These placemats are easy to personalize to your liking, and great fun for kids!
I chose to crochet the letter "A" for Adina, and the letter "L" for Larissa. I also did one for Christopher, but the pictures of his didn't turn out well. The pocket on the left is for silverware, and the little pocket above the letter is for a memory verse. We've had this little plastic loaf of bread with verses on cards in it that represent "Our Daily Bread", but have had a hard time getting into the routine of using them. This has made a great way to incorporate the verses into meal time. Each child has one verse a day, and works on memorizing it at breakfast and lunch, and then at dinner they each will quote their verse to Daddy.
To make the placemat:
Worsted weight cotton yarn
Size H crochet hook
Ch 71.
Row 1: *Insert hook in 2nd ch from hook, pull through loop, insert hook in next ch, pull through loop, yo, pull through all loops on hook (sc dec made), ch 1*, rpt across, ending with sc in last ch. Ch1, turn.
Row 2: (Sc dec, ch1) across, ending with sc in last st. Ch 1, turn.
Row 3-5: Rpt Row 2. Fasten off, join main color.
Continue with Row 2 until desired length. Fasten off, join accent color, rpt row 2 for last 5 rows.
Use the same stitch to make pockets. Start with a odd number of chains to desired width. I used patterns for the letters from my book "201 Crochet Motifs". You could use any motif in place of the letter. I used sewing needle and thread to tack the letters and pockets on.
