End of the Year Report: Crocheting & Knitting

So, this year was a whirlwind as far as new skills I learned that have (obviously) changed my life :) As I wrote about before, I just learned to knit at the end of June and crochet followed in mid August. Since that time, I have been non stop with cranking out projects. Granted they have all been small ones, but they are finished objects nonetheless and I can't help but feel proud of my achievements :)

So, to go along with other knitting, sewing, crocheting bloggers out there I decided to do a full round up to show the projects and some stats from the past 6 months. Without further ado ... My Projects:

• Lady Edged Keyhole Scarf - My first ever project. This is a moment for the history books. Look at what it started!
• Garter Stitch Bootie - The gargantuan, ugly, single bootie. I never bothered to make it a mate.
• Too-Tiny Baby Booties - Maybe I'll have a daughter one day and I can hang onto these for one of her dolls lol.
• Blue Baby Hat - I saved this until my nephew was born. I put a pom pom on top and my sister says this is the only hat that fits him correctly :) So he wears it all the time.

• Red Hat for Jack - I turned my practicing into a gift for one of my favorite little folks.
• My First Crochet - Baby Hat - Where all the crocheting began. Look out world!
• Cream Baby Hat - This was for baby Jerry and went with the booties below.
• The 4 Year Lap Blanket - My serious old lady craft - Swedish Weave. I'm working on another blanket, but I think it will take just as long as this one to finish :)

• Circles of Service - Butterfly Scarf
• Bernard the Bear
• Blue Hat for Olin - A gift for my BFF Leigh. She always makes crocheted hats for her friends' babies, so she was excited to have someone make a hat for her :)
• Blue Hat for Sawyer - My happiest customer :) I love that he loves his hat. His mom says sometimes he just won't take it off.

• Milbert the Red Bird Softie - The addiction began here!
• The Ship's Project Hat - This one is for Charity, but I have promised to make another exactly like it for my husband.
• Green Newsie Baby Hat - This was a baby gift for a lady at church.
• Cream Baby Booties - These were a gift to my friend Beth and they match the cream hat above.

• Circles of Service - Cable Scarf (frogged) - I hated the cables in the variegated yarn. It was too distracting so I pulled it out.
• Baby Minion Halloween Costume - Though little man didn't get here in time to wear this as a Halloween costume, it's still a cute hat :)
• Circles of Service - Slant Stitch Scarf
• Finn Hat for Justin - My hubby's handmade birthday gift.

• Yoda Hat for Biscuit - My first official customer for my crocheting :)
• Orange Urban Shells Scarf - I liked this one so much I kept it even though I intended it for charity. I know, I'm a terrible person...
• Circles of Service - Cable Scarf
• Circles of Service - Imogene Scarf

• Boxing Glove Baby Mittens
• Sneaky Little Mouse Bib
• Rudolph the Musical Reindeer
• Yoda Hat for Jojo

• Eunice the Pig
• Shirley the Alpaca
• Turkey Butt Hat
• Willis the Wiggly Monster

• Blue Hat for Dad (post to come) - A much requested Christmas gift for my dad.
• Minty Teal Shell Stitch Hat with Peach Bow
• Crocheted "Boobie" Scarf (post to come) - By far the biggest hit of my handmade Christmas gifts. I have in-action shots that are hilarious!

• Green Tizzy Hat (post coming soon) - Another Christmas gift - man do I have things to say about this one...
• Santa Hat for Baby (post coming soon) - I whipped this out so fast I never got to post about it. 
• Sally the Dog - I had so much fun with the FreshStitches mystery Crochet Along. I can't wait to do the next one.
• Broomstick Lace Scarf - This was a Christmas gift for my mom and I love how it turned out! I'm working on a post of all my finished Christmas projects, I just have to get pictures of the items with their new owners first - so that is to come!

• Billy the Cheeky Robin
• Manny the Raccoon
• Black Hat for Briggs (post coming soon) - A Christmas gift for my little brother.
• Reginald Owl (post coming soon) - I made this as a last minute Christmas gift for my sister and it was a big hit!

Whew! That's a lot of finished items :) Now for the ones that I didn't finish. Some of these are not going to get finished and others are just waiting their turn (I had to stop projects for myself so I could get my Christmas presents done). So, the UFOs (unfinished objects) are:

• Lace Knee Socks - One of these days, I will slap these out. 
• Long Lace Edge Scarf - This one will be frogged as soon as I need this color yarn for something. I really have no interest in making the scarf I started anymore.
• Purple Boob Holder Sweater - Still looking forward to finishing this.
• Bumpy Gap-Tastic Cowl - This was taking much longer than I expected so I set it aside for a while.

• Sparkly Wristlets - These were going to be a Christmas gift for my sister (2 nights before Christmas), but I decided on making her an owl instead.
• Hope Shawlette - Still can't wait to finish this. I had to stop for my Christmas projects.
• Yoda Dog Hat - This is the one that I made up first and it ended up being huge, so instead of frogging it I just planned on finishing it one day but it has been sitting at the bottom of my project bag ever since.
• Circles of Service - Basketweave Scarf - This is almost finished, I just got a little burnt out on it. The charity scarves are due next week, so I'll be posting about it soon when I finish it.

• Cambridge Scarf - I totally love this scarf and it's the garment photo I get the most compliments on even though I've never gotten to wear it. I'm about half way done and I just got distracted from it. Hopefully I finish it while it's still cold.

Now for some statistics! Ok math geeks, this part is for you :) 

So, there you have it :) Roughly 6 months worth of a beginner's knitting and crocheting projects. I'm pretty impressed with myself and my 42 finished projects. I have so many more planned for this next year. I really want to get into making cardigans - in fact I'll post soon about a Christmas gift I got relating to that! Now that I have my gifts done, I think my projects are going to be much more selfish for a while. I deserve it, right? And now that I have a proper sewing machine, I hope to have a similar post to this for next year but with sewn items :) I'm really happy with how many new things I tried this year and I'm pretty proud of the techniques I was willing to take a stab at - it was totally to my advantage because I'm so much better now than I was when I began and it's all due to practice and challenging myself. I am officially proof that you CAN learn a skill like this if you just put in the time and try new things. So, if you've been on the fence about learning or improving on a skill or hobby, let this new year be the time you finally take the plunge! You won't be sorry!