DIY Pom-Pom Garland

It's amazing how Kitty thinks that every single thing I make, I make for him. Like this project for example:

I mean, according to him, this just screams, "hey, this is a cat toy, right?"
Yes Kitty. You are correct.

I've been living in my new apartment for about six months now, but I haven't done a whole lot of decorating. Sure, there are a lot of rocks and a few creepy paintings here and there, but I'm starting to do a few more things here and there. A little while ago, I decided to use up some scrap yarn and ended up making a cute garland of sorts. And it was actually really simple and quick to make--

I started by making around two dozen little pom poms. All I did to make these was wrap some yarn around my fingers 30-40 times before cutting off the extra yarn.

I slipped the yarn off my fingers and tied the bundle together with another piece of yarn.

Once everything was tied together, I cut all the little loops apart on each side.

 Then fluffed it up and repeated.

To make the garland-y part, all I did was crochet a mega-long string of chain stitches, which I measured against my wall to get the final length.

Finally, I laid the whole string out on the ground,laid out my poms where I thought they would look good, and tied them all on with separate little strings.Of course, Kitty appeared to lend his expertise, and I was ever so grateful. If you are a crafter and do not have a helper cat, you should really consider adopting one :]

And although it IS a very tempting cat toy, it's still hanging up on my wall! Succeeeeessss~

At first, I thought, "hey, this is almost Christmas-y" but then I realized that the colors go quite nicely with the magnificent throne of a patterned chair that you see here, so that is really quite satisfying.

And it was really just as simple as that! I'm slowly decorating the rest of my apartment, which mean there are a million things in progress, but nothing is done. I'll be sure to share whenever (if ever?) they get finished!

I'm also trying to figure out how else I can use up all of my odds and ends of yarn that I've accumulated. So if you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

Linkin' up:
x x

Free Chevron Scarf Pattern

Fact: I never called chevrons "chevrons" until the internet informed me sometime last year that I was doing it wrong. So I still will forever mentally refer to them as "zig-zags."

But that's beside the point-- I have something exciting to share! Behold:

I made a thing. A nice, stripey, zig-zaggy thing. [and sorry for the blurry photo!]

I made this scarf for my sister-in-law for Christmas this year because she lives in the mountains and that means that scarves are ALWAYS relevant. I had originally searched Pinterest for some sort of pattern, but did not really fall in love with any of the patterns that I came across, so I decided to create my own--

Look at those ripples, man. Mmmhmm.
I'm not the most expert at creating my own patterns since I have not been crocheting for that long, but I mentally adapted a pattern that I use all the time to make afghans, and voila! We have achieved scarf!

Though to be perfectly honest, I'm kind of wishing that I had made one for myself right about now. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE -50 degree windchills as much as the next person... but.. yeah. A cozy scarf could really hit the spot right now.

Care to make one for yourself? AWESOME. Because I've got the pattern right here! Fo free, yo!
Now, I've never written a pattern before, so I hope this make sense:

Chevron Scarf

I used two skeins to Caron Simply Soft yarn and a size I hook.


Ch 57

Row 1: 1sc in 2nd chain from hook, 1sc in next ch, skip 1 ch. *1sc in next 5 chs, 3sc in next ch, 1sc in next 5 ch, skip 2ch. Repeat from * 3 times until there are 3 ch left. Skip 1 ch, 1sc in last 2 ch, ch1 and turn.

Row 2: Through both loops, 1sc in 2nd st from hook, 1sc in next st, skip 1 st. *Working in front loops, 1sc in next 5 sts, 3sc in next st, 1 sc in next 5 sts, skip 2 sts. Repeat from * 3 times. Skip 1 ch, 1sc through both loops of last 2 sts. ch1 and turn.

Repeat row 2 until scarf reaches desired length, switching colors as needed. Then fit chevrons together and sew or crochet together to make a closed loop (you'll have to turn one half of the scarf over to match up the zig-zags correctly).



And that's it! Again, I hope that it makes sense, but if you encounter any problems, please let me know! I'm a total novice at pattern writing, so I wouldn't be surprised if it has a few snags haha. Also, I'd love to see pictures if anyone decides to make one for themselves!


Linkin' up:
x x x

Queen Anne's Lace Scarf

Evening!

So now that we are officially into the new year and definitely past Christmas, I thought that I would share some of the things that I made for people for gifties and such this year. One thing I managed to whip up was this scarf for my grandma:

I saw the pattern one day as I was perusing the Pinterest-machine, and thought "oh hey dere, I could do that."

I mean for real: LOOK at dat motif! The pattern is called "Queen Anne's Lace" and I found the pattern over here on Ravelry by Joyce Lewis. The directions were pretty straight forward, and I super love the results!

I used Caron Simply Soft yarn in off white and some sort of sea foam-y color, because thanks to Carolyn I'm freaking in love with that yarn.

So if you're looking for a fun, pretty scarf to whip up, I'd definitely suggest checking out the pattern! My grandma loves her new scarf, and I'm just super happy that she likes it.


Linkin' up:
x x x

Oatmeal Scarf

Remember when I said that I've been crocheting a lot?
I've been crocheting a lot.

And this week I ended up crocheting my first infinity scarf--
I enjoy the whole infinity scarf fashion/deal/thing, so I thought it was about time I finally make one. I mean, the fringe monstrosity was born a few weeks ago, so WHY NOT YARN.

Cue dramatically lit pictures of said scarf.

[I can't help it, it was SUNNY for once]

I got some Homespun yarn for half price, which I've never really worked with before. But the scarf ended up pretty darn fluffy and obnoxious [in a good way]. I didn't really use a pattern because.... reasons... but if anyone is interested in making their own, I can attempt to write one up for this one.

Have a pleasant Sunday, kids.

Linkin' up to these PAAAARTIES!

The Ameri-Blanket

This past school year, Miss Carolyn started a crochet group at our college called The Hookers of Yarnia. We would sit in the basement of our dorm building every Thursday night and learn to crochet things. One of our major projects was to crochet scarves for charities, but we also just crocheted some things for fun. It was at this point that Carolyn taught me the magic of the Granny Square.

Four months later, the Ameri-blanket was born xD

It started out as just a simple granny square, no big deal. I wanted to learn the stitch. But then it kept growing. And growing. And I decided "Oh heck! Why not just turn it into a super patriotic blanket!"

It really was not all that difficult, it just took forever to complete because I have such a short attention span.... and the nearest Hobby Lobby is an hour and a half away...

But now it's complete! Ahhh, such glory; such patriotism.


[And I'm linking this to THESE great parties]

Crocheted Dishcloths

So recently, I decided to whip up some crocheted dishcloths:

Ohhhh, daaaaang, you fancy, huh?
I searched the internet to find the patterns and I was AMAZED at the amount of resources out there. SO. MANY. THINGS. TO. CROCHET. I think you know what I'll be doing with the remainder of my Peaches and Cream brand yarn.

The first one is just a basic Granny Square. There are a million tutorials and patterns out there on how to make this one, but a good pattern can be found HERE.

I thought that this one was just too cute too! And the pattern can be found HERE.

This next one is probably my favorite out of the bunch. I stumbled across it on the internet machine and just KNEW that I had to try it out! You can make your own HERE

Aaaand, the last one. I kind of sort of... Lost the link to this one though xD But if I find it I will totally post it here!
If you're ever in need of dishcloths, I highly recommend crocheting your own! And I promise, its really not that hard. I just learned to crochet about a year ago and am a total novice still. And if I could make these, so can you!!


Linking to:
Lines Across
Keeping it Simple
Make it Great Mondays