Bumblebee Garden Blanket Crochet Pattern

🌻🐝 Welcome to the Bumblebee Garden Blanket! 🐝🌻

Hey there, fellow yarn enthusiasts and garden lovers! Are you ready to embark on a delightful crochet journey with me? Let me introduce you to the buzz-worthy creation that is the Bumblebee Garden Blanket. It's not just any blanket; it's a whimsical ode to nature's beauty.

Story of the blanket:

Now, let me spill the tea on how this charming blanket came to be. Picture this: me, huddled over my crochet hooks, utterly obsessed with the Interlocked Diamond stitch pattern. It's the kind of pattern that makes you want to cover everything in sight with its intricate beauty. I started small, with coasters and placemats, but soon enough, inspiration struck like a bolt of lightning. The pattern resembled a garden trellis, and suddenly, I had a vision—a bumblebee garden blanket!

There's a video!

Crafting this masterpiece is as sweet as honey (pun intended). Don't be intimidated by the Interlocked Diamond sections; I've got your back with a handy support video if you need it. Make sure you subscribe to my YouTube Channel so you can keep up with all my tutorials. The video is also available linked below the pattern. 

What yarn should you use?

The blanket pattern is designed for DK weight yarn and finishes at a cozy 48" x 48". Want something bigger? No problem! Just switch to worsted-weight yarn and a larger hook for a blanket that wraps you in even more warmth. 

Now, let's break it down, shall we? The pattern is divided into four sections: the center, the side panels, the corners, and the decorations. The best part? You assemble as you go, which means no tedious stitching at the end. 

But wait, there's more! Once your blanket pieces are all snugly nestled together, it's time to unleash your creativity in the garden. We've got four different flower patterns, two leaf styles, and, of course, our chubby little bumblebees. Mix and match to your heart's content and watch your garden come to life stitch by stitch.

Pattern Resources:

The pattern is available free here in US terms- but for those of you who love to have your patterns at your fingertips or need the pattern in UK terms, I am offering a convenient PDF upgrade option. Simply visit Ravelry or my website to purchase the PDF version and have the pattern accessible anytime, anywhere. The links are below:

So, what are you waiting for? Grab your yarn, your hooks, and your imagination, and let's crochet a bumblebee garden blanket that'll make all your cozy dreams come true. Whether you're snuggled up on the couch or picnicking in the park, this blanket is sure to bring a touch of whimsy to your world.

Happy crocheting, my friends! 🌼🐝

 

Lattice & Lace Blanket Crochet Pattern

 

Welcome to the Lattice & Lace Blanket!

Are you ready to embark on a crochet journey filled with elegance and charm? If so, allow me to introduce you to the exquisite Lattice & Lace crochet blanket pattern. With its delicate border reminiscent of Victorian-era lace, this blanket is a true work of art that will elevate any space it graces.

Crafted with a combination of lattice and lace stitches, the Lattice & Lace blanket boasts a stunning design that is both intricate and captivating. While it may seem daunting at first glance, fear not! I'm here to guide you through every step of the process. 

YouTube Tutorial Available!

One of the most wonderful aspects of this pattern is its versatility. Whether you're a seasoned crocheter looking for a challenge or a beginner eager to expand your skills, this pattern is perfect for you. And don't worry if you're new to lace stitches – I've got you covered with a handy video stitch tutorial that will demystify the process and have you crocheting with confidence in no time! Make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel so you can be notified whenever I upload new tutorials.

What's more, you have the freedom to choose your preferred yarn weight. The original Lattice & Lace blanket was crafted using DK weight yarn, resulting in a cozy 48" x 48" masterpiece (with edging) or a charming 36" x 36" without. Perfect for cuddling up with a cup of morning coffee or presenting as a heartfelt baby gift.

But why stop there? Feel free to experiment with different yarn weights and hook sizes to customize the size of your blanket. Imagine snuggling up under a luxurious worsted weight version that envelops you in warmth and comfort – the possibilities are endless!

PDF Upgrade Also Available!

Ready to get started? Just scroll down and you'll find the free Lattice & Lace blanket pattern waiting for you. For those looking to have an easy-to-use printed copy available in either US or UK terms, a PDF upgrade is available from Ravelry or my website. It's the perfect companion for your crochet adventure.

So, what are you waiting for? Grab your yarn and hook, and let's bring this stunning pattern to life together. Trust me, the end result will be nothing short of magical!

Gingerbread House Christmas Sampler Crochet Blanket Pattern

Thank you to everyone who participated in this year's Christmas Blanket CAL! You made it amazing!

Options, options, options...that's the name of the game. Think of it in terms of decorating the walls of your actual gingerbread house. Do you like it with more or less frosting? Do you like lots of colorful candies or just a little? You can decorate your blanket any way you like. This will be a great time to play with color. 

There are more than 10 different stitch patterns in these blankets, with only four of them foundational. The rest of the stitch patterns are where you get to play. 

All of the pattern downloads will be available in both US and UK terminology.

The full pattern is now available for download: Ravelry, and my Website.

Frosting Theme

Candy Theme

Beach Theme

Silver and Red Theme

For your viewing pleasure...the Bizzy Testers:

Alisha used a short repeat gradient for her candy colors which helped her achieve her different colored bobbles.

Debbi kept her colors minimal and simple, choosing only a burgundy red for the center and all white for the rest of her blanket. 

Mik chose waves of green and red that created a fun contrast to the rest of her white frosting sections. 

Niamh made her sample out of crochet thread so she could use it as a table decoration for the holidays. She said it finished up at about 25" x 25".

Tiffiny went with a yummy dark chocolate cookie for her gingerbread house and changed up some of her frosting work to resemble peppermints. 

Vannessa chose a vibrant variegated yarn to achieve a colorful candy look in her blanket.

Wini chose a completely unique color palette that makes you think of pink frosted chocolate cookies with mint chips.  Yum! 

 Thank you to my amazing testers! 

Hopefully, you have found something to inspire you! 

From That to This: The Evolution of a Submarine

Hey everyone! Today is the first day after a holiday weekend (the 4th of July) and I have to switch gears and get myself back in "work" mode. So, I decided to share with you the journey of a pattern design I am putting out in August. I was originally going to wait until September, but my testers are just zooming through so I'll be able to release it sooner. 

*This post contains affiliate links, which means that I may receive a small commission (at no cost to you) if you subscribe or purchase something through the links provided. Please note: I will never become an affiliate partner for a product or service that I don’t use and love! Not all links are affiliates.

Around 2015 I was into designing toy bags a lot more than I have been in recent years. It all came to sort of a screeching halt when I created two bags that I just couldn't get right. The Prairie Bag and a submarine bag that I never published. I finally revamped the Prairie bag and released in 2017, but the submarine bag kept moving with me from house to house never being completed. 

The main reason it never got completed was because I had made a stack on the top of the sub that had plastic canvas around it to hold it upright causing a myriad of issues. haha! It was too small for hands to reach into the bag and get the characters out of it and it was a scratch hazard for little ones. In the picture below you can see how tiny the top was. 

So, I took the scissors to it and cut the stack off the top. It definitely opened up nicely, but I still decided I needed to remake it so that I could figure out a different top. This is what I came up with...

The stack definitely looked more "submarine" to me after I was done, and hands could reach in and out of the bag- so I was successful, right? Not really. I wasn't happy with it and I couldn't put my finger on it. But, I moved on to the animals because I couldn't place my unhappiness with the pattern up to this point and this is where everything went completely wrong for me. 

I started with the squid. I wanted it to look like the squid from Surfs Up because it's a hilarious character- and I didn't want to make the characters too elaborate and difficult to make. That sucks the fun out of everything. 

Lani from Surf's Up. She's a lifeguard and the squid is her safety rescue tube. The squid has expressions throughout the whole thing- he talks with his eyes. It's hilarious and one of my favorite animated movies. If you've never seen it- you need to and you can get a copy here!

By the time I got him done I knew the aesthetic was completely wrong for the grey sub. This guy was cute and the grey sub was really dark and sort of gothy looking. But, I thought...let me try another animal and see if I feel any differently, so I moved on to the octopus. But, that just sealed the deal for me. These guys were too cute for the grey sub.  

Since everyone was too cute for the current sub, I decided that I wanted to put them in something more cartoony and a yellow submarine seemed like the perfect answer. I based my design off of this picture. 

I tried to keep it true to form as much as possible. With this being a bag, I needed one of the windows to serve as a door. In order to get one big enough to use as a door- I had to cut the windows down to just one per side. I also left the rivets off of the seams. I'm sure if someone added some in it would just complete the look, but it was too fiddly for me. I decided simple was better.

I was very happy with how it came out. After I got my sub squared away I was able to come up with the remaining characters much easier. I opted to go with a sea turtle and a stingray. I'm really happy with the whole gang, and I hope you guys love it as much as I do. 

Like I said at the beginning, my testers are hard at work cleaning up all the little details in the pattern and it should be ready to put out in August. 

See you soon!!

5 Quick Father's Day Crochet Patterns

I don't know about you, but Father's Day is a holiday that creeps up on me without seeing it coming every year. So, while I was looking at the calendar for other reasons, I saw Father's Day and decided I needed to look up some gifts to make the guys in my life. Here are five that I loved:

1. My husband is what I consider a micro-nerd. He's not deeply into all the superhero stuff. Still, he will patiently watch any movie the rest of us like and can hold a good conversation concerning any of the doings of the characters. My son is a huge comic book nerd, so my husband gets a lot of the details from him. Even though he's not a super-nerd he would still love one of these cozies!!

 Father's Day Crochet Gift - Free Super Dad Mug Cosy Pattern - Hooked On Patterns

2. This is another gift I thought would be a great idea for my guy. He doesn't drink alcohol, but he does drink the flavored waters and juices that come in those tall skinny bottles. And every once in a while, he drinks a craft root beer, so I thought these would be good for him to use to keep it colder longer! 

Ravelry: Diamond can cozy pattern by Tatiana Siminyuk

3. Maybe your guy likes to bring his own bottles to the party? I know back in the day, mine would have. I love this little six-pack bag from Moogly. It's such an ingenious idea- and it could even double as a yarn tote...?? 

Bring Your Own Bag - moogly (mooglyblog.com)

4. Gnomes are so popular now. I ran across an entire pantheon of different gnome personalities on Winding Road Crochet's site. I swear there's one for every type of guy.

Crochet Fishing Gnome Pattern that will Make you Smile - Winding Road Crochet

Make sure you check out the rest of her gnome patterns- there's one for every personality!!

5. Last, but not least, is this microwave bowl cozy. These are SO helpful! We use them in our house and it's literally the difference between keeping your fingerprints or having a mess. We love them, and if your guy uses the microwave for soups or dips or whatever- he needs these!

Easy Crochet Bowl Cozy Tutorial - Free Pattern (nickishomemadecrafts.com)

I hope this roundup helps you find something fun and/or useful to whip up for the guys in your life. 

Fathers are worth celebrating!

Happy Crocheting!

Biz

Cobblestone Shawl Pattern

 Hello, Lovelies!

Today I'm introducing a new shawl line that I will be expanding on. It will include my first Sweet and Simple shawl pattern from 2008. Over the years Sweet N Simple Shawl has been an extremely popular pattern used by shawl ministries all over the world. I want to continue to sow into those ministries by providing another simple shawl pattern that can be used for everything, especially blessing others. If you don't want to deal with the free version on my blog, you can purchase an ad-free version on my website. 

I introduce to you the "Cobblestone: A Sweet and Simple Shawl Pattern"

This follows my Sweet and Simple philosophy of creating a design that uses 4 or fewer repeat rows to create a whole garment. That makes it a great pattern for beginners, as well as the more experienced because it's easy to memorize and you can achieve success no matter what level of crochet you currently are. This stitch repeat has a cluster stitch that makes for a light texture throughout. It reminded me of cobblestones, hence the name. But, the texture makes the shawl both light and warm. 

I created samples in both a fingering weight yarn (Scheepjes Whirl) and a DK weight/Light #3 yarn (Baby Bee Sweet Delight Print). Information for both is included in the pattern. 

Cobblestone: Scheepjes Whirl in Lavenderlicious
Fingering Weight, 60% Cotton/ 40% Acrylic

Cobblestone: Baby Bee Sweet Delight
#3 Light, 60% Acrylic/ 40% Polyamide

Cobblestone Shawl Pattern:

Materials:

Scheepjes Whirl, fingering weight, (215g/1094yds/1000m) - 1 cake- Lavenderlicious (gradient yarn)
Hook: F/3.75mm

Baby Bee Sweet Delight Prints, #3 Light Worsted/DK yarn, (4oz/377yds)- 4 skeins- Brown Multi (may be discontinued)
Hook: F/3.75mm

Fingering Finished/Blocked Size:  14" W x 60" L
Gauge: in pattern/blocked- 5 rows x 4 clusters = 4" x 4"

#3 Light Worsted Finished/Unblocked Size: 24” W x 60 “ L
Gauge: in pattern/unblocked- 5 rows x 4 clusters = 4" x 4"

NOTES:

1. Just remember that you can change the hook and yarn size to work with whatever you have in your stash- however, you need to make sure you have extra yarn because changing hooks and yarn weight change how much you use. 
2. You can also alter the width of the shawl by adding more repeats. The multiples for this pattern are 6sts +1, plus 2 for the foundation chain.
3. Blocking is HIGHLY recommended for this shawl because it begins to "lean" while you are working on it.
4. ch3 counts as a dc throughout, ch5 counts as tr + ch1 throughout.

US Abbreviations:

ch- chain
sl st- slip stitch
sc- single crochet
dc- double crochet
hdc- half double crochet
tr- treble crochet

Special Stitches
sc3tog- (insert hook into next stitch, pull up a loop)3x, yo, pull through all 3 loops
hdc5tog-(yo, insert hook into the indicated st, pull up a loop) 5x, yo, pull through all loops on the hook, ch1

Pattern:

Row 1- (RS) ch105, hdc in 3^rd ch from hook, *sc in next ch, sc3tog over next 3ch, sc in next ch, (hdc, dc, hdc) in next ch; repeat from * to the end of the row ending the last repeat with (hdc, dc) in the last ch. Turn.

Row 2- ch3 (cts as dc), sk2, *(tr, ch3, tr) in next sc, sk2 **, hdc5tog in next dc; repeat from * ending last repeat at **, dc in turn ch. Turn.

Row 3- ch1, sk 1dc, sc in next tr, *(sc, hdc, dc, hdc, sc) in next ch3**, sc3tog over next 3 st ; repeat from * ending last repeat at **, sc2tog over last dc and turning ch. Turn.

Row 4- ch5 (cts as trc + ch1), trc in 1^st sc, *sk 2, hdc5tog in next dc, sk2**, (trc, ch3, trc) in next sc; repeat from * ending last repeat at **, (trc, ch1, trc) in turning ch. Turn.

Row5- ch3 (cts as dc), hdc in same sp, sc in next ch, *sc3tog over next 3 st**, (sc, hdc, dc, hdc, sc) in next ch3 sp; repeat from * ending last repeat at **, sc in ch1 sp, (hdc, dc) in 4^th ch of ch5. Turn.

Repeat Rows 2-5 to desired length.       

Both versions make a great scarf! Happy Crocheting!

© Bizzy Crochet and Design 2020