Finished Apron

I finally finished sewing on the pockets and weaving in all the ends to my apron yesterday. I'm pretty pleased with how it came out and now I just need to learn how to bake so I can actually get some use out of it. I tend to procrastinate when it comes to weaving in the ends and doing the finishing touches to a project,  so I have a pile of almost complete projects waiting to be finished. Looks like it's going to be a rainy weekend so maybe I will put a dent in that pile.

I hope everyone is having a great 4th of July!

 pattern

 

Spring Shrug

I just completed this spring shrug...pattern can be found at Crochet in Color. It was so easy to make! This pattern used the v-stitch, but you could make a similar shrug using any stitch of your choosing. All you have to do is crochet a long rectangle and then fold it length-wise and sew arm holes on both ends. I love this one so much, that I will probably make several more in different colors. I think I will play around with different stitches as well! Here are some pictures...

Afghan

Finished this afghan a couple of weeks ago. It was a gift for my mom's 60th birthday! It was my first granny square as well as my first blanket.  I'm pretty happy with how it came out and hope my mom likes it.

Works in Progress

I haven't posted in a while because I haven't been able to do much crocheting recently. However, I do have a couple of works in progress that I hope to finish up within the next couple of weeks.

 

 The first one is an apron that I am making from a pattern that was in Crochet Today. I found the pattern really adorable and decided to try my hand at it. It's a really simple pattern, and it taught me how to make my first granny square! I just need to finish the skirt and make the strap that goes around the neck and then it will be done!

 

pattern

 

The second thing that I am working on is this afghan. Once again this is a really simple pattern...just a big granny square. I'm making it for someone's birthday and want to have it completed by the end of April.

 

pattern

 

I hope that I can find a little more free time within the next month so that I can complete these! I'm not sure what my next project will be, but I like to learn a new skill with each new project, so we will have to see. I also really want to try my hand at some patterns that are a little more difficult. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know:)

Afghan Ideas and Finished Scarf

I haven't been able to spend a great deal of time crocheting the past couple of weeks due to work and craziness of life. I want to change that and I need to get started on an afghan that I am making for a birthday in May. I have never made an afghan so I want to stick to a pattern that is somewhat simple so that I can finish it in time and be happy with the finished product. I have a couple of ideas in mind, but just need to make my final decision.

Here are some of the patterns I am thinking of:

 

pattern                                                                        pattern

 

I am pretty indecisive and I keep seeing more patterns that I like, so this could be hard! My goal is to make a decision by the end of the weekend!

In other news, I completed my checkerboard scarf and am pretty pleased with how it came out....

   

 

Now, I just need to finish up a couple of works in progress and get started on that afghan! Happy crocheting!

Weekend Ski Trip & Gloves

This weekend I went on a ski trip to New Hampshire with my boyfriend. Skiing is not really my thing, but my boyfriend has been wanting to go so I planned the trip as a Christmas gift to him. I had a great, relaxing weekend, even though my skiing may have been disastrous. We got a group lesson and after two hours on the bunny slope, I was one of two people in the class that the instructor decided was not ready to move on to the beginner slopes. However, I was not going to spend the entire day on the bunny slope, so decided to disregard his recommendation and chance the slopes. I may have been all over the place and look ridiculous, but I only fell twice and that is impressive for me.  

 

The car ride there should have only taken 4 hours, but took us close to 7 hours due to traffic. Luckily, this gave me some time to start those gloves I've been wanting to make, but they are not coming along quite how I want. First of all, I keep losing stitches somehow and need to keep tearing out entire rows and starting over. The yarn that I am using is really thin and unravels easily, so it has been difficult correcting mistakes. The yarn is also becoming extremely fuzzy and the tearing out of stitches is not helping with that. I'm really dissatisfied with how it is looking so far and wondering whether I should finish it or start over. I have put a lot of time into it so far so it depresses me to think of starting from scratch, however I also don't want to put more time into finishing it and ultimately not be happy with the finished product. Here is a picture of the first glove so far....

 

In the mean time I think I will start on my next project while I decide what I am going to do with this one. I also have finished my checkerboard scarf and just need to finish weaving in the ends. I will post a picture of that once I am finished!  

Checkerboard Stitch

 So I had originally planned on starting those gloves this weekend, but ended up stumbling upon a really cute scarf that I immediately wanted to try to create. The scarf was made by Abhey Parilla and uses the checkerboard stitch. Abhey's blog and a picture of her scarf can be found here. I had some leftover pink and purple Simply Soft yarn that I thought would look pretty for this scarf. I really love this stitch because it is super easy to do and it works up really quickly. The edges in the beginning were looking a little sloppy...I think I may have been crocheting into the wrong chain stitch at the end of each row. However, I think I fixed that on the last section that I crocheted. Here's a picture of the scarf so far:

If you want the pattern for this checkerboard stitch, you can find it on the lion brand website here. I also recommend checking out Abhey's blog. She is a beginner crocheter, but has created some really beautiful pieces.  She also has some great resources for those of us just starting out.

 

I will post more pictures once I am finished with this scarf!

Little Box

 So, today I really wanted to start crocheting these fingerless gloves that I have been eyeing for a while. I absolutely love them!

(The pattern is in the Feb/March issue of Crochet Today)

 

 However, when I got home from work it was soooo freezing out and I could not force myself out of the house to get the yarn I want. Maybe that will be a project for this weekend if I have the time.

 

Here is a little something I made the other night. I was bored last night and wanted to crochet something simple that I could finish right then. I came across a pattern for these cute little boxes. I now need to stiffen the box but am not sure how to go about this. I'm thinking of using glue and water or sugar and water. It should be interesting, I have yet to try stiffening any crochet pieces or blocking anything. I will update you on how it turns out.

 

This pattern was created by Sarah Margaret Crittenden and is under a creative commons license.

(Here is the pattern) 

Jumping Into Scarves

So, like most beginner crocheters I started with the scarf. All of my projects so far I have made as gifts for people because I find myself much more motivated and into the project when I am intending to give it to someone. Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures of many of my scarves before giving them away and the pictures that I did get are not the best. I want to start getting photos of all my projects from now on because it is nice to be able to look back on what I have done and to see how I have improved over time. For now I am going to post the pictures that I do have of some of the scarves I made over the past year.

  

Beginning of my journey

Hi Everyone! My name is Jenn and I wanted to create this blog as a way to chronicle my progress with crocheting, as well as to hopefully meet other crocheters out there. I have been wanting to learn to crochet for a while and last Christmas(2012) decided to ask for crocheting supplies and books from my family. I got off to kind of a slow start due to beginner's frustrations and a crazy work schedule getting in the way. However for Christmas this year I decided I wanted to make most of my gifts for friends and family. I got kind of a late start on it, but managed to crochet gifts for almost everyone on my list! This got me back into the crochet mode and now I am addicted. I am still an absolute beginner but am eager to learn and improve! I hope to meet others out there that can help me along the way.