crochet projects galore

I have been in crochet mode lately.

A friend asked me the other day when I find time to crochet.  The truth is that it is hard to find time to just crochet, but since crocheting is so relaxing for me, I use it as a tool to help keep calm during high stress activities like listening to my kids read or playing Rook.

You think I'm kidding, don't you?

I'm not.  Really!

All jokes aside,  I thought I would share some of the things I've been working on lately.

First up are the dishcloths.  Most of these will probably end up as gifts, though I may save a few for my own use.  Some of them are actually thick enough to use as a hot pad or trivet.

These two are simply granny square dishcloths with a pretty edging.
The pattern came from a dishcloth pattern book I found at Walmart.
The original pattern called for dark blue, white, and yellow, but I like this
sunny variation as well.

This is my new favorite pattern and I absolutely love this color,
though it won't work well as a dishcloth because the color fades too easily.
It actually dyed my fingers as I worked with the yarn!  I do love how
it turned out, though, so I plan to use it as a trivet. 

I was playing around with stripes on this one and I think it turned out cute.
The little round thing is made out of Scrubbie yarn,
which is kind of like a rough ribbon.
I have only found it at Michael's and it was pretty expensive,
so I won't be doing it often.

This is the new pattern in the same sunny colors as the granny squares.
I thought that these three together would make a nice wedding gift.

 The other thing I have been busy making lately is scrunchies.  I have been making these for awhile and I think I have probably blogged about them before, but since I have learned more about crocheting, I have added to the patterns I use for these and have even come up with a couple of patterns of my own.  I also decided (since my hubby asked) to see how many I could get from one ball of yarn.  My test is a little imprecise because I didn't make them all by the same pattern, but the answer is nine and a half (you'll see what I mean by that in the pics).

This is the first scrunchie pattern I learned ... it is simply single crochets around a
pony-tail holder and then chains and single crochets.

This was the first pattern I came up with myself.  It is simply treble crochets
around the pony tail holder.  These are probably the fastest ones to make.

A sampling of the ones I've done ... the one in the bottom right corner is another
one I came up with ... double crochets for the first round and then scallops for the
second round.  You can't tell it here, but it looks kind of like a flower.

Here are all the scrunchies made from the single ball of yarn.  The little ball of
yarn on the bottom is all I had left when I finished.

Most of these scrunchies will probably end up in shoe boxes.  LB has already claimed one and she likes to give them to her friends, but my intention is to use them for our church's shoe box packing party.  And since I can get approximately 10 scrunchies out of one ball of yarn and the yarn costs around $2 a ball and I got a 10 pack of pony tail holders from Target for $1, this is a pretty cost effective item for the boxes.  My only advice for someone planning to make these is to use the brand name pony tail holders - the cheap ones break too easily.  I also advise using 100% cotton yarn.  I've tried other types and they just don't look right.

Finally, here are a couple other projects I have done lately.

This isn't the best picture, but I made this little teacup and saucer
for Mama for Mother's Day .  To be honest, I can't remember where  I
found this pattern, but I hope I can find it again!  I would like to do one in
Christmas colors to enter in the fair.

I found this sweet little granny square heart on Pinterest the other day
and it was so much fun to make ... not to mention the fact that it was
incredibly easy!  I did change the original pattern a little, it had
 a picot stitch for the edging, but they aren't my favorite,
so I used scallops instead.

One other project I have made recently was a granny square water bottle cozy.  My friend Donna needed a little help with the pattern, so I made one with her.  I don't have a picture, but Donna has one on her blog, along with a link to the pattern, if you are interested.

I do have some other things I want to try ... like an interesting pattern I found on the same site that one of my dishcloth patterns came from ... her blog post is titled You Can Crochet with Sheets!  Sound like fun, huh?