Penny For Your Thoughts

Julie came up with a great idea to earn money for our little forum we call home - CAL Pals. She offered up the idea that we each make a crochet container of some sort and whenever we have spare pennies, put them in there. Twice a year, we'll take them to the bank and cash them in to help pay for the costs to keep our board running.

I think it's a great idea and an easy way to help donate funds without breaking the bank.

The pattern I used for my container is here: It's called *Trinket*. Well, I started with the pattern, but I made a few changes to the container and quite a few to the lid. I can never seem to do a pattern without making some sort of changes to it to add my own little touch.

Anyway, the container itself is almost just like the pattern, except I added another rnd of hdc at the top so there'd be more for the lid to sit on and not cover the beautiful texture of the sides.

Here's a close up shot:













The lid, well, I pretty much totally redid that. The original lid is supposed to sit just inside the container. I didn't like that idea, as things stretch and eventually it would just be falling in. I started off with the first 5 rnds of the container bottom, joined with a ss, then did the cross dc stitch, ch 1, cross dc stitch, ch 1, repeat around. I joined with a ss, then working in the back loop, i did a dc in the dc of the cross stitches, skipped the ch 1 sp, dc in the next 2 dc. Join with a ss then a rnd of sc.

I skipped the tassel for the lid and instead made a little ball to go on top. (This is my 7 and a half year old's favorite part of it.) ;)

Here's a look with the lid on:













I used two strands of yarn held together: Red Heart Super Saver in Frosty Green to be the stiffener to keep shape, and Caron Simply Soft in Lt Country Blue to add a little splash of blue and a bit of a satiny sheen. (Gotta love that Simply Soft shine.) I used an N hook. I started with a K, but when doing the bottom of the container rnds it started to buckle. Switching to the larger hook kept it flat.

Oh, and there are 39 pennies in my container ;)

Oh! If you're looking for an adorable little penny pot, have a look over at *Sue's Blog*! She's made the most *beautiful little pot* - I love her colors!