Day Two: Skill + 1UP

Look back over your last year of projects and compare where you are in terms of skill and knowledge of your craft to this time last year. Have you learned any new skills or forms of knitting/crochet (can you crochet cable stitches now where you didn’t even know such things existed last year? Have you recently put a foot in the tiled world of entrelac? Had you even picked up a pair of needles or crochet hook this time last year?


I'd have to say that my crochet skills have improved a bit, but it's been one baby step at a time. Let's see, this time last year I was mainly crocheting scarves because I wanted to work on getting the yarn tension and all of that right (This was using that hell yarn, Lion Brand Homespun, I complained about yesterday) After I moved in June, I started being a little braver and began to crochet granny squares - which are a bit weird to adjust to, because you're crocheting in the round and not in rows (but I still refer to each new round as a row) However, they're not that hard so I don't consider that a big jump in my crocheting edification. 


The real challenge and learning experiences came around December: A friend was knitting a Harry Potter scarf for her boyfriend, and I decided I wanted to try to crochet one. However, all the patterns I found just couldn't give that knit look that I wanted unless it was an actual knitting pattern - and while I knew I could learn to knit, I didn't want to just yet because I already had enough on my crafting plate. Eventually I found the tunisian crochet scarf pattern and gave that a shot. It confused the hell out of me at first, and many youtube videos were consulted, but after a couple of rows it turned out to be pretty easy. 


Then one day, when taking a break from the scarf, I decided to follow my first pattern and made my friend a amigurumi chuthululululu. That was the first project I've ever had to scrap and start over again; I had been reading the instructions, but didn't really understand them so I created this amigurumi body that wasn't an ovalish shape like in the pictures, but kinda leaned to one side because I had done all my increases and decreases in the back. The cats now use that as a cat toy, and my next attempt turned out much better because I took my time and if I had a question about something I looked it up. (said chuthululu has yet to be finished though because I didn't have any stuffing for the longest time, and now that I do I just haven't had the time to sit down and work on it)


So, yeah, I've only made two advances in crocheting this year. I expect I probably won't make any advances at all next year because I kinda like just crocheting scarves, cowls, and blankets and I have no real urge to try anything else at the moment.