for a one-year-old. I think it turned out darling.This pattern was on Facebook thanks to Lion Brand Yarn posting the picture, and I thought it was perfect for a toddler gift. I used all Caron Simply Soft yarn, my favorite yarn of choice. And the pattern is from Repeat Crafter Me's blog. She calls them Playnkets (Play mat and blanket).

She only has the road going through the middle of the blanket, but I thought it would be fun to add the road around the border to have a connecting road for the cars. Just keeping using the same single crochet, chain one pattern stitch as the rest of the blanket to add the road on the outside.

I did use her suggestion on simplifying the car pattern and close up the back early to only have the windshield. Since I was giving this to a one-year-old, I couldn't use buttons for the wheels, so I used black felt instead. I cut two circles of felt for the wheel, tied a french knot with the car-color yarn in one and then stitched the edges together so the tires didn't flop around and were stiff. Then you stitch only the top half of the wheel to the car body  so the bottom isn't folded under the car. The wheels took me longer than the car bodies to make, but patience won out, and they're very sturdy.

The gift was received with Ohh's and Ahh's, and as suggested,the perfect quiet toy for church.

Black and White Iced Pie Afghan

Here's a new one, a black and white quarter circle blanket using this pattern. Ice Pie Crochet square

It's an eight by eight square pattern with half blocks at the top and bottom. Yeah, you could probably do this with quilting, but you can't lug a sewing machine around with you. I used either Caron, Lion Brand or Bernat yarn, in the pound of yarn variety. I don't really know or remember which ones I used. I was using my yarn stash.

I also used the joining technique described on the site. She said it was supposed to lay flat, but I still have some ridges where I joined the squares, but the back of it is flat. I'm not sure where this blanket is supposed to go, hopefully somewhere nice.

Bavarian Stitch Crochet Blanket

I finally finished it...a year's worth of Sundays and a rush at the last two weeks before gifting it away to my sister-in-law for her baby shower. It's mostly Caron brand yarn, my favorite Simply Soft, and the white is the One Pound yarn (about 3 of them). This is the kind of blanket you make when you have a big yarn stash and want to cut it down, it uses a lot of yarn.

I had a picture in my head of what colors I wanted in it, and it turned out really big after I got all the colors in. That is hanging over the railing off my kitchen. It will probably drape really nicely off a twin size bed.

The pattern is a variation of a Catherine wheel stitch with the back post treble crochet in the tops of the fans that give you the diamond shaped ridges. The back is smooth and flat, and just as pretty. You work in the round and each color stripe is two rows. Here are the instructions to get you started, on Sarah London's blog for the Wool-Eater Blanket.

P.S. Sis-in-law loved it!

Crochet Entrelac Blanket

This is one of those past projects that I managed to get a picture before it was gifted as a baby present.

It's a Tunisian Crochet Entrelac blanket I made for a co-worker and her first baby. This is a Lion Brand pattern (Lion Brand: Crochet Entrelac), and I did use the LB Vanna's Choice yarn for this project. Probably about $60 worth of yarn if you have coupons. 

I thought it was a simple technique and a great introduction to Tunisian crochet since you don't need the long hooks for this blanket. Everything is stitched on a regular crochet hook. Be careful you don't miss a stitch. I think I had to unravel a couple rows twice because the stitches weren't lining up. 

My sister-in-law liked the pattern while I was working on it, and she wanted to make one for her friends. She used Caron Simply Soft yarn (One of my favorites), and it looks just as soft and plush as this one. 

Edit 8/31/14

My sis-in-law did take a picture of hers. I swiped a copy of it.

She managed to square off the ends, unlike mine which are points.