2014 In Crochet

This is Part Two of my new annual project roundup.  Today is crochet projects!  If you'd like to see the seven projects I knitted in 2014 (the ones I recorded in Ravelry), you can find that here.  I'm hoping to put up a third post for dyeing and spinning soon, so stay tuned for that one.  With that, let's get to the crochet!

I finished five crochet projects in 2014 (again, only projects I actually recorded on Ravelry count).  All of them, amusingly, were blankets.  They ranged in size from 27" square to nearly twin-bed sized, and were given to everyone from church acquaintances to my own family.  Three were baby blankets, one was a birthday gift, and one was a graduation present.

Granny Ripple

Finished in April 2014, just over a month before the baby was due.  This is essentially the third in a series done for three of my cousins, all brothers.  The first was granny squares (my first big crochet project ever, in fact), for the middle boy when he was born.  The second I made two years later for the oldest, in rows of granny clusters.  This one was for the youngest, and I combined squares and rows to make something I really loved.  The border ripples a bit, but I don't mind.  The order of the squares was very carefully chosen, but the order of the stripes was random (I used four playing cards and assigned a color to each card.  That meant I had to use them all once before using any again, but I could still end up with two red ones in a row).  It created some very interesting patterns!

The Zoomies

Finished in June 2014 and given to a newborn at my dad's church.  This blanket was made of the scraps from the Granny Ripple because I had over a full skein of each.  It was meant to be a just-in-case blanket (I try to keep a stash of baby gifts around), but then I found out that someone was having a boy so I gave it to her.  They use it all the time, but amusingly they haven't removed the mini hank of spare yarn for repairs that I try to add to all my blankets.  It's still hanging off one corner.

Squares And Stripes

Finished in October 2014 and hauled off to St Lucia to be given away while on vacation.  This blanket is the fourth and probably last installment in the Cousin Blankets.  This is actually for the oldest cousin, who turned seven this year.  He's also cousin to the boys who got the other three, just so we're straight on who's who here.  This one is technically only about 55% crochet, because 24 of the 49 squares are knitted.  The border is crochet too though, so I count it as a crochet project.  No two squares are identical.  I made a point to subtly discover his favorite colors (blue and red) last time I saw him, and pretty much everyone's reaction was "it looks like a sailor blanket" so hopefully he likes boats?

Friendship Star Quilt Afghan

Finished in December 2014 and given away at Christmas.  I'm sorry I don't have a picture of this after I washed it and the whole thing really settled down.  The border looks insane in this picture!  I spent 6 months and about 2 miles of yarn getting this sucker done, and I'm proud of it.  It's a modified quilt design using my own two-color squares and incorporating silver thread into the center of the stars.  Ian loves it, and made a point of letting me know that even when the rest of his room is cold (the sheets get really cold, the comforter gets really cold, everything gets really cold!) this blanket is a comfortable temperature.  He does want to know what sort of hex I put on this blanket, but at least it's warm right?  (It's not even wool: it's acrylic.)

Rush Hour

I made this blanket in one week in December, from the remnants of the Squares And Stripes blanket above.  I'd planned a better border, but I ran out of grey yarn about three stitches from the end of the last stripe and had to fill in with a different grey!  This was made for the new baby of a couple at church who I did some babysitting for.  I thought it was a boy, but apparently it's a second girl.  I did sort of boy-ish colors just to be on the safe side, and I think it works equally well for a girl (insert usual rant here about gender-specific color schemes and objects).  My hands were sore for the entire weekend, but I was proud.  They sent me a proper mailed thank-you card too, which was sweet.

I'll try to do better documenting next year since I'm certain I did more projects than I've shown you.  I'm trying to keep better track of my stash, which will probably help.