Crochet Plaid Blanket Pattern Reviewed

A Perfect Gift For His Man Cave

Crochet A Blanket For Him Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

Today, I'll be reviewing a crochet plaid blanket pattern that I plan to make for my son-in-law for Christmas. As I write this it is the 4th of July but now is the time to plan for making things like this to be sure that it is, in fact, finished before Christmas morning arrives.

I found this wonderful pattern at Yarnspirations.com. It is called the Buffalo Plaid Afghan and it is free to download and print. Actually, on the page it not only lets you get the pattern but you can purchase your yarn there, too; if you so desire. 

The pattern was created to celebrate the 150th birthday of our friends to the north, Canada. That is pretty neat in and of itself. What caught my eye was the manliness of the design. It is sometimes difficult to find things that we crocheters can do for the men in our lives. Oh, sure, we can do a scarf or a hat. We can hook up a pair of socks for them and we can even do other blankets. The options for a blanket are usually just picking a color scheme that might appeal to a guy, though. In my opinion a plaid blanket is perfect for a man. 

I've mentioned in other articles that I like to visit Mikey at The Crochet Crowd and watch his tutorials. Well, he has a tutorial on the blanket I want to make using this pattern!

The pattern and the video recommend that you use blanket yarn which is a thicker option of yarn. It is kind of bulky and works up pretty fast. You can choose any color combination that you want; it doesn't have to be in the red and black. Personally, I do not care to work with the bulkier yarns so when I start the one that I will make, I plan to substitute the yarn for a standard 4 ply yarn and use a smaller hook than is recommended in the pattern. That is the fun thing about crochet, you can usually adapt a pattern to suit your own tastes.

As you can see by the video this crochet plaid blanket will work up pretty quickly. It is just a matter of creating the mesh work and then doing the overlay crochet to finish it off. I love this pattern and I think that my son-in-law will love the blanket when I give it to him. If time allows, I may do one for my hubby, too.

For some additional ideas for things to create in crochet for the men in your lives, you might enjoy this set of patterns.

I know it is only July but if you plan to craft some gifts for the holidays; it is time to look for the patterns, get your supplies and start working on them. I love making things for gifts for my family. How about you? Do you craft items for gifts?

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Crochet Baby Blanket Pattern Reviewed

Modern Baby Blanket To Crochet

Napping baby image from Pixabay.com

I recently crocheted a project using a crochet baby blanket pattern from Yarnspirations. It was so much fun that I thought reviewing it for you here today would also be a great idea. 

What I loved about this pattern was that it had a more contemporary look to it and a little whimsy, too. You see the blanket is mostly a solid color with the words #NAPS centered in the middle of the blanket. These types of blankets are often referred to as "graphghans". 

I think most will appreciate that the pattern is so versatile and you have the option of doing it in any color combination that you choose to. As you will see in the video tutorial the pattern is shown in black and white which could be used for either gender of baby. I opted for a pretty princess pink yarn and did the wording in a lime green. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the completed blanket before I gave it to a new Mom as a gift. 

The video gives good instructions for making the blanket and was quite helpful to watch before I began my little project. You might find it helpful to visit the Crochet Crowd page that shows both the tutorial for the blanket and a very good tutorial on doing graph work with the tapestry technique. You can find that page here.

Not only did I think this crochet baby blanket pattern was cute but I also had never used the tapestry technique before. So, this was a learning process for me. It was really simple to do and honestly did not take much time. I found it useful to sit at a table when I came to the area where I needed to work the graph for the letters. I could put the graph on the table and mark off the rows as I crocheted.

It turned out so adorable and it inspired me to create my own graph for a blanket for the holidays. I will show you the completed project when I am finished. Instead of the #NAPS for a baby, I created a graph with the words #SANTA. I will be doing it in a pretty Christmas Red with white lettering.

Even though I have been crocheting for many years, it is always fun to try something new. I think if you love to crochet that you will enjoy working with this pattern. If you do not know how to crochet and really do not want to learn, you could probably find a friend who could make the blanket for you. 

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Reviewing A Crochet Poncho Pattern

Easy Pattern To Crochet Your Own Poncho

Crochet Poncho a work in progress

As promised a few weeks back, I will review a crochet poncho pattern that I am currently working on for myself. You can see on the left the finished front panel of my colorful little addition to my wardrobe. 

Ponchos are trendy right now in the crochet world and this one is pretty easy to make. If you have ever done a granny square, you will master this pattern pretty quickly. There are only two rows to learn and then it is just a repetition of them until you have the desired length. 

I found this crochet poncho pattern while reading a post from Mikey at The Crochet Crowd and decided that I would give it a try. I love ponchos and since I seem to always be cold I thought it would be nice to have one that I can just wear around the house to keep my shoulders warm. I used some spare yarn that I had in my stash to create something that would go with many of my tops. I can wear it at home or I can wear it when I go out to do errands. 

The fun thing about this easy to crochet pattern is that it is so versatile. The original pattern shows it using just one color of yarn. I decided to get creative and use 7 colors. Mikey in his video tutorial used a variegated yarn. The same pattern looks totally different when you work with your own creativity.  

If you have been thinking that you would like to add a poncho to your wardrobe and want something unique that can't be found in stores, I recommend trying this easy to crochet poncho pattern as an option. It really does not take very long to stitch up! One would even be a nice gift for someone you love or they are nice to hook-up and donate to a local shelter. 

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Reviewing A Crochet Pumpkin Pattern

Crochet your own pumpkin for Fall

Crocheted Pumpkins

As I write this review of a fun crochet pumpkin pattern, we are officially into the fall season here in my neck of the woods. I found this pattern last year about this time and decided having some decorations that I made myself would be a fun way to celebrate autumn in my dining room. 

The advantage to crocheting a pumpkin is that it works for fall, Halloween and even into Thanksgiving. As you can see by the photo at the left, I have the crochet pumpkins that I made last year in a display with real pumpkins and a few acorns. For right now, the display is for Halloween. Once we move into November, I will take out the real pumpkins and add some dried corn, maybe a gourd and some pine cones from my back yard. The small amount of time that I invested into making the large pumpkin and the small one has turned out to serve me well for decorating for more than one holiday. 

I found the crochet pumpkin pattern on The Crochet Crowd website, last year. I often go to this site when I am looking for something fun to crochet either for myself or for gifts. Mikey, the owner of the site, often offers a tutorial with the patterns that he showcases and I find them very easy to follow. The video below was really easy to follow!

Video Tutorial For Crocheting A Large Pumpkin

The pattern was really easy to follow, especially after having watched Mikey in the tutorial video. I find that the videos are so handy because I can start and stop them as I progress through the crochet pattern.

You can pick the color of orange that you want for your crocheted pumpkin at your local craft store or online. You will need some brown for the stem (I used some scrap brown) and just a tiny bit of green for the curly little leaf. You will also need some stuffing for the inside. One thing that I found was that you do not want to be frugal with the stuffing. Put plenty of it inside your pumpkin or you might find that your finished crochet pumpkin is flat looking.

If you like to crochet and make decorative items for your home, you will enjoy making this pumpkin in the large size or any size for that matter. Mikey provides a video for large, medium and small. I love that my cute pumpkins don't have to be carved, won't turn bad and they are easily stored away until next fall when I am ready to use them again.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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