March 2015 Projects

March's theme in the ravelry group Disney Adventures was Dumbo, so I just had to make something inspired by the Pink Elephants song from the movie.  Here is the pink elephant dishcloth that I made for my mom.  I don't know what cotton yarn I used, except that it was worsted weight.  I got it in the sales bin at my LYS a while ago.  I do know that I used size 8 needles though.  Here is the free pattern for it.

Here are the 17 elephant head magnets that I made during March.  The center elephant only has one ear, because I was to busy talking in class to notice that only one ear had been made before I made the trunk and cut the yarn.  I'm keeping him and giving him to my husband.  He'll fit in nicely with my husband's crochet "reject" collection.  The elephants were made with two colors of Cascade Pacific worsted weight yarn, an H hook, Halloween goggle eyes (green, orange, and purple eyes - sold around Halloween), and magnets on the back (glued on with tacky glue).   I made 17 elephants to represent the 16 Dumbos that you can sit in on the Dumbo ride (at the different Disney parks) and the extra Dumbo that you can sit in for a photo.

One of the challenges was to use novelty yarn.  The challenge was inspired by Dumbo's magic feather that gave him the confidence to fly.  So I made this simple garter stitch scarf using Euro Yarns Fashion Fur yarn and a size 11 needle.  I cast on 15 stitches, and I just knitted every row until I ran out of yarn.

My friend Amy designed this crochet shawl called the Variable Star Shawl, and she asked me if I would test it for her.  Of course I said yes.  It was very easy to make.  You do need to pay attention to it for the first 10 rows, but after that it was so easy that it was a little boring to work on.  So that just means that it is the perfect t.v. watching project.  I brought it with me to my classes, because it was easy to put down and pick up again whenever one of my students needed me.  For this one (I've made 2 so far) I used James C. Brett Marble DK yarn and an H hook.  I love how the yarn looks and feels.  This DK yarn feels more like a worsted weight yarn.

This was such a fun and easy to pattern to make that I made a second one using Cascade Sunseeker cotton yarn and an H hook.  The yarn has sparkles in it, and I thought that it would be great to use at the beach (sometimes it gets chilly there).

March 14th was Pi Day, so I just had to make a pie.  Since I am loosing weight the pie that I made has zero calories.  This is just the cutest hot pad pie pattern.   For the red I used Cascade Avalon cotton yarn (worsted weight), and for the brown I used Cascade Ultra Pima yarn (DK).  A G hook was used throughout the pattern.  Because the two yarns were a different weight, I made the brown circle (not shown, because it's behind the red circle) one row wider.  Now that I have made the pattern I have some tweaks that I would like to do the next time around to create a bigger hot pad with thicker lattice on the top.  There was nothing wrong with the pattern, its just a personal choice to tweak it.

Here is the skinny scarf pattern that I created called the Vine Scarf.  You can download it for free of of ravelry.   For this one I used Cascade Avalon cotton yarn and an H hook, and I made it in a single day.  

Then I made a 2nd one, this time I used Cascade Sunseeker cotton yarn (it has sparkles in it) and an H hook.  I gave this one to my mom.

Using the same yarn as the 2nd Vine scarf I made this pineapple stitch bag.  I used this free pattern, but I made up my own handles instead of following the pattern.  The bag is a bit small, because the yarn is DK instead of worsted weight, but thats ok.

My boss got a new dishcloth crochet book in the shop that has 13 patterns in it, one for each month plus a bonus dishcloth.  So I made samples for the store using Plymouth Jeannee cotton yarn and an H hook.  I made these 4 dishcloths using just 2 skeins of yarn, and I had enough leftover to make a coster afterwards.

Then I made 2 of the July dishcloths.

And then I made the September apple dishcloth.  This is a great pattern book.  The only pattern that I don't like is the Easter egg dishcloth, because it looks more like a bowling pin to me.

Here is the display for them at the shop.  

The month wouldn't be complete without making some baby hats for the charity A Child's Light.  The first two are from this free pattern, and the bottom one is from this free pattern.  I used Cascade Pacific worsted weight yarn for all 3 hats.  The top two used an I hook, and the bottom one used a G hook.  I used up 1 whole skein of the multi-colored yarn making them, so the bottom ribbing of the the bottom hat used a solid color purple yarn (same yarn).  

Last but certainly not least is the Yes, Yes Shawl that I made this month.  I love how this shawl turned out, and I am definitely keeping it for myself.  The pattern is more of an intermediate pattern, because it does require some attention and chart reading skills to make it.  I used 3 skeins of Cascade Sunseeker cotton yarn and a G hook to make it.  Yes, I am totally into the Sunseeker yarn right now.  Not only will it be great for the Summer (cotton yarn), but it has sparkles running throughout it.  I will be showing this baby off for months to come.