Malik the Malign: Crochet Placemat Pattern

You might have noticed, I am not great at naming my patterns. I am trying to get better at that.

This pattern has a strange name. When I was drawing it, my kids were listening to a kids show and I decided the bad guy had a pretty neat name: Malik. And he is bad, so bad! He is so bad, he is Malik the Malign.

I pronounce “malign” like this: mə-līn’

Merriam-Webster has a long entry that even includes a podcast! So interesting, right?

Back to the yarn!

The back side of this pattern, when done in interlocking creates a pattern that doesn’t connect at certain intersections. And I thought it almost looks like a bad drawing lol so I figured the ‘bad-guy’ name fit with that.

The wrong side, using interlocking crochet, by semicci

This is a pattern for a placemat. You will likely make at least 2. Some people need 4 or 6 or more for their full table set.

A beautiful table setting, crocheted using the overlay mosaic technique by CarolinevdB

If you have the skills, you can repeat the pattern and create a table runner. I wasn’t sure if there would be many interested in such a thing, so I didn’t write up a pattern. Should I?

It is written up for interlocking and overlay mosaic crochet of course. And I had a few people test it out for me before publishing.

Crocheted by Miloslava. Red is mosaic crochet, blue is interlocking.

I know the brackets can be hard for some of you. I have written about brackets here. Just take it slow, there’s no race!

The chart that comes with the pattern shows the section you are repeating. I know some of you are skilled enough to create lots from that! I can’t wait to see your creativity.

Crocheted using interlocking by Divya Tellakula

I have written the pattern to use worsted weight yarn. You could use a thinner yarn if you want a lower profile placemat. Just do more repeats to get the placemat the size you need.

You can grab this pattern on Ravelry or Etsy. And, if you’re quick, you’ll get it on sale too! Get an automatic 30% discount until January 31, 2021. No code needed, just add it to your cart to see the discount applied.

Hope you enjoy this pattern!

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Among Us – turning a hat into a character

So, if you live under a rock, you may not have seen any of these “Among Us” toys, hats, etc. I admit, it took me longer than most to figure out why everyone kept using the phrase “sus”.

My bestie asked me to make her son a stuffy and a hat.

I *mostly* followed a pattern I found online for the little amigurumi guy. I couldn’t get the eye… goggle… face thing? I don’t know what it is, but mine wasn’t working so I had to free hand it a bit.

There are lots of free patterns out there, make sure you do use a FREE one because the creators of Among Us have been clear about their wishes: read about that here.

So, here is my little guy:

See his little wolf ears? Special request. I did 3 chains in a magic circle, then 2 single crochets in each stitch around (6). I then did one more round of sc. Flatten and sew on.

The pattern I followed made weird goggles so I kind if squished and shaped them into something I liked better.

Then I made a hat. A basic beanie.

For the matching wolf ears I had to do a lot more than 3 rounds lol

For these big wolf ears I started with 4 single crochets in a magic circle. Increase all the way around (that means put 2 sc in each stitch).

I didn’t join the rows, I was just working in rounds, so make sure you grab a stitch marker!

3rd round: repeat *sc, inc* (12)

4: repeat *2 sc, inc* (16)

5: repeat *inc, 3 sc* (20) (I moved the increase to avoid a spiral line)

6: repeat *4 sc, inc* (24)

7: repeat * 2 sc, inc, inc, 8 sc* (26)

8: repeat *inc, 12 sc* (28)

9 sc around. Cut and tie off. Leave a long tail for sewing.

Flatten the cone into an ear. Make sure you curve it strongly. Use stitch markers to place both ears on the hat before sewing.

You want them to match up! And you don’t want to have to cut your work off and redo it.

The goggle part on the hat is a 2D item instead of 3D like on the little amigurumi.

To make an oval:

Chain 17, sc in 2nd from hook and across (16).

Don’t turn your work, sc in each stitch along the bottom of your work (+ 16, 32 for this round).

Round 3: increase (put 2 sc in the same stitch), sc x14, inc in both of the next 2 stitches, sc 14, inc.

Round 4: inc, inc, sc x 14, inc x 3, sc 14, inc. Cut and tie off, leave a long tail for sewing.

Give it a try!

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Quick and Easy Christmas Tree Applique: Free Crochet Pattern

Introduction

I am happy to offer this quick and easy pattern to you here for free! But, if you’d prefer, you can add this to your Ravelry account in an ad-free, printable PDF file for a small fee! If you don’t use Ravelry, you can also buy it directly from me on here (this requires me to manually email you in response, so please give me a few hours to respond).

Ashlee Brotzell’s Christmas Tree Applique

Thank you for your support! I will send you a nice PDF of this Christmas Tree pattern. You can then print it and make as many little trees as you want.

CA$1.00

You can do whatever you want with these cute trees. You can string them up like garland, double them up and glue them onto a stick, or sew them onto a blanket.

In the picture above, the white tree is actually 2 trees that I joined together using a single crochet border. I put 2 single crochets in the stitches at the tips of the branches and did a decrease stitch in the tiny corners under the branches. I left a hole in the bottom because I had planned on putting a wooden dowel inside. The dowel I had on hand wasn’t big enough so I scrapped that idea for the pictures.

These are great for stash busting because each tree only uses about 10 grams of yarn!

If you share your works on Instagram, tag me: @AshleesLint

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Important Details

  • US crochet terminology
  • Finished measurements: approximately 7″ tall x 5” wide (18 cm x 12.5 cm)
  • 4.5 mm hook (US7)
  • Worsted weight yarn (about 20 yards / 10 g per tree)

Key

ch = chain

dc = double crochet (treble crochet in UK terminology): yarn over, insert hook, pull up a loop, yarn over and pull through 2 loops, yarn over and pull through 2 loops

Pattern Notes

Stitch count (#) is at the end of each row. Slip stitches are not included in the stitch counts. The “Ch 3” does count as a stitch. The “Ch 4” in the first row counts as 1 stitch.

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Instructions

R1: Create a magic loop, put 11 dc in it

or Ch 4 and put 10 dc in the 4th chain from the hook (11)

R2: Ch 3, turn, dc in very first space, then dc x4, 5 dc in next stitch, then dc x5 (16)

R3: Ch 3, turn, dc in very first space, then dc x6, 5 dc in next stitch, dc x8 (21)

R4: Ch 3, turn, dc in very first space, dc x9, 5 dc in next stitch, dc x10, add a second dc in last stitch (27)

R5: Ch 1, turn, slip stitch x8, ch 3, dc into same spot as last slip stitch, then dc x5, 5 dc in next stitch, dc x6, then add a second dc in last stitch used (19)

R6: Ch 3, turn, put 2 dc in first space, then dc x8, 5 dc in next stitch, dc x9, add 2 more dc in last stitch (27)

R7: Ch 1, turn, slip stitch x9, ch 3, 2 dc in same spot as last slip stitch, then dc x4, 5 dc in next, dc x5, then add 2 more dc in last stitch used (19)

R8: Ch 3, turn, 2 dc in first space, then dc x8, 5 dc in next stitch, dc x9, and add 2 more dc in last stitch (25)

Cut and tie off. Weave in the ends.

I would love to see what you’re doing with these! Happy holidays!

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