you all know i have a love affair with knitting & sewing but i also adore crochet. it's the one craft that often get's pushed aside for me though. it's not that i love it less, or don't enjoy it as much, i just for some reason always have my knitting & sewing battling it out. so in honor of throwing some crochet love your way i asked one of my good friends rebecca of the blog and shop "nook" to come give us a fun, easy and very fun tutorial on how to make one of my favorite crocheted things - coasters!
for my birthday this year i got this lovely little package from becca filled with the coasters above, a mug cozy (you can buy these in her shop) and the fabric she used to wrap it! how sweet is that!
rebecca is one of those people you meet who eats, sleeps and breathes knitting but she also crochets. i mean seriously people, check out this blanket!! LOVE!
she knits faster than anyone i know (her hands are like a speedy blur at our knit nights) and i know a lot of knitters. she also seems to have some strange knack for knitting in superhero style...she can be baking bread or making dinner - knitting, talking to me on the phone - knitting, i bet she even knits on the potty..lol. needless to say if there's a chance my bud can pick up her sticks she will. she's got an adorable etsy shop filled with some of her handmade goodies, a pretty blog and if you live in my city (victoria, bc) she also teaches some pretty rad classes at the cloth castle. check out her fall listings..where else can you take lessons for jane richmond's super stylish patterns? plus you get to hang with rebecca and take it from me....she's super fun to be around. i heart her. she feeds me and makes me coffee....a lot.
so get those hooks & yarn out and get ready to whip up some jardain coasters! happy hooking..lol...now let's hear from rebecca....
i have been looking forward to being a part of versus for a long looooong time now. i'm so happy to be here, thanks so much for having me!
it is my honest opinion that a home can never have enough coasters, inside or out.... well...
almost. meet jardain. these little cuties are so adorable, you'll wanna be sure to make a set... or two... ! it's enough to make your fav tea cup or mug or even mason jar of homemade smoothies exclaim "oh la la!" so quick, grab your hook and let's get started!
this is a great project even for the very beginner crocheter. and they make perfect gifts from house warming to stocking stuffers.. (eeks! already??) to just because... they're a fairly instant gratification project. i know what you're thinking...
"sa-weeeet". yeah, i know.
so here's what you'll need:
4.0mm/US 6 hook
worsted weight yarn. ... each coaster really really doesn't take much, just use up some scraps for this little project.
directions:
with your crochet hook, loosely chain (ch) 4 stitches (st). then join with a slipped stitch (sl.st.) to the first ch to make a ring.
rnd 1: make 8 single crochet (sc) inside the ring. sl.st. in your first sc
rnd 2: ch.2. 2sc in the second ch. from hook and continue with 2sc in every stitch around. you have now doubled your stitch count to 16 sts. make a sl.st. in the first ch. of this round. ... in this way, you are basically crocheting a spiral. see?
rnd 3: ch.2. sc in second ch. from hook and in every st. around. sl.st in first ch. of round.
rnd 4: ch.2. 2sc in second ch. from hook and continue with 2sc in every ch. around. sl st. in 1st ch. (36 sts.)
rnd 5: ch.2. sc in second ch. from hook and in every ch. around. sl.st in 1st ch. of round.
rnd 6: ch.2. sc in second ch. from hook, sc, 2sc in next ch, *(sc, sc, 2sc)* repeat from * to * around until last ch. sc. join with sl st. to 1st ch. of round. 46 st. total.
rnd 7: ch.4 sl st. in 5th ch. from hook. *(ch4, skip 4st, sl st. in 5th ch)* repeat from * to * around until 6st remain. ch 4, sl st. in 3rd st from hook, ch4, sl st. in last st. of rnd. you will have created 10 loops.
rnd 8: 6dc in 1st loop space created. sl st. in previous rnd's sl. st. continue around in this manner. 6dc's in every loop space, with a sl. st. in between.
draw a knot through final loop. sew in ends.
and you're done!
see? easy peasy lemon squeezy. enjoy!
thanks so much for joining in on the fun here on versus rebecca! i'm gonna go sip some tea out of my cozy mug sitting on my fave coaster :) you can find more nook here:
*blog *etsy shop *facebook *pinterest *ravelry
do you love coastsers too? what's your fave way to make them? sewn, knitted or crocheted? have a fave pattern you want to share? i'd love to hear about it!