Yarn Loot

A couple of weeks ago I found some gift cards that we didn't use from Christmas, so Chris and I split them up, and I got a whole bunch of yarn-related loot!

Behold!

(Click to enlarge)

Links to the books/previews on Amazon:

Animal Hats

60 Quick Baby Knits

60 More Quick Baby Knits

The Chicks with Sticks Guide to Crochet

Happy Stitch

Little Crochet

So many projects! I think there are around 200 patterns/projects between all of those books. Maybe more.

I am determined to learn how to crochet this go-around. I can chain stitch and single crochet, but when I started trying to teach myself how to double crochet, things started getting really off. Crooked off. I have one decent potholder and a funky blob amigurumi wanna-be from my first attempts at crochet.

The fancy-shmancy potholder

Blobberella the Amigurumi Blob Thing

The Chicks with Sticks book is a fun read so far, and things seem pretty straightforward. If you don't want to spend $50 at your local yarn store for a beginner's crochet class, you might consider this ~$12.00 and try to learn by yourself. If this doesn't work, then I'll pay someone to teach me.

Since so many of the books are baby patterns, I feel like I should post a disclaimer. We are not expecting an addition to our family. We aren't planning on kids for a couple of years. Pete-pup is plenty of kid, thank you. But! We have friends and relatives who are having kids, and I love love love knitting baby things. The patterns in the "60" books are more difficult than my standard knitted gifts, so I'm really looking forward to learning new techniques and creating bigger projects.

Also, I figure if I pick one big project from each of the books, I just might be finished with them by the time we have a child. If I really get to work, maybe I'll make some more and reserve them for a second kiddo. You know, so they don't moan about their arrival being treated differently than the eldest and their baby book being incomplete or non-existent. I mean, these are my future kids we're talking about here. They're probably going to be whiny like me.

Currently I'm working on a baby blanket called the "Bring it On Blanket" found here.

The pattern is quite fun to knit, and I normally pick it up in the evenings when we are watching something on Netflix or Chris is playing video games.

I'm using Hobby Lobby's I Love This Cotton brand yarn in Pale Denim, Taupe, Pistache, Banana (orange bananas? I promise that color is actually light orange in person), and whatever color pink that is in the picture. I probably threw away the label when I balled up the yarn. Oops.

I'm pretty proud of myself because, as far as I can remember, this is my only project that I have on the needles right now.


...

Actually, I thought for a few minutes, and this is my 2nd project that I currently have on the needles. But that first one is a blanket that has been on indefinite hiatus for about two years, so it doesn't count.

So! I am doing pretty well. :)