Friday 4 May 2012

Weekend Project #3: Cosy Coat Hangers

The third in my series of projects is here! A lovely, simple weekend pattern for beginners and veteran crocheters alike. Inspired by Dottie Angel's Happy Hangers, I decided to take up my scraps of yarn to create these soft, vintage coat hangers, perfect for homespun dresses, wraps and cardis. They'd make excellent gifts for grandmas and mother-in-laws, too.

There is more than one way to skin a cat, as they say, and there is of course more than one to crochet a coat hanger. So for coat hanger number one, I made the colourful, striped number, and for crochet coat hanger number two, I made this blue one with pink tips.

You will need:

An old wooden coat hanger
DK weight yarn (I have used Twilley's of Stamford Freedom Gorgeous DK- a bamboo/nylon mix which is super soft and nicely stretchy)
4mm hook
A little patience

note: crochet is written in UK terminology

Striped coat hanger:
Chain 12 stitches to begin, plus 2 for turning

Row 1: Work one half treble (htr) into the third chain from the hook, and 1 htr into every chain (ch) until you reach the end, turn.

Row 2: Ch 2, skip first stitch, 1htr into every stitch along until last stitch- work 1 htr into top of ch2 of previous row. This will ensure a very straight, neat edge to your long, skinny piece of crochet.

Repeat row 2 until work measures around 45cm. For this striped effect, I worked six (6) rows of a colour, before changing to the contrasting beige, and working two rows. The effect is quite handsome, I think you'll agree? You don't need to weave in your ends, as they'll be tucked into your solid block of crochet hanger goodness as you go.

Insert the hook of your hanger into the middle of your piece. Take a contrasting colour yarn, and begin to double crochet the edges together along the bottom of the hanger, lining up the stitches as you go. You'll need to stretch the coat a little to do this. This 'stitching up' process can be quite tricksome, but once you get into the rhythm of the 'fiddliness' you'll have a crochet coat hanger in no time.

Plain coat hanger:

Chain 12 plus 3 for turning.

Row 1: Work one treble (tr) crochet into the 4th chain from the hook, and in every chain (ch) along. Turn.

Row 2: Ch 3, Skip first stitch, and work 1tr into every stitch (top loops of the stitch only, don't go between the stitches), until the last stitch- working a tr into the top of the ch3 of the previous row. Turn. Once again, you'll get a lovely neat, straight edge.

Repeat row 2 until your piece measures around 45cm. This treble crochet version is slightly quicker than the htr version, but it has a looser weave which actually I slightly prefer. Insert the hanger hook, take a piece of contrasting yarn, and stretching the piece of crochet, match up the stitches either side of the hanger, double crochet the sides together. Note: this is no less fiddly than version #1. Sorry about that.

Have a happy hooky weekend!

xxxx

1 comment:

  1. Your coat hangers are so pretty that it's a pity to cover them up with clothes.
    For mothers day I bought my mom and mother-in-law Tracfone SVC phones for seniors with bigger buttons and letters on the screen ($15, $7/mnth service). I just needed a personal touch on the gifts though, so I've nearly completed crocheting the little peach cell phone covers with turquoise roses on them.
    I think the mothers are going to love the crochet cell phone covers more than the phones. But that's good!
    What are you crocheters making for mothers day?

    ReplyDelete

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