I can’t believe there are only 2 weeks left until Christmas! So now’s the perfect time to crochet up some fast and beautiful realistic ornaments and decorations, or go all out with a fabulous seasonal wreath – and my new collection has you covered, whichever you prefer…

I hope you’re as excited by this as I am?! It’s my new Christmas Decor crochet pattern collection!

This collection includes four new seasonal pattern sets (although I’d advise you to consider picking up the complete collection!) Each Christmas Decor set includes one leafy nature pattern and one decorative pattern. The nature patterns are all realistic life-sized designs, worked in as few pieces as possible to minimise finishing. The coordinating decorative patterns will finish your arrangements with pops of fun and stylish seasonal colour.

You’ll get so much value from these patterns – each one can be used in multiple ways and you’ll be using them in your holiday decor for years to come!

• Use individual components as Christmas tree ornaments, a pin/brooch/accessory, place settings, a personal touch on a wrapped gift, etc.
• The components from each of the 4 pattern sets can be mixed-and-matched to assemble into a garland/swag, wreath, candle ring, etc.

Now, let’s take a look at each of the designs…

Set 1

Holly: You can use this pattern to make a single holly leaf, or a triple leaf cluster (all worked continuously, as a single piece). The finishing touch is the cluster of red berries, which are, again, all worked as a single piece

Candles: This candle design includes two widths so you can make a narrow taper candle or a chunky pillar candle. Both patterns include instructions for adapting the height.

Set 2

Mistletoe: You can use this pattern to make a small four-leaf sprig of mistletoe, or a multi-leaf bunch (all worked continuously, as a single piece). The finishing touch is the cluster of white berries, which are, again, all worked as a single piece.

Mini Baubles: A trio of tiny baubles (small, smaller and smallest!) – make them in any colour to match your decor. You can use these mini baubles individually, or use the included instructions to assemble them in groups as a cluster or hanging ornament.

Set 3

Ivy: You can use this pattern to make a single realistic ivy leaf, or a strand of ivy (all worked continuously, as a single piece). You can hang your ivy strands horizontally or vertically, or lay them out flat. Making two strands in two shades of green and twining them together looks even more realistic.

Bow: A beautifully-shaped realistic ribbon bow. It’s made from only 3 pieces and you’ll love the clever assembly process!

Set 4

Poinsettia: This pattern includes instructions for making a double-layer poinsettia in red or cream, or adding a third layer in dark green (each layer is worked continuously, as a single piece, to minimise assembly).

Bells: A beautifully-shaped bell with an innovative design that’s all worked in one piece – including a tiny crocheted clapper! A pair of bells makes a beautiful ornament.

About the Patterns

• All techniques used include tips, step-by-step photos, and/or links to my online tutorials.
• All the flat pieces include charted stitch diagrams in addition to full written instructions, so you can follow the patterns in the way you find easiest.
• Mix and match the pieces to make your own unique decorations!

If you’d like to make a wreath or candle ring like mine, I’ll also be releasing the pattern and instructions for the crocheted bases for my wreath/ring as a free/donationware pattern next week!

(You can buy a base if you don’t want to crochet one, but if you’d like to, why don’t you get a head start on your wreath/ring by crocheting some of the decor pieces now – you can use my photos as a guide for what to crochet or mix-and-match your own favourite pieces from the Christmas Decor Collection!)

Links & Launch Discount

Ready to get started? You can pick up each set individually from my shop:

• Set 1 (Holly & Candles)
• Set 2 (Mistletoe & Mini Baubles)
• Set 3 (Ivy & Bow)
• Set 4 (Poinsettia & Bells)

But you’ll probably want to take advantage of the special price on the entire collection:

• Christmas Decor Collection (all 8 patterns)

And for this week only, you can take an extra $1 off the collection and get crocheting right away: add the Christmas Decor Collection to your shopping cart, and enter the discount code HOLIDAYS at checkout! (Offer ends Sunday 15 December, 2019.)

I hope you’ll enjoy these seasonal decorations as much as I’ve enjoyed designing them for you! Happy Holidays 🙂

How to modify the size of an accessory crochet pattern, choose an alternate yarn, and find the right hook for your yarn.

Many accessory patterns – especially shawls, scarves and wraps – are easy to modify: you can use a different weight of yarn and/or make it in a different size. By choosing yarn in a colour and weight you like, you can make a unique accessory from a pattern!

In this post I’ll walk you through the easiest ways to customize a pattern, with examples of the differences you can achieve.

How to Customize a Pattern

Change the Colour

Don’t let yourself be put off from trying a pattern if the sample isn’t in a colour you like – the simplest way to make your accessory unique is to crochet it in your favourite colour (or your recipient’s favourite, if it’s a gift).

Personalizing with colour gives you an original look without modifying the pattern at all, and there are no wrong choices!

Look how different – but equally lovely – my Sweetheart Lace Shawl looks in two different colourways.

Resize the Pattern

If you want to make the piece a different size (for example a narrow scarf instead of a rectangular shawl, or a bandanna instead of a triangular shawl), you’ll need to increase or decrease the number of repeats in the pattern so you end up with a larger or smaller piece.

The exact way to do this depends on the shape of the pattern and the way it’s worked. (All PlanetJune Accessories patterns include instructions for how to modify the pattern to make the pattern larger or smaller.)

The full-size Cozy Mesh shawl (above) uses the same pattern as the kerchief-style mini shawl (below) – the larger shawl just has more rows!

Substitute a Different Yarn

The thickness, composition and texture of your yarn, together with your crocheting style and tension, will all affect the end result of your piece.

When you’re making an accessory, if you want to use a different weight of yarn, all you need to do is choose a suitable hook for the yarn you’re using, and then modify the pattern so you end up with the correct size.

• If you choose a finer yarn with a smaller hook, you’ll need more repeats and more rows to reach the same finished size.
• If you choose a heavier yarn with a larger hook, you’ll need fewer repeats and fewer rows to reach the same finished size.

These two shawls are both made from my Half Hexagon Shawl pattern. The shawl on the left uses a thicker yarn and larger hook than the shawl on the right, so it needs fewer pattern repeats to end up with the same size shawl.

Change Yarn Weight and Resize

You can make an accessory look even more different by changing both the yarn weight and the finished size of the piece.

Both these wraps are made from my Diamond Lace Wrap pattern. By changing the yarn weight and the finished size, they have a completely different look even though they use the same stitch pattern! The wrap on the right uses fine yarn and a small hook to give a more delicate look, even though this shawl-sized wrap is much larger overall than the scarf-sized wrap on the left with its bolder stitches.

Swatch to Find Your Hook Size

Swatching to Match Gauge

For almost any crochet pattern apart from amigurumi, the pattern will usually include gauge information: the number of stitches and rows you should have per inch, if you want your piece to end up the same size as the pattern sample.

If you use the same yarn weight as the pattern suggests, and you make a swatch (a sample square using the same stitch as the pattern), you can measure it and compare it with the gauge size given in the pattern.

• If your gauge is smaller (more stitches per inch), then redo the swatch with a larger hook until your gauge matches that in the pattern.
• If your gauge is larger (fewer stitches per inch), then redo the swatch with a smaller hook until your gauge matches that in the pattern.

If you don’t match the gauge given in the pattern, your finished piece won’t match the dimensions listed in the pattern.

Is Swatching Necessary?

Yes and no…

• Are you unconcerned about meeting the designer’s gauge?
• Are you using a completely different yarn weight?
• Are you adapting the pattern to give you a different size anyway?

In any of those cases, making a gauge swatch to make sure you match the designer’s gauge isn’t something you need to do.

But, there’s still a very good reason to do at least a bit of swatching, even if you’re making a scarf or shawl where you don’t care if it’s a couple of inches larger or smaller than it’s ‘supposed’ to be…

Test Your Yarn/Hook Combination

With an accessory pattern, the exact size of the finished piece generally isn’t as important as the look and feel. You don’t want to end up with a stiff heavy blanket if you were hoping for a soft, airy shawl!

So, although you may not care about swatching for gauge, it’s still a good idea to swatch to make sure you’ve chosen the right hook size for your project.

Tip: The ‘right’ hook size depends on the exact yarn you’re using, how tightly you crochet, and your personal preference. There’s no right or wrong answer here – if you’re happy, you’ve made the right choice!

No matter which yarn you’re using, I do recommend you try out just a few rows of the pattern and see if it feels too stiff and firm. If so, try going up a hook size or two, and keep experimenting until you find a yarn/hook combination that gives you a nice-feeling fabric, then unravel everything and start again using the hook you liked best.

Jamie from my Ravelry group worked up three quick samples of my Diamond Flowers Scarf/Wrap in the same yarn with 3 different hook sizes (I, J, K). You can see how much difference going up or down a hook size can make!

But what is a ‘nice-feeling’ fabric? Here’s how I decide…

3 Rules to Find the ‘Right’ Hook Size

How do you know if you’re happy with your yarn/hook combination?

Here are my rules of thumb that I use to help me choose the perfect hook for a project:

1. First, I usually go by feel – I wiggle and smush (yes, those are my technical terms!) the swatch to try to see if it’s at all stiff, or soft and drapey. Generally, you’ll want your shawl or scarf to drape cosily against your body, so try to avoid a hook that produces a stiff fabric.
2. Next, from any options that are large enough to feel nice, I look closely at the stitches to see if the looser ones look messy, and I pick the best option (no stiffness, but stitches are small enough to look neat and tidy). Note: Your stitches will all even up a bit if you choose to block your piece after crocheting, but they should still look reasonably neat at this stage!
3. Finally, if I can’t choose, the third factor is that you can make a larger piece in less time with a larger hook, so if two hook sizes both feel good, and the stitches look good in close-up, that may be the deciding factor!

It’s not so much about the yarn as it is about the combination of yarn and hook. If your projects turn out too stiff, that means you’re using a hook that’s too small for the yarn you’re using. Everyone crochets differently, so it may be that you crochet very tightly, and always need to use a larger hook to compensate.

It’s worth putting in that bit of extra work before you start, so you don’t end up wasting hours making something you’re not happy with!

Crocheted scarves, shawls and wraps make a lovely holiday gift – and they’re even more special if you personalise them by using your giftee’s favourite colours.

I hope this post has inspired you to consider using your own creativity to customize your next crocheted accessory project with the size and colour you’d prefer!

All the examples in this post were taken from my PlanetJune Accessories pattern collection. Take a look now and see if your next crochet project is waiting for you there – or mix-and-match your own Custom Set of any 3 PlanetJune Accessories patterns for a special price. 🙂

The (crochet) harvest is good this year!

These are just my standard-sized Apple, Pear and Pumpkin patterns, super-sized into giant amigurumi. I love how quickly giant amigurumi work up for their size, and the results are adorably huggable. 🙂

Giant fruit with their worsted weight counterparts – the giants are just a little bit larger!

Giant fruit would make such cute cuddly toys with some eyes and a little smile added, don’t you think? And I’m thinking the giant pumpkin would also make the most amazing decor for Halloween – maybe with a felt Jack o’Lantern face!

Crochet your Own Giant Fruit

Do you want to make some too? (Why wouldn’t you – they’re so much fun!) I can help with that…

Learn all my upsizing tips and techniques in my ebook The Complete Guide to Giant Amigurumi:

And here are the links to my free crochet patterns for the fruit:

• Pumpkin
• Amigurumi Apples
• Amigurumi Pears

Bonus tip for making a Giant Apple: To make the dimpled top and bottom for the giant apple, I found it was easiest to attach the stem before stuffing and closing the apple. I let the yarn ends dangle from the open bottom of the apple, and stuffed around them. After I finished crocheting the apple, I had the yarn ends in place and ready to pull tight to create the apple’s shaping.

A quick announcement today: for one week only, until October 4th, I’ve re-opened my Crochet Tools shop with some old favourites and new offerings. Pre-order now and I’ll ship your package by the start of November, in plenty of time for Christmas gifts 🙂

Detail Stuffing Tools

The ever-popular PlanetJune-exclusive stuffing tools are back, in all 5 cheerful colours:

The Detail Stuffing Tool lets you get a grip on your stuffing, stuff the tiniest pieces and stuff right into the corners with ease. Don’t miss out on your chance to grab my bestselling tool that’s already an essential for thousands of amigurumi makers!

Go to Detail Stuffing Tool >>

More Crochet Tools

Feast your eyes on these beauties:

PlanetJune stitch markers are back in new extra-strong black plastic with a wider opening, but still with the same rounded tip that won’t snag your yarn, a secure clasp that won’t pop open accidentally, a large enough size (3cm/1.2″) to be able to open and close easily, and a super-cute safety pin shape. Sold in a set of 5. Go to Stitch Markers >>

Needles in Flip-Top Pebble Cases – finally, the perfect way to store your needles so you won’t lose them! The stylish flip-top Pebble container is smooth and flat and easy to slip into your project bag, but large enough not to be mislaid. Each high quality needle slides into its own space in the Pebble, so it’s easy to see if you’ve forgotten to replace it after use. John James is a renowned English needle brand that I’ve used for years and highly recommend.

• Knitters Pebble (jade green). I didn’t name it – we can call it a Crocheters Pebble if you prefer! Whether you’re stitching your pieces together or weaving in loose yarn ends, a high quality yarn needle makes the task of finishing your crochet (or knit) projects much easier. The strong steel passes smoothly through even the smallest spaces, and the rounded tip won’t damage your fibres. Includes 3 large assorted yarn needles. Go to Knitters Pebble >>

And, as I expect some of you enjoy other crafts too, here are some other handy pebbles you might enjoy:

• Tapestry Pebble (lavender purple). Whether you’re stitching features onto an amigurumi or enjoying a relaxing embroidery or cross stitch session, high quality tapestry needles make all the difference. The slightly rounded tips slide between your fibres without damaging them, giving a smooth finish to your work. Includes 6 assorted tapestry needles. Go to Tapestry Pebble >>
• Household Pebble (pink). Whether for emergency repairs or hand sewing projects, every household needs a selection of high quality sharp needles. Use them to stitch on buttons, fix loose seams, hand-sew soft toys, and for all your other hand sewing needs. Includes 12 assorted general hand sewing needles. Go to Household Pebble >>

Buy More, Save More!

Christmas is coming, and wouldn’t these tools make perfect stocking stuffers for your yarny friends and family too? Here’s an added bonus if you want to stock up on several items – use these discount codes at checkout to save on your tools purchase:

• Spend at least $10 on tools, save 10% with code SAVE10
• Spend at least $15 on tools, save 15% with code SAVE15
• Spend at least $20 on tools, save 20% with code SAVE20

Choose your Crochet Tools now! >>

I hope you like this selection of essential tools I have for you. Don’t forget to order before the tool shop closes on October 4th, and, as my stocks are limited, if there’s something in particular you have your eye on, don’t wait!

Happy tool shopping 🙂

I can’t tell you how excited I am to reveal my latest crochet pattern collection – making more cats with different body types is something I’ve had planned since I released my first amigurumi cat patterns in 2015!

It may have taken over four years, but now, here at last, is AmiCats Collection 2:

AmiCats Collection 2, L-R: Burmese, Himalayan, Persian, Siamese cats

For my first AmiCats Collection, I created all the designs based on a standard intermediate cat body type with different colour markings. For this second collection, I’ve developed new designs based on foreign (oriental) and cobby (exotic) cat body types.

AmiCats Collection 2 includes two patterns in each body type. The assembly process is the same AmiCats process you’ll already be familiar with if you’ve ever made an AmiCat before, but I’ve reworked every piece of the cat shape to reflect the shapes of a stocky flat-faced cat and a slender oriental-type cat.

About the Designs

I’ve named each of these patterns after the most distinctive breed with that body type and markings, but of course you’re not limited to making those specific breeds from these patterns! Here are a few more ideas for breeds you can make using these patterns:

• Persian: Exotic Shorthair, American Shorthair, British Shorthair, Scottish Straight
• Himalayan: Colourpoint Persian, Birman
• Siamese: Tonkinese, Balinese, Colorpoint Shorthair, Thai
• Burmese: Oriental Shorthair, Russian Blue, Javanese, Havana, Abyssinian, Sphynx, Peterbald

And of course you can make any of these into a regular domestic cat – these patterns aren’t only for pedigrees! Pick whichever pattern you like best, or the one that looks closest to your own furbaby 🙂

About the Patterns

The cats in AmiCats Collections 1 and 2 are all the same overall size, even with the different body shapes, so you can even mix and match pieces between all the patterns in both collections if you have e.g. a tabby cat with massive siamese-style ears, or a long-haired (or fat!) cat with a slender head. Or, if you’re trying to make a custom cat, you can use the closest parts from each pattern as a starting point!

All the AmiCats! L-R: Burmese, Tabby, Himalayan, Tuxedo, Persian, Calico, Single-Coloured, Siamese

As with the original AmiCats, the new patterns come with two-page appendices for both right- and left-handers that clearly explain my innovative method for joining the legs and body while you crochet so they sit at exactly the right angle in the finished cat, and bonus instructions to crochet the (optional) pictured nose from crochet thread or embroidery floss and a 1.25mm/size 9 steel hook. (Instructions for making a simple felt or embroidered nose are also given.)

The assembly instructions in the appendices are the same for all 8 cats so you only need to print one set (LH or RH as needed, plus the crocheted nose) for all 8 cats. Note: don’t print the appendices from the Siamese or Burmese unless those are the only AmiCats you buy, as these two patterns omit a step that’s needed for all the others! But the figure numbering is consistent between all 8 AmiCats, to avoid confusion.

Buy Now!

If you just need one specific cat pattern, they are each available individually, but the AmiCats Collection 2 price is great value (all four patterns for less than the price of three), so I do advise you consider picking up the whole collection. Here are the links:

• AmiCats Collection 2 (all 4 new patterns)
• AmiCats Persian Cat
• AmiCats Himalayan Cat
• AmiCats Burmese Cat
• AmiCats Siamese Cat
• List of all the AmiCats options (8 individual cats and 2 collections)

And if you’d like to save even more on AmiCats Collection 2, join us for the Cats & Dogs crochet-along (details below)…

Crochet-Along (and Save!)

I’m hosting a new crochet-along (CAL) in the PlanetJune group on Ravelry, to make any AmiCats or AmiDogs from now until November. Join in by choosing any of my 8 cat and 24 dog patterns to crochet!

To join, just leave a message in the CAL thread saying you’d like to join, and I’ll send you a private welcome message including a special CAL-exclusive discount code to use on AmiCats Collection 2!

And there’s more: this is a prize CAL too, with one grand prize winner winning my upcoming Christmas Collection of crochet patterns, and runner-up discount codes for all other CAL entrants.

Sound good? Post to the CAL thread now and I’ll send you your AmiCats 2 discount code so you can get started!

(New to Ravelry? See my crochet-along FAQ for answers to your questions!)

I hope you’re excited about my new cat patterns – which is your favourite?

Can’t choose? You don’t have to – pick up AmiCats Collection 2 now and you can enjoy making all four… 😉

Have I mentioned that I love bearded dragons?

Just for fun, I thought I’d grab a selection of photos of me with beardies from the past 5 years, plus my amigurumi bearded dragon, so you can see how realistic my crochet beardie is, and enjoy seeing some real dragons…

Did you spot the amigurumi beardie? 😉 She feels almost as good as having a real one to hold, and I don’t need to keep live insects to feed to her!

If I’ve just tempted you to crochet your own bearded dragon, pick up my Bearded Dragon crochet pattern here so you can get started.

And if you know any reptile fans, please forward this post to them so they can enjoy my pics 🙂

Say you find the cutest mug or basket that would look lovely with a crocheted plant inside, or you’re crocheting a plant as a gift and don’t have time to make the pot too… How can you ‘plant’ your crocheted plant securely so it’ll look good in a non-crocheted container?

I’ve been asked this many times over the decade since I published my first potted plant patterns, so I thought it was about time I document and share my preferred method with you.

In this tutorial, you’ll make a ball of crocheted ‘soil’ and stitch your crocheted plant to the ball. You can then ‘transplant’ your crocheted plant into a decorative container of your choice!

The online version of this tutorial includes the basic recipe for making a soil ball of any size. As I like to reward people who choose to donate for my donationware patterns, the PDF version also includes special bonus content: the full crochet patterns for two sizes of pot (1.5″/4cm and 2.25″/6cm diameter), and additional tutorial photos.

As always, though, the basic pattern is free for you to use, and you need only donate if you’d like to thank me for my time in creating it, or if you’d like the easy-to-print PDF version.

I hope you’ll enjoy this tutorial, and find it useful next time you’re making a PlanetJune potted plant pattern 😀

Go to the Soil Ball for ‘planting’ Crocheted Plants tutorial >>

If you’ve seen my new Eco-Friendly Cosmetic Rounds pattern, you may be wondering what type of yarn is best for making them.

• Does it even matter?
• Will any cotton yarn scraps work equally well?
• Should you choose a yarn based solely on colour preference, or is there an advantage in using more expensive yarn, organic yarn, etc?
• Is mercerized cotton really a no-no?
• Are the cosmetic rounds really washable and reuseable, or will they look sad and ragged after a couple of uses?

I crocheted all the samples for my pattern using the same brand and type of yarn (Bernat Handicrafter) so I was wondering all those things, which means… it’s time for another PlanetJune investigation! 🙂

The Candidates

I raided my stash for a selection of cotton yarns for my comparison, and here’s what I chose:

(Yarns and samples, left to right):

1. Bernat Handicrafter (blue/purple), an inexpensive worsted weight kitchen cotton available from most craft stores (and the same type of yarn I used for my pattern samples)
2. Knitpicks Dishie (green), a worsted weight cotton, with a smoother look and feel and tighter twist that makes it less splitty than everyday kitchen cottons
3. Earth Collection Oceanside Organic (brown), a DK weight 100% organic cotton
4. Patons Grace (cream), a sport weight mercerized* cotton (I held two strands together to approximate a worsted weight)

* I’ve read from several sources that the mercerization process improves the smoothness and sheen of a yarn, while reducing its absorbency, so I intentionally included a mercerized yarn sample in this test so we can see exactly how much less absorbent this yarn will be than the others!

I’ll refer to the samples by number from now on, and I’ll always arrange the samples 1-4 clockwise from top left, or in a straight line left to right.

I used the same hook and pattern for each sample, and you can see that there’s a difference in the size of the pads. Dishie (2) is much finer than Handicrafter (1) even though they are both supposedly worsted weight; it’s much closer to the DK-weight Oceanside (3). Holding two strands of Grace (4) together worked well to give me the right weight of yarn for the pattern (useful to know!)

Let’s look at each sample individually:

1. I intentionally made my pattern samples using a ‘standard’ inexpensive kitchen cotton that should be widely available (there are several other comparable lines from other brands, e.g. Sugar ‘n Cream, Peaches and Creme). Some skeins can be a bit harsher-feeling and splittier than others, so I’d recommend you look for softer skeins if you have the option of touching them in-store. The resulting pads are nice and cushiony, without large holes between the stitches.
2. As the Dishie is both finer and more tightly spun, you can see it left some gaps between the stitches. (If I made more, I might try going down a hook size to reduce the size of the holes.) The yarn didn’t split at all and the stitch definition is lovely, but the finished pad feels a little firm.
3. Th organic cotton was very soft to work with, but extremely splitty. The finished pad is beautifully soft, though, so perhaps worth the frustration of trying not to split the strands while crocheting!
4. The mercerized cotton is very smooth, with a nice sheen. The yarn felt firm and not at all splitty. The finished pad feels smooth and firm.

Absorbency Test

Okay, so we know how they look, but how well do they work? Time for an experiment!

I used a graduated pipette (yay, science!) so I could measure the same amount of water for each test:

For each sample, I squirted 0.6ml of tap water into the centre of the pad, and watched what happened.

1. The water soaked in within a few seconds.
2. The water sat on the surface for a surprisingly long time (about a minute) then soaked right through the pad.
3. The water did not absorb at all – even after several minutes it was still sitting on top of the pad!
4. The water soaked in immediately.

Yes, that’s right – the mercerized cotton, which I’d been led to believe would be less absorbent, was actually the most absorbent sample!

And the organic cotton, which I assumed would be very absorbent, was eerily waterproof.

I guessed that yarns 2 and 3 may have some fibre-processing treatment residue that was affecting their absorption rate, so I decided to re-run the absorbency test after washing and drying the samples, and see if that made a difference.

Washing Test

I put all 4 samples in a mesh laundry bag (this one is designed for washing bras, so it’s a nice compact size for washing a big batch of cosmetic rounds!) and ran them through the washer and dryer with my regular laundry.

How did they fare after the laundry cycle? Let’s see:

Not a lot of difference. Here are my observations on close examination:

1. Fluffed up a bit on washing but also got considerably softer. (And, from my experience of using these for a few weeks now, they don’t look any worse after repeated washings than after the first wash.)
2. Softened a bit on washing and didn’t fluff up.
3. Fluffed slightly on washing. It was already very soft, so I don’t think it softened further.
4. No difference at all – still smooth and firm.

Post-Wash Absorbency Test

I re-ran the absorbency test in exactly the same way as before, with 0.6ml of water dropped onto the centre of each pad.

1. The water soaked in immediately.
2. The water absorbed over a 5-second period and soaked right through the pad.
3. The water still didn’t absorb at all. The only way I could get it to wet the pad was to rub the water around on the surface with my finger.
4. The water soaked in immediately.

So, 1 and 2 became more absorbent after the wash, but 3 did not, and still seems highly water-repellent:

Here’s a close-up of 3 so you can (just about) see the big blob of water sitting on the surface of the middle of the pad (and clearly see a tiny droplet just to the left). I still can’t account for this behaviour – it was completely unexpected.

And here’s the big shocker – the completely soaked mercerized cotton.

Conclusions

Although the yarns did look and behave differently, any of them would work as cosmetic rounds – and I’ll be adding all these samples to my stack!

The yarns that started out smoother and with more lustre (2 and 4) looked closer to new after washing than the others, which had a little bit of fluffing up. However, fluffing is not necessarily a bad thing – the yarns that fluffed feel softer and less firm than the smoother yarns, and a little extra fluffiness actually makes them feel even softer.

And, most importantly: mercerized cotton is clearly not less absorbent than non-mercerized. I’ve removed that statement from my pattern, and I’ve since done further research and found a source that claims the mercerization process makes cotton more absorbent, which my test would support (although, without being able to test the same fibre pre- and post-mercerization, I can’t prove that definitively!)

Tips for Choosing Yarn

• As we know, yarns of the same weight (e.g. ‘worsted weight’) are not all exactly the same thickness – see my worsted weight yarn comparison for proof! Different yarns will give you slightly differently-sized rounds, so if you want to crochet a matched set with some variation, I’d suggest sticking to the same yarn line and just swapping colours (or choose a striped yarn so you get multiple colours from one ball!)
• For sample 1, I used a variegated skein of Bernat Handicrafter in Beachball Blue, instead of the striped colourways I chose for the pattern samples. I found the resulting mishmash of colours to be a bit busy for my taste, with a colour change every couple of stitches, but you may love this effect! Every pad will look different, but still co-ordinated, if you make them with a yarn like this.
• Does appearance or softness matter more to you? I prefer the feel of the fluffier, softer cottons (after the first wash) to the smoother, firmer yarns. So I’ll be sticking with the basic kitchen cotton for my rounds, even though I prefer the look of the stitch definition of the smoother yarns.
• As evidenced by my absorbency tests, some yarns may not behave exactly as you expect! So, if you’re unsure about a yarn, I suggest you try making a single pad with it, using it, washing it and using it again. That’ll give you the best gauge as to how well the yarn will do the job, and whether it will fluff up, soften up and/or become more absorbent after washing it. I’d recommend you do this before you make a whole batch from the same yarn, especially if you plan to give them as gifts!
• Having said that, you can probably make effective cosmetic rounds from pretty much any cotton or cotton-blend yarn. Pull out some cotton scraps and have a go!

If you’d like to make some Eco-Friendly Cosmetic Rounds, you can find the free online version of the pattern here.

Or, send me a donation and receive the easy-to-print PDF version of the pattern as a thank you! The PDF version also includes some bonuses (the pattern for the Mini size rounds – perfect for applying toner – and additional instructional photos and tips, including left-handed photos).

Do you have any experience with cotton yarns? Please share your recommendations for your favourites – or warnings for your least favourites! – in the comments below…