Combining patterns to make you stretch your crochet muscle

When you are first learning how to crochet, it feels like you have to stick to the easiest of patterns.  As you gain confidence, you may try more complicated designs.  I completely remember the first time I made the Divine Hat on Ravelry, the Flower Newsgirl Beanie by Polka Dot Posh, and the One Skein Lap Throw.  I felt fancy.  In retrospect, those patterns weren't too complicated, but there was counting involved and paying attention to how to place the hook to create the right stitch.  The best part was how accomplished I felt.

At some point, you gain enough confidence to start  playing.  By playing I mean going off the pattern or combining patterns.  I've been doing that for a while now; using one stitch for the body of a blanket and two or three border patterns to create something unique for the border.  It was pillow slip covers that really got me trying different things.  I made a flower pillow that combined a flower crocheted in the round, a pattern to change the round shape into a square, and then Cherry Heart's cushion back tutorial to finish up the slip cover.  I've written about the pillows here.

You can do this, too!  I've used Pinterest to collect a bunch of different patterns I like and thought about ways I could combine them.  One night, I found myself with quite a bit of yarn left from a Lacy Trellis blanket and thought I might try some of the patterns I had been pinning.  I love Dada's Place Primavera flower square and knew that I wanted to try it out.  Once I made one, I was hooked!  I made three more without even noticing how far I had gotten.  Then, after staring at the squares and wondering how I wanted to combine them, I went back to Pinterest and found a pin I had for a simulated braid join.  With a giant square created, I decided to turn it into a pillow.  I used a simple pattern to create stripes across the back and used Cherry Heart's cushion back tutorial to create the overlapping pieces for my pillow slip cover.

The result of all this experimentation and combination is this pillow.

From the front!

From the back.  Buttons hold the overlapping pieces together to secure the slip cover.

I'm in love with this pillow.  It will go perfectly with the blanket I made and it is seriously cheery.

Why don't you try something like this?  Pick two or more patterns you like and try combining them in a different way to make something unique.  It will stretch your crochet skills and make you feel super accomplished.  If you blog about them or post pictures somewhere, I hope you will share them!

Ginormous Flat Detachable Flower Pattern - FREE

I like GIANT flowers.  The bigger, the better!  You may have noticed this flower on my favorite poncho.

That's a GIANT flower.  Trust me.

You can make one of these too with some worsted weight yarn, a hook, and a button!

Supplies:

• Worsted Weight yarn
• I or K hook (make sure your hook is one or two sizes larger than what the yarn calls for)
• medium size button
• tapestry needle

Pattern:

Row 1: Begin with a magic circle.  Chain 2 and crochet 12 HDC.  The chain 2 does not count as a stitch.

Row 2: Chain 1, 2 SC in each stitch around. Slip stitch to the top of the first SC to close.

Row 3: Chain 1, SC in the next stitch, chain 2, skip 1 stitch, SC in the next.  Continue around.

SC in the next stitch after the join.

SC, ch 2, skip 1 stitch, SC in the next.

Slip stitch to first SC to finish final loop.

Row 4:  To form each petal, 1 SC, 2 HDC, 1 DC, 2 HDC, 1 SC in each loop around.

First petal

Continue the pattern for each petal in the loops around.

Your petals may begin to fold and ruffle because we are putting so many stitches in small loops.

At the end of the round, remove your hook and insert in it through the marked stitch from the BACK of your work.

Pull the loop through the stitch to the back of the flower.

Turn your flower.  The rest of the flower will be made on this side of the flower.

You may be wondering why we are flipping the flower.  If the petals keep going the same direction, they will sit inside one another and not give us the depth that we are looking for.  To cause the flower petals to push forward, we flip the flower and the new petals will be made in a different direction.

Row 5:  Chain 1, 2 SC in the next stitch, 1 SC in the next.  Continue around.

2 SC in the stitch from the previous row that falls between the posts of the loops.

Continue with 2 SC, then 1 SC around.

Slip stitch to the top of the first SC to complete the row.

Row 6: Loop Row.  Chain 1, SC in the next stitch, chain 3, skip 2 chains, SC in the next.  Continue with chain 3, skip 2 chains, SC in the next around.  Slip stitch into the first SC of the row.

Row 7: Petal Row.  1 SC, 2 HDC, 2 DC, 2 HDC, 1 SC in each petal around.

If you flip your flower over at the end of the row, you will see that the new row is pushing the first row forward.

Row 8:  Finish Row 7 by slip stitching into the SC from the first loop in row 6.

Then, crochet 1 SC in each stitch from row 5. Join to the first SC to complete the row.


Row 9: Loop Row.  Chain 1, SC in the next stitch, chain 3, skip 2 chains, SC in the next.  Continue with chain 3, skip 2 chains, SC in the next around.  Slip stitch into the first SC of the row.

Row 10: Petal Row.  1 SC, 2 HDC, 3 DC, 2 HDC, 1 SC in each loop around. At the end of the row, slip stitch into the SC at the base of the loop to bring the yarn down for the band.

Band:  

Row 1: Beginning with the SC at the base of the loop from Row 9, 1 SC, 1 SC in each of the next two stitches, 1 SC in the base of the next loop from Row 9. Slip stitch into the next stitch to secure the base of the band.  Chain 1, turn.

There are 4 stitches from the base of one loop to the base of the next.

Slip stitch into the next stitch to secure the base of the band.

Rows 2-8: 1 SC in each stitch across (4 SC), chain 1, turn.

Continue rows of SC until your band measures across the back of the flower.  Stop when there is about 1/4 inch left between the end of the band and the side of the flower.

Stop SC rows when the band reaches almost to the other side when laid flat.  There should still be about 1/4 inch space left.

Form the loop: To form the loop for the button, chain 4, slip stitch into the last SC of the row. Fasten off and weave in ends.

Next, take the tail left from the original MC and weave it over to the side of the flower opposite the beginning of the band.  Use this yarn to fasten on the button.

Weave the yarn from the center over to the side opposite the base of the band.

Use it to attach the button.

Slip the loop over the button.

Optional: if you like the center of your flower to have more of a decoration, you can sew on any button or other decoration.  As the petals push the previous rows forward, the center may be slightly visible.

The first row of petals can be scruched inward to cover the center or you can attach a button.

This flower can be attached to any piece that has space for you to slip the band through!

Use it to secure a shawl.

Decorate your favorite hat!

You can save this pattern to your Ravelry queue here:  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ginormous-detachable-flower

Enjoy!

Making removable flowers for your hats and cowls

You know what's frustrating?  Making a flower for a hat and loving it enough to sew it onto the hat only to wish you could replace it later.  I have a lovely black hat that I sewed a turquoise flower onto and I love it, but the other day, I really wanted the flower to be pink. Really wanted it to be pink.  Short of making an entirely new hat or cutting the turquoise flower off, I really did not have an alternative.

Many designers have come up with different ways to make flowers removable.  Some attach flowers to alligator clips and clip them on.  This idea could work, except I don't like the way the alligator clip makes the flower sit on the hat.  I also worry that the flower could fall off too easily.  Not to mention how do you wash it?  By hand? Other designers have created flowers with a hole in the center of the flower that allows them to slip a button through it.  They attach the button to the hat and then flowers can be slipped on over the button.  I've browsed through many of those patterns, but never found one that allowed for the flexibility of the type of flower.

I set out to see if I could make the button idea work.  I like really big flowers, so I tried several different types and designs to see what would happen.  I think I made 6 or 7 flowers, none of which sat right when I completed them.  The hole I needed to leave for the giant button just was strange and I had to use a color that would work with every flower I might want to attach.  That's harder than you think.  Frustrated, I set the whole thing aside.

And then, one day, while I was sitting in traffic, I had an epiphany. I was going about this all the wrong way.  To truly make this work, I needed the flowers to be able to attach themselves to any crocheted hat.  The alligator clip would not work and a button through the middle would not work, but what if I combined the two ideas? What if I crocheted a short band on the back of the flower and attached a small button?  The band could go through the hat and attach to the button on the back of the flower.

Excited, I started working.  I made some basic flowers and on the back, I made the bands, keeping them short so that the flower would be snug against the hat. I attached a small button and grabbed one of my hats.  And then this happened:

My first flower with the new attachment!

(Why am I not wearing earrings?  Noted for next time!)

Do you see how pretty it looks?  Here are some other views:

The flower is slipped through the crossed DCs!  I practiced moving it around and it fit perfectly every time.

Here is what the flower looks like from behind:

Small flap with button on the back of the flower.

Here is another one I made!

I know.  The flower is ginormous!

To date, I've made 10 of these flowers with different patterns.  I just love them and I love how quickly they work up.  I could keep making them for the foreseeable future!

Would you like to try to make one yourself?  Stay tuned for the pattern coming soon!

Spiral Flower Pillow Pattern - I'm a Crochet Ninja

A friend of mine called me a Crochet Ninja.  She has determined that there is nothing I can't figure out by looking at a picture and testing what I think works.  There's this pillow pattern on the Herrschners website.  It is called the Vintage Rose Pillow pattern.  It is beautiful.  This is the link, but it may or may not work.  Herrschners has done something with its website that messes with urls. Anyway, I am fascinated by this pillow pattern.  Rather than be individual rows of petals like my other pillow pattern, the design is a spiral and the petals spiral out from the center.  It is actually quite beautiful.  However, I'm not really interested in paying $19.99 for the kit,  even if it does come with the yarn.

So, I started testing. First, I crocheted a circle in spiral form.

Row 1: Magic Circle with Chain 2 and 12 DCs. Do NOT join.
Row 2: Starting in the top of the first DC from Row 1, in back loops only 2 DC in each stitch around. (24 DCs)
Row 3: In the back loops only, 2 DC, 1 DC, repeat around. (36 DCs)
Row 4: In the back loops only, 2 DC, 1 DC, 1 DC, repeat around (48 DCs)
Row 5: In the back loops only, 2 DC, 1 DC, 1 DC, 1 DC, repeat around (60 DCs)
Row 6: In the back loops only, 2 DC, 1 DC, 1 DC, 1 DC, 1 DC repeat around (72 DCs)
To finish my test, I did 2 DC in the next stitch, 1 HDC in the next stitch, 1 sc in the next stitch, a slip stitch in the next.  Fasten off and weave in ends.

Then, starting with the loops at the center of the circle, I made 2 HDC in one stitch, 3 DC in the next and repeated around the spiral for 2 rounds. Then I switched to 2 DC in one stitch, 3 DC in the next for the remainder of the spiral. The key to this pattern is that the petals are not too wavy, so 3 DC in every stitch is too many and makes the petals too wavy.  2DC then 3 DC seems to be the perfect combination.

I'll post pictures when I get some more yarn. I ran out of the color I was using.  :(

Hats with Baby's First Yarn by Lion Brand

The other day, I was buying yarn for some cowls I am making and I ran across a new yarn.

Lion Brand Baby's First Yarn

Lion Brand Baby's First yarn comes in 8 colors, all baby colors, but it is a really wonderful yarn.  A size 5 bulky weight yarn, it feels like someone took t-shirts and made yarn out of them.  So lovely.

I have a coworker who is having a baby girl in March and another coworker who is having a baby boy that same month.  I bought some pink (fairy tale) and some blue (splish splash) and started looking for patterns.  Alas, no one has thought to design patterns specifically using this yarn.  So, I winged it.

The first hat I made is probably more of a 6-9 month size than a newborn size.

K Hook (join each row)
Row 1: Magic Circle and make 8 HDC.
Row 2: Chain 1, then 2 HDC in each stitch around (16 HDC)
Row 3: Chain 1, then 2 HDC, 1 HDC repeat around (24 HDC)
Row 4: Chain 1, then 2 HDC, 1 HDC, 1 HDC, repeat around (32 HDC)
Row 5: Chain 1, then 2 HDC, 1 HDC, 1 HDC, 1 HDC repeat around (40 HDC)
Row 6-11: Chain 1, then 1 HDC in each stitch around (40 HDC)
Row 12: Chain 1, skip 1 stitch, in the next stitch 5 HDC, skip 1 stitch, slip stitch in the next, repeat around (10 scallops around)

I was amazed to find that I still had yarn left, so I made a second hat.  This one I wanted to make sure would  fit a newborn.

K Hook (join each row)
Row 1: Magic Circle and make 8 SC. (8 SC)
Row 2: Chain 2,  then 2 DC in each stitch around (16 DC)

Row 3: Chain 2,  then 2 DC, 1 DC repeat around (24 DC)
Row 4: Chain 2,  then 2 DC, 1 DC, 1 DC, repeat around (32 DC)
Row 5-7: Chain 2,  then 1 DC in each stitch around (32 DC)
Row 8-10: Chain 1, then 1 SC in each stitch around (32 SC)

I still had yarn left, so I decided to make some embellishments. The heart is the one I used for my Heart Necklace pattern.  The flower is a new pattern I created today.

Flower:
Row 1: Magic Circle and make 6 SC, join. (6 SC)
Row 2: Chain 1, 2 HDC, chain 1, slip stitch all in the same stitch. In the next stitch, 2 HDC, chain 1, slip stitch. Repeat around. (makes 6 petals)

What I love most about this yarn, other than how soft it is, is how beautifully it shows the stitches used.  Often yarn hides the texture of the stitches, but this yarn highlights them.  I'll definitely use it again!

My Flower Pillow Pattern

Here it is!  My pillow pattern.

If you make a pillow using my pattern, I hope you will share the link in the comments!  Enjoy!

A Tale of Two Pillows

I love the cushion I made using Lucy's pattern from Attic24.

It's colorful happiness makes me so happy.

But the petals bother me.  They fold forward and don't really sit right.  I don't know why.  I suspect it may be due to an extra stitch between each of the petals.

A friend of mine asked me to make a pillow for her and I started one with Lucy's pattern. She wanted brilliant happy colors for her pillow and chose pink, turquoise, light green, purple, yellow, and aqua.  You can see that the pattern starts great in the center, but as it spreads out toward the ends, the petals flatten out and start doing strange things.

I ended up turning the circle into a square to create a square pillow.  For the back, I used Cherry Heart's back of cushion tutorial to create a fabulous back. The back is literally crocheted to the front panel about 3/4 of the way and then the second part is crocheted from the other end.  My friend asked for a lot of pink in the pillow, so I made the majority of the back the lovely bright pink color.

By the way, did you notice my birthday present to myself?  Isn't my new purple polka dot hook beautiful??

The color is a little off, but this is what the back looks like.  I just need to add the buttons and it is finished!

When I finished this pillow, I wondered if my original flower pillow pattern wouldn't work better.  So, I used my remaining yarn and created this pillow.

My version has a different way of increasing the circle and has one fewer stitch between petals.  Here's a view from above.

See how even the petals are?  They stay nice and loopy and don't flatten out as you get to the outside.  Now I just need to write up a pattern so that I never forget how I made this happy flower!