Charlotte and Charlie Cocoons

Good morning lovelies!

Today's pattern is a very special one. It comes from the lovely Lisa of Crochet Quackers. You can find her Facebook page filled with her fun creations right HERE
Lisa is often my go to for bouncing ideas around, and asking for opinions on how things look and what needs to be improved. She is also an amazing crocheter and knitter! We share a love for making preemie items and in fact that is how we got chatting to begin with!
Lisa has been working on some crocheted cocoon patterns, and so for as many as she comes up with, we'll be releasing one the blog for the last Friday in every month. If you enjoy her cocoon patterns, please pop on over to her Facebook page and say Hi! I'm sure she would love some feedback!

Sizing:
Please note, these are Micro Preemie Cocoons, designed as burial buntings for the very small. They are not designed for full term newborn babies.

Using DK weight yarn and a 5.5mm hook, the finished cocoon measures 19cm long and 10cm wide and will fit 16-18 weeks gestation

Using DK weight yarn and a 4.5mm hook, the finished cocoon measures 17cm long and 9cm wide and will fit 14-16 weeks gestation.

You will need:
8ply Yarn
5.5mm hook
a button

1: ch 5, join with sl st to form a ring

2: ch 3, (counts as first dc now and throughout), 7 dc times into the ring, join (8 dc)

3: sl st to space between first two dc's, ch 3, dc in same space, 2 dc in each space around, join (16 dc)

4: sl st to the space between the first two sets of  2dc's, ch 3, 2 dc in same space, 3 dc in between each set of two dc's around around, join. ( 8 x 3 dc) granny pattern started.

5: sl st across to the next gap between the 3dc clusters, ch3, dc twice more in the same gap, 3dc between each remaining group of 3dc clusters *DO NOT JOIN*

now working in rows

6: ch 3, turn, 3dc in first space between dc clusters, and in each space around, dc in top of tthe very last stitch, (this creates a space at the end of the row)

7-15:  ch3, turn,  2 dc in first space, 3 dc in each space across, 2 dc in last space and dc in turning chain.

End off main colour.

Finishing Options:

For the Charlotte: Join contrasting colour in any space along the top, ch3 and dc twice more in the same space, *sl st to the 2nd (middle) stitch of the next ch3 cluster, dc 3 times in the next space* repeat around the entire cocoon, join.

For the Charlie: Join contrasting colour in any space along the top, ch3 and dc twice more in the same space, dc 3 times in each space around, when you get to the bottom of the split, dc once in the middle of the ch3 cluster then continue with 3dc's in each space. Join.

Attach buttons as desired.

Watermelon Pouch

 Good morning!

Today's Pattern is such a fun little item, a small pouch! Great for many number of things. We keep dice in ours, but they would also be great to hold a few small tampons too.

This pattern uses beads, and for those of you familiar with them, this wont be a problem, but if you haven't used beads before you will need a bit of a lesson. Now I could type out a lengthy description on how to do this, but I think it would be easier to show you a video so, Here is a fantastic one by the Crochet Crowd.

The trick to getting these beads to look like seeds is to give them random placement. So! The instructions do not tell you when to add the beads, just place them where it feels right for you. I used 5 on this particular one, but they were rather largish beads, and had I used smaller ones I would have added some more.

Supplies:
DK 8ply yarn in pink, green and white
5mm crochet hook for pouch
3mm crochet hook for tie
black beads
Needle that will pass through the bead

Thread beads onto your pink yarn
1: ch2, hdc in the first ch 10 times, join.
2: ch2, 2hdc in each stitch around, join
3-4: ch2, hdc in each stitch around, join.
End pink yarn and join white
5-6: ch1, sc in each stitch around, join
End white yarn and join green
7: ch3, 2dc in each stitch around, join.
End off and weave in all loose ends.

Tie
ch70. Weave tie in and out of the stitches of round 6. Pull to gather and tie a bow.