As the Winter retreats and Spring pokes her head out, I have been reflecting on the past year and all of the crochet projects I hadn’t yet shared with you.  It has been a busy year, full of births, weddings, vacations and all sorts of celebrations.  I make it a point to take at least one photo of each of my completed projects, but I don’t always get as far as posting them for my readers.  So, as an apology for my procrastination, here is a bunch of the projects that you didn’t get to see yet.
1. Sweet Baby Sweaters

Friends of ours had been trying for years to have a family and they were finally blessed with twins, a boy and a girl.  I made this sweet pair of cardigans for them.  I used a free pattern that I found at JoAnn’s and changed the front to a V-neck.  As I don’t always have the patience to work in a small gauge, I used double strands of Bernat Baby Coordinates and Bernat Baby Sport.  The sweaters worked up quickly and they are so sweet!

2. Doris Chan’s Persimmon Pullover

This was my first attempt at a sweater.  I absolutely LOVE all of Doris Chan’s designs.  This pattern is available through LionBrand.com.  In our home this project has been dubbed the “Surgery Sweater” because I kept myself busy with it while my husband underwent surgery and recovery (don’t worry, it went great).  I used an arcrylic blend that was gifted to me by a dear friend.  It went quickly and turned out beautifully, although I had some gauge problems in the beginning.  You can check out the whole story and more pics at http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ArtsyDaisy/persimmon-pullover.

3. The Daisy Afghan

This afghan was a real labor of love.  It was one of the first big projects I worked on when I started crocheting again in college.  The pattern is from the book The Anne Halliday Afghan Collection.  I just recently finished it and sent it to my grandmother for Mother’s Day.  So, yes, it took about a decade to complete, but it was well worth it.  You may recognize it from my post The Joys of Joining Granny Squares.

4. Green Frogged Cardigan
This one got out of control very quickly.  I thought I could save it, but in the end it just didn’t work out.  This is when I realized I make my stitches too short.  I am determined this year to fix this issue by practicing to make taller stitches.  It’s my second New Year’s Resolution for 2013.  This pattern is from Total Crochet Fashions by Gayle Bunn.  I used Vanna’s Choice Yarn in Dusty Green.  You can read all about this debacle at http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ArtsyDaisy/off-the-hook.
 5. Brocade Throw for Mom
Yes, this was made for my mom…and yes, that is my dad sleeping with it. This was a very challenging and fun afghan to make.  It has lots of little pieces that you intertwine together to make the motifs.  I would definitely recommend this pattern to experienced crocheters. I used Red Heart Super Saver in Royal Blue, Heather Grey, Medium Purple and Spring Green.  The pattern is avaliable on RedHeart.com.
6. Pink & Purple Stripes Baby Blanket
This is my beautiful niece, Angelina.  Her blanket was made in my signature fade design from pink to white to purple to white and back to pink.  I used double strands of Caron Simply Soft, changing only one strand of color to create the fade.  The technique is explained further on my Simple Crochet Beanie post.  I did the edging in a simple shell using one pink and one purple strand.
7. Pink & Tan Dots Baby Blanket

This is Angelina’s little sister, Alexa.  Her blanket was also made with Caron Simply Soft but in the seed stitch. This simple stitch is made by alternating sc and single chains.  When working rows 2 and on, you sc in the ch-1 space and ch-1 above the sc of the previous row.  This creates a dotted look that works great when you change colors on every row.  I wish I had a better picture to show the detail of the blanket, but the cute kid outshines it anyway 🙂