Ruffin love

So I apparently, I am just not quite motivated enough to draw out that diagram and get it up on the blog for the twirly scarf... I'll do it soon, I promise!!

But until then, here is some (or a lot) Ruffin love from the past few weeks! :D

Our favorite Christmas present (the wagon, from Grandpop)!!
Hat crocheted by Mommy, of course!

Mr. Fix-it.

Taking advantage of our spring-like winter to check out a worm!

No, Mommy, I don't need a nap.

Helping Mommy cook....

...is so much fun!

And eating is too!

Ruffin is the best! Every time I think it can't get any better - it does! We are having a blast!

Twirly Scarf Tutorial

As promised, here is how I made the fun, twirly scarf! I used worsted weight yarn (Vanna's Choice for the Christmas scarf and Wool-Ease for the one in this post) and a size J hook. Any yarn will do - the bulkier the yarn, though, the bulkier your scarf will be and the twirliness (pretty sure I just made that up) kind of bulks it up already, so be careful. A different yarn may also require a different hook size.

• Chain (about) 200 (or however long you want your scarf to be). Turn and single crochet (sc) in 2nd chain from hook and in each remaining chain across. OR Foundation Single Crochet (about) 200 stitches (or however long you want your scarf to be). I used futuregirl's awesome tutorial when I was learning how.

• Chain 2 and turn. Double crochet (dc) in first stitch. 2 dc in each remaining stitch across.

• Chain 2 and turn. Dc in first stitch. 2 dc in each remaining stitch across. Fasten off and weave in ends.

I told you it was easy! There are some variations you could do for fun, like change colors on the rows for some cute stripes, or add a row of sc of a contrasting color. I made this one last night in about 2.5 hours. Have fun making yours!!

pic

Knitting....

I am SO excited. I took a knitting class on Saturday! I have taken one before, but I was a loser and didn't practice any because it was so much FASTER to crochet because I was already good at that (not practicing what I preach to my recorder students....). So needless to say, I forgot it all! The class was at an awesome LYS that I should go to more often, Friends and Fiberworks.

It was so fun!! One of my friends took the class with me and we started a cotton dishcloth. I am still too embarrassed of my shoddy beginning knitting to show it to you yet... maybe later. Our instructor taught us English-style knitting, which I found awkward as a crocheter, but I powered through. I downloaded the KnittingHelp app (SO good, btw) and used the video to try out Continental-style, which is supposed to be better for people who already crochet. The main difference (and if you knit and I am a wrong, please correct this noob) is in which hand you hold the yarn in. For crocheters, we hold the yarn in our left hand, which remains the same for Continental knitting. The English-style holds the yarn in the right hand, which is what make it feel so strange to me.

I found that my stitches from the class with the English-style knitting were much more even and my tension was more consistent than when I worked on the Continental-style at home. This really baffled me since that way felt so much more comfortable. I am going to keep trying out both ways, but I am leaning towards the thought that with the left-hand yarn I was working too fast and not paying enough attention (since it felt so much more comfortable) and I got careless. I am hoping that will remedy itself as I practice more.

I also had a few places where I messed up, either dropped a stitch, added a stitch or didn't follow through all the way to the right needle and didn't quite know how to fix it. I will have to study the knitting more as I practice in order to understand the stitch construction. I feel like it is more complex than the crochet stitch - that may not be true simply because I understand crochet so well (which is a great feeling and makes knitting that much more scary!).

I am so impressed by crochet badass, Alice, (at futuregirl) who recently starting knitting and she is amazing now! I do not think I will improve and expand my skills quite that quickly, but she is such an inspiration for me to continue practicing this time and not give up because it is more work right now than crocheting.

I'll keep you posted and maybe get up enough courage to show you my wonky dishcloth.

ps - I'm still working on those tutorials I promised you from the last post - I didn't forget!!

Stuff I've made...

Well, Christmas was busy as expected, but I did get (most of) the presents done that I wanted to. I would like to tell you all about how I made these things, but I'll link to the tutorial I used instead. (*I just noticed as I was doing the pics that I don't have a tutorial for the crochet projects because I didn't use one. I'll make writing that up the goal for my next couple of posts!)

Sorry that the pictures aren't the best - I just haven't been great about photographing my projects lately, so getting even poor quality pictures is better than none at all! (*just noticed that I didn't edit/crop these pics - oops - maybe I'll go back and fix them later. or not.) I have several projects in the works and I have also found some really cute things on Pinterest that I want to make. I think I was really behind in joining, but I'm glad I did. If nothing else its good for inspiration! Here are some of the things I've made over the last few months.

Twirly scarf
These are so fun to make. I also made one in pink and blue
for my niece with a matching one for her American Girl doll.

Cute Post-it note holders.
Easy and fun!
Here is the tutorial I used.

Earbud (or coin) pockets.
So cute! I did a couple more of these that I didn't get
pics of - sushi print and fishy print.
Here is the tutorial I used.

Fingerless gloves/wrist warmers for my sister.
I made her a hat a scarf out of the same yarn last
year and I found another skein - score!

Crochet hook holder for my Secret Santa at school.
I also made a cute one for my sister in that
same gnome fabric from the earbud pouches.
Here is the tutorial I used.