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!