A crocheted spiral placemat is a cheerful addition to any table, and while you're at it, a crocheted spiral pillow could be really great too! Now I must tell you, this placemat actually started out as one side of a large crocheted lollipop that I had then planned to turn into a pillow once Purim was over. The fact is though, once I started crocheting this, it suddenly occurred to me that really my daughters polka dot wooden shoes from Holland would be perfect with her Purim costume. And once the costume started taking the Dutch direction, well the lollipop just didn't make any sense. Not to worry, it was fun exploring spiral crochet and now we have a fun little place mat for a bedside table, or maybe even to applique onto an existing pillow.
Now there seem to be quite a few ways to do spiral crochet, namely with two, three or even four colors, so take your pick. This pattern which I followed actually was for a coaster sized piece, so I really just improvised by finishing the piece with rounds of half double crochet and then single crochet to get the placemat to be roundish once I'd reached the desired size, and then I crocheted three rows of single crochet to help make it even more round. I think you'll see why this was necessary when you try it yourself. (I really should have blocked it too, but who has time for that?)
Oh, and don't you just love our little vintage tea set from The Netherlands? We picked it up at a little thrift store on Maasstraat just off of Rooseveltlaan in Amsterdam. And in fact some of our favorite souvenirs from our trip last Fall were second hand finds! So I think I'll just end this post by encouraging you to try spiral crochet and to remember to look for second hand finds when you visit a new place!
