Knitted coasters with crochet border

Today is the last day of my Certificate, and I'm pretty excited. I have been toying with the idea of going back to school for a few years, unable to make up my mind. Finally, at the end of the summer last year, I decided that before committing to many more years of studying, I should probably first try it out with something requiring a little less commitment. I picked a certificate that is relevant to my current field, but only required one day a month in the classroom, with some independent work in between classes. It's been fun to learn and research, to meet new friends, but I finally came to the conclusion that I'm done with school. Overall then, a success. I gained knowledge and finally made a decision. Today is the last day in the classroom, last day of the Certificate, last day of school, and I'm pretty happy about it. 

I still want to learn and be challenged, and I've been finding plenty of just that with knitting and sewing. I also tried to learn to crochet a few times. The first time was over lunch a few months ago with a fellow certificate classmate, and I was confused. I didn't understand how to hold the crochet hook, and my tension was all over the place. I quickly and happily went back to knitting. I tried it out again by taking a class at Vogue Knitting Live! back in March, and the teacher actually spent quite some time instructing us on how to hold the crochet hook; it became a lot more natural. Since then, I've had the greatest intentions to practice with some crochet projects. And that's about it. Following the conference I had all these swatches lying around, from various courses, and decided to transform them into little coasters instead of ripping them apart. This was the perfect project to try out a nice contrasting crochet border.

Material:

Left over yarn in two colours. I used worsted weight Cascade 220 in light grey and mustard yellow.

Size US 8 needles

Size H crochet hook

Tapestry needle

Instructions:

Knit a square in Garter stitch (knit every row). Mine are 4x4", and I casted on 20 stitches.

Single crochet around the knitted square with your contrasting yarn. Make sure to crochet a few times in the same stitch when you turn the corners.

Weave in your ends. Voilà.

Next time, I might knit two squares and crochet them together to make it a bit more sturdy, or even add some interfacing in between for shape. But I quite like my simple coasters.