FO Flashback: other crochet and knitting

Here's part two of my March FO Flashback. Today I'm revisiting the non-amigurumi things I finished in March of previous years. First up are my crocheted fingerless gloves from 2010.

These are from Ria Saakshi's Firecracker Gloves pattern, crocheted in The Fibre Company Canopy Fingering. This yarn was my very first purchase from a local yarn store! Up until then I had been crocheting with yarn from craft stores, but I decided to make a trip to fibre space in Alexandria. I remember feeling very awkward, because I was "only" a crocheter and didn't understand all the different names for yarn weights and didn't know what yarn would be the best choice for this project. I know now that the people who work at fibre space would have been happy to help me, but at the time I was too shy. I also didn't know about winding skeins, so that made for fun times.

I wasn't very happy with these gloves when I finished them, but I like them well enough now. I don't wear them often, but that's because I just don't wear these type of gloves very much.


Last March, I finished both my Manhattan cowl and my Diamond Ridges hat (I blogged about the cowl here and the hat here). At the time, I wasn't sure whether I would get much use out of either of these accessories, because they weren't the type of things I had made before or tended to wear often - and I finished them at the end of winter, so it seemed likely that I would have lost interest in them by the time it was cold enough to wear them again. But, I've been wearing and loving both of them! The cowl gets less use, but I took it to Japan with me in November and wore it on the long plane trips, when it was so nice to have something cozy to wrap up in. I've been wearing the hat all winter, and I love it. Before I made it, I didn't wear hats much, and I thought that I just didn't like hats. Turns out, I like to wear hats when I have hats that I like!

I should also note that I finished my rag rug experiment in March of 2011. Let's not talk about that too much. I think I gave it to my mom to use/donate to a cat shelter/dispose of - in any case, I don't have it any more!

FO Flashback: amigurumi

Time to revisit my FOs from March in years past! I have several amigurumi, but only one that hasn't shown up on my blog before:

This is Ebirt. For a few brief years, Colonel Ebirt was my college's mascot, but these years coincided almost exactly with my time in school, so Ebirt is forever our one and only mascot in my mind. A couple years after I graduated, I decided to crochet my own little Ebirt. This was the first time I crocheted something without a pattern - I did use the Amigurumi Dude pattern to get his head started, but I improvised the rest. I was, and still am, very happy with how he came out. He's been to campus for a few visits, but these days he hangs out on my amigurumi shelf with the rest of his buddies.

Ebirt visits Lord Botetourt

Ebirt visits Thomas Jefferson

In March of 2011, I finished my baby bunny and my ninja, both of which I blogged about previously. Not much has happened in the baby bunny's life. At some point I gave him a pink ribbon to wear around his neck, and he spends his time sitting next to my other bunny that I made from the same pattern. The ninja technically belongs to my boyfriend, but it turns out he's also just sitting on my amigurumi shelf these days. Don't ask me how he got there (he's a ninja).

Last March, I finished my kitty, which I blogged about last May after giving him to my mom as a Mother's Day present. As I mentioned there, I designed him to look like my mom's old cat. He lives in my parents' house with the other things I've made over the years. I had, and maybe still have, grand plans to make more cats with that pattern to look like our other kitties. One is currently a WIP that I always intend to pick up again and never manage to, so if I ever do get that done, I might reevaluate my plans to make another two more (we are a cat family).

And, I also finished Nessie last March! Nessie is currently living in Scotland with my friend, and even got to go visit Loch Ness last year. I'm hoping to share some of those photos here, so I'll save that for another post.

FO Flashback: previously-seen projects

This is my third and last FO Flashback post for February. In this one I'm looking back at the projects I made during the time that I've been writing this blog, and giving a little update on how they're being used (or not) these days.

First, I want to mention that February is my knitting anniversary month! It was in February of 2011, after years of believing that I was going to be a crochet-only person for life, that I got myself some needles and learned to knit and purl. My early efforts are immortalized in this post.

In February of 2012, my only knitted FO was my cozy for my iPod, which I blogged about here. At the time, my iPod was living in my work bag, and it wore its little sweater every day for months. The cozy did a good job of keeping my iPod cushioned and scratch-free, although it was a little annoying to have to scrunch it down whenever I wanted to see the screen or use the volume control. Now my iPod lives in my desk drawer, and hangs out in there naked, because of the aforementioned annoyance. If I take it outside with me, though, I still put its cozy back on. That picture was just taken today, so as you can see, it's held up pretty well.

I finished my granny afghan on the same day as the iPod cozy. I love this blanket so much more than I thought I would, when I first started it just to use up a bunch of stashed acrylic! It's been living on the couch permanently since the weather got cold, and the best part about it is how much my cat loves it. We didn't even have a cat when I made it, so that's a nice surprise! The only problem is that it has some little threads pulled up from her getting her claws caught in it, but since it was just a quick and simple stash-buster, I'm not (too) upset.

And finally, the Phannie hat. My sister requested this... and then moved to Texas a few months later. So, I don't think it's gotten a whole lot of use. She is wearing it in one of her profile pictures, though, so at least I get to see it when I chat with her. I did like making it, and it gave me the confidence to make a couple more hats last year.

FO Flashback: awesome dragon!

This guy is so exciting that I had to give him his own post. I love this dragon, and out of everything I've crocheted from a pattern, he is definitely my masterpiece.



The pattern is Christina Powers's Asian Dragon. If you look at her pictures, you will immediately notice that my dragon doesn't look a whole lot like hers. If you look at the 90+ other projects made with this pattern, you will notice that almost none of them look like hers, and a lot of comments saying "I don't know how to get my dragon into the same shape as the one from the pattern pictures." I still don't know, and I have kind of mixed feelings about this pattern. On the plus side, the finished product is intricate and beautiful, and the pattern is well-written, very long and detailed and includes a tutorial for the weird backward crocheting. On the other hand... that weird backward crocheting. If I recall correctly, that's what's supposed to give the dragon's body its bendy-twisty shape, but I just couldn't get that to happen. Maybe I and almost all of the people who have made this misunderstood the instructions, but... I kind of doubt that. It's a little disappointing, because I think there are easier ways to shape crochet that would result in the dragon body that nearly everyone seems to get from this pattern anyway.

But! That is not to say that I regret using this pattern or that I'm not happy with this dragon, because I love him! He lives on my amigurumi shelf, a little away from the others because he is, frankly, more awesome.



I finished him during the week I was off work for Snowmaggedon in 2010, which gave me a great opportunity to photograph him in the snow. These pictures still make me happy.

FO Flashback: amigurumi

I love listening to the Commuter Knitter podcast because Jen is full of great ideas. Not only did she inspire me to start watching The Big Bang Theory and to weigh my FOs and stash, she also thought of a new segment for her podcast where she revisits her older FOs and reports on how they're doing. I love the idea, and I want to do something similar here, since I've been crocheting for several years longer than I've been blogging. So, I plan to spend a few days each month showing you the crocheted and knitted objects I finished during that month in previous years. If I already blogged about it, I'll just post a quick update, but if it's a project from before 2011, then I'll also do a little review of the pattern and the process of making it, like I usually do with my project posts.

In 2008 and 2009, I was still almost exclusively an amigurumi-maker, so from those years I have a bunch of little critters to show you:

The baby dragon was a birthday present for my sister in 2008. I don't remember whether he lives with her now or if he stayed home with our parents, but the last time I saw him he was in the company of some other crocheted buddies I made, so I imagine he's doing well. I loved making that pattern (Baby Snow Dragon by Marjorie Jones), and in fact I made three other dragons with it. For a new crocheter, it was great, because it was pretty simple to figure out but felt excitingly complex with all those little pieces and that cute shaped face.

The elephant (2008) and fox (2009) were little gifts for friends that I haven't been in touch with, so I don't know how they're doing! The fox is another great amigurumi pattern (Fox Amigurumi by Nimoe), again pretty simple but with nice results. The little elephant (Pocket Elephant by Brigitte Read) was more challenging to figure out, especially when I was still a beginner. There are other lil' elephant patterns that I would probably suggest over that one. And the heart (2009) is not really a critter, although I did consider giving it eyes. It sits on my shelf of amigurumi, kind of tucked behind everyone else because I don't really know what to do with it! If I were making the pattern again today, I would probably go ahead and give it a face, and/or stuff it with catnip for my kitty. The pattern (Corazoncitos by Mia Zamora Johnson) has instructions for three different sizes, so there's a lot of possibilities there (maybe a mobile, or Valentine's Day decorations?).

Speaking of Valentine's Day, my one crocheted FO from 2011 was my card that I made for my boyfriend:

This pattern is by June Gilbank and it's another heart pattern that includes three sizes. I made all three, then used invisible (clear plastic) sewing thread to stitch them onto a piece of gray cardstock, which I then attached to a white card I had made. My boyfriend still has this card stashed somewhere.

Since this post is already a little long, I'll save a couple things for later: one of my absolute favorite projects I've ever done, plus checking back on the things I already blogged about.