Fire Nation

So this is a little delayed due to packing, cleaning, moving out, and moving in, but I finished the third square!

This square was more challenging than the other two because you have to switch between colors more often, but the results are awesome. This is also my favorite square to date.

With the completion of this square I am 60% done with the entire blanket! ONE MORE SQUARE!

Rat Hammock - Free Crochet Pattern

Yes, it's a little random, and probably many of you won't be able to use it, but I'm going to put it up anyways!

My boyfriend got two rats this weekend and I made a variety of things for them, all of which will show up in a post together after the rats are brought home, but this is the hammock. Whenever I write a pattern it's because I can't find one I like or one doesn't exist, and this time was no different. I wanted to make sure that the hammock would be strong enough to hold two rats as well as minimize the risk of having tiny feet fall through the bottom, and this is what I came up with.

Shown with pillow

Rat Hammock

Materials:

I hook

fice colors worsted weight yarn

yarn needle

scissors

Directions:

With first color, ch 38.

Row 1: Dc into 4th ch from hook, dc 34 across (35)

Row 2-4: Ch 3, turn, dc 35 across (35)

Row 5-8: Repeat rows 2-4 with second color

Row 9-12: Repeat rows 2-4 with third color

Row 13-16: Repeat rows 2-4 with fourth color

FO

With fifth color sc around. There should be 33 stitches on the long sides, and 28 stitches on the short sides (two sc in each row), and four stitches in each corner.

For the ends: Sc into corner stitch on short side.

And sc across the top (32 sc)

Ch 1, turn, sc2tog twice, sc 24, sc2tog twice. (28 sc)
Ch 1, turn, sc2tog twice, sc 20, sc2tog twice. (24 sc)
Repeat, making four sc2tog per row until you get to 12 stitches across. FO
Repeat on other end

Now you need to cut 24 pieces of yarn, mine were about 3 ft long. Fold in half, and in every other loop on your 12 sc row, knot two pieces of yarn.

It should look like the above picture when you've completed one side.

Last, but not least, knot all the yarn together like in the picture below.

Repeat on the other side and now you're done! I know this is a difficult pattern to follow, so if you have any questions or something you'd like me to clarify, don't hesitate to let me know!

Bilbo found the hammock!

Earth Kingdom

After making multiple projects while working on this square, I've finally finished. I present, the Earth Kingdom square!

I think it turned out well. With the completion of this square I am approximately 40% of the way done. Yay!

Now that summer is upon us, I'm hoping I will have a little more time to work on the blanket and that I can have it done by the beginning of August. Even if I don't though, I'll definitely have it done by the time it starts to get cold.

The swirls might be my favorite part.

And of course Appa's gotta pose with the square.

EDIT: Here's the first post of this blanket saga. I did not write the pattern or create the charts. The link to the pattern is in the first post.

Cthulhu

The stuff of geek legends..The terrible, mystical beast, best described as a sea demon. Who this? Why, Cthulhu of course!

Looking quite adorable and cuddly, really. Last year I made my boyfriend a d20 for his birthday, and this year I had to try and match that by making him some equally geeky and cool. I had seen this pattern on Ravelry and decided it was perfect, and I am very pleased with the results.

The pattern calls for an F hook, but I decided to use a G hook to make him cuddlier (it's also easier to work with.) The pattern was relatively easy to follow, and the wings were definitely the most difficult part.

In order to get the ribbed, more wing-like look, I crocheted in the back loops only on the way back from the chain. This means you only crochet in the back loops in one direction, aka every other row.

My boyfriend was very pleased and his nerd friends jealous, so I suppose I accomplished my goal!

Rainbow Scarf Pattern

Well blog, it's been about a month. I promise I have been crocheting, it's just all my projects seem quite large and time-consuming right now. But...I do have a new pattern! This one was created in collaboration with my friend who had the idea to make a rainbow scarf and I played off her idea. So here goes (it's pretty short).

Rainbow Scarf

Materials:

I hook

6 colors worsted weight yarn

scissors

yarn needle

Directions:

With red ch 200 (check length and adjust as desired)

Row  1 - hdc across starting in third ch from hook

Row 2 - ch 2, turn, hdc across in back loops only

Row 3 - pick up orange, ch 2, turn, hdc across in back loops only

Row 4 - ch 2, turn, hdc across in back loops only

Continue with the remaining colors (each two rows wide)

At the end of the purple rows FO and weave in ends.

See! Super simple. Crocheting in only the back loops creates more texture which is definitely a good thing in this case!

Waffle Hats

Over spring break I was walking around in Hobby Lobby while waiting to pick up my boyfriend from class and I saw some bulky yarn on sale. Now, if you partake in the fiber arts you know that this yarn is more expensive than "regular" yarn, so I jumped on the opportunity and got green, gray, and teal. I'd been wanting to make some hats that needed bulky yarn and now I could make some!

These are waffle hats! Aka they have a mesh pattern.

I made the green one first, following the pattern exactly and it took me one sitting (while watching Skyfall). Only problem was, the hat didn't slouch.

Probably because I crochet tighter... So I decided I needed to make another one.

For the gray hat, I added about 5 rows to what the pattern calls for...

And huzzah! It turned out! 

The pattern was very easy to follow, and like I said before, very quick! It was a nice breather from the blanket. (I'm halfway done with the earth (2nd) square!)

Some clarification for those of you out there who might be in the dark like me: apparently slouchy hats are hipster.

Waffle Cone Hat Pattern: http://www.gleefulthings.com/blog/?p=3258

Don't have bulky yarn? Sugar Cone Hat Pattern: http://www.gleefulthings.com/blog/?p=5569

Tiny Turtles

The week before spring break is always rough. Deadlines and exams seem to be coming at you from all directions! That was two weeks ago for me, and I had the most difficult exam I have ever taken. (found out I did well though!) After five hours of hardcore studying one night I decided I needed a crochet break. I'm still working on my blanket, but I want to make a quick project; something I could make in under an hour. While searching on Ravelry I found a pattern for little turtles, and so I made a couple!

Adorable. As you can see, they are very teeny. Each one took me between 25 and 30 minutes with distractions (Pirates of the Caribbean). The pattern is easy to follow and I learned a couple new stitches (popcorn and spike), which I enjoyed.

I apologize for the not-so-high-quality pictures. My digital camera is about 5 or 6 years old now.

I have plans to make more for the other women in my small group, so there will probably be an update with more later!