Poodle PIeces

Hello All,
So I have started a small side project to keep my hands busy while watching the tube. I am making crocheted, poodle, toilet paper covers. Yes, the kind like granny used to have in her bathroom. What can I say, I have always like these kitschy little things. How can you not love them.

I got the idea from a book I have mentioned before Kitschy Crafts. I tried going by the directions but to be truthful, it just looked like gibberish to me. So... I went online and started piecing it together for myself. I started off by looking up tutorials of how to crochet a circle. What I found was a tutorial on how to single crochet a circle...

Single Crochet Coaster Tutorial Video

Because I was new at this I decided to start with just one color of yarn. I followed the instructions just as she has shown. However, I kept having a problem. My circle wasn't laying flat at all. It was ruffling up. The ruffle was neat looking, and filed that away for future use. But that wasn't what I was trying to do. Below you can see what it was doing. I kept ripping out the stitches and starting over again, only to get the same results. I was starting to go crazy. Must have made 15 of the ruffle circles. So back to the net I went. I found a written tutorial that said if your circle is ruffling just doing do as many increases. So instead of doing a 2 single crochet increase for every previous crochet I did every other one. I have to say that work a lot better and it didn't ruffle anymore.

Left: the ruffling circle, Right: the flat circle.

With my circle figured out. I started crocheting. I didn't really count stitches or rounds. I just went until it was about the size of a toilet paper roll. Now keep in mind I am doing this pretty much by my own design. Next I started on making the sides for my cover. I just started crocheting a large round the diameter of the toilet paper roll/ top. That is pretty much where I am now. Below you can see my progress.

This has been a fun project so far. I am learning a lot. This is the most complicated crochet project I have ever undertaken and am looking forward to learning more. Before this I was really only making scarves and square bags. This has really shown me I can do a lot more with the help of dun dun dahhh tutorial videos.

I plan on making my own layman's pattern/ tutorial for this when I am finished. So keep an eye out for the finished cover and the tutorial.