Is it over yet?

But really, is it? I feel like this blanket is never ever ever ever ever going to be finished. Thankfully I've finished all of the full sized hexagons, (except for the aqua, mail is slow) and now I just need to crochet a few of the halves, in order to even out the sides. I feel like I hit the jackpot because I found this pattern that explains how to make halves exactly like the full sized hexagons I've made.  

After I finish the sad remaining aqua hexagons and the halves, I plan to make a border around the sides of double crochet in each color. I'm not sold on exactly how the border is going to look color wise, but I know I want several rounds of double crochet on the outer edges. 

Also, apparently crocheting is too taxing for someone. It's a rough job, but someone's gotta do it. :)

Swarlie, We're not in Kansas anymore!

I am a person that remembers every single solitary date. I'm not talking about Columbus sailed the ocean blue in fourteen hundred ninety two, I mean the completely useless ones, like the birthday of someone I met ten years ago and haven't seen since, or the day I bought a specific pair of jeans. With that being said I have no idea what day I finished my very first scarf. I know it was November, and we are nearing the very middle of the month so I'm going to say it's been a year. Let me tell ya, I can't believe how much I've learned since then. If we are being honest, I'm surprised I haven't gotten tired of knitting and given it up completely, because I am not a person you would describe as patient.

After lots and lots of what I call "knitting anxiety", finally learning that they are called knitting needles, not knitting tools, ripping it out and starting over countless times because I couldn't remember how to cast on, and finally finding out that youtube is a miracle in the knitting world, I made this baby. I was so excited about this yarn back in good ol' 2013, but now, to me it just looks like I made this yarn out of funfetti cake mix. I straight knit this bad boy on size 15 needles and I was on top of the world.

This is another scarf I made in those early days, and as basic as it is, to this day it's the scarf I get the most compliments on. I liked the way that arm knitting looked for the most part, but I thought it was just too open. I didn't like how large the gaps in the yarn were so I got some chunky yarn and knit this sucker on size 17 needles. It literally took an hour so it's perfect to knit as a gift. It looks super fancy but in reality it could't be more basic.

Crocheting scared me for months, but I finally decided to take the plunge. I didn't have a pattern really, I just made three long strips, chaining (Don't hate me if my crochet lingo is off) until the strip was long enough to go around my neck and hang like I wanted it to. I did 5 rows of double crochet for each, but I would recommend doing 7 or 8 because it wasn't quite as fluffy as I was hoping. Next, I braided them together and BAM! You've got yourself a scarf. It's quite the crowd pleaser too. I asked my boyfriend if he liked it and his exact words were "It's proportional to your body." I guess that's a compliment?

Green Zigzag Scarf

I took my Nursing school admissions exam last week (Swarlie helped me study), as well as submitting about a thousand applications, (i counted), so I think a bunch of knitting and crocheting is exactly what I've deserved. I browsed pinterest and instantly fell in love with this pattern. It's a pain and a half to knit, it's not easily remembered so I have to stare at the computer screen the whole time but with Gilmore girls on in the background it's totally worth it. 

I finished the very last Maroon Popcorn Scarf this week so obviously I need to start something new. I wouldn't be me if I didn't have 15,000 projects going on all at once. (I promise I'll finish you someday, blanket, other blanket, scarf, christmas wreath, halloween wreath, really!) 

                    

Here's the little baby scarf, you can't tell the pattern as well in the first picture, but it's really coming along now.  I love it so far, but it is definitely a time suck. I'm hoping that it'll knit up more quickly once I get more familiar with the pattern. Either way it's SUPER pretty. Whoop! Bonus points because the yarn is green and the needles are red. So festive. Theres a 100% chance I chose the needle size based on the color combo alone. 

Completely irrelevant but I've decided to come up with a code name at Starbucks. I'm completely over the idea of yelling, "Kellie!!! With and "I" "E"!" eighteen times over the noise at the counter, but I'm equally tired of feeling like I'm stealing some poor girl named Kelly's coffee in the morning. Sorry Kelly, but you should have ordered something less delicious if you didn't want Kellie with and i-e to take it from you. 

PSL with one pump white mocha. It'll change your life. 

Slowly but Surely

I feel like I've crocheted miles and miles, but alas, my blankets are not finished. 

Nevertheless, they are coming along. My hexagon blanket is coming along more slowly because the idea of sewing the pieces together makes me want to do anything and everything else instead. It's coming along, it really is, but stacks of hexagons are not interesting enough to post here no matter how beautiful and expertly crafted they are, if I do say so myself. ;)

Clearly I decided too late that I wanted to add the brown yarn to this blanket but it's my blanket and I'll do whatever I want with it. :) So I added it in. I love it, even with it's imperfections. Swarlie does too, and if we are being honest it's her opinion that matters the most anyways.

The blanket I'm using as a, you know, blanket, is the blanket I'm using as my inspiration for the one I'm creating now. My great grandmother made it way back, so I know my mom will appreciate getting a cozy new one from yours truly for Christmas. It's all I can do not to text her every day with updates of how it's coming along! 

Maroon Popcorn Scarf

As far as patterns go, this one isn't exactly the most fun to do but it turns our absolutely adorable. This pattern was found in a pretty generic pattern book, so I'm sure it's super common. A friend knit this scarf last winter, so of course I begged for one of my own, and in turn a coworker requested that we make six for her to give as gifts. An excuse to knit? Don't mind if I do. :) 

                                                               

Cast on in a multiple of four (in my case, 28).

Row 1: Purl

Row 2: Purl Three Together, Knit front and back one, repeat until the end of the row.

Row 3: Purl

Row 4:Knit front and back, Purl three, lather, rinse, repeat. 

These are knit on size 15 needles, with super bulky yarn. I'm using Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick and Quick (which never fails to make me laugh.) The color may or may not be claret, there are lots of words on this label but that one sounds the closest to english so I'm going to go with it. 

This pattern turns out absolutely beautiful, especially on this yarn (arguably because it's maroon and anything maroon automatically gets my vote), I love that it's not exactly a solid color, it shows the pattern really well. I've been making them long enough to go around the neck once, it turns out great since the scarf is so wide. 

I only have one of these beauties left to knit and as much as I love them, I'll be glad to have one more project wrapped up! Whoop!

Lets face facts here, people.

I'm not a blogger. I want to be, but I'm just not. Now, almost an entire year since my last post, (that was probably read by literally only me and my cat) I'm back. I've decided to use this blog as a place to document and show off my crafting/knitting/crocheting. 

I read about a knitter who kept a journal with needle size, yarn types, patterns, etc, in case she put it down for ever, a month or two and picked it back up again. Obviously being a person who has an infinite number of projects going at basically all times, this appealed to me. Since my patterns are basically all on pinterest/other people's blogs, it made more sense to me to keep a record here. 

Now I'm not trying to pass any of these knitting/crocheting projects off as my own, lets be real clear. I am all but incapable of making up my own patterns so I rely entirely on the amazing help of others for inspiration. 

Well. Here we go. 

I started a blanket. Not only did I, (arguably the least patient person on this planet) start a blanket, I started it in crochet, which I have very little experience with. And oh yeah! I started two. TWO. I'm ignoring the red flags going off in my head right this second. 

I have quite a few sources for the first one, my original inspiration came from here, but I failed miserably at trying to make this hexagon pattern, so I googled and googled and finally found this gem. I decided to mix the two, I'm making solid colored hexagons and joining them to make them look like the first pattern.  

I love it so much so far. These pictures don't do the pattern or the colors justice. 

But I'd be lying if I said I don't cringe just thinking about how many hexagons I'm going to have to crochet total. 

(Bonus Points if you can spot the halloween wreath I'm also in the middle of.)

The second one is one I've been wanting to make ever since I started knitting/crocheting. I have a blanket made exactly like this that my great grandmother made and I couldn't possibly be more excited to recreate on to give to my mother. (G hook, random yarn from my drawer that I believe is red heart. Ballin' on a budget here. Get it.... Ballin... like a yarn ball. No? Ok.)

Although I know this is a very common pattern, I definitely want to give credit where credit is due. I found this pattern sent straight from heaven because let me tell you, I understood what I was supposed to do THE FIRST TIME AROUND. First time ever in my crocheting experience. (H hook, Random Maroon Yarn from my drawer that I really hope I don't run out of halfway through. Although my great grandmas blanket appears to have two different dye lots so maybe that would be even better.)

And this is the part where I pretend I'm not also in the middle of three scarves too.