I like my coffee warm and cozy, please!

As mentioned in post #1, I recently learned to crochet.  A dear friend of mine (*waves*) was telling me about how easy it is and fun, and sure enough, I needed a new hobby, as I'd repeatedly been told by certain people, so away I went to YouTube to learn how to crochet (I used Art of Crochet by Teresa to learn, and it's really great!).

Being me, I looked at the video, tried a couple of times and didn't quite get it.  Then, all of a sudden, I had a couple of rows done.  Woot!  Kept going, and going, and sure enough, I had a weird looking square.  I really should have taken a picture of that first attempt.  It was uneven, and wavey, and odd, but I had done something.  After a while, and more of my weirdly deformed square, I went back to the trusty YouTube video and, wouldn't you know it, I was doing it wrong.  It wasn't supposed to be wavey at all!  And I kept forgetting the last part of the rows, hence why it was always shrinking.  I unravelled the whole thing, and started over, and got a normal quare.  It's nothing exciting, far from it, but it's my first, real, not deformed or wavey square.  We now use it to wipe baby puke. :)  Oh, and still haven't found out what the name of the wavey stitch is.

Then, I started to think, what could I make with my new found hobby.  Off to Pinterest I went, and sure enough, I came upon this Pin.  I read the instructions, sent a message to my friend asking if I understood all the abreviations correctly, and back to YouTube I navigated to try and learn a few more crochet techniques (which I learned a few days ago, I was starting off wrong), and then I made my first item: a Cup Cozy :)  The sizes she used seemed a bit odd to me, so I made a few modifications, but all in all, I think they came out pretty great.  Someone also mentioned that the 29 chain she starts with can be small for a Starbucks cup, the intended cup size of my cozies, so I made them somewhere between 30-35 instead.

I made the Pink one first, and I love it.  It's fun and quite me.  A mommy friend of mine saw it last week and was asking if I got it on Etsy.  That kinda made my day, I have to admit.

I kept at it, for a while, changing up the pattern, how many single crochet rows and double ones.  I switched up my hook, as I broke the first one I got (cheap plastic 5mm), and the new one was a tiny bit bigger (nice bamboo one, but 5.5mm) and it gave much different results.  Then, I got hubby's Christmas gift of a new normal sized hook (Metal, 5mm), and learned how to make a triple crochet stitch and made him his own cozy, the grey one in the back.  It probably looks the best, only cause I learned how to properly start my darn sequence.

The light blue and the purple/blue ones with buttons were made using a 5.5mm hook. The version on the floor (just needs buttons) is with the 5mm hook.  Quite a difference in size up close.

This was made using the same pattern and hook size as the Pink one from above.  LOVE the buttons on here!

This one is made with the 5mm hook, and a different pattern than listed on the original blog.  It's about 4-5 rows of single crochet, then triple crochet for the holes, and another 4-5 of singles.

I am currently working on a new version, using that first 'I'm doing it wrong' technique - cause the wavey pattern is kinda neat! - and should be able post it soon.  Also figured out a different way to make the holes, which was neat.  I don't know why, I've always been good at learning things on my own (at least, until I know the base work properly), so it's nice that I'm figuring certain stitches on my own now too.

So, there we have it!  My start in crochet-ing.  I'm by no means a pro at this, I just like to be crafty, and this is certainly a great venue for that.

Cheers!