A close friend of mine was having her third child! We’ve known each other for a long time, and her two older kids are the same ages as mine. While we don’t live in the same city now, our families have made a point of visiting each other or traveling together every summer for the past few years– a friendship that I definitely don’t take for granted.
So, for our joint national park trip this year, I wanted to make them something special. Instead of baby stuff, of which I figured they already had all they needed, I decided to create a useful household item that celebrates both their love for the outdoors and their becoming a family of 5: A set of five coasters that stack up as a s’more!
The idea is really quite simple. Two golden knitted squares make up the crunch honey graham crackers; two somewhat check-patterned knitted squares form the melting chocolate bars; and a white crocheted circle at the center is the sweet, soft marshmallow.
Everything is made with two strands of 100% cotton yarn for washable, durable everyday use. The honey graham crackers measure about 4.75 inches in width; the chocolate bars are slightly smaller, and the marshmallow is slightly larger in diameter.
My 5-year-old daughter helped me with one of the graham crackers by being the working yarn. I finished everything else myself as I was in a bit of a hurry. However, I did end up having to redo the first chocolate bar several times, as I kept missing counts for the purl stitches and purl rows! Hopefully my notes in the instructions below would help you avoid such headaches.
Materials
– 100% cotton medium-weight (#4) yarn in gold, brown (Caron “Coffee Bean” color), and white. To produce the ideal thickness for coasters, combine two strands of yarn and work them as one thread.
– 6.5mm or 7.0mm knitting needles
– 5.0mm crochet hook
Abbreviations
CO = Cast on
St(s) = Stitch(es)
DC = Double crochet
SC = Single crochet
CH = Chain
Honey graham crackers
Garter stitch knitted square with golden yarn.
CO 20 sts. Knit to the last st; purl-wise slip the last st. Repeat knit rows until you have a square. Bind off.
Chocolate bars
Garter/stockinette patterned knitted square with brown yarn.
Setup: CO 16 sts.
Row 1 (knit row): Knit to the last st. Purl-wise slip the last st.
Row 2: Knit 5 sts. Repeat twice: “purl 1 st, knit 4 sts.” Purl-wise slip the last st. (In other words, purl the 6th and the 11th stitches.)
Rows 3-6: Repeat Rows 1-2 twice.
Row 7: Knit 1 st. Purl to the last st. Purl-wise slip the last st.
Row 8: Same as Row 1 (knit row).
Rows 9-14: Repeat Rows 1-2 three times.
Rows 15-16: Same as Rows 7-8.
Rows 17-22: Repeat Rows 1-2 three times.
Row 23: Same as Row 1 (knit row).
Bind off.
Marshmallow
Double-crochet circle with white yarn.
Setup: Magic circle 12 DC.
Round 1: CH 3. Repeat “3DC, 2DC, 2DC, 2DC”.
Round 2: CH 3. Repeat “1DC, 2DC, 2DC”.
Round 3: CH 1. SC all around.
