I just delivered this rectangle granny blanket to my local VA outreach representative. They come once a month from Spokane and each month I try and have a charity craft donation for them. The VA outreach program rep takes the items back to the VA hospital and uses them where needed.
I love the look of a granny blanket and this rectangle granny blanket pattern is awesome. You don’t have to join squares and it works up so nicely. Plus I love using various skeins of yarn to work up a unique blanket for donation.
I do just a few mods on the original crochet pattern. For the joining corner, I add my yarn at the chain 1 corner then chain 3 and work 2 more DC stitches at the corner. So I have basically 3 DCs at the corner to start a new color. I then continue around the blanket following the pattern until I get back to the beginning of the round. I work 3 DCs in the same corner space when I started and then chain 1 and join to the top of the beginning chain 3. Makes for the neat corner and the join looks better in my opinion.
If I am not changing colors, after the join at the corner, I turn my work so I am looking at the back of the blanket. I slip stitch back into the corner chain 1 space. Then turn my work back to the right side of the blanket and work 2 DCs into the same chain 1 space. So I have 3 DCs at start of corner counting the chain 3 as a DC. Again I think this corner joining tip looks better then slip stitching over several stitches to reach the corner.
Here is a closeup photo of the trim edging that I added.
I hope you enjoy seeing and reading about crocheted towel toppers as much as I love crocheting them. Here are a few more towel toppers I completed for Christmas gifts.
This poinsettia towel is a Dollar store special and looks so pretty with a red crocheted towel topper. A jingle bell is added for the button closure.
Here is a close up of the crocheted topper. Here is the link to the free towel topper pattern.
Next is another one of my free double layered towel topper patterns.
I picked up this pretty holiday towel at Family Dollar for just $2 dollars. It’s a nice thick towel that was just calling to me for a Christmas towel topper.
I crocheted this towel topper using the waffle towel topper pattern. I had some light weight misc yarn that was just the right shade of red. As the yarn was thin, I held two strands together to crochet the topper.
This towel topper is double-layered and requires no cutting or sewing to start the project. You simply fold over the towel and begin the towel topper along the top edge of the towel. I love these towels as they are sturdy kitchen towels and make for a lovely Christmas gift.
Here is a closeup of the crocheted towel topper which features a jingle bell for the button closure.
Halloween is just around the corner but there is still time to do some recycled crafting. I like to share patterns and crafting ideas using recycled materials such as plastic bags / plarn here at My Recycled Bags.
Here is a favorite recycled plastic Halloween trick or treat basket. The free crochet pattern is found here.
Not only is this a reusable basket, it features a sturdy recycled microwave tray for the base. So this project is a double recycled crafting project with two different types of recycled materials. Plus it’s a cool-looking trick or trick basket to hold lots of Halloween goodies.
You can find all the different Halloween posts and projects that I have shared over the years
With the weather cooling off a bit, I was inspired to crochet one of my favorite blanket patterns. Here is a round ripple throw that I crocheted for a local Veteran’s program. This pattern is the Round Ripple that Crochetville’s Aggie May created.
Here is a close-up on the edging. I did two rounds of single crochet (SC) to finish off the trim on the blanket throw. Final width is 44 inches wide.
The round ripple was crocheted using several different shades of green vintage yarn that was donated to me. A kind lady from Ravelry donated two big boxes of yarn to me for charity crafting. It has been put to good use for hats, Christmas stockings and blankets for Warmth for Warriors and other Veteran’s needs.
I have been working on crocheting more cabled hats for charity. These hats use my free cabled hat pattern. They work up very fast and is an easy pattern if you are just beginning to crochet. Very simple cables that make into a crocheted adult hat in just a few hours.
You can add a few stripes like I did in this hat project. I crocheted the stripes at rows 6-7 and again at row 10. Just carry the yarn behind your work for the color changes.
Of course you can always just use one color of yarn as shown in this grey cabled hat.
And one more striped hat project to share. This striped hat was done in Washington State University colors.
Just wrapping up my Christmas in July stockings for Warmth for Warriors. Here is the group of stockings I have crocheted. These are all about 6 inches long and will be filled with little goodies for the troops for Christmas.
We will continue to make stockings for Warmth for Warriors until November. So if you’d like to help us out, come visit our Warmth for Warriors group here. We also make hats for our troops all year long and would love to have more help.
A special thank you to all the people who joined in our Christmas in July event at Good Things Together. We had a fun and successful event in support of our troops.
Congratulations to Lisi aka KnitnArnd who won
Well it is July and we are kicking off our Christmas in July theme. We are once again promoting mini stocking-making for Warmth for Warriors over at the Good Things Together group on Ravelry.
Each year we host a Christmas is July event for handcrafted stockings that will be filled at W4W Headquarters with soaps, toiletries, and candies for overseas to our troops as a little Christmas gifts. The little stockings filled with goodies are a wonderful way to say thank you to our troops and give them a little Christmas cheer during the holidays.
Here are some patriotic mini Christmas stockings I crocheted using the cuffed stocking pattern with the fold-over option. You can find more of my free crochet Christmas patterns here.
Please join us in supporting our troops and making mini Christmas stockings this July. There will also be a prize for all participants in the Christmas in July event. Anyone who makes even one stocking for the event, will be entered in a random prize drawing for
Here is my latest Mother Bear for the Mother Bear Project. This PJ bear was crocheted using the seamless crochet option. This PJ bear is waving her flag in honor of Flag Day.
You can read more about my seamless Mother Bear option, which is crocheted without turning or joining here.
Happy Flag Day everyone!
Recent Comments