Crochet Recap For September

Why. Oh why, did I spend so much time crocheting blankets and knitting everything else, and slowly to boot?

I do appreciate what crocheting those few blankets has taught me about gauge, tension, holding my hook, making stitches, trusting the process, and overall trusting my own abilities.

Why did I never think, let’s crochet garments? My oldest would have been inundated with pullovers and tops and who knows what else when she was younger.

Our youngest is a bit more extreme about his clothes, which is why I don’t make him more stuff, other than hats and blankets, mostly.

I always wash everything I make after I finish making it. The pullovers in acrylic yarn, I wash in my machine, on delicate, using wool wash.

I do this to even out stitches, soften the yarn, relax the project, all of those nifty things.

I do not wash every single sweater separately, not when they are all made of acrylic yarn. I wait until I have a reasonable sized load. Lately, this means I’ve been washing two to three loads of projects monthly, give or take.

Well, I haven’t washed anything since early August (speaking strictly of the items I’ve been crocheting).

I had two loads of pullovers, hats, and headbands waiting for me.

Since I learned to knit and to crochet, I have never 1 made so many garments in a year — much less a month, to be honest, and 2 I have never made so much stuff period in a year—again, much less in a month.

This truly is my year of crochet.

I have two projects of which I am most proud:

My hexagon Halloween cardigan, which you can see here in all her purple, grey, and black glory.

I love the colors, the size, the length, the sleeves. The only thing I might change next time I make this is adding pockets, but right now this isn’t a priority for me.

I can now safely and happily donate the store-bought (that I thrifted years ago) black cardigan. This has been my de riguer cardigan as soon as the chill hits the air until the Earth warms itself in Spring for several years. Now, it is no longer needed.

Yes, I will probably make another one of these longer ones for myself. I have no clue on color, but once I start stash-busting after the December holidays, I am sure to have plenty of options.

And I also already have the yarn at the ready to make our youngest one of his own, with a hood. We’ll see how often he wears it once I am done. This one will have pockets.

And my vesty granny square thingy pullover, which you can see here.

Once I completed this project, I just loved it so much. I had already begun planning a second one before I finished working up a single panel.

Remember how I took apart my 2023 Temperature Blanket? The second one, not the gigantic six feet by nine feet one (that my tallest kid who is well over six feet tall loves to pieces).

You can find the redone one here.

Forget turning this into a blanket. This will be my second vesty granny thingy pullover (can someone please give me a better/more official name for this style please?) and this will be the beginning of the front panel.

The only change I am planning to make is the neckline. In my Halloween one, I just made the squares with no adjustments. In my next one, I will be adding some decreases to the top of the front panel so the collar isn’t so high on my neck.

In September alone, I crocheted a total of eight tracked projects. Sometimes I do crochet things that I don’t create a Ravelry project for, but typically they are small items.

Five of those were pullovers. Plus, I started at least one other pullover during the month that I completed on October 1.

Not to mention, I not only hit my personal goal to make thirty pumpkins in September, but I exceeded that goal. I made thirty-four pumpkins in total. (These were not put into my Ravelry projects, nor will this month’s snowmen either.)

Photos coming in a wrap-up post for that challenge later this month.