Lion Brand Mandala Yarn

Are you curious if the new Lion Brand Mandala Yarn lives up to the hype?     Well I'm here to tell you my thoughts on it!

** Disclaimer, I am in no way affiliated with Lion Brand or Walmart.  I bought the yarn and just want to give you my honest opinion of the product and my experience.

Last week while casually strolling through the yarn isle at our local Walmart (who are we kidding I run straight there), I came across this awesome end cap!   Fellow  "yarnies" have been posting about these for weeks.   I'll be honest, I have been stalking ours for a while, but then I found out that only 500 stores had them.  Being in a very rural area I lost hope of finding any in our store, until last week!  

  

My initial thoughts were " WOW these are bigger than I thought!"   and "Sigh these colors are to DIE FOR!" and "Boy these have been pretty picked through thoroughly already!"   

 I grabbed a few and went home to try them out.    

I knew I needed to make my kids some ponchos after the one I just made for my niece and these would be perfect for them.    Here are the completed projects (I'm going to post a pattern review later on the Shell Poncho from Cre8tion Crochet)

Pattern Credit Cre8tion Crochet - Children's Shell Poncho
Lion Brand Mandala in Pheonix

Pattern, my own.  I'm still debating on writing it up.
Lion Brand Mandala in Spirit

So what are the final thoughts on the yarn?  The cakes have 590 yards to them which was more than enough for the girls poncho, and I only used half on the toddler sized boy poncho.   The Spirit (blue and grey) had some color imperfections where there was light blue specks in the darker colors, it didn't look bad but not what I was hoping for.   I still love the long color changes though, perfect for these ponchos or a blanket.   It is a 3 weight yarn which I don't love. It split easily with my hook if i wasn't paying attention, and when frogging there was a point I was ready to just cut it and take my loss because it snagged so much.   It takes longer to finish a pattern (which I get bored easily if it takes too long) even with a 6.0 mm hook.  It will be nice to wear in spring since it is thinner.   It's pretty soft and I didn't find it scratchy to touch.  The price was less than $5 at my Walmart, although it is more on the Lion Brand website (but you aren't limited on color selection).

Overall I think it was still a great buy.   Not often can you get that much yarn and beautiful colors for that great of of price.   I'm on a SAHM on a budget so I think the price point is what will bring me back to this yarn for future projects.  

Have you used this yarn?    I'd love to see your projects and know your thoughts  :)      Don't forget to follow me on Instagram @Bsquarecrochet or like my page on Facebook 

New Pattern Release!!!

***UPDATE***  This is now is a FREEBIE!   So go add it to your library, eventually I'll post the entire pattern here on the Blog.

I just published another pattern on Ravelry!     You can get it FREE for a limited time with the code
"celebrate".   Promotion ends on Monday February 20 at 12 pm MST.     Click here to get this cute pattern!  

Now that I've let you in on the exciting news, let me tell you about this pattern.    

I love octopus.   I think they are incredible creatures not to mention super cool.  They are equally as cool as a Amigurumi and so cute!  I wanted to make one FAST and did not want any extra parts to make and sew on.   So I came up with these little guys that come together in less than an hour!  Best part is there are NO extra parts to make and sew on (eh hem 8 tentacles!)   My kiddos just adore how little they are and have fun stacking them up and playing with them.  Just the right size for little hands!    

Anyway until my next post...... Crochet on! 

You're the Balm!

Here is one that you can get it done in 20 minutes or less.

The other day I had this fantastic idea for my daughter's teacher for Valentine's Day.   You know those cute lip moisturizers that are round, the EOS lip balm, they would be perfect inside a little Bomb pouch.  I would pair it with a "You're the Balm" card.   So cute and original right?  Wrong?!  Apparently the "You're the Balm" slogan has been done lots of time and I'm not that original.  I still love the saying and this it is adorable for a teacher's gift, so I'm going for it anyway with my own crochet style.  

Materials:

4.5 mm hook
Black yarn, worsted weight
Small amount of yellow yarn
Small amount of orange yarn
1 EOS lip balm

**Do not join rows, this pattern will continue in the round, use stitch markers if needed.

Rd 1: Start with 8 sc inside a Magic Circle (or the ch 2 method)
Rd 2: Crochet 2 SC in each stitch [16]
Rd 3-12:  SC in each stitch [16]
   *You may need to add additional rows if it isn't long enough to cover your Balm.  

At this point I finish off with a long chain of 18 to 20 stitches.  I leave a 2-3 inch tail to attach a pom pom.  Using a darning needle, weave the chain in and out  of row 11 every 3-4 stitches to make the drawstring.  

 I used 2 colors for the pom by wrapping both orange and yellow yarn at the same time around a fork.  Tie a strand of yarn around the middle between the middle prongs and then slide off and cut the loops.  Attach the pom to the end of the chain and cut any long strands.

Create your own card using this image I created.   

I am not affiliated with EOS in anyway. I am a normal consumer and happen to like their product and thought it would be great for this project.

Photos and graphics used in this post are my own, so please do not copy or use them without permission.   You may not copy and paste this pattern in part or whole to post online or share with others without written consent of Brittany Bentley.  You are welcome to sell items from this pattern and use your own photos, I do ask that if you sell online that you credit Bsquare Crochet as the designer and link back to the original pattern.    Thank you! 

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Valentine Hugs! Free Printable!

Need a last minute idea for Valentine's for your child's class?   Well here is a fun one I put together last night, and I'm sharing it with you!    

What you need:

Little Hug Fruit Barrels (box of 20 is less than $3 at my Walmart)
Printer
Free Printable (link at bottom of post)

Cut the strips at apply to the Hugs with tape!  Super quick and easy!

Valentine Hug to You {FREE} printable

Please note:   Please do not reproduce this document in anyway.   By downloading this you are given permission for Personal Use only.   Any other use please get writtenpermission from Brittany Bentley, Bsquare Crochet.  Sharing this post is encourage and please give credit to Bsquare Crochet where due.   Thank you for your support.  

Plaid Hat by Whistle and Ivy

Today is National Flannel Day!!   What is more flannel than a plaid print?  I recently finished the Plaid Slouchy Hat by the very talented Bethany at Whistle & Ivy.    I loved this pattern!    It's really easy and works up quick!

I wanted to share my color alternative with you and tips if you want to add more color variation to it. I just used scraps from my stash.   I used a Black, White, Grey, and 3 shades of green.     Here is the color change pattern I repeated:  

row 1:   Black,  Green 1, Grey
row 2:  Grey, Green 2, White
row 3:  Green1, Green3, Green1

Repeat those 3 rows through the pattern.   Also because I used 6 colors instead of 3 carrying the colors up through the work didn't really work with out causing major tangles, so I cut 2 of the 3 colors each row.  I didn't cut the grey from the first color row because I used it in the next row, and so on.  

This would work with really any colors you want to substitute, but the green is great for St. Patty's day coming up!

Check out all the great plaid projects from Whistle & Ivy HERE!


Crochet on!