Want to try a fun yarn project?

When I was a kid, my grandma taught me how to cross-stitch and crochet. Since I had the patience of a child, I kept those skills on the back burner until I felt I could complete a project. I then proceeded to (very slowly) crochet double-thickness potholders for many years. While those potholders are the bomb, they did signify my reluctance to take on any other project that I might mess up or not do perfectly. Eventually I had to get over that hump, and now I'm having so much fun making stuffed animals for growing babies, winter gear for my family, and other fun projects!

In case you're experiencing a similar block, I thought I'd share a couple fun and easy patterns that I've really enjoyed. They are easy to start, easy to work, and easy to finish! You can make them as complicated or uncomplicated as you want! They provide practice for a couple new stitches or techniques you might want to practice! And, if you get sick of them, or maybe you get partway through and realize it looks terrible (which has absolutely happened to me), you can just pull it apart and start again (or not, it's up to you).

Here's for you knitters! This pattern called "Favorite Scarf Ever" by Lisa Bruce suggests using 400yd of fingering (sock) weight yarn and size 5 knitting needles; however, this is a pattern that could easily be sized up to a thicker yarn. This project took me a while, but the pattern was easy to memorize and made a beautiful project. I changed it a little from the written pattern, so here's what I did:

Cast on 48 stitches and knit two rows.

R1: slip 1 purlwise, (knit 4, yarn over, knit 1, yarn over, knit 4, central double decrease) three times, k4, yo, k1, yo, k4, knit 2 stitches together

R2: slip 1 purlwise, purl across to last 2 stitches, purl 2 stitches together

Repeat R1,R2 until it's as long as you need, or you're nearly out of yarn

Knit two rows and bind off. It makes such a pretty pattern and it's so easy to take on the go! AND perfect for the variegated yarn you don't know how to use. We've all been there. Not to mention a variegated might hide the little mistakes you might make along the way ;)

Alright, crochet friends, are you ready for one of the cutest things ever? Because it's right here. Look at this owl (click "owl" for the link to pattern) from designer Kristi Tullus.

You'll need a little bit of DK weight yarn or larger (this is great for getting rid of yarn in your stash) and a hook that's smaller than recommended. You don't want your stuffing to fall out! Grab some safety eyes if you have them, as well as some extra colors of yarn for decoration if you feel like doing that. A stitch marker (or a rubber band or pipe cleaner, whatever) would be helpful too. The body of the owl is worked in one big spiral.

This might look complicated, but it's all just basic stitches combined in a way you might not have done before. You need to know how to make a chain, slip stitch, single crochet, and half double crochet. This is also a great chance to practice your magic loop technique as well. This particular project only took me a few hours so it's a perfect first venture into stuffed animals, if that's something you want to do.

Honestly, copy/pasting the pattern here doesn't seem very constructive, so I thought I'd just give a few tips that I found helpful while working this pattern.

• It's an easy pattern, but using a stitch marker to mark the first stitch of every round is very helpful. Basically, if you complete a row and end up back at your stitch marker, you're probably doing it right.
• In the pattern, there's an "inc" and an "inc3". The difference is this: "inc" means make 2 sc in the next stitch, while "inc3" means make 3 sc in the next stitch.
• If you can't master the magic loop, you can chain 3 and join to make a loop. Just make sure you can fit the safety eye into the middle of the loop.
• When making the wings, your first row of stitches will be worked up and down either side of the starting chain.
• I really like this method of fastening off in the round, which is helpful for the wings and eyes. It looks seamless!

Happy crafting!