Mermaid Tail Blanket

I made this mermaid tail blanket for a friend who wanted one as a Christmas present for her daughter.  Crocheted in a shell stitch.  Tail made in double crochet stitch.  Added a trip of the turquoise on the top using the same shell stitch to tie in the colors of the tail.

Directions were found online from Nadia Faud’s yarnutopia. (https://yarnutopia.com/2015/04/29/how-to-crochet-video-tutorial…) made this a quick pattern.  Directions were easy to follow and the videos helped.  It took me about a week to make this project.  Nadia has done an excellent job teaching this how-to video.

Materials I used:  5 skeins Red Heart Super Saver worsted yarn (Macaw).  1 skein Red Heart Super Saver worsted yarn (Turquoise).  Using the turquoise yarn to tie it all together, I added a single crochet edging to the back opening and a couple of rows of double crochet shell stitch border on the top.

Thank you Nadia for helping me to my friend with a perfect Christmas gift for her daughter.

 

Bath Towel Bath Mat

Stumbled across a buzz feed blog post, “Recycled Towel Bath Mat,” detailing directions to make a recycled towel bath mat.  I was intrigued with this project  as this would be a first for me.  There was a catch, however, I did not want to use old towels.  Why?  Because I wanted to make a house warming gift for my daughter, who is serving in the Army.  She is away from her home and family and I wanted to give her something I made with love to remind her every day of how much she is loved.  So!  This blog post gave me the perfect gift.

I used three bath towels to make this project–two gray and one canary yellow. Here you can see a close up of the braid and the finished product.

The process to create this bathmat was not complicated at all.  Here are the instructions.

1.  Trim off the hems of each bath towel.  Fold in half (width wise) to make it easier to handle.  Then using a rotary cutter, cut strips 3 inches wide. Do this for each towel
2. Taking your first strip, fold sides inward toward the center and then fold again.  This should resemble a double-faced bias tape.  Pin to keep in tack.  Remember that you need the top edge free to be used to anchor three strips together to initiate the braiding.  Repeat the folding process for the other strips.  Note:  I wanted to make sure each folded strip remain closed so I slip stitched the edges.  You need to leave about 2 inches from the bottom edge as you need to have this open to join subsequent strips together.
3. Starting at the center of the rug, twisting the braid into a coil.  Stitch the coil rings together.  Note:  a hook needle moves this part of the process along nicely.
4. Once you have completed step two for three strips, stack them on top of each other.  Stitch the top edge together, turn edge over so you have a clean sewn edge and begin braiding.  When you reach the end, stitch on another folded strip to each strand of the braid. Continue braiding and coiling.  Continue to you have all ends have been used.

Cozy and comfy in Silver Slate

Win for last night!  What’s that you say?  Whose team won?  What was the score? What is the prize?

Calm down!  Let me explain.  The prize is a finished cozy and comfy knitted comforter in Silver Slate.  Finished size 68 x 66 inches.  This project took several weeks to complete.  The pattern is quite simple–the entire blanket is done in a garter stitch.  I used five skeins of Bernat Blanket and worked it on a pair of circular needles. Once the main part was done, I used a solid gray to crochet a two-row edging.  

The first row of the edging is single crochet stitches and four single crochet stitches at each corner.  The second row is a single crochet, chain 2, single crochet.  This is repeated and between the single crochet posts, there is a space of one single crochet.  See picture below to get a visual of this.

Because of the bulkiness of the yarn, you cannot see a clear distinction of the single crochet space.  It was critical otherwise the effect would be quite different.  The effect I wanted was simple and sleek.