Foldable Flying Disc – A Crochet Pattern

One of my favorite things about the Christmas season is putting together a couple of boxes for Operation Christmas Child, a project by Samaritan’s Purse. It’s pretty simple: fill a shoebox with objects for a kid in need, deliver to a drop-off point (in my case, my church), and Samaritan’s Purse teams up with local groups around the world to deliver shoeboxes to excited kids. You choose boy or girl and an age group: 2 to 4 years, 5 to 9 years, or 10 to 14 years. (We originally did two boxes for 5 to 9, one each for a boy and a girl. Now, we do boxes for 10 to 14-year-old boys; I noticed they were always underrepresented at both of the churches where I participated. I’ve since learned this is universally the case!)

I love putting Frisbees in my boxes! They are great for boys or girls; a group of kids can use it to play together; it doesn't require much besides some open space. But real Frisbees are expensive, and I don’t like putting low-quality items in boxes (which describes every generic flying disc I've seen). I figure if a kid doesn’t get very many gifts, I should send them something that will last! Besides, even if I can find a maximum size shoebox, it’s really hard to fit a Frisbee in there. (And it makes it harder to pack it really full.)

A year or two ago, I came across the Pocket Disc, a crocheted foldable flying disc (the generic name for a Frisbee). They are great—well made, sturdy, and available in a plethora of patterns and colors. But they’re about $15 each, and that could buy a lot of items for a box.

I finally got around to figuring out a pattern for a similar folding disc. It’s not exactly the same; mine has just two strands of worsted-weight yarn, instead of several strands of thin yarn in different colors, limiting the pattern options. But my disc flies well, it’s easy to crochet, and you can make it with whatever yarn you have on hand. Best of all, gauge isn’t critical; just make sure it’s nice and tight!

On to the pattern…

Foldable Flying Disc

Materials

• Worsted weight yarn, cotton or acrylic, about 100 yards†
• G or H hook (choose the size needed to make a very firm fabric)
• Split stitch marker or safety pin
• Yarn needle

Abbreviations

Written using American crochet terms.

• sc single crochet
• sc2tog single crochet two together
• pm place marker
• ( )* repeat stitches in parentheses
• sl st slip stitch
• st stitch(es)

Instructions

Worked in a spiral, using two strands of yarn held together.

1. Begin with 12 sc stitches, using a magic loop. (You will need a much bigger loop than usual.) Tighten the tails to get a firm base. If in doubt, make it a bit looser; you can tighten it more later, but it’s nearly impossible to loosen it.
2. sc, pm in first stitch, 2 sc in next stitch; (sc, 2 sc in next stitch)* to end of round. (18 st)

Starting with the third round, remove the marker when you reach the end of the round, then start the next round by working into the first stitch of the previous round; place marker in the first stitch.

3. sc, pm, 2 sc in next stitch, sc; (sc, 2 sc in next stitch, sc)* to end of round. (24 st)
4. sc, pm, 2 sc, 2 sc in next stitch; (3 sc, 2 sc in next stitch)* to end of round. (30 st)
5. sc, pm, sc, 2 sc in next stitch, 2 sc; (2 sc, 2 sc in next stitch, 2 sc)* to end of round. (36 st)
6. sc, pm, 4 sc, 2 sc in next stitch; (5 sc, 2 sc in next stitch)* to end of round. (42 st)
7. sc, pm, 2 sc, 2 sc in next stitch, 3 sc; (3 sc, 2 sc in next stitch, 3 sc)* to end of round. (48 st)
8. sc, pm, 6 sc, 2 sc in next stitch; (7 sc, 2 sc in next stitch)* to end of round. (54 st)
9. sc, pm, 3 sc, 2 sc in next stitch, 4 sc; (4 sc, 2 sc in next stitch, 4 sc)* to end of round. (60 st)
10. sc, pm, 8 sc, 2 sc in next stitch; (9 sc, 2 sc in next stitch)* to end of round. (66 st)
11. sc, pm, 4 sc, 2 sc in next stitch, 5 sc; (5 sc, 2 sc in next stitch, 5 sc)* to end of round. (72 st)
12. sc, pm, 10 sc, 2 sc in next stitch; (11 sc, 2 sc in next stitch)* to end of round. (78 st)
13. sc, pm, 5 sc, 2 sc in next stitch, 6 sc; (6 sc, 2 sc in next stitch, 6 sc)* to end of round. (84 st)

At this point, begin decreasing for the folded-under rim.

14. sc, pm, 4 sc, sc2tog; (5 sc, sc2tog)* to end of round. (72 st)
15. sc, pm, sc, sc2tog, 2 sc; (2 sc, sc2tog, 2 sc)* to end of round; sl st to join round. (60 st).

If you haven’t already, tighten up the center of the magic loop to make it lay flat and feel firm. Weave in ends, making them very secure. Hopefully, this is going to gets lots of use!

Notes

• This is more of a template than a pattern. You’re increasing six stitches per round to create a flat disc, then decreasing twelve stitches per round to create the rim.
• If your disc begins to ripple, spread out your next set of increases over two rounds. In other words, add three stitches each for two rounds. You will end up with fourteen rounds before the decreases (instead of thirteen) to get 84 stitches.
• It’s easy to vary the size by crocheting more or fewer rounds. However, the math is easiest if you end with a multiple of twelve stitches before beginning the decreases.

†Regarding Yarn

I have made this with cotton yarn and acrylic. For the cotton yarn, my best results came with an H hook. My acrylic yarn, Caron Simply Soft, turned out best with a G hook; an H hook worked, but the tighter gauge looked and felt better. I also tried one with one strand of Vanna's Choice and one strand of Simply Soft. The G hook still produced the best fabric, but the resulting disc felt a bit springier and more cushiony. My guess is that, if you used two strands of Vanna's Choice or a similar yarn, you would need an H hook.

After the third round or so, check your fabric. If it feels too floppy, frog it and start over with a smaller hook; it's best to fix it early on, instead of plodding on and ending up with an unsatisfactory product. After all, three rounds isn't that much of a time investment.


I can't stop anyone from using my pattern to make and sell their own discs, but I would prefer you didn't, unless it's for charity. And if you like my pattern, I encourage you to make a few to donate to the charity of your choice. Make it in wool (maybe adding a few rows) and felt it, for a really sturdy dog toy. Or donate a few to a kid's charity, like a hospital or shelter. Share the love. :) If you do, I would love to know about it!

Full Speed Ahead

Actually, I'm not sure I know any other speed when it comes to this sort of thing. One of my best friends, Roswenth, and I are vending (in the Artist's Alley, I think) at MomoCon this weekend, raising money for our Relay for Life team (Gwinnett County, Georgia).

Since we haven't done this before, we have no idea how many of these crazy things we should make! I've made sixteen since Friday. Yes, sixteen. That's with a weekly gaming group, a full-time job with a commute, dance class, and cooking. Oh, and a wonderful husband who likes to actually spend time with me.

It's kind of fun. I have a history of crafting while gaming; in fact, I'm sort of famous (infamous?) for it. So three weeks ago I started winding and cutting yarn into the appropriate lengths, at the table, while playing Shadowrun. (That's a cyberpunk-style, pen-and-paper, dice-rolling role-playing game. You know, like the infamous Dungeons and Dragons, except futuristic.)

My gaming group is really great about it, I have to admit. I get teased a bit, but we all do for something or another. (It helps that the game master actually runs Shadowrun at MomoCon, and one of the other party members is actively involved with the con, too.)

But wow; it's been a LOT of work. Picking out the yarns, put them all on the base, a few strands at a time. Wrangling massive quantities of yarn…think about it.

Each pair of falls is made of two sets of two base strips. I did a bit of math, and I bet I've used over two thousand strands of yarn so far. Each strand has been handled multiple times, because I have to keep packing stuff up and taking it back out, and they keep getting tangled.

And I probably have another five hundred strands cut and bundled by yarn. No wonder I'm getting worn out!

Shock and Awe

My husband and I are in the processing of buying a house. By in the process, I mean we keep driving through neighborhoods, my husband haunts movoto.com, and we've actually talked to a mortgage guy and a real estate agent. We have not actually chosen a house, but we better if we want to move on time!

In preparation, I have decided I should probably start going through stuff and packing. I think I'd be more motivate on the packing front if I had not shouldered ninety-five percent of the responsibility last year. Maybe it was more; since my husband was cramming for summer classes, all I remember him packing was his cookbook collection. Actually, I think he went through them and I packed them after he had purged his collection slightly, and we had returned his mom's books.

You get my point. Anyway, I decided to start with my yarn, because I've noticed that it has spread all over the house.

I'm still in shock. I never thought I had much stash; I listen to some women talk about their stashes, and theirs are huge! I never buy that much yarn.

Behold! I have bins of the stuff. WHERE DID IT COME FROM? HOW DID I COLLECT SO MUCH YARN?



And why do my UFOs number in the double digits? I tried counting some of them as WIPS, but I had to admit that if I've knit less than a row in the past three weeks, it's not really "in progress", per se.


A few of my UFOs

Danger! New Addiction!

Guess what? I discovered yarn falls! I made a red, black, and grey one for Sunday night's dance show at Nicola's, because my new, henna-enhanced hair color doesn't match my fake ponytail.

And now I find myself looking for reasons to wear it. I've had it one week, and tomorrow morning will be my fifth time wearing it. See, I made it Friday, then decided to give it a test run when the Atlanta Christian Gaming and Anime Meetup went to Suno and karaoke. I figure I needed to see what it felt like, and I knew my friends would love it.

Then Sunday I wore it for the show. Monday, I was going to the Whole Foods/Harry's Farmers Market in Roswell for the BPAL Georgia Will-Call. I knew they would love it, so I put it on after work. Thursday, I went to knit night at the Yarn Garden. Well, I had to wear it, right? Who better to appreciate my clever use of stash than a group of knitters?

And by request, I'm wearing it tomorrow to Worldwide Knit in Public day, hosted by the Yarn Garden and being held in downtown Lawrenceville. Yay!

I'm serious about it being addictive, though. By Sunday night, I had plans to make two more, at least. I need one in black and gold, and of course I need one in browns. I mean, that is the other staple of my wardrobe. But could I maybe do one in blues, too? Or maybe black and white? Hmm…

The Pink! It Burns!

Back in November I made a wavy hat for my mom, using Patons SWS (Natural Raisin and Natural Indigo from the Soy Wool Solids). It was the second chemo cap I made for her. Unfortunately for me, my sister saw it, and she wants one. And sadly, my sister likes pink.

So I'm crocheting with pink. Blech. I hate pink. In fact, I hate pink even more than orange…and I detest orange. One facet of pink that drives me nuts is the assumption that women want pink. Manufacturers look at their product and say, "Oh, we need to target the female market segment. Um, make it pink. What's next on the agenda?" It's insulting, really.

But that's a different rant. Back to the fiber-y goodness!

I decided that if I was going to crochet with pink, it was going to be good pink. This cap has one saving grace in my book: it's Malabrigo. Malabrigo Merino Worsted in 021 Cactus Flower, to be exact. And it is simply one of the most divine yarns on this planet. It's wonderfully soft, and the colors are gorgeous. It's kettle-dyed by a women's coop in Uruguay, and if you've never tried it you should run straight to your local yarn store and buy a skein or five.

Did I mention the wonderful colorways? The traditional Malabrigo–Merino Worsted, the one that made them famous–is available in true solids and semi-solids as well as variegated. All the colors are sublime. The dark colors are deep and rich with real dimension; the brights are clear and clean; the pastels are pure and soft. There are colors that I don't particularly care for (like pink), but there are no bad colors.

Oh, right, I'm making a hat. Back to the wavy hat.

If you like crocheted ripple afghans and you enjoy a little whimsy, you'll like this hat. It's from One-Skein Wonders by Judith Durant, and it uses the traditional ripple construction (grouped increases alternating with grouped decreases) to create the same type of points.

The top is very fun: each point is stitched together, so it creates a star shape when seen from above. In the book, it's stitched with a contrasting color, and a couple of dangling tassels are attached. This is my third wavy cap, and I haven't actually used the tassels yet. I do, however, use the contrasting stitching.

All in all, it's very quick to make; I started this one yesterday, and it should be finished tomorrow. That's only three days of rather limited crochet time.

It's a good thing I love my sister, because this pink overload may kill me!

Update: As you can see, I finished the hat. Trust me–it looks WAY better on my sister!

BPAL Felted Travel Case

A little over a year ago, I developed a love of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, an indie perfumery. If you've never tried their perfume oil, it's incredible; you can find reviews of the fragrances (and other information) at BPAL Madness, a fan forum. (Yes, a fan forum, with over 16,000 members. Yes, I said 16,000.) Go right now and pick out six general catalog scents you like. Then go and order a pack of 1 mL imp's ears!

Hooked yet? Good. You will soon have a deep-seated need to take BPAL with you everywhere. For most people, a couple of bottles or a handful of imps do the job, but that's never enough for me. In fact, I've developed a bit of a reputation for it. I'm not an addict, though; I can stop anytime. Really. If I wanted to, of course.

Anyway, I had a bit of Malabrigo Merino Worsted sitting around, left over from my lovely shawl. And I needed a way to carry my bottles, so I whipped this up while watching the Battlestar Galactica miniseries. Felted it, too, before it was finished. Total time was maybe two hours.

It will hold three bottles, or two bottles and a few imps. You can easily adapt the pattern to any size. (If you can really call something so simple a pattern, that is.)

Supplies
About a quarter of a skein Malabrigo Merino Worsted
Large button
Scrap thread to baste the button in place
Size I crochet hook
Tapestry needle
Split stitch marker
Two safety pins

Before you start, lay three 5mL perfume bottles in a row on a piece of plastic wrap. Securely wrap them in the plastic, then set them aside. You'll use these to gauge the size of your case as you work and to check the progress of your felting.

The entire piece is worked in a spiral until you reach the flap, which is worked back and forth.

Crocheting the Pouch
Chain 10 stitches for your foundation chain.

Round 1: SC into the second chain from your hook. This is your first stitch. Sc1 in each stitch until the last chain. Sc3 in the last chain. Do not turn the piece; instead, continue in the round, and sc1 in the other side of each stitch, until you are back at the first chain. Sc2 in that stitch, for a total of three single crochet stitches in each end chain. (20 stitches)

Check this against your bottles; it should be about the same length as the three bottles, and just a little less than one bottle wide. Round 2 will make a case a bit bigger than your bottles, to allow for light felting.

Round 2: Ch1, then sc1 in each stitch until you reach the end of the oval. Sc3 in that stitch, then sc1 in each st until you reach the other end. Sc2 in the same stitch you made the first sc in. (24 stitches)

You are now finished with the base and will start up the sides. Place a split marker (or safety pin) at the start of the round and move it up as you work, even though you'll be working in a spiral. It makes it easier when you get to the flap.

Round 3: Sc1 in each sc. Repeat until it's about 2.5" high.

Check the height against your bottles. You want it a little less than .5" higher than your bottles when they're in the case.

Flap row 1: Begin the flap at the start of a round. Ch1 then sc1 in the first sc. Sc1 in each of the next 10 st, then ch1 and turn.

Repeat row 1 until the flap is the desired length. (Mine was about 2.5" long, which gave me plenty of overlap and placed the button in the center of the front panel.) Fasten off your last stitch, and leave enough of a tail to weave in the ends.

The Button Loop
Place your perfumes back in the case, and fold over the flap. Determine where you want the button and baste it in place; you'll sew it on permanently once the case is felted. (If you use a button with a shank, you can attach it with a safety pin.) Look at the button and figure out where you want the button loop. Mark attachment points for the loop with safety pins. (Remember that you'll be felting your piece, so make the loop a little longer than it needs to be.) Once you've got the flap marked, you can remove the bottles.

Place the hook through the edge stitch closest to the first safety pin and pull your yarn through, leaving enough of an end to weave it in. Chain a cord for the button loop. Attach the last stitch to the flap at the second safety pin, just as you attached the yarn at the beginning. Fasten off your yarn.

Before you cut the yarn, test it with the bottles again. Does the flap close and button securely? Good. Weave in your ends, keeping in mind that the felting will help hold them in place. Cut off the excess and proceed to felting. (I recommend removing the button now and sewing it back on when you're through.)

Felting the Pouch
There are excellent instructions for felting all over the internet, including Knitty, and I bet a lot of you know far more about it than I do. I used a big mixing bowl and dish gloves to felt mine, since the washing machine seemed wasteful for such a small item.

Remember how you wrapped your bottles in plastic wrap? It made them easier to work with before, but now it's essential. You need to check your progress as you felt. If you stick unprotected bottles in a wet pouch, you'll damage the labels. My Boomslang, Rose Red, and Peacock Queen bear mute testimony to this sad fact...

Once your case is felted down to size, get the water out of it (spin cycle or rolling it up in a towel and squeezing it) and put the bottles back in. Wrap the flap back into position, and leave it to dry. The button can be sewn back on once it's mostly dry.


And you're finished! The Precious will be much safer in its soft little home.

Serendipity Needleworks, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

I spent about an hour and a half at Seredipity Needleworks in downtown Tuscaloosa this morning (actually, yesterday morning, but I haven't been to bed yet). I had a great time. There were so many beautiful yarns everywhere! I wasn't really optimistic when I saw the "Needleworks;" I figured it would be mostly embroidery, with some yarn thrown in. But to my surprise, there was tons of yarn and a great selection for embroidery, too.

The owner was so nice. She was knowledgeable about yarns, both those she carried and those she didn't. She greeted me cheerfully when I entered and offered help, but was never pushy. When I needed help finding a yarn substitute, she was was able to offer me several options, and give me advice on needles. When she needed to step to the back, she checked first to see if I needed anything.

The customers were great, too. I chatted with some of the women there for the Sit 'n' Stitch, and they were all cheerful and enthusiastically discussed their projects and mine.

So, my purchases... One of the projects on my dream list was the Scribblin' Shawl from Mason-Dixon Knitting. When I saw the beautiful red Lang Venezia yarn, I knew the shawl would be my next project! The owner helped me find substitutes for the Rowan Kid Silk Haze used in one of the sample shawls; I went with Douceur et Soie in black, for the body of the scarf. It's only a few rows long (I need to finish my backpack), but so far I'm happy with it!

Other purchases: Classic Elite Cotton in red and Berrocco Cotton Twist in Satin Beige (a taupe-ish color) from the bargain bin, plus three ball-ends for $1 each.

Knit Picks is taunting me!

I've been longing for CotLin in Moroccan Red for almost two months. I bought some for Ishy last month, in Royal Plum. It's very pretty, and it seems practical too. But every time I check the page, red is out of stock. I go back and it's not in yet. First it was early June, then June 15, then June 18, and now June 25.

I just want the pretty red yarn! Is that so much to ask?

Sigh. I love Knit Picks, but this is driving me nuts!