This bright doorstop doubles as handy storage for small bits and bobs.  It is a fairly quick make and a brilliant way to add a pop of colour to a room or entrance hallway.  I have used vibrant colours, but I think it would look amazing in a fade.  Ooh, or maybe stark navy and white stripes!

With three boys, I am constantly picking up marbles and bits of Lego! These toys gather in little piles all over the house, my good intentions of ‘putting them away in a minute’ hardly ever bearing fruit.  Eventually, they just find themselves on the floor again without ever reaching the toy box upstairs.  My solution to this problem was to design a doorstop that has holes in the top so that little toys can be dropped in on the way past.

Once it’s full (or when the toys are needed), it’s a two-second job to open it up and remove (and sort…ugh!) the toys.

To keep it weighted down, I popped my microwavable flax seed heating bag in the bottom.  Oh go on, you know the type of thing I mean.  It is one of the white elephants that can be found somewhere in every house, the emphasis being on SOMEWHERE.  Before I made this doorstop, I hadn’t used mine in six years.  Not because I didn’t have occasional and desperate need of it, but because I could never find it when I DID need it.  Now I know exactly where it is.  And as a hint, my one is super long (49cm) from Aroma Home (not an affiliate link, just a hearty recommendation).  It is perfect for draping over your shoulder and back when upper back pain comes calling, or for cradling against your abdomen when hormones are elevated.

This doorstop was the first item I designed when I started my two-year journey as a monthly columnist for Inside Crochet.  I can’t tell you how excited I was about the opportunity to write and design for them.  It is my fervent hope that I will finally get around to sharing all the patterns with you here.  I designed all manner of colourful house-hold and every-day items, including, but not limited to:  rugs, baskets, a draft excluder, crochet accessories, and some toys.

Rainbow Storage Doorstop Pattern

© Dedri Uys 2017.  All Rights Reserved.

First published in Issue 87 of Inside Crochet (digital copy available HERE).

Resources

• Add to Your Ravelry Queue
• UK Version:  A UK version of this pattern is available in Issue 87 of Inside Crochet HERE.  The pattern below is the US version.
• Hashtag:  If you share photos, please use #rainbowstoragedoorstop so that I can find your projects and have a gleeful look.

Gauge

At the end of Round 6, your base should measure 10 cm/4”.  This is not essential, as long as your work is tight enough to be sturdy.

If you find that your tension is way looser than mine, have a look at this tutorial by It’s All in a Nutshell (it covers yanking, lifting, and riding).  It is also worth noting that using an inline hook will never yield as tight a tension as using a tapered hook.  You can see my intensive hook review HERE.  Finally, if you ‘throw’ your yarn instead of ‘picking’ it, your tension will always be looser.  I couldn’t find a relevant tutorial on this, but hope to create one soon.

Materials

• 4.5mm hook for the base*
• 5mm hook for the sides
• Stonewashed XL (70% cotton/30% acrylic),50g/75m/82yds**
  • Yarn A – Crystal Quartz
  • Yarn B – Moon Stone
  • Yarn C – Rose Quartz
  • Yarn D – Red Jasper
  • Yarn E – Lilac Quartz
  • Yarn F – Deep Amethyst
  • Yarn G – Amazonite
  • Yarn H – Blue Apatite
  • Yarn I – Lemon Quartz
  • Yarn J – Canada Jade
• Yarn Needle

*I use Clover Amour Crochet hooks.  You can buy them from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, or Habbedash.

**I used less than 15g of each colour and 35g of Crystal Quartz.  That makes this project perfect for using with the Scheepjes Stonewashed/Riverwashed XL pack, which contains 50 x 15g balls in all the colours of Stonewashed XL/Riverwashed XL.  If you want to see all the colours, you can have a look at the Emma Blanket HERE.  Please note that you will need more of the Main Colour (Yarn A).  

Size

25cm high and 48cm circumference.

Abbreviations

US Terminology

• Beg – Beginning
• Ch – Chain
• Hdc – Half-double crochet
• Rem – Remaining/ remains
• Sc – Single crochet
• Sp/sps – Space/spaces
• St/sts – Stitch/stitches
• [] – Repeat instructions between square brackets the number of times specified

Colour Sequence

When making the sides of the doorstop, you will need to change colours as indicated below.  It is worth printing this image out so that you can tick the rounds off as you make them.

Tip: Changing colours in a different sequence will alter the whole look and feel of this project. Be adventurous and experiment!  And on that note, feel free to make it bigger or smaller to suit your needs :)

Instructions

Base

With Yarn A and a 4.5 mm hook, make a magic ring, leaving a 10 cm yarn end.

Round 1: Into the magic ring, ch 2 (counts as hdc throughout), 9 hdc, join to top of beg ch-2 with a sl st. {10 hdc}

Round 2: Ch 2, hdc in st at base of ch-2, 2 hdc in each st, join to top of beg ch-2 with a sl st. {20 hdc}

Round 3: Ch 2, hdc in st at base of ch-2, hdc in next st, [2 hdc in next st, hdc in next st] 9 times, join to top of beg ch-2 with a sl st. {30 hdc}

Round 4: Ch 2, hdc in st at base of ch-2, hdc in next 2 st, [2 hdc in next st, hdc in next 2 st] 9 times, join to top of beg ch-2 with a sl st. {40 hdc}

Round 5: Ch 2, hdc in st at base of ch-2, hdc in next 3 st, [2 hdc in next st, hdc in next 3 st] 9 times, join to top of beg ch-2 with a sl st. {50 hdc}

Round 6: Ch 2, hdc in st at base of ch-2, hdc in next 4 st, [2 hdc in next st, hdc in next 4 st] 9 times, join to top of beg ch-2 with a sl st. {60 hdc}

Round 7: Ch 2, hdc in st at base of ch-2, hdc in next 5 st, [2 hdc in next st, hdc in next 5 st] 9 times, join to top of beg ch-2 with a sl st. {70 hdc}

Round 8: Ch 2, hdc in st at base of ch-2, hdc in next 6 st, [2 hdc in next st, hdc in next 6 st] 9 times, join to top of beg ch-2 with a sl st. {80 hdc}

Round 9: Ch 2, hdc in st at base of ch-2, hdc in next 7 st, [2 hdc in next st, hdc in next 7 st] 9 times, join to top of beg ch-2 with a sl st. {90 hdc}

Round 10: Ch 2, hdc in st at base of ch-2, hdc in next 8 st, [2 hdc in next st, hdc in next 8 st] 9 times, join to top of beg ch-2 with a sl st. {100 hdc}

Round 11: Ch 2, hdc in each st. {100}

Rounds 12 and 13: As Round 11. {100}

Fasten off and work away your ends.

Sides

Round 1: With a 5 mm hook, join Yarn B by making a sl st in any st, ch 1 (doesn’t count as a st throughout), sc in same st, [ch 1, skip the next st, sc in the next st] until 1 st rem, ch 1, skip the last st and join to the first sc with a sl st. {50 ch-1 sps and 50 sc}

Round 2: Sl st in the next ch-1 sp, ch 1 and sc in the same sp, [ch 1, sc in the next ch-1 sp] until you have worked into each ch-1 sp, ch 1 and join to first sc with a sl st. {50 ch-1 sps and 50 sc}

Rounds 3 – 39: As Round 2, using the suggested colour sequence (above) or making up your own if you prefer!

Round 40: With a 4.5 mm hook, join Yarn J by making a sl st in any ch-1 sp, ch 1, 2 sc in the same sp, make 2 sc in each ch-1 sp around, join to the first sc with a sl st. {100 sc}

Round 41: Ch 1, sc in the st at the base of the ch, sc in the next 18 st, [ch 2, skip next 2 st, sc in the next 2 sts, ch 2, skip 2 st, sc in the next 19 st] 3 times, sc in the next 2 st, ch 40, skip the next 2 st, sc in the last 2 st, join to the first sc with a sl st, fasten off.  {86 sc, 7 ch-2 sps, and 1 ch-40 loop}

When you have finished, slip your weight of choice (heated rice/barley/flax bag or tattered old doorstop) into the doorstop.  Then take the ch-40 loop (folded double) and push it through the holes fromed by the ch-2 spaces from the last round, going from inside to outside and then outside to inside into the first two holes.

Continue threading the loop through each of the remaining two ‘groups of holes’ in this fashion.

Pull tight to close the top.

Place your doorstop in front of the relevant door (I recommend one that you pass frequently) and marvel at your workload-diminishing crochet genious.

Ps.  If you don’t add the weight to the bottom, you can also use this as a pretty hanging basket.

I hope you enjoy making this handy Rainbow Storage Doorstop and look forward to seeing how you use it and, more importantly, which colours you choose!

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