My Beanie Pom Pom Hat

The last project in the Introduction to Tunisian Crochet I have been following on Craftsy was to learn how to knit and purl and in doing so produce a Beanie Hat with a Pom Pom.

The feedback from the students was that the pattern provided for the hat was a small one so I played around until I had enough stitches to make a comfortable fit for myself.

As the cast of chains was originally 58 stitches I increased mine to 72 for a 22" diameter. It was important to increase in multiples of 4 because of the pattern which consisted of a 2 pearl and two knit repeat.   

I used the same yarn that I used for the cowl so that I had a matching hat.  This was a caron cake and the colour label is Cake Pop.  It is a hand wash only yarn and 80% Acrylic and 20% Wool.  It is quite a thick yarn and perfect for a hat. I used a Tunisian Crochet Hook size 6. 

I started off the project Friday evening and it took a few false starts before I was producing the stitches correctly. I started a fresh the next day and had the project finished before midday on Sunday so it is quite a quick project to work up once you get going.  

I altered the pattern as I neared the end by starting to decrease  on the last 8 rows in order to have less bulk when gathering up the edge.  I am glad I did as it not only gave it some shape but I also have a hat shaped to fit my own head.

The finale was to sew up the side seams and gather up the long edge to pull it in.  I then made a pom pom using one of my largest pom pom makers and sewed this onto the top.

So here is the hat I made in a weekend!

Granny Square Blanket

Here is a grannie square blanket I started crocheting over the Christmas break and finished in the first couple weeks of February.  

I used Stylecraft Special DK yarn in black, red, white and pink.  Each square was made individually and then crocheted together in rows using the join as you go technique.  Bella Coco has a great video on YouTube you can follow here

When joining, start by laying out your first row of squares all facing up.  Start by taking the first square of the row (to your left) and crochet a border completely around it and then sew in your ends.  From this point on you are now going to join each new square to the one to its immediate left.  Bella will show you how to join the corners together in her video so be show to watch this.

Take the next square which will sit to the right of the first square you have just completed the border for and start crocheting around the side, top and then join the third edge to the first square along one side.  This leaves the bottom edge to crochet before you begin again.  Work like this to the end of this row and then lay out your second row making sure all squares are the correct way up.  Keep repeating the above until all the squares are joined.

I finished off sewing in all my loose ends before edging the blanket with three rows of double crochet and here is the end result.

Valentine Cards

It doesn't bother me that Valentine's Day is commercially driven as I like the fact it is a way of celebrating the love we hold for someone special in our life.  I therefore take pleasure in making Valentine Cards for this occasion and this year is without exception.

The dust cover of the Cameo Silhouette came off during the week and I spend an evening playing with my software and then cutting out my designs for this year's cards. 

After a couple of evenings work these are the cards I made:

Cushion Cover in Tunisian Simple Stitch

Now that I am confident crocheting the Simple Tunisian Stitch I got going on a project to replace a cushion cover in my favourite colour, turquoise. 

The cushion itself was an 18th inch cushion  and I started off with enough chains to match the width of this cushion.  I didn't allow more than 1cm of overlap as the cushion wasn't particularly dense so making it a tight fit would mean no sag and help plump up the pillow.

I designed this with ease in mind as I didn't want to have a zip or buttons as a closure.  I created the back panel larger than the front so that it overlapped the front.  I then sewed the overlap down onto the side seams.  At this point I had already joined all the other seams together with a crochet stitch.  I found it better to join the bottom seam first and then worked from the bottom edges up.  This way I knew it would be a perfect fit.

I spent the morning thinking how I could add a nice trim to the edge of the overlap and experimented with chains and clusters but wasn't happy with the outcome so ripping this out, I then added chains that I joined at intervals.  I then made some pompoms to tie onto the chains.  My smallest pompom maker by Clover made pompoms that were too large so I made use of my multipom  pompom maker and this produced much smaller pompoms for me which were the size I needed.

I have now finished my cushion and here it is.