Happy New Year!

While on Christmas vacation I finished a few projects.  I made 4 afghan squares, but I have yet to photograph them.  Here are the projects that I was able to take a picture of.

I finally learned how to do fair isle knitting.  It was one of my goals in 2013.  I sat in on 2 knitting classes so that I could get help with it.  I learned a new cast on technique that is used when knitting a ball in the round, and I learned the right way to hold my yarn when fair isle knitting.  I'm pretty proud of myself and this ornament.  Here is the free pattern for it.

I was able to finish this snake scarf on Christmas Eve.  Talk about cutting it close.  Here is the very easy and free pattern for it.  My youngest son loved it.

I also made another Christmas bath puff, and I finished it a few hours before giving it to someone.  Here is the free pattern for it.

Here is a close up of one of the afghan squares that I made last week.  It is tunisian crochet (simple stitch).

Now for New Year's resolutions:

For 2013 my goal was to make 500 items.  I made 567!

For 2014 my goal is to use up 50 skeins of yarn.  

For the last 3 years I have kept track of how many projects I have made.  Now it is time to work on stashbusting.  I have more than enough yarn to last me a few years, so now I need to use it.

Have a Merry Christmas!

I just finished the last of my handmade Christmas presents last night.  I do have one more gift to make, but it doesn't have to be finished by Christmas.  Here are the newest items that I have made.

crochet ribbon tree ornament

crochet candy cane gift toppers / ornaments

"flower" scarf - yarn link

one skein scarves made using Loops & Threads charisma yarn

Bath puff

Mini stocking

Wreath pins - my own pattern

Felted soap - I made this during a class this month

Flower granny square

Grandmother's favorite dishcloth

V-Stitch bag - my pattern

Infinity Cowl

Man Hats

After making several of these hats for charity (first 2 photos) I wanted to make more for Christmas presents.  Here is the free pattern for these hats.  It is a very easy pattern which can be made in a day.  I used Loops and Threads Charisma yarn, a size 10 small circular needles, and 4 size 10 dpns.  The Charisma yarn comes in many different solid and self striping colorways, and it very soft.  I recommend knitting 6 inches instead of the 7 that the pattern calls for in the beginning.  I have made both lengths, and the 6 seems to be a better fit.  My 6 year old, my husband, and I have all tried on the same hat, and it fit all of us just fine.  I made the first hat in July and finished the last hat yesterday.  

This is Lumino yarn that I bought from my local yarn store.  It reflects light, which is perfect for at night.  You can see the reflection in the bottom photo.

So many projects before Christmas!

I started knitting this scarf in early October as part of a private knitting lesson that I was teaching.  I just finished it last night.  It doesn't take 2 months to make, I was just trying to wait for my student to be at a point where we could finish ours together.  I used 2 skeins of Red Heart Boutique Treasure yarn in the Tapestry colorway.  I just picked up the two yarns at different places in their coloring so that the stripes stood out.  I really like this pattern (The Unicorn Pegasus Rainbow Scarf by Huan-Hua Chye), and I want to make more of them in different colorways.

This Christmas colored bath puff took a little over a skein of Creme de la Creme cotton yarn to make, but it was a very easy pattern.  I want to try to make 2 to 3 more before Christmas to give as presents.

I designed and crochet this tree bobble pillow for display at my job at my local yarn shop.  They have a knitted bobble tree pillow there, and so I wanted to show my students that you could also make the same pillow with crochet.  The person who had made the knitted one found this one incredibly easy.  She said that knitting bobbles was not an easy thing to do.  I don't know, because I've only crochet them.  I also published this pattern on ravelry.  The right hand pillow is the published version.  The left hand one was my first attempt before I made changes to the pattern.

I saw a video by Mickey of The Crochet Crowd on you tube where he was showing how to crochet an infinity cowl using some scrappy yarn.  I modified his directions only slightly to make my own.  He chained 80 and I chained 120.  I used an H hook and Red Heart Boutique Treasure yarn (Mosaic).  I crochet until the skein ran out.

I recently ordered a bunch of Tunisian crochet hooks.  Michaels only carried H hooks, and I needed an I and a J.  I had heard that if you went up 2 to 3 hook sizes that that would help prevent curling.  I used a J for this honeycomb dishcloth, and there was no curling what so ever (3 hook sizes up from the recommended size).  Here is one of the many you tube videos on how to make a tunisian honeycomb stitch.

I made two of these candy cane ornaments recently, but I gave one away before photographing it.  It is a very very easy pattern to make.

I finished another V stitch bag last month.  I love the peppermint colors in it.  The flower is from a different bag pattern.  I also published this bag pattern on ravelry recently.