Crochet Projects!

I have such a huge backlog of projects I almost feel ashamed of myself. Now, I've been crocheting for perhaps two and a half years now, but I am not very good. Rosslyn taught me a single stitch: the most basic stitch you can. I learned a few more from a book later that week. About a month later I had this:

My first completed project was a scarf, of course. I fondly refer to this one as my Amoeba Scarf. I had absolutely no concept of counting my stitches or how to turn it or start a row. I just sort of..."did" it.

My second project was a scarf I made for my mother. Unfortunately, as she has it, I do not; therefore, I have no pictures of it at this time. I not only counted but I was meticulous at making sure the changing colors in the yarn pooled in the way I wanted them to. It was actually very pretty, at least I thought so.

My next project was made with some yarn my family gave me for Christmas. The wild colors appealed to me (I adore color), so I made arm warmers out of them. I followed no pattern, just crocheted a random trapezoid and then tied one side to the other. As you can see, they aren't the same size at all and both are much too big for me to wear comfortably, but they are warm. I still have a skein and a third or so left of this yarn. I might attempt the project anew or make a matching scarf or hat. I don't know yet.

These. These and the following project were my only crochet projects for nearly two years after those wild arm warmers. I started and restarted, finished, was disappointed and ripped back, these arm warmers. They even have holes for the thumbs to come out and were sized precisely to me. They are not even; one is longer than the other which was a slight mistake. I wanted them to go up and over my elbows without sliding off them, and they do that! But I didn't compare the two to each other much when they were being made. Again, no pattern, I just spiraled up and up and slowly decreased to the wrist, then increased at the heel of the hand. Despite the slight issues, these are warm and snug and don't bunch in funny places. They fit me perfectly. I used a black microfiber yarn which is basically six strands of thread held together. There is a lot of leftover thread from this as well and I'm in the process of starting and restarting a scarf. My problem is, I have reached the conclusion that this yarn is boring, hence my taking so long to finish/start projects with it.

You know what, I lied. There was another project during this time. I made a baby blanket out of an ivory bamboo silk yarn for my friends' baby. I don't have pics of that project either, but it was the first time I used any sort of a pattern, if you can call a rib stitch a pattern.

This...this behemoth fairly ate my head for those two years. It's a blanket, perhaps mid-sized (bigger than a baby blanket but not big enough to cover a twin bed). It covers me wonderfully but I'm a small person. I started and restarted and ripped this back I don't know how many times. I put enough stress on the yarn to snap it twice, in fact. This was the project that earned me a remark from my Stake President in my church. He saw me after church in the foyer waiting for an appointment with my bishop. I had taken over an entire couch, kicked my shoes off and tucked them under this project as I worked on it. "You know, there's something so warm about watching a person knit. You feel all fuzzy." I laughed, corrected him (crochet, not knitting), and thanked him, mentioning also that it was indeed quite warm under it.

And this is my most recent finished project. Looks like a lot, doesn't it? I had a tiny skein of yarn (perhaps half of a full-size skein) and it was very fuzzy...So I made a doll rug? Chenille dish towel? I haven't the foggiest idea. It's very soft and I used up the yarn.

I'm on a crusade to not buy any new crafting supplies, specifically yarn, until I use up all or most of what I currently have. I have some lovely yarns, I have a ton of fabric for sewing, and enough patterns to draft things for myself or my dolls if I wanted. Watch my doll blog (you can find it through my profile here) for doll clothing projects. I've made a few and intend to post tonight or before the end of the week.