Need a quick and cute homemade Christmas gift idea? Here is a crocheted Christmas towel topper topped off with a jingle bell for the closure button. This is a double layered towel which requires no cutting or sewing and works up very fast.
Just fold your kitchen towel in half and use this picture tutorial to show you how to crochet single stitches along the top edge through both layers. I will admit that this one row of single crochet stitches is a bit tough but once you have the base row completed, your towel topper will fly to the finish.
The waffle stitch towel topper pattern is free and found here.
Year after year my homemade towel toppers are always popular with people and they make wonderful donations for charity craft fairs too. I have several other free towel topper patterns and you can check them
I started working on some Christmas gifts and recently came across this pretty Christmas tree dishcloth pattern. The pattern features crocheted bobbles for the tree design and edging on the dishcloth.
One thing I found after I crocheted the first dishcloth was that the side edging had different stitch counts on either side of the cloth. One side had 2 stitches and the other had 3 (see photo below). I thought I made an error in the pattern but after frogging the pattern a few times and checking other crafters’ pictures, I found that all the dishcloths had this discrepancy.
So I set out to see if I couldn’t make both sides even and came up with some changes to the original dishcloth pattern.
Details on my version of the original crochet pattern:
Chain 34 and work 32 stitches across.
I have been busy crocheting more hats. In my last post I wrote about a new all front post brimmed hat I tried. I really liked how it came out and crocheted this one for my grandson.
The hat was worked seamless after row 2 which makes it nice looking without the normal joining showing on the hat. Photo below shows how it looks without joining except for FPDC rows.
I want to share a new twist on an old hat pattern of mine. My original ribbed hat pattern features a hat band that alternates between front post double crochet (FPDC) and back post double crochet (BPDC).
For this new hat band, basically you want to follow my original crochet pattern for the ribbed hat but stop at about 7 inches in length while working the half double crochet (HDC) rounds. Depending on the yarn, I find that I crochet about 18-19 rounds of HDC to reach 7 inches. Then it’s time to work all FPDC for 5 rounds. The final length of this crocheted FPDC beanie is about 8 inches.
Here is a closeup of the FPDC hat band. It does tighten up the hat and makes a nice finished brim.
One last comment about the brown hat. I tried a new idea so I didn’t have to do a Ch-2 and join with a slip stitch at the end of each round. You don’t have to use this method but it does help the hat look as it doesn’t have the noticeable joining seam on each round. Here is what I did.
At round 3, I worked a SC into the next HDC stitch to start the round. Then I just crocheted using HDC stitches to round 18 all without joining or the Ch-2 which leaves a seam. On round 18, I did a sc and slip stitch to join the last rounds together. Then Ch-2 and worked FPDC for 5 rounds for the hat brim with the typical joining.
Here is one other hat style idea to share.
Here is my latest round ripple blanket that I have been working on. I was lucky enough to get a few more brown skeins of yarn donated to me so I could finish it up. There are no stores anymore in my immediate area that sell yarn. The local senior center that donates yarn to me was shut down for months so I wasn’t able to get any yarn from them either. Last week they opened back up and I was so excited to go in and obtain yarn from them to finish this blanket.
Finished size is 52 inch wide. This blanket will be donated back to the senior center for their Veterans Outreach Program. Hopefully some Vet will enjoy the blanket and find comfort in using this blanket crocheted with lots of love.
These last few weeks, I have been busy crocheting more hats for the Warmth for Warriors annual hat drive. These hats were crocheted using the free Red Heart Ridged Hat Pattern. I first saw this hat on a Red Heart yarn wrapper and really liked the look of the crocheted cables on the hat.
I have crocheted this pattern using a I hook and also a J hook. Both times the hat is too short without having to add some additional rows to get the desired length I need for a men’s hat size.
I have found that if I add 3 extra rows in the middle I am at about 7.25” long in length. Then I crochet rows 14-17 (4 rows) for the trim rows. Length is about 8.5” long and fits nicely.
Here is one more hat I crocheted using the pattern and added some camo type yarn for stripes.
I tried two new hat patterns for Warmth for Warriors this last month. Both of these patterns are free from the author’s website. First one I did is the cable & stripes hat by Dianne Hunt. Her blog Cre8tion Crochet has the hat pattern available free. I love the results of this hat pattern!
This second one is called ribbed wonder hat. This pattern calls for the hat to be crocheted with bulky yarn but I crocheted it with worst weight yarn. The free ribbed wonder hat pattern is found at 365 Crochet Knit Too site.
This hat pattern is worked by crocheting in the back loops to create a knit-look ribbing. As I said, I used worst wool for my hat. I started with chaining 45 stitches using an I hook for 44 rows. The hat is a bit tight on my head so next time I think I will do 46 rows but I do crocheting tightly. So if you use worst weight yarn, check your fit before fastening off. My length was fine at 8 inches with the folded cuff as shown above.
Here is one more quick heart project I just completed in honor of Valentine’s Day. This is a cute and easy pattern worked in the round or should I say heart-shape. It is all worked on the right side without turning. My finished size is 8 inches wide using a G (4 mm) crochet hook.
I crocheted my cloth using a small amount of scrap red Christmas cotton that contains a silver metallic thread throughout. The free heart dishcloth pattern by Janelle Schlossman is no longer on her blog site. But you can find the pattern still here by using the Wayback Machine on the web.
I thought I remember crocheting this pattern before and sure enough I crocheted it 10 years ago. Here is that heart cloth with a white contrasting yarn for trim.
Time to gear up for the next holiday coming up, right? Here is my Danish heart that I crocheted for a little Valentine’s Day gift. It’s a cute ornament that you crochet in 2 oval pieces and then weave together to create the final woven heart.
The Danish heart pattern is available here at Ravelry. I had a little trouble getting started with the oval pieces at round 3 until I saw a photo of a completed oval. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. So with that being said, here is a photo of my 2 oval pieces.
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