Crocheting

So I am pretty sure I mentioned the fact that I taught myself how to crochet last fall. I kept seeing all these cool things that a friend was crocheting and I just decided to learn. So I went to Joann's and bought a how-to book, some yarn and a few hooks. I quickly decided that I needed more than a book to learn, so I ended up looking up the specific stitches on Youtube. I've made many, many things since that first dishcloth, and I really enjoy spending my free time working on crochet projects. I have yet to write my own pattern, I'm seriously not that talented, but I've become really good at following other people's patterns! :) Maybe someday I'll make up my own and sell them on Etsy, but for now I crochet for fun and usually for gifts for my friends and family. And now I'll show you some of my more recently finished projects...

This one is for a friend's birthday. I tried following this pattern last year but wasn't quite up for it and had to frog it. But this time I paid attention to my stitch count and it worked up nicely. Pattern found here.

Lindsay isn't too excited about modeling my newest hat, but that's okay. I have the girls model most of my things for pictures because it's hard to do a decent selfie of crocheted items.

I've actually made three hats from this pattern now. The cream one, Lindsay's multicolored one and a pretty green one for Kera. I love how it comes together. Pattern here.

A wonderful sideways pictures. This was a pretty cowl I made as a gift. 

This is my favorite slouchy hat pattern. I've made a couple and they are easy and fun and don't take much yarn. Pattern found here.

Since I'm all into crocheting gifts now, I was pleased when the girls and I figured out we could crochet cowls for their teachers' Christmas gifts this year. After talking with the girls about what colors we should do, we came up with this cowl. We made one in green and this purple one.

This chunky cowl was going to be for me, but I used the wrong sized hook and it ended up really big. It's still warm and cozy, just too long for me. So I gave it as a gift instead. It should've looked like this.

I whipped up this cowl for myself even in the midst of all my Christmas gift crocheting. It's silver and not as bulky as other cowls. It's not my favorite, but I like it.

This is one of my favorite hat patterns. I've made like five of this hat and this is just one I made for myself out of a tanish yarn. Pattern is here.

And one I made in black.

When I started crocheting and saw all the patterns for cute little stuffed creatures, I didn't think I'd ever make something like that. But then the same friend who crocheting inspired me to start in the first place started posting all these pictures of these cute crocheted monsters and animals. So, I made a little monster and my kids LOVED it. So I made another and another. One of my favorites is this unicorn. I made one for both my nieces and my nephew for Christmas.

Of all the things I've crocheted in the past year, the Soft Stitch Cowl is by and far my most favorite piece. It took me a few tries to get my starting chain a similar tension to the rest of it, but it's worth the effort. I've made this in various colors for lots of birthday and Christmas gifts. It's just the most perfect sized (and feel if you use nice yarn) cowl.

This is the color I made my mother-in-law for Christmas

This next one went to one of my sister-in-laws.

Then I recently finished a black one for myself. I wear this thing nearly all the time!

I've done many, many more projects, but you probably don't want to be bored with pictures of all of them. From here on out I'll try to share pictures of some of the new, fun things I create out of yarn!