Dada's Place

Crochet wonderland

How to crochet a doily

by Filed Under: Other crochet projects 6 Comments

colorful doilies

I must admit that at the beginning of my crochet adventure I had never thought that I would ever make any doily. I thought that they are outdated and boring. I wanted to make colorful, interesting and modern stuff. And I did make many colorful, interesting and modern crochet items. But then, somehow, I made my first doily. It was colorful, interesting and modern. And I really enjoyed making it!

how to make doily

So, after that first enjoyable experience, I changed my mind about crocheting doilies, and made many more colorful and fun doilies. I always followed somebody else’s pattern. But, recently, I wanted to make a lacy square for the scarf I had in my mind. Although, I tried, and tried, and tried some more to do that, I always ended up with a circle, not a square.

how to crochet doily

Then, it came to my mind that it might be a simple little doily. Why not? And my very first doily pattern was born! Unexpectedly and unplanned. Still, I think it’s a great addition to my existing pattern collection.

doily for beginners

It’s a beginner friendly pattern, and probably the ideal crochet project for someone who is inexperienced, but would like to make something useful and beautiful, and to see the results quickly. Because, this is very simple and easy crochet project. You could probably make several doilies during a weekend, or even during an afternoon, if you’re a little more experienced crocheter.

simple doily pattern

For each of these doilies I used a thin, 100% cotton thread for doilies, 530m/100g – and you would need approximately 10 g of the main color for one doily. I used 2mm crochet hook which is size B1 in the US, and size 14 in the UK.

crochet doily pattern

The pattern is written in English using both US and UK crochet terminology.

doily pattern for beginners

Like all my patterns, this one is also very detailed (as you can see in the picture above), with lots of step-by-step pictures.

modern crochet doily

The Follow Me Doily pattern is now available for purchase for only $3.97 in Dada’s place shop, here (payment options: Credit card and PayPal)

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You can also buy it in my Ravelry shop and in my Etsy shop.(payment option: PayPal).

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Have a nice and creative week and happy crocheting!

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Dada’s lion granny square pattern

by Filed Under: Crochet granny square 9 Comments

Dadas lion granny square

Yes, I know, this probably looks familiar! That’s because I already have the pattern for the lion granny square, which is a part of my Little lion baby blanket. But, I couldn’t resist playing with that pattern, because let’s be honest, it’s so cute! Besides, I wanted to improve it a bit and to make it compatible with a classic granny square. So, I designed this new little lion granny square. It is very similar to my previous lion square, but they’re not completely the same. Also, I wanted the square pattern which I could sell separately for only $3.97.

Lion granny square crochet blanket

I love the fact that you can combine this square with a classic granny square (as I did in this blanket above) and make some interesting combinations. Also, you can make it in any size. It could be as small as 8.5 – 9 cm or as big as 15 – 20 cm, and even bigger, there is no limit to how big you can make this square, because you can add as many rows as you like.

crochet lion granny square

To make this granny square you will need 5 mm plastic beads with a hole in the middle large enough to pull the yarn through easily. You will need some yarn. I prefer cotton yarn for this kind of crochet projects. I used 100 % cotton yarn “Tango” from St. George, 125m/50g. I know that if you live outside Serbia, you aren’t able to buy this yarn, so I would like to recommend two other yarn brands. They’re both the same weight as “Tango” and as I can see, of similar quality. And they’re available online. The first one is Catania by Schachenmayr, and the second one is Catona by Scheepjeswol.

Lion granny square tutorial

As always, the pattern is very detailed. There are more than 60 step-by-step pictures, a crochet chart, explanation on how to string beads onto yarn, as well as the written pattern. I think that any ambitious beginner who mastered the basic stitches like: magic ring, single crochet, double crochet and treble crochet would be able to make it effortlessly.

Tango yarn giveaway

I’m very curious to see what are you going to make with this square, so I decided to host a yarny giveaway. I would like you to post your finished crochet projects made using this pattern on Ravelry, and I will choose the project I like best. The winner will receive these 16 skeins of “Tango” yarn. Actually 15 skeins of “Tango” + 1 skein of “Tanja” yarn.

To enter:
1. use at least four Dada’s lion squares in your project,
2. make something useful. You can’t just make four squares and join them together,
3. post your project on Ravelry, by August 18th. You don’t have to buy the pattern on Ravelry, though.

Crochet lion baby blanket

The pattern is now available for purchase for only $3.97 in Dada’s place shop. (payment options: Credit cards and PayPal)

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You can also purchase it in my Ravelry shop, and in my Etsy shop.  (payment option: PayPal)

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Classic Granny Square Pillow

by Filed Under: Crochet pillows 6 Comments

granny square pillow

Yes, I know. It seems that after “Shawlmania” I’ve caught another bug. This time it’s “Pillowmania”! This is my third post in a row about crochet pillows! I really don’t know how to explain that, but apparently I have been in a mood for making pillows, lately.

granny square cushion

Probably, because they are so decorative, mood lifting and easy to make! Plus, when it comes to yarn, you probably won’t have to buy any, because I bet you have plenty in your yarn stash that you can use to make a simple pillow.

classic granny square

This pillow was particularly easy to make, because I used the simplest and maybe the oldest granny square pattern ever – the classic granny square pattern. Which I appreciate on so many levels. First, it’s very suitable for playing with colors. Actually, it makes playing with colors such an easy task, because honestly, you can’t go very wrong with it. You can chose some neutral color, like gray (like I did), add another three basic colors, and that’s it! You have a winner!

crochet pillow

For this granny square pillow I used the same yarn (leftovers) I used for my Lily’s blanket. It’s Yarn Art – Ecco-cotton, 100g/220m, 85% cotton 15% polyester, and I especially like that sparkly “Una” yarn (from St. George, 50g/115m 50% acrylic, 45% cotton, 5% metallized polyester), I used for the edge. It raises the pillow to a whole new level.

crochet cushion

If you’re bored with my posts about crochet pillows, please don’t worry. I promise the next time I will be writing about something completely different. About something quite bigger, with eyes and smiles.