Types of Crochet Accessories You Can Make For Your Dorm Room This Year
This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s fall editorial intern Elizabeth Miller. Find them on Instagram at @Lizzy_7979. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.
When I was little, my mom taught me how to crochet. Later we both learned how to knit together. Over the years it has been great to share these skills and crafts with someone, but as a kid, I noticed not many people my age were interested in fiber crafts. Since immersing myself in social media, I’ve found an amazing community of knitters and crocheters of all ages and skill levels, and it has been truly heartwarming. Crochet has become extremely popular, and I love seeing the pride from new crafters when they finish their first projects and collectively oohing and aahing at more the experienced who give off “I’m back with my weird antics again” vibes. I could rave about the crochet community forever, it is just such a nice space to learn with and from.
As a community, we’ve learned that crochet can be more than just making bags, blankets and clothes. In recent months, people have shared amazing projects for decorations that are perfect for different occasions and aesthetics. As a college student, I’ve been collecting and saving projects for my dorm room, so that not only will my space be super cute and personalized to me, but I can have great talking points to meet new people and they can get to know me. Here are some crochet projects you can make for your room, whether you’re a beginner or are more advanced!
Coasters
Coasters are an extremely beginner-friendly project but can be made more elaborate for experienced crocheters. Basic coasters are great for practicing shapes, like squares and rectangles for chaining and working up regular rows, and circles for magic rings and working in the round. As you learn different stitches, you can follow different patterns to make cute designs, and later add sewn embellishments. Some cute ideas (from most simple to complex) are groovy smiley faces, flower bouquet coasters, and monstera leaves.
Pillows
Similar to coasters, pillows can also be simple or complex. If you’re a beginner looking to revamp an old pillow, try making a pillow cover! This is a great way to practice consistency with your stitches and gauge and try your hand at sewing pieces together. You can use pretty much any stitch to make a pillow cover, even granny squares (if there is a casing underneath), but for regular pillows, I would recommend using smaller stitches like single and half double crochet or use a fuzzy yarn to minimize gaps where stuffing could get through.
Pillows can also be fun shapes! Recently, I got a skein of a fuzzy mustardy yellow-orange chunky yarn, and it reminded me of chicken nuggets. I tried drafting a pattern, and after some trial and error, I made a dinosaur chicken nugget pillow! The one skein turned out to be the perfect amount of yarn I needed, it was meant to be! I am so happy with how it turned out. The beauty of crochet is that your pillow can be as simple or elaborate as you want it to be.
Bean Bag Chair
Your college shopping list might recommend you get a comfy chair for your room, like a bean bag chair. If you crochet, you can absolutely make one! Michaels has some free patterns, like this one using chunky yarn for a crochet pouf seat. If you trust yourself, you could also freehand it. Most patterns start with a magic ring, and work in the round using increases and decreases to create a sphere or cylinder. Again, depending on the thickness of your yarn or the type of stitch you use, you may need a casing underneath your work for the stuffing or bean bag pellets. Great for movie nights with your friends!
Custom Hanging Tapestry
These have become extremely popular in the online crochet community! Pixel art has been used by the crochet community for a long time in patterns, but recently, crocheters have found that there are online resources you can use to create your own custom pixel patterns for tapestries and other paneling pieces. The most important thing you need to know is how to change colors while crocheting. When using these patterns, you work across the rows back and forth in a zigzag. Stitch Fiddle is a website geared specifically towards creating crochet patterns like this. If you’re looking more for premade patterns, but want the option to make some changes as well, the BraceletBook’s alpha bracelet patterns are also perfect for this method. The patterns are essentially limitless, and when you’re finished, attach the top to a wooden dowel and you can hang it up! How cute!
Chunky Blanket
Now, I couldn’t finish off this list without recommending making a blanket. If you want to stick with crochet, using a puff stitch is great for a chunky blanket. If you’re patient, granny square blankets are also really cute.
But, if you’re looking for a nudge to learn knitting, chunky knit blankets are extremely beginner friendly, and I think they are great for understanding the fundamentals of knitting. There are tons of free youtube tutorials, and they work up quickly! Depending on how big you make the blanket, you only need about 4 balls of chunky yarn, you don’t even need knitting needles.
If you’re looking for even more inspiration, yarn skeins often come with free project pattern ideas, so be sure to check out the yarn sleeves in-store. They can tell you how many balls of yarn you need for the project so you’ll be all set to complete the craft at home. The crochet communities on Pinterest, Instagram, and TikTok also give great recommendations for free patterns.
Did we inspire you to take up a crochet project we mentioned here? Let us know how it went in the comments below!
2 thoughts on “Types of Crochet Accessories You Can Make For Your Dorm Room This Year”