Simply Crochet: Botan Placemats

Welcome to the next stop in the Simply Crochet Blog Tour. I am your host, Marly Bird! I have two designs in this great book but today we are going to talk about the 3 Ball project, the Botan Placemats. 

--You know what, let me begin by telling all of you what a great idea I think this book is. So many people I know (knitters usually) tell me that they don't crochet because it takes so much yarn and that they never can find anything that they like that actually doesn't take that much yarn. Well, the next time I hear that I am going to hand them this book. It is FULL of absolutely fantastic items that maximize the value of the yarn but don't compromise on style.--

Anyway, let's get on with the show :-)

The idea for the  Botan Placemeats (ravelry link) came from a felted coaster I made myself out of some scrap Stitch Nation, Full of Sheep yarn I had left over from working with Debbie Stoller (that is a whole different story).  The coaster is a simple two row color repeat stripey thing that sits to the left of my computer and is absolutely perfect.  I love this coaster and thought that a set of cute felted placemats would look wonderful on my kitchen table.

When I saw this inspiration photo I though that making the placemats felted just like my coaster would be perfect.  They have clean lines and are not too busy which are two things I like.  But it needed that little extra something.  So, I pulled out one of my MANY crochet stitch dictionaries and made the little Botan Flowers and stitched them to the placemat.  The flowers are the little touch that makes them cute, don't you think?

Are you on a time crunch?  I made these in about a day and a half.  SERIOUSLY! Actually, I had enough time from the deadline that made two sets to play around with colors.  Check out the other color option you could do.

As for yarn amount, these placemats literally use just about every last bit of yarn of yarn in the three skeins.  I had maybe 24" left of each color.  Not bad huh?

So,if you are looking for a quick, inexpensive and easy project or a gift for the holidays or a house warming these are perfect! Go and favorite them on Ravelry would ya? 

Oh..you want a prize?  SURE...I am the Oprah of the Podcast world...let's spread the love here too!
Leave a comment on this blog and be entered to win a FREE DIGITAL/E-BOOK copy of Simply Crochet!  I will pick a winner randomly in a week so don't wait.

Last but certainly not least...check out my teacher profile and classes for STITCHES West.  I would love it if you would join me for a class or two! Trust me, I am a lot of fun :-)

Peek-A-Boo Chevron Tunic

Yep, I am still here. I have been very busy finishing up a book I am writing with Jill Write for Leisure Arts and various other patterns for magazines.

Here is my newest published pattern. It is in the newest issue of Inside Crochet. You want the Ravelry links? The Peek-A-Boo Chevron Tunic is what I called it but in the magazine it is the Chevron Tunic I hear (I don't have the magazine yet) but you can find it in Inside Crochet, Issue #4 October/November

Here are some pictures on flickr I took of it before I sent it to the UK.

To tell the truth, I am not totally happy with the color choices that we used over the left boob. It would have been cuter with a blue instead of the green but the color cards we used to choose the colors made it look like the green would be perfect. The hard part is that the yarn is kettledyed and each skein is a little different from the next so even though one skein of the multy looked great with the green the others didn't. Does that make sense?
Here, I took pictures with a blue held up to it so you can see what it would look like in a different color.

So, I know some of you will be wondering, "why make one side different than the other?" Well, you don't have to do that at all but I thought it was a cool way to make an everyday chevron piece different. Actually, that is how I got the Peek-A-Boo idea. To me, the idea that only one boob has a striped chevron is like a game of peek a boo.

What do you think? You can be honest with me. I know that some of you will just LOVE it and some will HATE it. I am prepared for that as I too am in a love/hate relationship with it.

The only other thing that I might change when I publish this pattern myself is the way I did my decreases. I think they are a little too drastic and I think that I will do a little more math to make them a little more subtle in future patterns.

Other than that...I hope you will go to RAVELRY and favorite it right away :-)

I will try to update you all more soon with all the other things I have been up to lately!

OH...the podcast is scheduled to start up again in OCTOBER!!

xoxoxo