From A Simple Crocheted (& Felted) Square: A Sweet Envelope Or A Potholder!

Need a little something handmade to show you care? Want to practice crocheting and have something to show for your efforts? Looking for a little project that will fulfill an immediate need to craft? (That was me, by the way, which is how this came about!) When the idea struck, I quickly crocheted this square from 100% wool yarn while trying to feed my kids dinner Saturday night. I wanted to finish the square in time to throw it in the laundry with the day's load of darks, in order to felt it a bit. Sounds like fun? It is!

Today I pressed the square with my hot steam iron, photographed it flat and then sewed it up into the little envelope that you see here! How's that for a behind the scenes description of my creative adventures?

You'll Need:

• 100% wool yarn in two or three colors, I used "worsted weight"
• crochet hook slightly bigger than what you'd normally use if you plan to felt your work, I used an "I", though I'd normally use a "g".

How To:

• Guage is unimportant in this project, the goal quite simply is to crochet a square using the single crochet stitch.
• If you'd like to felt your square, so take into consideration that it will shrink by about 1/3 if you choose to utilize my casual felting method, which is to throw it into the washing machine with a load of like-colored clothing, and then into the dryer! You can put it through the washing machine again if the felting isn't as dense as you'd like.

1. Crochet a base chain roughly 8.5" long
2. Turn and start crocheting in the second chain from the hook
3. When turning work for all subsequent rows, chain 1 at beginning of row.
4. Change colors where desired for stripes, and stop crocheting when you have a square.
5. Make a colored border by crocheting around the entire square. Crochet three stitches into each corner to form an actual corner.
6. Weave loose ends into work with an large needle, weaving horizontally into rows of like colored yarn to hide ends.
7. To make the envelope, bring three corners together and sew seams with a needle and like colored yarn. Attach two buttons as shown and braid a small tie to loop around the buttons as a closure.
8. Who wouldn't love to get a card in an envelope like this that can certainly be used again to store jewelry or small precious items!