Fun with Yarn

I  still don't think I have found my creative niche per say, but I have sure discovered that I like to crochet. This year I deliberately did not set any goals anywhere in my life because last year I made several and following through with any of them amounted to nil. Not a single solitary goal was met. Pathetic. So this year no goal setting whatsoever. None.

However, as the new year progressed from January to February, I completed several crochet projects and concluded I needed to start expanding my repertoire of stitches from just the simple basic stitches to some more -- not necessarily more complicated -- but stitches with a little more thinking involved.

My first completed project was a temperature blanket. I started it in January of 2017. Each row was a colour that matched a temperature range of about 5 degrees. Once it was completed, it was HUGE. It is 365 rows, so I guess that makes sense. It is wide enough to fit a twin bed -- or should I say, a twin bed for a giant.

The left one is a lap blanket done in moss stitch. The middle one was completed in 2017 and the right one in February. They are both the granny stitch. They are also both baby blankets.

 This neckwarmer was finished in 2017 too, but I had to sew on the buttons. Hand sewing is not something I enjoy, so I put it off for months. Finally, I decided to just get er done! It is basically still a granny stitch except there are only two double stitches in each loop instead of three.

I call this my January Blues blanket for several reasons. The obvious two being that I began it in January and that is is in shades of blue/blue-green. There is a third reason, but it will eventually get a post of its own. This is a new stitch I learned called the V-stitch. You can now see why almost all my projects come complete with dog hair. 😏

This is my most recent blanket and the one that took me to the next level. Piecing. And a new stitch called corner to corner. Once I got the hang of it, I had a hard time putting this project down. After stitching it together, I learned that I should have blocked it first (a crochet term for dampening the yarn and pinning it into position until it dries. Somehow this causes the project to hold its shape). Credits for this project belong to Brittany who posted it at bhookedcrochet.

I have made three of these Wildwood cowls from the Unraveled Mitten in varying combinations of colours. They crochet up quickly and are great for using up leftover yarn. The first one is a little bit of a mess at the join, but it is hidden at the back so it isn't obvious. After the first one, I got the hang of it and the next two worked up perfectly.

Over the weekend I completed a number of headbands and started yet another blanket. I will post them once I have taken some photographs.