Waffle weave mug cozie crochet pattern

Another one of the fabulous child care center directors I am working with just finished her Aim4Excellence credential not too long ago. You know what that means, don’t you? Time for me to crochet something as a little “congrats!” gift! 

I knew the director enjoyed coffee/tea/hot cocoa so I wanted to get her a gift card to Caribou Coffee. I have made a handful of different coffee mug cozies in the past, but I came across a pattern that used the waffle weave stitch that I had used in a baby blanket years ago. 



I LOVE that a simple front post double crochet and back post double crochet stitch can create such a unique, textured look. 

Materials used: 

A small amount of worsted weight yarn (I chose a pretty teal color)
Size H hook (5 mm)
Large button
Thread, scissors, needle

I found the free waffle weave crocheted cozie pattern here.

The pattern calls for a 4.5mm hook, which I didn’t have. I used a 5mm hook and it worked out just fine! Mine fits the small size Caribou coffee cup just perfectly!

End of Round 1.

A few stitches into Round 3. Notice how the the texture is starting to
appear already. 

A few stitches into Round 4.

A little over half way done. You can see how the alternating front and back post double crochet stitches make this unique waffle weave look. 

Finished product!

After crocheting the cozie, I found a nice large wooden button and sewed it on with turquoise thread. I put it on the Caribou Coffee cup, filled the cup with some candies and the gift card, and “Wa-la!” The director loved her little gift! :) P.S. If you ask the coffee shop barista reaaalllly nicely, they might just give you an extra cup for free - they did for me! 

Yummmmy. Chocolate and a coffee gift card. What's not to love!?

If you like the look of this waffle weave stitch, you should check out the baby blanket I made using the same type of pattern – it is simple and beautiful! 

Baby blanket using the waffle weave crochet stitch.

                               

Square hat with two pompoms

Awwwwww. Seriously, that's the only word for this picture.

Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE making baby gifts? I know SO many people expecting babies right now! As soon as I hear about someone expecting a baby, I immediately ask if they are going to find out the sex of the baby. It’s always easier to make something if you know if it’s a boy or girl. One of the child care centers I am working with has FOUR women expecting. Woo! Don’t be drinking that water unless you want a little one of your own. ;) 

One of the gals, Miranda, had her sweet baby boy, Creed, just about a month ago. I decided to make this adorable double pom pom hat for her lil guy using a nice, soft, thick and colorful yarn. I found the free double pom pom hat pattern here.

Starting the foundation single crochet

For this pattern, I used the following:
10 mm crochet hook

1 ½ skeins of Loops & Threads Charisma in Sunny Day
My homemade pom pom maker (click here for how to make a poof ball)

This pattern starts on the bottom rim of the hat and works its way up.  To make the rim a little bit more stretchy and flexible, I tried out a foundation single crochet stitch.



I have never done that before so I had to look up a Youtube video to see how it was done. Not really all that hard to learn and the result was wonderful! I will be starting more patterns with this technique!

After a row of front and back post double crochets. See that nice texture starting to pop out?

The first couple rows are front and back post double crochet to create a neat looking texture on the rim of the hat. The rest of the pattern is simply double crochet stitches. I made my hat a little bit bigger because I expect the lil guy to grow into it and didn’t want it to be too small right away.

Pom poms are attached. Now time to trim them!

I added a few more inches on the top before finishing off so that the rim can be rolled up. That way, the baby can grow into the hat a little bit more. After finishing the hat, I made two pom poms to attach to the top two corners of the hat.

Finished product with the trim of the hat unrolled

The trim of the hat rolled up to fit a smaller baby.

Absolutely precious baby Creed snoozing away in his new hat!

Professional pictures were done by Expressions by Ashton Photography. She has a location in Fargo and Bismarck, ND. Here is their website for more info: http://expressionsbyashton.com/

Chevron Baby Blanket in Gradient Colors

Adorable Evelyn Elaine about a week old. 

I met my dear friend, Lindzee, when she moved to North Dakota a few years ago. We hit it off pretty quickly. Both of us have a love for kids (that’s where we met – working at the YMCA Early Learning Center). I was the lead teacher in the infant room and she was the lead teacher in the younger preschool room. 

Lindzee and I are both pretty geeky. We both have an adventurous spirit. My husband, Jon, and I got Lindzee hooked on one of our hobbies: geocaching. We have spent many hours together on geocaching road trips. We’ve trudged through snow, gotten lost in the woods (Ok, maybe not COMPLETELY lost – we do have GPS devices on us!), gone camping together, pulled ticks off each other, and even ended up in the ditch together on an icy winter day. Lindzee was always up for something fun. She even joined my Mom and I for a 5K Run or Dye event. 

Lindzee, me, and my Mom after our Run or Dye event. ;)

Sadly, Lindzee didn’t really care for the North Dakota winters and decided to move back to South Carolina last year. I miss her dearly. She is one of the most caring, lovable, spirited, generous people I have ever and will ever meet.

My husband snow blowing our back yard. I don't know why you wouldn't like these North Dakota winters!? 

Now, Lindzee is married to a wonderful man, Brandon. He is a lucky guy. Brandon and Lindzee just had their first baby – a GIRL! Baby Evelyn made her grand entrance into the world at 6:19 a.m. on June 11^th weighing 7 lbs 9 oz and measuring 20 ¼”. Can’t wait to meet her! I couldn’t be more excited for them.

The whole happy family!

Sweet baby Evelyn 

 Of course, after hearing that she was expecting a girl, I HAD to crochet something for her. Anyone who knows me knows that crocheting something handmade is a way I show love for people around me. Especially when it involves a baby! J 

Lindzee looking stunningly beautiful for just having a baby!

I have long wanted to do a blanket in one color scheme with a color gradient theme. I wandered around JoAnn Fabrics for a few hours looking at their yarn aisles and trying to decide what color scheme to go with. 

My twin sister, Elisa, was a great help to me. She is an artist and has an eye for color schemes. I was texting her pictures left and right. She helped me narrow it down to a few choices. I went with purple. A perfect baby girl color. After pacing the aisles and checking out every shade of purple yarn I could find, I decided on 4 different shades and a white for contrast. 

The yarn colors I went with include: Big Twist in color White (371 yds), CARON Simply Soft in color Lilac (812 yds), Red Heart with Love color in Lilac (370 yds), Big Twist in color Blueberry (371 yds), and Big Twist in color Damson Purple (371 yds). I needed only one skein of each (what is pictured) to do this blanket. Using coupons, it cost me around $16. 

Here is the link to the free pattern:  http://daisycottagedesigns.net/crochet/ripple-blanket-crochet-pattern/


I have done several chevron patterns before, but not this one. This one is super simple – once you figure out the pattern, you just do the same thing over and over! 

The only thing you have to decide is when to switch to a different color. I decided to do two rows of each color before moving on to the next color. To switch to the next color, drop the current color and yarn over with the new color when you are pulling through the last stitch of the row. 

Starting to work on row 1. You can see the chevron pattern already!

The entire blanket is done in double crochet stitches, some increasing and some decreasing. There are always 4 double crochets in-between the increasing and decreasing stitches. Super duper easy! 

You could decide to repeat the light and dark rows like I did or just do one row of each. When you reach your desired length, and are at a good cut-off point, tie off the yarn. I ended up with 80 rows. 

Two rows of white stitches and two rows of light purple stitches completed.

I must say, I love the color combo and the chevron pattern together. And, since I bought SO much yarn (not knowing how much I’d need and wanting to make sure I had enough of each color), I have enough of the different purple colors to make another blanket….look for another blog post down the road. ;)

Two rows of each of the colors completed.

If you are anything like me, you like to snack while you crochet.  I made some delicious bruschetta bites and swallowed them down with some even more delicious blackberry merlot. Isn’t crocheting fun?! 

Cuddled up with an electric blanket, bruschetta, and wine. My favorite way to crochet. :) 

The finished product (minus tying in loose ends). Total of 80 rows (remember each skinny stripe is 2 rows).

So, I decided to repeat two rows of the white and the darkest purple but you could do just two rows of each color so the stripes are all the same thickness. 

Can't wait to see Evelyn in the hat that I 
gave away in an earlier blog post.

Matching hats for Lindzee and her baby girl!

Isn't she absolutely precious?!
 I just want to snuggle her!

Since I had an extra skein of each color left, I played around with another color gradient pattern. I'll post about that blanket in a couple months. :)

Waffle weave crochet pattern

So, I LOVE the look of this basket weave crocheted baby blanket. It looks more like a knit pattern, but it is actually crocheted! It involves a couple of more advanced stitches, but once you get the hang of them, it is a piece of cake! 

I used Loops and Threads Charisma yarn from JoAnn Fabric. I’ve made this blanket a few times – the first time in Charcoal and the next time using Off White with a Dark Blue border.

 I like the Charisma yarn because it is thicker and works up fast, but is also soft and machine washable and dryable (super important qualities to have when making a baby blanket!) 

The hook suggested is an 8mm hook, but I only had a 9mm so I used that instead. I followed this pattern:  http://www.deliacreates.com/nesting-basket-weave-crochet-baby/

My friend, Jackie, sent me this picture (above right) of the blanket I made for her sweet baby boy Emmett. Doesn’t it look so cute hanging on the edge of the crib with the adorable sign above? For this blanket, I used 6 balls of Off White and 1 ball of Dark Blue for the border. 

I had learned how to do a front post double crochet and back post double crochet stitch when making some cute baby booties before, so I was familiar with the stitch. It is actually easier to do with thicker yarn and a bigger crochet hook, so this is a perfect pattern to learn how to do this stitch. Here is a link to a GREAT tutorial on how to do the front and back post double crochet stitch: https://crochetwithpassion.wordpress.com/2013/11/06/front-and-back-post-double-crochet-tutorial/ Just remember that it is the front and back POST you are focusing on, not the loops. The post is the upright, vertical part of the stitch.

As you start working on this pattern, you won’t see the basket weave pattern right away. The pattern requires you to alternate every 4 rows. After 8 or 12 rows, you will start to see the pattern emerge. Keep in mind, you need to end your pattern on  a multiple of 4 so you don’t break the pattern halfway through.

In this picture, I purposely placed my foot next to the blanket 

so you can see the size of the baby blanket. 

Pretty pink toes, right? 

The little laminated sticky label in the corner is one of the coolest creations on the planet! It is a personalized label from NameBubbles that is washable and super sticky.  I love putting the label on it to remind the recipient that the gift was made with lots of love.

 If you are wondering if these labels are worth the money, let me tell you they absolutely are! I bought the laminated washable ones so that they will hold up in the wash. Here is the link to their website: http://www.namebubbles.com/Default.aspx  

I used to work at a child care center and one of the little boys in my room had a laminated sticker on his blanket. It was washed MANY MANY times and still looked brand new and still stuck to the material. Great way to label your child’s clothes or belongings so they don’t get lost at daycare.
Happy crafting everyone! :)