Refashion: Pajama Leg into Pillow

This cut off pajama leg has been sitting in storage for a while. Instead of throwing it out, I wanted to put it to good use. I also had a mostly full bag of pillow fluff sitting around that I haven't touched in years. The solution was obvious: refashion the leg into a pillow!

The pants involved were a cheap but soft pair from Walmart, which meant that the seams didn't line up even after ironing.

I turned the leg inside out and stitched down the cut off end. One side is straight, the other isn't - I'm not sure what happened.

I turned it right side out and stuffed it with all the fluff. It's not quite even but I didn't care too much.

I finished by stitching the leg cuff closed. The pillow is useful if not pretty and I didn't have to throw out the scrap. A no-waste sewing project!

The Crochet Water Bottle Holder

I finally crocheted something useful: a holder for my water bottle. I came up with my own pattern, though since it's pretty simple, it might look like other patterns. 

Water Bottle Holder Pattern

Foundation Ring: Ch 4, sl st into first stitch 

Round 1: Ch3 (counts as first dc), 11 dc into the center

Round 2: Ch 3 (Counts as first dc), dc into space between Round 1 dc, ch 1, (2dc into ch1 sp, ch1) 11 times, sl st into first dc

Round 3:  Ch 3 (Counts as first dc), 2 dc into ch 1 sp, ch 1, (3dc into ch1 sp, ch1) 11 times, sl st into first dc 

Round 4: Ch3 (counts as first dc), dc into ch 1 sp, ch 2, (2 dc into ch 1 sp, ch2) 11 times, sl st into first dc

Rounds 5-10: Ch3 (counts as first dc), dc into top of dc, ch 2, (2 dc into top of dc, ch2) 11 times, sl st into first dc

Rounds 6-Finish: Ch4 (counts as first tc), tc into top of dc/tc, ch 2, (2 tc into top of dc/tc, ch2) 11 times, sl st into first tc

Strap: Ch 3, 2 dc into space between tc, dc into top of tc, turn and repeat until strap is long enough (it will stretch). Weave into tc on the other side, weave in ends.  

Note: I used worsted weight yarn and size G (4.25mm) hook. The sides could be done completely in dc or tc - I switched to tc to save yarn. 

Edging and Blocking the Hexagons

Almost done with the dishcloth. 

I wanted to make this piece more professional so I tried to fill in the gaps and add a border.

The original pattern didn't include a way to make half-hexagons to fill in the gaps on the side. A little Google Fu turned up Polka Dot Cottage, which also includes a way to make regular hexagons. This site, meanwhile, was exactly what I was looking for a month ago.

You might think that the half-hexagons don't fit the space and that's... accurate. Turns out the new hexagon pattern is much bigger than the one I used, so I had to wing it. Specifically, I skipped Rows 3 and 5 in the pattern and whip stitched the half-hexagons into place.

I then tried to do something for the corners and the inverted triangles, took a second look at the difference between my hexagons and the pattern's hexagons and decided to screw it.

That left the border.

I did a single crochet border using the below tutorial, which I think helps to... contain the piece. My dishcloth looks more polished and less like I gave up on it.



I can finally say I've blocked a piece. I never blocked my knitting pieces but after reading this, I decided it would be a good idea.

The dishcloth is lying flat now.

I also crocheted a new hexagon using the pattern found above. It's twice as large as my original hexagons.

Polka Dot Cottage also contained a tutorial for winding a skein of yarn into a center pull ball using just a pencil.

This project was a good idea. I improved my crocheting skills, learned how to edge and block a piece, controlled my skein of yarn and found a new project in the form of a hexagon blanket.

Putting it all together: Crochet Style

I now have eight crochet hexagons, none of which are useful on their own. Sewing them together into a dishcloth gives them purpose and me practice with the whip stitch.

 Yeah. Practice is a good word for this.

For some reason, the red hexagon is larger than its neighbors which throws off the edges. Not that the edges will line up anyway.

So that happened. I also don't know where the last of the white yarn went so I stitched the two pieces together with red yarn.

My dishcloth looks like the crochet version of Frankenstein's monster but it was good practice! It taught me what not to do next time.

Up next: Edging the piece with red trim.

The crochet hexagon pattern

I found a good hexagon pattern here - while each hexagon is about the size of my palm and I can't increase the size, I can sew them together.

Two things I learned from this pattern: a) I can crochet over the beginning tail with the 12 double crochets and avoid weaving in the end and b) understanding what the pattern requires is more important than following the pattern.

For instance, my first two tries were mistakes because I didn't understand what Round 3 actually required. Once I understood the repetition - 2 double crochets in one space, chain 3, 2 more double crochets in the same space, then 2 double crochets in the next space - I could ignore the written instructions. Round 3 starts on the 2 double crochets after the chain 3 and ends with 2 double crochets, chain 3 and slip stitch in the original space.

I also used up the dark blue, light blue and white yarns, leaving only the red to play with.

French Revolution Cockade

Time for a break from granny squares. This is the French revolution cockade, which you probably saw in Les Misérables.

The pattern came from here and was easy to follow, though next time I'll switch colors right before the slip stitch. 

I'm finding crochet to be more versatile than knitting - I can make cooler things.

So many patterns, so little sucess

Ravelry has let me down. All I wanted was a hexagon granny square (or whatever they are actually called) - a hexagon version of my previous granny squares, for which I used this pattern. I saw hotpads and full fledged blankets and links to Lion Brand that wanted me to register. I don't want to register, I want to crochet.

One pattern turned out like this:

My own version came out in three dimensions:

Another pattern could fit in my hand:

The best pattern so far used UK terminology but doesn't exactly give you a true hexagon:

Maybe blocking would help. 

This project has been using up a lot of extra yarn, so that's a blessing.

I'll keep looking until I find that perfect hexagon pattern.

And there's the second one

Now in tri-color! Switching colors is far easier in crochet than I'm used to in knitting and it uses up a lot of leftover yarn.

I wonder if I can crochet a cockade? Oh look. That seems easy.

What to do with granny squares?

I've graduated from making regular granny squares... to making big granny squares. This one is about twice as wide as my first attempt and was remarkably tedious to make.

I plan on doing another of the same size and use them to hold the steering wheel in my car when it gets too hot. The ones I knitted a few years ago for that purpose seem to have vanished.

Crochet Rediscovered

After two years away, I've finally come back to crochet. This time, I took the Crochet 101 class at JoAnn's because sometimes I need to be told, "Yes, that looks right."

At least those "50% off " coupons are pretty frequent.

This sample was to practice single, double, triple and half-double crochet stitches.

  I then made a granny square.

 When I got home, I made another one.

And another one.

Because the only way to get better is to practice and it's easier to learn when I have a project in mind.

At least I know what a slip stitch is now.