Granny Square Baby Blanket
I have wanted to learn to crochet for years and had no luck with it. I bought all the right instruction books and read them thoroughly but I never could seem to make it past the chain x number of stitches phase. I gave up for the longest time and then one day while I was wasting time on youtube (shocking isn't it?) I stumbled upon a video that showed how to crochet a granny square. This is the link to the video I watched to make my blanket http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11Wh7IOT9BI Her name is Teresa and she rocks my socks! She even pauses every now and again and plays slow motion segments so you can really see just what her fingers are doing. If you ever feel stumped in crochet she probably has a video that will help you out. I also used one of her videos to help me do the picot edging on this blanket. The link for it can be found in the pattern for my "sunshiney" baby blanket.
Easy Ribbed Scarf
This soft scarf was one of the first projects I ever completed. I used Caron Simply Soft yarn and it used just over 1 skein. I worked it in a simple 2x2 ribbing and then attached some bulky fringe to the bottom. I think this may always be my favorite hand made item because it proved that I could actually knit. I made it in secret and then wore it one night to go have hot tea with a friend who was very concerned with appearences (she'd never be caught dead in a hand made item). I thought that if she at least didn't notice it was home made (and trust me if she had she would have told me so in a rude-ish manner) then I was actually good enough to call myself a knitter. When I arrived she fawned all over my scarf and insisted that I tell her where I had purchased it. I had never been so proud of myself so I told her I had made it myself thank you and if she wanted one tea was going to be on her!
This scarf was one of my earlier creations and it taught me a valuable lesson. Just because you fall in love with a ball of lovely yarn in a store does not mean you should buy it. I was just "looking" at some yarn and when I saw this gem I bought it without thinking. The first problem was that I had not thought about what I would make with it. I got it home and decided that if all else failed I could make a scarf. I knew nothing outside of your basic knit and purl at the time and had been dazzled by some of the lacey patterns I'd seen on the net so I came up with what I thought was a genius idea. I bought a gigantic set of needles (like 35mm or some rediculous size) and thought "I'm so smart! With these huge needles I can make garter stitch looke like lace." 2 hours later I realized that while this scarf hardly took any time to make and was super soft, it looked nothing like lace at all. I cried for a few minutes and then realized that i didn't care because it still looked pretty nifty and could be doubled as a shawl style wrap because of it's incredible ability to be stretched in all directions. I love this scarf but I no longer go anywhere near yarn for sale unless I have a specific project in mind.
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