Need a handmade gift for someone who wouldn't appreciate pink and frilly, or kitschy and colorful? Here it is! Who would have thought that a crocheted granny tissue box cover would be a good gift for a man....well me, actually, which is why I made it in these colors! And guess what, it's great and super quick, at least my adapted pattern! It took me a while because I had to figure out how to use the pattern with my guage, but I'll explain all that to you, and after the first one I think you could easily whip a bunch of these out for some great gifts. Give it together with some mugs and some hot chocolate mix, or anything warm and cozy that says winter. And don't foret to wish the recipient good health— my husband claims that he came down with a cold after I gave him this!
You'll Need:
- Yarn: I used Lion Cotton, love it, it's available in Israel from livyahyarn.com an online yarn store.
- Crochet hook: I used an American size H, you can go a bit on the large size for this, since the box will be wearing it, not a living breathing being!
- A rectangular box of tissues, mine is Kleenex brand with a brown leather look box, perfect!
- The original pattern plus lovely photo tutorial for this project, found here, from The Royal Sisters blog. Note: pattern is in English crochet terms NOT American crochet terms. When she says dc, read that as sc (which I didn't I just realized!) for tr, read that as dc, and when she says dtr, read that as triple crochet. That's basically it. Just don't forget this important point! And if you do, which I did on the first round, well it will still work out.
How To:
Follow pattern or, if you'd like to use chunkier yarn or something you have on hand, this is basically what you need to do: Crochet rounds according to pattern, (if you like, substitute double crochet for single crochet in round 1, which I did accidently, but it looks great!) but when your work is almost as big as the top of the box, or as big as the top of the box, skip to round 6, which is the round in which you make the corners.
After round 6, follow pattern until cover is the right height. I skipped the scalloped edge, instead I crocheted a row of single crochet and decreased stitches about 10 times evenly spaces around the diameter, which helps the cover stay on more tightly, infact it hugs the corners under the box too. Original pattern has 16 rounds, my chunkier pattern has only 10 rounds, a big difference time wise!
Also, as you'll notice, the original pattern changes colors each row, I went for a different look, which you can copy by simply looking at my photos!
ps: I just noticed that I also crocheted round 2 totally wrong, and yet it still worked out....I guess when there's a will there's a way, I've been wanting to make one of these for a while now and was determined! Now I can't wait to go back and follow the pattern correctly! Enjoy!
