January patterns

INITIAL CELL PHONE POUCH WITH FUN FUR TRIM

THIS IS MY ORIGINAL PATTERN

Everywhere you look these days, you see hand bags, purses, wallets, etc. with initials, so I thought I'd make up a cell phone pouch with an initial! As always, the "handle" on this is long enough to wear around your neck, but can be shortened to whatever length you like by decreasing the number of chains. My cell phone is quite small, but I think you could easily adjust the size of the cell phone bag to fit your own phone as the pattern is very simple.

Small amount of main color and contrasting color of worsted weight yarn

Small amount of boa yarn in complimentary color

G hook

Graph paper for making graph of desired initial

First, make graph of initial you wish to use on your pouch. You can do this by simply drawing a grid on a piece of paper, or printing out some graph paper. Here's a link for free printable graph paper: http://www.jpfun.com/reference/graphpaper.html

FRONT:

Row 1: With main color, chain 11. Single crochet in second chain from hook and each chain across. 10 SC made. Chain 1, turn.

Row 2: Single crochet in each stitch across. Chain 1, turn.

Rows 3-13: Now we start using our graph. Determine the number of stitches for your initial, make sure it is centered so that you have the same amount of "main color" stitches on each side of your initial. Chain 1 and turn at the end of each row. At end of Row 13, fasten off contrasting color.

Rows 14-15: With main color, SC in each stitch across, chain 1, turn. At end of row 15 fasten off.

BACK:

Row 1: With main color, chain 11. SC in second chain from hook and each chain across. 10 SC made. Chain 1, turn.

Rows 2-15: SC in each stitch across. Chain 1, turn. At end of row 15 fasten off.

TO JOIN:

Holding front and back sides with wrong sides together, starting at one of the upper corners, do 3 SC in the corner, then 1 SC in end of each row down the side, 3 SC in the corner, 1 SC in each stitch across bottom, 3 SC in corner, 1 SC in end of each row up the second side, 3 SC in final corner. Fasten off.

HANDLE:

Using one strand main color and one strand contrasting color yarn held together, join in one corner with a slip stitch. Chain 90, join in second top corner with slip stitch. Slip stitch back through all chains. Fasten off.

TRIM:

(I used Bernat Boa yarn because I find it easier to see, but any of the "fuzzy" yarns would work for trim). Attach boa yarn at one corner with slip stitch. SC in each stitch around top of bag until desired width (I only did one row). Fasten off.

THIS IS MY OWN ORIGINAL PATTERN

FURRY CUFFED GLOVES

1 pair adult sized stretch gloves

1 ball "fun fur" or "boa" yarn in complimentary color

G crochet hook

THESE COULD NOT BE SIMPLER! Buy a brightly colored pair of the adult sized "stretch" gloves - you can get a pack of two pairs for $1.78 or so at Walmart. Then get a ball of the "fun fur" or "boa" type yarn - I find them easier to work with than the "eyelash" yarn. The gloves usually have a ribbed cuff, which makes your job MUCH easier - always a good thing! With gloves right side out, starting anywhere on the cuff you like, use your G sized crochet hook to poke a hole in the gloves to start your single crochet. Making a hole between every other "rib" on the cuff, single crochet all the way around. Join last single crochet to the first with a slip stitch. Mark beginning of each round. Just go around and around like this until cuff is as wide as you like - I only went around twice on the glove pictured. You can purchase these same gloves with the furry cuff already on them for about $7.00 or so - and you can get several pairs of gloves out of one ball of the yarn. The yarn runs almost $4.00 at Walmart, and with the gloves being $1.78 for TWO pair, that's almost two for one right there! I can do a pair in less than an hour.