Farm Play Mat

[redrosesdz]

Last Spring richsgirl posted about a farm play mat that she'd made from a free Lion Brand's pattern.  I fell in love with the pattern and finally got around to making it, too.  I made 2 of them ... one for a great nephew and the other for a great niece (cousins.)

 

  

 

It was the funnest thing I've ever crocheted!  It's not very difficult, but there are a lot of pieces, which means a lot of sewing and weaving ends.  The only thing that I didn't like was the Lion's Brand Bon Bon yarn.  It's expensive, stiff and splits easily.  Also, there's one thing I would change in the pattern.  The pig is suppose to have a french knot tail.  Mine are tailless, because I didn't read far enough ahead.  If you do this pattern, do the pig's tail BEFORE you stuff it, not at the end.  If I ever make it again, I'm going to replace the cords along the outside with slippery ribbon.  The cords allow the mat to close for storage and open up again, but the yarn catches.

[Tampa Doll]

That is so cute and what a great idea for little ones.

[magiccrochetfan]

That's really cute!  When I looked at your photos I thought, I bet that was fun to make!  Then your next sentence was how much fun it was   

[kittyloverdeb]

That is adorable!  You have WAY more patience then I do! 

[minwifeof4boys]

Gonna have to make 2 of these

[redrosesdz]

Gonna have to make 2 of these

 

If you make 2, do them at the same time.  It's much easier that way.  You'll need double the green and both bon bon packs, but not double of anything else.

[Bailey4]

What great gifts

[hershey038]

I just LOVE this!! Now I've GOTTA make 2! We live on a farm and 2 GS's love anything to do with a tractor and the farm! Thank you for sharing where to get the pattern and also your advice!! If I didn't use the bon-bons, what kind of yarn would you recommend?

[redrosesdz]

I'd get the bon bon's, even though it's not the best yarn.  You need very thin and lots of colors for most of the pieces.  I think it uses most of the colors in both bon bon packs.  The animals & tractor (3 colors each), sun & carrots (2 colors each), pond (1 color) and flowers (4 colors) are all made from the bon bons.  Also, fun fur, mixed with lime from the bon bons, is used to make the grass.  It would be difficult and even more expensive to find fine yarn to match all those colors.

 

To everyone that said they're going to make this:  HAVE FUN! 

[cshort]

That is adorable!

[USpolishgirl]

Sooo cute! I really like that Play Mat:)

 

I might make one of those. My best friend just find out she will be a grandma in March .

Krys..

[Apak]

Oh it's absolutely stunning!

[Jayashiangel]

WOW awesome job more patients then I would have 

[howieann]

I made one for my girls. Sami loves playing with it. I did use the Bon Bons and they worked really well. We did end up taking the cords out so it would just be flat, though. It was too hard for the girls to straighten it out flat when they wanted to play and they decided that was more important than the bag.