School Bus Placemat & Mug Rug

In less than a month, my daughter (who is my oldest kiddo) will start kindergarten. I'm not ready! It took me a while to getting used to her attending preschool for just a couple hours a day, but now I have to send her to kindergarten all day without me!?! I'll probably cry the first day. Anyhoo, I thought I'd make her a special placemat in honor of her starting school soon. I also made a mug rug for myself just because I love coffee and I love mug rugs!

I'm using this as a mug rug, but it could also be a dishcloth or hot pad.

For this project, I used Lily Sugar'n Cream's Sunshine, White, Black, and Red.

To create this mug rug: (I used a size 2.5 hook.)

Bus:

ch 33, 

row 1: hdc in 3rd ch from the hook and across, ch 2, turn. (31)

rows 2 - 9: hdc in each st across, ch 2, turn. (31)

rows 10 - 16: hdc in 25 st. ch 2, turn. (25)

edging: sc around evenly, 3 sc in each corner. join, fasten off.

wheels: (make 2)

round 1: magic circle, 10 hdc inside the circle. join

round 2: ch 2, hdc in same stitch, 2 hdc in each st, around. join. fasten off, but leave a tail for sewing.

windows: (make 3)

ch 7. 

row 1: hdc in 2nd ch from the hook, hdc across.

rows 2 - 5: hdc in each st. across, ch 2, turn.

edging: sc around evenly, 2 sc in each corner. join, fasten off, but leave a tail for sewing.

lights: (make 2)

magic circle, 8 hdc inside circle. join. fasten off, but leave a tail for sewing.

stop sign:

round 1: with red, magic circle, 8 hdc inside circle, join, 

round 2: ch 2, hdc in same space, 2 hdc in each st. join, fasten off.

round 3: with white, join, [sc in next 2 st, (sc, ch 2, sc) in next space] repeat around, join, fasten off, but leave tail for sewing.

Back stitch lines onto the bus and sew on all the parts!

This is one of my favorite coffee mugs. 

For the placemat, I used a size 4 hook and added more stitches. For example, when I crocheted the body of the bus, I started with 50 chains instead of 33. The placemat doesn't have the red lights on it. I might add them later.

STOP! Hammer Time!☺

Breakfast is served!

Most days she just wants cereal...

And we're ready to head off to school!