DIY Crocheted Rug with Fleece Strips

It's freezing cold this week in Michigan.  I'm all for the cold weather (more reason to drink something warm, and less possibility of the sun burning my arguably transleucent skin), but when the temperatures are in the twenties and teens it's hard to love my hardwood floors.

I recently picked up crocheting (hooray for YouTube videos that teach left-handed crochet!) and really wanted to make this beautiful, beautiful crocheted area rug from the Purl Bee.  

But the alpaca yarn they sold was over $150.00 a skein, and I'd need four to complete the rug.  Yikes.  

Instead, I used some fleece I had leftover from another attempted project and started crocheting a flat circle.

Here's where I'm at so far!

All this is is a flat crocheted circle, which is NOT a tough thing to make.  This can definitely be a project for crochet beginners!

One of my favorite things about this project is how quickly it's coming together.  It only took me about 40 minutes to get 2 feet of width!  

If you get your fleece on sale it should really be affordable, too.  Not to mention the whole rug will be machine washable!

You'll Need:

Fleece fabric cut into 1-inch strips (1 yard adds roughly 2 feet of width, buy as much as you need to achieve the size you want!)

A size Q crochet hook

Needle and thread (optional)

Round 1:  chain 4, then join the chain through the first loop with a slip dtitch.

Round 2:  chain 3, then double crochet into the center of the circle 11 times so you have 12 stitches total.

Round 3:  chain 3, double crochet into each chain stitch twice, so you have 24 stitches PLUS the chain stitch.

Round 4:  chain 3, double crochet into the first available stitch, then put two double crochets in the next stitch.  Continue this until you've used up all the available stitches.

Round 5:  chain 3, double crochet into the first snd second stitches, then put two double crochets into the third stitch.  Continue as above.

Keep increasing your pattern as above, adding an extra double crochet to every round, until you have the width you want.  If find it much, much eaier to watch a video tutorial than read a pattern, so if you're confused go a-YouTubing!

I'll update once it's finished!  

Super Simple DIY Floor Pillow for around $20.00! No sew option too!

Once upon a time, I couldn't get my toddler off my dog's bed.

And who can blame him?  Besides the fact that it's dirty and drooled on it's basically a giant floor pillow, and I know I certainly love those suckers.  

Add to that the fact that the area rug pictured was soon after destroyed by aforementioned dog, and it's no wonder my little dude was all over that dog bed instead of rolling around our hardwood floors).

So rather than fight it I decided to just make him his own dog bed.  I mean floor pillow.

All you'll be doing is attaching the pillows to eachother and creating a giant pillowcase out of the fleece!

You'll Need:

A needle and thread

2 yards of fleece or other no-fray material (you can do all one color or one yard in two different colors like I did)

4 standard bed pillows

Washable velcro or buttons*

A sewing machine*

Money saving tips: 

- Get your pillows either on sale or at Biglots, where I got mine for $3.00 each.  

- Instead of buying fleece by the yard, pick up some cheap fleece throws.  They'll often be cheaper, you won't have as much cutting to do, plus you'll avoid the cutting table line at your fabric store!

1) using the needle and thread, sew the pillows to eachother at the corners, overlapping the fabric to minimize unstuffed space.  I used blue thread so it'll be easy to find if I ever want to snip it and wash the pillows separately.

2) lay the attached pillows onto the fleece, trace around them, and cut your big rectabgle out of the fleece.  It's no big deal if you cut a little too big or a little too small, the pillows will conform to the size you cut.  

3) with wrong sides together, sew three sides of the case.  

4) attach the velcro or closure of your choice on the open side

5) Stuff in the pillows!

*If you DON'T want to use a sewing machine, leave an extra 3-4" around the pillows when you trace them so you can create your pillowcase the same way you'd make a tie blanket.  You won't need velcro or buttons either, just tie three sides, stuff the pillows in, then tie the remaining strips to closethe  pillows inside!

I know this completely defeats the purpose, but she looks so comfy...