Crochet thread scraps. Anyone who does crochet tea towels has scraps left over. Not enough for another tea towel, too much to throw away. Inspired by crochet coasters made by my friend Donna, I started using up my scraps on coasters. Very rarely do I get more than two the same.
These instructions are written in the terminology I use – Australia / New Zealand / UK terminology. If you are used to using the US terminology, see the US version of these instructions – to come very soon. (ie UK double crochet = US single crochet, etc.)
Materials
Yarn: 4ply crochet cotton
Crochet Hook Size: 3.5 mm
Stitch Notes
ch- chain, sl st – slip stitch, dc – double crochet, tc – treble crochet
Magic ring: https://www.wikihow.com/Crochet-a-Magic-Ring
4 Treble Bobble Stitch: https://blog.treasurie.com/bobble-stitch/
Do a half treble crochet – ie do a treble stitch except the final pull through the two loops. Do three more half treble crochet. You will end up with 5 loops (starting loop plus 4 loops from the trebles. Wrap the yarn around the hook and pull through all 5 loops.
Do a half treble crochet – do the stitch except the final pull through the final loops. Do three more half treble crochet. You will end up with 5 loops (starting loop plus 4 loops from the trebles. Wrap the yarn around the hook and pull through all 5 loops.
Instructions
Round 0: Make a single or double magic ring. I prefer double.
Round 1: chain 3, 14 tc into the circle, join with sl st to top of chain 3 (15 stitches)
Round 2: Pull out the loop to the height of a tc and do a bobble st (4 half trebles) in the same hole, * chain 2, bobble st in next tc **, repeat from * to ** 14 times to complete the round, join with sl st to top of the 1st bobble st (45 sts).
Round 3: sl st to next chain 2 space, chain 3, 3 tc in same space, * 4 tc in next chain space**, repeat from * to ** 14 times to complete the round, join with sl st to top of chain 3. (60 sts).
I use slip stitches to get to the next chain space at the beginning of the round just so the start of the round is in a different spot, to hide any “start of row” oddities. It doesn’t affect the pattern if you don’t do the slip stitches. Also note there are no chain stitches in this row between the tc groups – it should be one solid round of trebles.
Round 4: Chain 2, then tc in each stitch around rest of round, join with sl st to top of chain stitches (60 st)
Round 5: sl st to between the previous row’s chain and first tc. (Again we are trying to move the start of the row to a different spot and this can be skipped if desired.)
Pull out the loop to the height of a tc and do a bobble st in same place, * chain 2, skip one tc, bobble st in next tc **, repeat from * to ** 29 times to complete the round, join with sl st to top of the 1st bobble st (30 bobble sts)
Round 6: sl st in next chain 2 space, do 1 chain and 1 dc in that space, 5 tc in next chain 2 space, * 2 dc in next chain 2 space, 5 tc in next chain 2 space **, rep from * to ** around, join with sl st to the 1st dc. If the counting has gone wrong and you end with the 2 dc’s that’s fine – it’s better to have the 2 x 2 dc parts next to each other than 2 of the 5 tc parts. It’s less obvious.
Finishing off: Break thread, feed loose thread through loop, tighten and sew in the ends as usual. Press with a steam iron to flatten. I prefer not to starch as I like them soft but starch if you like prefer the stiffened finish.
This pattern was inspired by the Crochet Coaster Free Pattern http://beautifulcrochetstuff.com/crochet-coaster-free-pattern/ from Beautiful Crochet and the coaster patterns from Henna’s Boutique.