Sweet and Special Soapies

Today a little lesson about how to make a "soapie" - my own invented word.

To me, a soapie is a little cotton crochet holder for a small bar of soap.  It can be used in the shower as a soapy scrubber or alternatively as a drawer sachet.  The holder is made from 100% cotton yarn so even if it's used in the shower, it should hold up decently well and can probably be popped in the wash if need be.

This soapie is made so that the soap can be replaced either when it's been all used up in the shower or it's lost its scent in the drawer.  Don't toss the soap that's lost its scent as the unscented soap may no longer work in the sachet, but can still get you clean in the shower.

I made the holders to fit a box of small square soaps that I purchased at Trader Joe's before the holidays.  The soaps came in three neutral colors and were all scented Lemon Verbena.  The small giveaway soaps that you find in hotel rooms or B&Bs would also fit in these little holders, maybe not EXACTLY but certainly a good enough fit.

Three out of the four holders have buttons.  I left one without a button in case its owner opted do use it in the shower and didn't like the idea of having a button on their body scrubber.

Here's how I made them: (I used Knit Picks Dishie yarn and a size H (5mm) hook)

Step 1: Find a pattern for a small crochet square.  I chose THIS PATTERN.  You may want to have a wander through my pinterest board "Crochet Granny and Squares."  I selected a pattern that would result in the approximate size square to fit my soaps.  The pattern I selected had three rounds and in all cases, I did the first two rounds of my square in the same color and then changed to another color to complete the third round and do the joining.

Step 2: Make TWO squares from your pattern.  They can of course be identical or a mix-matched colors but they should be the exact same size.

Step 3: Hold the two wrong sides together.  Then starting on the upper left side of your sandwiched squares, single crochet around 3 sides.  Go through both loops of crochet and through both squares (that's going through a total of 4 loops) Do not cut the yarn.  It doesn't matter which corner you start in to join the squares, as long as you go in the direction of the arrows and don't finish off your yarn when you've joined the third side.

When I joined, I made two sc in the first corner where I started.  Then, I made one sc in each side stitch of the final round of my square.  When I got to the bottom corners, I made 3sc in each corner.  You may need to modify how many stitches you use in your joining based on the pattern you choose for your square.

Step 4: With the remaining 4th side open, sc across the top of the front square only.

In the photo above you can see that the soap is inserted into the open 4th side of the squares - the one that's not joined.  The arrows indicate where I single crocheted just across that top open edge of the front square.

Step 5: Continue single crocheting around the corner and then across the top open edge of the back square.  If you don't want to add a button loop, just continue around to the corner of the front square.  Finish off and weave in all ends of your joining yarn.  If you didn't weave in the ends of your squares at an earlier time, you can flip your entire soapie inside out and complete that task.

Step 6:  Optional.  If you intend to add one or two button loops to your soapie, you'll want to complete step 5 just a tad differently.

You can see the buttons that hold closed the top of the soapie in the photo above.

To create a button loop (or loops) see the diagram below.

My diagram is not accurate in terms of the number of stitches I show and in the fact that my front square has a bunch more stitches than the back square - the two squares will have the same number of stitches.  I just wanted to show how to skip a stitch and instead make 3 chain stitches to form a button loop.  Obviously if you need to make more than one button loop, you will need to space out where to make them along your square and then skip a stitch for each loop and add 3 chains above the skipped stitch.  Hopefully that is not too confusing.  I didn't photograph my process while I made the little soapie so I had to resort to the diagram instead.

I'm sure you could also insert a round soap into this little pouch.  Or, you could make a larger rectangle shape and join two of those together to cover a full sized bar of soap.

Last Christmas I made a bunch of little draw string soap holders for a standard sized bar of soap - you can see my post about those by clicking here.

Enjoy - Sher!

PS.  Next up - the Rainbow Trellis blanket (a photo tutorial of a blanket pattern I created - free of course as all the fly the coop crafts blog patterns are!)

Square Sizes and Simple Snacks

Since the new year (that being 2014), I challenged myself to make one 6-inch crochet square each week by following the book: 200 Crochet Squares by Jan Eaton.  I am not up to date but I'm not that far behind either.  I haven't posted about the squares recently but doing so is on my to do list.

You can read about my squares here in THIS POST and also THIS POST and even THIS POST.

This past weekend, we had such lovely weather and I finally had a day that wasn't packed with things that had to be done ALL DAY LONG at certain times, so I sat myself down on the breezy back screened porch and got about making a few more squares.

Top two squares are done in the round and fit pretty well atop one another, bottom square is NOT at all the same size.

Up to this point, all of the squares I've chosen have been "in the round."  I decided to add a few "done in rows" squares to the mix.  The way the book works is that as long as you are using the same yarn or yarn weight and the same hook size thorughout, all the examples in the book will be perfect squares and they will all be the same size.  Now, I have a complaint.  I haven't found this to be the case.  The squares vary in size tho. I can always add a row around the outside and help to make the sizes closer.  BUT... when I finished the square in rows TWICE (because I pulled it out and did it all again), I was annoyed that the sizes were nowhere close.  I pulled out my final product and decided to stick to squares in rounds for now.

After pulling out the granny stripe square TWICE, I decided to get a quick snack to encourage me to keep going with the squares so I made this yummy little eat:

Fresh, multi-grain loaf from the farmer's market and a schmear of cream cheese topped with thinly sliced radish circles and fresh, crispy pea shoots... YUM.. refreshing, satisfying, delish.

I'll have more square adventures to share with you soon.  TA TA Sher

Squares are HIP and Up to Date

Sometimes it IS hip to be square - just like they used to sing to me on Sesame Street!

I haven't had much hooky time of late because the rest of life is currently taking over in strong demand of my time!  However, I am at least up to date on the square a week challenge I gave myself for 2014.

Here's how they all look unblocked, tails aflutter and sitting on the craft room floor.  (9 weeks into 2014)

Next time I post about the squares I will do some individual closeups as well as indicate the patterns I used.  All of the squares pictured above are made with Cottonish dk yarn and an F size hook. I'm using a range of colors but there will be a bit of the creamy white color in every square. The finished squares are about 6 inches each.  They aren't coming out the exact same size and I'll need to add a row of single crochet to a few of them to make them a bit bigger as I'm sure you can tell.

Ta ta for now.  Sher

Square Talk

Do you remember THIS POST when I told you I would be following along with A CONVERSATION WITH MOO blog and her weekly crochet squares?  Well, I also told you that I decided to follow along with her un-invited.  I've been a bit worried about that over the past few weeks.  Then, no more squares were posted.  OH MY!  Did I cause her bad luck, make her mad? I wasn't sure.  But, I did hear from her (Terri) today and she's just been busy.  She's got two more squares coming.  WHEW...

I did make a couple of squares on my own in the mean time - what can it hurt right?  The two squares I made plus the two she will post shortly will catch me right up to 6 total squares and put me right in line with the 2nd week in February.  COOL.  Right on track.

Here are my two squares:

This one is called Edwardian Fancy

This one is called Briar Rose 

You can follow along with the squares if you wish.  They are all from the book, 200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton.  I'm using cottonish dk yarn in a variety of colors and a size F hook.  The finished squares are about 6 inches.  Follow me on pinterest, I've got a board going just for these squares!

I'm sure there will be more squares yet to come!