a look back on 2015

2015 was a much more productive year for me than 2014 was, so that’s already awesome!  Here’s a recap of the [finished] projects from this year!

And there are a couple items I forgot to post about. I knitted a Fuego hat with some spare Berroco Vintage:

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And then there’s a secret project that I made as a Christmas gift for someone, but they might see it here so I’ve left it out and I haven’t been able to give it to them yet, so a photo will have to come later!

All in all that’s 13 crocheted projects (counting the Christmas gift) and 11 knitted projects.  Well now that I’ve totaled it up it doesn’t seem like so much, but it’s still better than 2014.

2 of those projects were my own patterns that I released, and I guess I’ve got the bug because there are SO many ideas I’ve got all of a sudden — there are definitely going to be more pattern releases in 2016!  I’ve already got the yarn and everything for almost all of my ideas, and can’t wait to get started!

Also of course there were some big life events this year!  I started working on my LPC licensure (to be a super-fancy licensed counselor) and, best of all, I got married!

I hope that 2015 was a good year for you, too, and of course I wish you the happiest of New Years and a great 2016!

Thanks for stopping by, see you soon!

in threes: a baby cardigan; ta-da!

This is so great — I’m gonna make these for every expecting mother I know.  Just took 3 days to complete, and wasn’t hard!

in threes baby cardigan

 

in threes baby cardigan

And again I used this method to make the edges neater:

in threes baby cardigan

Thank you guys for stopping by!  There’s crochet coming, I promise!

in threes: a baby cardigan; begin!

A friend is having a baby, due at the end of the month!  I already made the baby girl a blanket but I wanted to make something for her to wear, too, so I decided to try the in threes baby cardigan (it costs money but it is easy and works up quickly).

in threes baby cardigan

I have a lifeline inserted before the arm holes were formed just in case I mess up and have to rip back.  The Dark Horse Yarns’ Fantasy yarn is a ridiculously soft worsted yarn — I wish I had enough to make me a sweater out of it too!  Might have to order some…

The color was hard to capture, it looks more accurate here:

in threes baby cardigan

I’m using the technique for a neater edge along the button band, as you can see there, as well.

I kind of want to make some little crocheted pastel flowers to sew onto the front.  I might do that if I have time but I do want this to be complete by the baby’s arrival!

That’s all for today, thanks for stopping by!  See you soon!

 

crochet clamshell blanket: ta-da!

Made from a lovely pattern from Cherry Heart and using a border technique from Felted Button, my clamshell blanket is now fully complete!

crochet clamshell blanket: ta-da!

The purple border, which is the same as the one used in the original tutorial (only with one extra sc row added) turned out nicely — the little ripples hit at just the right places for all 4 corners:

crochet clamshell blanket: border corner

It looks nice and adds a little over an inch to each side of the blanket:

crochet clamshell blanket border

 

The purple rounds out the color palette like I was hoping it would (*whew*).  The blanket measures about 28″ wide by about 30″ tall after blocking the body and adding the border.  I have not blocked the whole blanket with the border, but I don’t think it really needs it.

It’s worth mentioning again that I used KnitPicks Brava Sport for this in 9 colors, and I used less than half of each ball except for the purple, which took about 5g more than half.

I love this clamshell pattern, it just looks so cool!

crochet clamshell blanket close-up

Well, that ends my crochet clamshell baby blanket — but I haven’t actually said it was a baby blanket until now!  With the dimensions and amount of yarn used it made sense, but I never actually said it because this is for someone who sometimes reads my blog, and I wanted it to be at least a tad bit of a surprise!  L.P., congratulations on your baby girl, I can’t wait to meet her!

 

 

 

crochet clamshell blanket: border

Almost done!  Just the border to go!  Sandra over at Cherry Heart did a lovely border, so I decided to use that pattern as well (only I added an extra row of sc to add just a tad more width).

But before the pretty ruffle-y, wavy edge, there’s a technique I wanted to share with you that I used.  It’s from Felted Button, and it tells you how to crochet a clean edge along a rough edge (aka the sides of a blanket made with rows).

Click the link for the full tutorial, but I’ll tell you that you use your border color to do a preliminary row of slip stitches along the sides of your work, and then when you start your proper border you work into those slip stitches.  Here’s the front:

crochet clamshell blanket border, front view

It looks that way all the way around, just normal sc.  But check out the back view, on the sides of the blanket:

crochet clamshell blanket border, back view

You can see the “dotted line” of the slip stitches, but it looks better, in my opinion, than the rugged “v” shapes you get when you don’t do the preliminary slip stitches.

Well, that’s all for now.  I’ll have the rest of the border and completed blanket photos up soon!  Thanks for stopping by!

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