Projects

I was proud of myself for completing several crochet projects in the month of December. I have been unable to post pictures until now because they were gifts for people!

I started first with a search for a pattern for a hooded scarf. I saw a beautiful handmade hooded scarf at the Village Venture in Claremont back in October but of course it was $85. I ended up on etsy.com and felt good about buying a pattern created by a girl named Rachel, than finding it somewhere online or in a pattern book in Joann's. I turned out to be a super simple pattern and I have enjoyed wearing it on rainy days.

It took me the longest of any of the projects, because it was 45 stiches across and 130 rows long! I don't love how the hood got wavy, but I think it's because I used thinner yarn. I want to try it again in a different color and with thicker, maybe variegated yarn.

I was going to make Tammy a hooded scarf like mine for Christmas, but in pink variegated. By the time I was done with mine, I realized 2 things: I probably didn't have time to make one for her, and that it would probably be way too long on her. I ended up creating my own pattern. I had gotten about a third of the way done with her scarf when I decided to turn it into whatever you would call this. (A neckerchief? How about scarferchief?) Anyway I folded it in half and crocheted around it with dark brown. This made it thicker and a little stiffer. I then wrapped it around my neck in a jaunty fashion to measure it, and then sewed a button on it to keep it together.

Tammy seemed to really like it when I gave it to her. It fit her perfectly, and it probably more appropriate and useful for her than the hooded scarf would have been.

This was my favorite project. Kelly's nursery theme is going to be sock monkeys. When I was looking on etsy for my scarf pattern, I decided to type in sock monkeys to see what came up. I came across this super cute pattern for a sock monkey hat. I was really nervous to do it, since I have never really be able to follow real patterns, but decided to try it. It ended up being really easy, believe it or not! I was quite proud of myself, because this was the first time that all of the stitches and the math actually added up, and it wasn't lopsided.

I was a bit nervous to give it to Kelly, since she is pretty picky about her vision for her nursery. I knew that she didn't want a ton of people to know the theme, so that she wouldn't just ended up with random monkey and jungle themed items. In the end, she really seemed surprised by it. She told me that she was going to buy one, and that she had seen one for $40. (Nice to know I could be charging that, if I wanted!!) She didn't seem to believe that I had made it, which was a nice feeling.

I have known how to crochet since I was in 5th grade, but have never really grasped it as a hobby. This was the first time I bought real patterns, with real purposes and actually bought the materials they called for. I was happy that they came out right. I look forward to trying more things soon: let me know if you have any requests or ideas! They are much more fun when they are for something specific...