Infinity scarves...my latest obsession!

Hi everyone!  I should start by saying Happy New Year!  I hope everyone is enjoying 2012 so far.  It has been so lovely here in Missouri, it really doesn't feel like January (not yet anyway, it is supposed to turn colder tomorrow).  Generally by this time of year, it has been cold and blustery for a few weeks already, and we usually have had snow and ice too.  This winter we've been blessed so far with warmer temperatures and as of yet we haven't had any snow or ice here where I live.  I love it!  Today it's in the 50's and I decided to take advantage of the sunshine and ate my lunch outside- trying to soak up a bit of that vit D3 we all miss out on this time of year.  I know it probably won't last long but I'm trying to enjoy every day of it! 
Even though it's been warm, I've been getting ready for the cold blast to hit.  I shared with you a few posts back about the slouchy hat I crocheted from Julie at Gleeful Things website.  I decided to make a scarf to go with it and so I designed my own infinity scarf.  It was so easy and fun to make that I thought I'd share with you how I did it, you can easily design your own or follow my pattern and make one in your favorite color. 
To start off, I used a size J crochet hook and a Lion Brand Yarn called Tweed Stripes in the color Marble.  This yarn comes in 3 oz skeins and it took about 1 1/2 skeins to make one scarf.  Here's my pattern:

Row 1, chain 15.  Chain 2 more- this will be the first stitch of row 2. 
Row 2, double crochet in the fourth chain stitch from your hook (should be the 14th chain stitch from the beginning. Double crochet in each chain to the end.  Count your stitches, there should be 15 counting the two chain stitches at the beginning as one stitch.  Chain 2 and turn. 
Row 3,  the two chain stitches you just made count as the first stitch in this row.  Double crochet in the back loop only of each stitch across, starting with the second to the last stitch.  Chain 2 and turn.
Repeat this for as long as you desire.  I made mine about 75" long, which is long enough to wrap it snuggly 3 times around my neck.  When it is the desired length, hold the two ends together to form a circle and slip stitch the stitches together to join.  Then just weave your yarn ends into the fabric to finish. 

I hope those instructions make sense if someone tries to make their own!  I've never written a crochet pattern out before and I realize it may not be completely clear what I'm trying to say!  If you have experience crocheting it shouldn't be hard for you to understand though. 
Now that I am done with the scarf, I realize that usually you would chain 3 to make a double crochet stitch for the beginning of each row, but I only chained 2 and it turned out fine. If your stitches tend to be real tight, you may want to chain 3 for the beginning of each row. 
I had so much fun making my scarf that I made another one for my boyfriend.  I made his 20 chain stitches across to start, so it would be a bit thicker for him.  It is easy to adjust the pattern to fit your individual needs.  I'm now making another one just like the first one for my sister.  I hope she likes it! 

Two completed infinity scarves and a third in process.

If you decide to try making a scarf and follow my pattern, I hope you'll let me know how it turns out!  You could also leave the ends free and just have a regular scarf.  I have decided that the infinity scarf is definitely the thing for me though, I love how it stays nice and warm and where you want it without having to constantly adjust it.  I should be giving mine a lot of use before this winter is over.

More beads and a hat...

This past weekend I did two craft related things I'd like to share with you.  On Saturday I attended the Fall Bead Renaissance Show in Overland Park, KS, with my mom and sister.  We had a really lovely day and as usual I spent way more than I should have on beads I just couldn't live without.  But really, there is no better inspiration than seeing all those beautiful sparkling beads and coming home with some of them.  They are just waiting for me to create some fantastic new jewelry...and I'm really hoping to have a bit of free time soon to get to sit and play with them all! 
The other thing I did was crochet a new hat for winter.  As soon as the cold weather starts creeping in I always have the strongest desire to sit with a crochet hook in hand and a lap full of warm and fuzzy yarn.  I really love to crochet- I find it so comforting and peaceful.  If you are like me and you enjoy either crochet or knitting I hope you have found the Ravelry website.  You can check it out here:  http://www.ravelry.com  It is a free website that is a real treasure trove for the fiber artist.  You can find all sorts of patterns on the site and many of them are even free.  I just did a search for hat patterns for crochet and looked through the many options that came up until I saw one that was just what I was looking for.  The one I found on Ravelry was actually a free pattern that was offered on Julie's Gleeful Things blog as her Christmas present to her readers last year.  Here is the link to the pattern I used on her delightful blog:  http://www.gleefulthings.com/blog/?p=640  It is called the Gumdrop Slouchy Hat.  She has great pictures of it in different colors, some are solid one color and others she did in two colors.  I liked the way it looked so I decided to give her pattern a try. 
I used a size J crochet hook per her instructions and the yarn I used was Lion Brand Yarn, Tweed Stripes in Marble.  After checking the gauge I was about a half an inch bigger than what Julie recommended but I decided to just keep going and tried to make my stitches a bit tighter from that point on.  Since it is a slouchy hat, I didn't think having it a little bit big would make too much difference.  Here's the hat and the yarn I used to create it:

I love the way it turns out striped without the work of changing yarn!  The less ends you have to work in when you are finished the better off you are, I think!  It took me probably around 4 hours to make the whole hat, that's an estimate because I didn't sit and make the whole thing straight through.  Plus, I hadn't crocheted anything for over a year so I may have been a bit slow starting off.  I did alter the pattern just a bit at the end.  I had some yarn left in my skein so I did an extra row of single crochet at the very end, and I also did the last rows of single crochet in both loops instead of just the back loop as the rest of the pattern was made.  I did this so the brim around my head would fit a bit more snug and just to be a bit of a rebel...Here's my new winter hat!

Modeling my new Gumdrop Slouchy Hat!

I love it!  Of course, I love the color too, and it will look just so perfect with my grey coat this winter.  I may even get more ambitious and make a scarf to match.  So here's a big thank you to the wonderful people who run the Ravelry website and a thank you to Julie at Gleeful Things too!  Here's a link to the cool patterns you can buy from Julie on Ravelry's site:  http://www.ravelry.com/stores/gleeful-things-2  She has some adorable crocheted critters on there as well as other hats and Ipod cozies.  I'm really loving the "feathered family" which is a little family of bluebirds along with a nest to tuck them into.  I hope you'll stop by her Ravelry store and see what she offers there!