2 More Finished Crochet WIP

Pink and White Anchor Bookmark

 For a belated Christmas gift for someone I'm going to be seeing at Mom's birthday party tomorrow.

Anchor Bookmark is my own name for this type of bookmark.  It has nothing to do with the stitch pattern but rather the long string with beads on the end.  The string can be doubled over and act as a simple tassel as in the picture.  But to use as an anchor bookmark you

• pull one bead snug against the top of the bookmark 
• place the other end of the string inside the back cover of the book 
• drag string over the unread pages to 
• place bookmark on page you left off.  
• pull on the top bead until the bottom one is snug against the bottom, letting the excess dangle
• While reading you allow the bookmark itself to dangle down the back cover and it won't fall out.

I used Aunt Lydia's bamboo white size 10 for the two-chain mesh body and a cotton size 20 pink  for the 5dc fan border that may have been DMC but with no label I'll never know.  It was in a bag of partially used thread that was given to me.  It could be decades old.  I wish I knew where/if I could get more as I'd collect the whole pallet.  It has a silky soft texture similar to embroidery floss.  And it has a plastic core which I've yet to encounter anywhere else since I started crocheting in 2009.

I made the white bookmark about 2 years ago and it languished in one of the collections of bookmarks still needing to be blocked, have their tails tucked and attired in their decorative wardrobe.

Trinity Stitch Hot Pad

This one's for Mom's birthday.  Altho when I made it I intended it for a hot pad and probably for myself since it is one of my colors, I decided to put on the finishing touches and give it to Mom for her meal tray pad that keeps her plate from sliding.

The body which was completed about two years ago, was made with Aunt Lydia's size 3 Bamboo in Cruise Blue using the Trinity Stitch which is a dense 3 together stitch in which you yarn over and pull up a loop three times before pulling thread through all three loops.  It's a relative of the pubb stitch.

For the border I used Red Heart Coffee Brown in size 3 and a single crochet.  For the hanging loop I mad a long chain with the Cruise Blue just after finishing last row and slip stitched it to first chain of itself then as I completed the full round of the border I did a single crochet wrap around that chain.  then wrapped the very long tails around the flimsy base of the loop to create the strengthening shank.