Fiber Arts

I don't know if you have heard of the term fiber arts before, but over here in NYC it has become the modern moniker for crochet, knitting, cross stitch, embroidery, etc. Pretty much any type of craft using a fiber strand or string falls into this category, but mainly knitting and crochet.

I've become a little bit obsessed with crochet and knitting. My crochet addiction started the Christmas of 2009 (I think) when my mother-in-law Kris taught me how to crochet. I had learned how to crochet many years before during a Young Women's activity, but the only thing that ever stuck with me from that was how to make a chain. So I was excited to try to learn again, for real. Since then, I've had so much fun making different projects (mostly blankets for my nieces and nephews). 

My most recent crochet projects have been for my nephew who will join our family sometime during the next few weeks. My brother Tyler and his wife Kelsey are anxiously awaiting the arrival of their little guy. For those of you who don't know my brother, he is a total cowboy and I can only assume that his little guy will be as well. I decided to get a jump on being the favorite aunt and make him some cowboy booties. They turned out so cute! I used this pattern if anyone is interested.

    

Any genuine cowboy needs a good hat, so I decided to crochet one that would match the boots. This project was a little bit more involved that the boots, and I decided to change the pattern a bit, but in the end I think it came out okay. You can find the pattern here.

    

As I mentioned before, I've made each of my nieces and nephews a crocheted blanket. My Great Grandad Floyd Hathaway (my mom's, mom's dad) crocheted some blankets for us kids when we were born. They are very special to me and I have a couple of them tucked away safely. I wanted to continue that tradition. I love the way this one turned out.  

  
I used this pattern, and tweaked it a bit so the rows would lay flat instead of rippled. 

Just for fun I've included pictures of all the blankets I've made for my nieces and nephews.

Carson

Kaylee

Sophia

Oliver

Faye

Sadie

I've also fallen in love with knitting. I decided a couple years after learning to crochet that I wanted to learn how to knit. So Brian surprised me with a set of knitting needles, a knitting instruction book, and some yarn for Christmas in 2011. I taught myself the basic knit and purl stitches and over the next year or two knit up a few scarves.

I've wanted to become better at it, but just haven't done much with it until now. I finally finished knitting my first hat. In May. Just in time for it to get hot, so I won't be wearing it anytime soon. Oh well. I had fun making it once I got into it. It took me a few tries to get started and get the tension right, but it really wasn't that hard after I got the hang of it. I used circular knitting needles to knit it in the round, but then had to wait until I picked up a pair of double pointed needles to finish the top rows that decrease in circumference.

For the most part I like how it turned out. It's just a little to long, so the top kind of sticks up funny past the top of my head (you can't really tell in the pictures below). So if I ever make a hat with this pattern again, I'll shorten it a little. I'm thinking of adding a pompom to the top.

   

I'm feeling quite proud of myself for finally finishing it, and excited for the new skills I picked up while knitting it. 

Whenever I finish a crochet or knit project, I feel a little lost. It's kind of like that feeling you have when you finish a really great book. I think my next project is going to be a knit baby sweater. I'm trying to work my way up to knitting a sweater or cardigan for myself, but I figure that starting small will be easier. :) We'll see how it goes.