Crochet: doubled, squared and cubed
Published 9:00 pm Saturday, February 12, 2005
Ever reach a point when you just want to do something that doesn’t take a lot of thought or effort, but you also don’t want to waste time?
We do, and at such times we often turn to simple crochet projects that can be completed in a few hours.
In this week’s Craft Corner, we offer two easy projects that are relaxing and quick, but that leave you with a nice finished product. Both items can be completed – depending on your crocheting speed and choice of size – in one to three hours.
The only materials you need are a crochet hook, yarn and some polyester fiberfill, and all you need to know are a few basic crochet stitches and how to count.
If you’ve visited the yarn section of your local fabric or craft store lately, you’ve no doubt noticed the fun yarns available: faux feathers and furs, lush nubbies, shaggies and sparklies, elegant fuzzies and confetties, and loopy multicolors, to name a few.
This tantalizing array of yarns makes creating one-of-a-kind items possible using only the chain, single and double crochet stitches.
Our first project is a crocheted block that can be made in a size of your choice for a variety of uses.
We decided to make a large 10-inch block suitable for a baby’s toy and a 3-inch block (with a little bit of catnip buried in the polyester fiberfill) that will delight the felines in your family.
Note: The crocheted block is not a good choice for dog or puppy toys. Given our canine companions’ love of chewing, lengths of yarn and chunks of fiberfill could be a potential health threat. Cats tend to be better behaved when it comes to chewing, but, as with any toy, be sure to know your pet.
To make the blocks you’ll be crocheting six separate squares that will be joined together to form a cube.
Using a crochet hook of your choice (to give a more open or tighter look, as desired) begin by crocheting a chain equal to the length you want your square to be, plus three more chain stitches.
Turn and double crochet in the fourth chain stitch from the end and double crochet in each chain stitch to the beginning of the chain.
Chain three, turn and double crochet in each space to the end of the first row of double crochets; repeat until the square measures equally on all four sides.
When six squares are completed, attach them to form the cube (four lengthwise and one on each side), using either a single crochet stitch or by sewing with a blanket stitch.
Whichever method you use to join the squares, make sure that the bulky side of the seam is on the outside.
We turned the bulky side of the seam inside when we made our first block and it was a shapeless disaster. The seam is needed to give the block definition.
Close all but one of the seams and stuff the block with polyester fiberfill.
Use a knitting needle or some other long, blunt-ended device to push the fiberfill into the corners of the cube. Fill sufficiently to provide the proper shape.
Close the remaining seam and you’re done.
You can add some felt appliques – such as animal shapes, letters or numbers – to each side of the block if you wish for baby; and if you want to add some catnip, be sure to put a pinch or two in the center of the fiberfill while stuffing the block.
To make the scarves, simply follow the same procedure as for beginning the squares, but continue crocheting row after row until the scarf is the length you want and finish by adding fringe to each end of the scarf.
We made our scarves on the narrow side – only seven to 12 double crochets per row – as we think they tend to be more stylish when they’re skinnier.
Making fringe is easy and fun: decide on the length of fringe you want, cut two or three lengths double the length for each space between double crochets in the width of scarf.
For instance, if your scarf is 10 double crochets across, you’ll have nine spaces for fringe and you’ll cut two or three double-length pieces of yarn for each space.
To make the fringe, fold two or three strands of cut yarn in half, insert a crochet hook into the space between the double crochets, catch the strands of yarn in the hook at the half-way fold and pull through the space, forming a loop.
Pull the ends of the strands through the loop and pull tight to form the fringe. Repeat until all spaces are filled; trim fringes to even them up if necessary.
Note: We didn’t use a pattern for either of these projects, but just used the basic crochet stitches and our imagination.
If you need to learn the basic crochet stitches, they are very simple and can be found in diagrams in books or online, or visit your local craft or fabric store, where there’s bound to be someone there who can demonstrate the basic stitches.
Trust us, they are very simple to master.
Also, the last time we ran a column about simple crochet, we received a number of messages from knitters who wanted to know if we had similar instructions for them.
As we’ve confessed before, we’ve never been able to get the hang of knitting, so if you are a knitter and can offer simple, concise, instructions on making the above projects, we’d love to hear from you and will be happy to run them in a future column.
Contact Jonetta Coffin at jrocoffin@aol.com
