crochet nutty pillow done!

it’s friday and i hope you will enjoy the weekend! 

here are some pictures of the bright colored crochet nutty pillow that i started september last year, more info here. this week i finally completed the project. it is made entirely of leftover yarn.

nutty pillow folded

nutty pillow side 1 by elisabeth andrée

nutty pillow side 2 by elisabeth andrée

crochet nutty pillow by elisabeth andrée

inside is a pillow made from an old duvet cover filled with leftover yarn, yarn ends and leftover crochet projects. i measured to find the middle on both sides and pulled needle and yarn through.

the crochet cushion cover i washed and after it was dried, i have put the sewed cushion in it and i could easily pull the yarn on both sides through the center and attach the buttons, then i sewed the edge.

the nutty pillow is a large floor cushion of almost 90 cm in diameter, it feels like a comfortable mattrass and i designed it for two cats to relax and sleep on it. i hope they like the neon details!

Have a lovely weekend and until next time!

nutty pillow button in center

nutty pillow decorated with cross stitches

nutty pillow edge

nutty pillow with decorative stitches

nutty pillow with surface crochet stitches (single crochet)

wip gray and yellow crochet squares

 

a few days ago i started a new project to turn leftover yarn from other projects into something soft and warm. the greige-colored yarn is the main color, i bought too much when making the bedspread for my mother. of the yellow and gray tones this is what i have and also a little off-white. more info about the yarn here.

 

yellow and gray yarn leftovers

greige yarn

 

pattern and some tricks

a while ago i read that crocheting into chains instead of into the chain-spaces gives a neater result. while making the blocks i wanted to try that when crocheting the outer rows and indeed i must admit it looks better.

 

anthracite, yellow and greige square

gray, yellow and greige square

 

inserting my hook into a small chain was sometimes difficult – chains between other stitches always seem to be shrunk 😉 – but then i thought it would be easier with a slightly smaller hook. now i crochet the squares with crochet hooksize 5.0 mm and size 4.5 mm for the outer rows.

if i start a new row with an other color, i use this method to prevent the beginning 3 chains. at the beginning of other rows, when i don’t change colors, i crochet 1 ch followed by the first dc, that makes the first group of 3 dc somewhat chubbier, but i think that is fine.

this pattern for the squares i use with an extra row (5th row) of double crochets in the way i describe above with in the corners 1 dc into the first chain, 1 ch, 1 dc into the second chain.

 

21 blocks

on the photo below the squares with the yellow tones lie a little close to each other, but i will make more uni-colored blocks with the greige yarn to put them in between for a calmer look.

 

wip yellows and grays blocks by elisabeth andrée

 

what do you think of a small blanket in only yellows and grays? i like to know!

 

joining later today: ginny’s yarn along at small things

 

hope to see you soon!

 

 

 

 

 

work in progress: the crochet nutty pillow

nice to see you!

with a lot of short and longer pieces of leftover yarn i’ve made ​​yarn balls, crazy yarn balls, to make another cushion for a dog or cat (i think). the ball on the first picture i already had for a while.

yarn leftovers ball 1 by elisabeth andrée

yarn leftovers ball 2 by elisabeth andrée

yarn leftovers ball 3 by elisabeth andrée

 

 

the pieces of yarn i knotted together, and normally that’s something i never do. the knots you can see and feel and they are not secure as weaving in yarn ends is.

but i did it anyway because some pieces of yarn were so short and i did not feel for other methods to join the yarn ends.

 

with these ball i crochet the nutty pillow:)

it’s a really fun project to work on because the nature of it is changing with every color you add. occasionally i crocheted a few rows of white yarn (also leftover from another project) between rows to freshen up the whole.

at the moment i’m working on the edge with bright pink yarn of which i found an almost complete ball in a bag with leftovers. then i will sew a fabric cover to fill with more leftover yarn and yarn ends, to put in the crochet nutty pillow. but i have no time for that the coming days, so that’s a job for next week.

the start of the crochet nutty pillow

work in progress the crochet nutty pillow

crochet nutty pillow in the works side 1

crochet nutty pillow in the works side 2

wip nutty pillow edge

 

 

joining:

• tamis ami’s WIP wednesday
• ginny’s yarn along at small things

 

 

until next time!

 

 

 

toy for a dog crochet pattern

not long ago i introduced young dog balou and told that i have made him a toy. the last message is that balou still plays with it and does not destroy it. these pictures i have received:

Balou on couch

this is Balou

this is Balou playing

then i thought, let me make a few more toys, and so it happened while i wrote down the pattern. at first, i was inspired by a diagram for a scrubber, this is the link to it.

 

the toy is intended for a dog to play with, but depending on used materials and colors, it is suitable for multiple purposes. i have adjusted the pattern of the first toy just a little.

two doggie toys in bright colors

doggie toy on couch

fun toys for dogs

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maybe you want to crochet one or more toys, so here is the pattern.

 

material and stitches

what you need is leftover cotton yarn, i used cotton 8 with crochet hook size 3.0 mm. for one toy, in total, i have not even used 1 ball of 50 grams. 

you also need a needle with a blunt point and acrylic yarn ends for the stuffing.

i have the toys filled with acrylic yarn ends because i think acrylic attracts less ‘dirty creepies” and dries quickly after washing and just as important, it is light weighted comparing to cotton.

 

stitches in american english terms

• ch = chain 
• ss = slip stitch
• sc = single crochet
• hdc = half double crochet
• dc = double crochet

 

instructions

start with a magic loop

row:

1. 1 ch, 12 sc in ring, ss in first sc
2. 1 ch, 1 dc into same stitch as ss, 1 dc into next 11 sc, ss into first dc
3. 1 ch, 2 sc in same stitch as ss, 2 sc in each of next 11 dc, ss into first sc
4. 1 ch, 2 sc in same stitch as ss, 1 sc in next stitch, *2 sc in next stitch, 1 sc in next stitch*, repeat between * and * until end of row, ss in in first stitch
5. 1 ch, 1 dc in same stitch as ss, 1 dc in next stitch, 2 dc in next stitch, *1 dc in next 2 stitches, 2 dc in next stitch*, repeat between * and * until end of row, ss in in first stitch
6. 1 ch, 2 sc in same stitch as ss, 1 sc in next 3 stitches, *2 sc in next stitch, 1 sc in next 3 stitches*, repeat between * and * until end of row, ss in in first stitch
7. 1 ch, 1 sc in same stitch as ss, 1 sc in all next stitches until end of row, ss in in first stitch
8. 1 ch, 1 dc in same stitch as ss, 1 dc in next 3 stitches, 2 dc in next stitch, *1 dc in next 4 stitches, 2 dc in next stitch*, repeat between * and * until end of row, ss in in first stitch 
9. 1 ch, 2 sc in same stitch as ss, 1 sc in next 5 stitches, *2 sc in next stitch, 1 sc in next 5 stitches*, repeat between * and * until end of row, ss in in first stitch
10. 1 ch, 1 sc in same stitch as ss, 1 sc in all next stitches until end of row, ss in in first stitch
11. 1 ch, 1 dc in same stitch as ss, 1 dc in next 5 stitches, 2 dc in next stitch, *1 dc in next 6 stitches, 2 dc in next stitch*, repeat between * and * until end of row, ss in in first stitch 
12. 1 ch, 2 sc in same stitch as ss, 1 sc in next 7 stitches, *2 sc in next stitch, 1 sc in next 7 stitches*, repeat between * and * until end of row, ss in in first stitch
13. 1 ch, 1 sc in same stitch as ss, 1 sc in all next stitches until end of row, ss in in first stitch
14. 1 ch, 1 dc in same stitch as ss, 1 dc in next 7 stitches, 2 dc in next stitch, *1 dc in next 8 stitches, 2 dc in next stitch*, repeat between * and * until end of row, ss in in first stitch 
15. 1 ch, 1 sc in same stitch as ss, 1 sc in all next stitches until end of row, ss in in first stitch
16. 1 ch, 1 sc in same stitch as ss, 1 sc in all next stitches until end of row, ss in in first stitch
17. 1 ch, 1 dc in same stitch as ss, 1 dc in all next stitches until end of row, ss in in first stitch
18. 1 ch, 1 sc in same stitch as ss, 1 sc in all next stitches until end of row, ss in in first stitch
19. 1 ch, 1 hdc in same stitch as ss, 1 hdc in all next stitches until end of row, ss in in first stitch

finish off, weave in ends and then you make the other half of the toy in the same way.

toy for a doy in the making

two halves of dog toy

 

how to attach the parts together

hold halves with right sides together and crochet them together with single crochets (see photo) but leave a part unworked large enough for turning and stuffing, cut yarn but leave the yarn end long enough to close the toy after stuffing.

attaching together halves, right sides together

attaching halves together – how it looks on the right side

turn the right sides out and start filling but it is better not to put to much into the toy, that way it remains soft and easy to hold by a dog without getting cramps in the jaws.

filling toy for dog

yarn ends for filling

filling the dog toy

after filling, sew the last stitches by pulling needle and yarn under the same loops as you would with a crochet hook (see photo).

sewing last stitches of toy for dog

toy for dog done

weave in yarn ends and your toy is ready to play with.

two doggie toys and a mouse

 

time to welcome the weekend, but first i will join: creative friday at natural suburbia

hope to see you soon!

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basket, bowls and glue

hello and welcome!

the snowball made of yarn leftovers is now a basket with a neon edge. 

sometimes i amaze myself with the fact that i forget to think. i had the basket when it was finished, washed and then i used fabric softener. it was nice and soft, including the side, which obviously remained lying flat. 

 

to solve this, i have a mixture made ​​of water-soluble glue/children’s glue and sugar water and applied it onto the basket. now the basket is firm enough to function as fruit bowl/basket and in december i can fill it with baubles. the material feels a bit like a straw basket.

crochet basket upside down

crochet basket upside down edge

you can see the knots where i have tied the yarn ends.

 

variegated yarn

earlier this week, i admired the work of haafner and she asked whether or not you like variegated yarn. this is an ongoing subject on the ‘interwebs’ i have the impression and it seems a majority don’t love this kind of yarn. 

 

to my opinion variegated is nice as long as it is not ‘into your face’. a part of the melange blanket (photo below) is a scarf that i made years ago and then i did nothing with it, because it is too much for me.

but over the years i have learned to appreciate variegated yarn and have used it for projects regularly.

for this pouf, for example, and for the small grannies i used variegated yarn but have the yarn cut into pieces and made small balls of it. that way i can keep control over the colors. 

 

sometimes variegated yarn consists of such soft tones they don’t really stand out like the yarn of this scarf. and if you work with multiple threads of different colors, you create your own variegated yarn as in this round rug.
i like to combine variegated yarn with single colored yarn, i can well appreciate the effect of it.

 

but sometimes things go a little wrong and then i am unable to imagine a project for the yarn i have. it was a small child who said to me that the yarn was beautiful and i thought then i like to make something for a little girl’s room. that became the storage bag and while i was crocheting it reminded ​​me a bit of a fish tank, hence the fish.

 

because i came yarn deficit for the melange (patchwork) blanket i bought some new, you guessed it, variegated yarn. you see it on the photo above, the smaller square. and also this time i cut it into pieces and made smaller balls​​. 

 

from another part of the yarn i made this container

crochet container inside

the container i also strengthened with the glue mixture.

crochet container side

crochet container and bowls

 

and from the dark parts i hooked small bowls

crochet mini bowls close up

crochet mini bowls and container

a small pile of crochet mini bowls

 

and a cover for a tiny glass jar with plant cuttings. it’s on the windowsill in a cold place and if the temperature is going to drop i prevent with this ‘sweater’ the cuttings will get cold feet roots 😉

crochet cover for mini jar

mini jar and it’s crochet sweater

crochet tiny bowls

 

inspiration 

i wonder how you get inspired by your yarn, let me know in a comment if you like?

that is it for this week, hope you will celebrate your weekend and it would be great to see you next week!

thanks for visiting!

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