Crazy Crocheted Blanket: DONE!

It's finished! My big, crazy, yarn-eating blanket. I wove in all the ends yesterday (which was a fairly large job on its own). I'm so happy with the finished product; I'm looking forward using this in my dorm next year. I ended up buying two skeins of yarn for it (the last two blue stripes on the blanket), because I actually ran out of yarn at my house. This was such a good way to use up all the skeins I'd been pointlessly hoarding! Since I already had 95% of the materials, this blanket only cost about $6. 

Here it is on my bed; I won't actually be using it there, but it doesn't look bad, right? (Also, do you think I have enough pillows? My bed is so comfy.)

It's legitimately huge; like, almost too much to carry all at once. I think it's around 6x6 feet. Because it's a square, it's big enough for 2 people... The perfect cuddling blanket. I'm satisfied; now I just need get back to sewing things.

Things haven't been going the way I'd planned lately, but I'm starting to think that that's okay. Take this blanket I'm making, for starters. 

I took this beginner's crochet class last Saturday where we learned to make Granny Squares. I had a great time- I've never taken a class like that before, and it's something I definitely want to do again. Anyway, I bought this fancy yarn for the class, and I started making a Granny Square blanket out of it. I was loving how it looked, and the colors, and everything. But here's the thing; to finish it, I would have needed to buy about 10 more skeins of yarn. I'm a poor college student, and if I'm going to spend lots of money on anything, it will be fabric for sewing stuff. Then I realized how silly it was to be working on this fancy blanket when I have 7 or 8 skeins of yarn that have been sitting in my room for months. 

That's how this blanket was born. I'm making it from all the random colors of yarn I have. The uglier and crazier it gets, the better. It's not done yet- right now it's about the size of a baby blanket- but I'm excited to see how it grows and gets even better. I won't have to spend any money on it (okay... I may end up spending, like, $6 on it), which is perfect. I could use more projects like this-- easy, relaxing, and free. I'm having these dreams of putting my huge, crazy multicolored blanket in some future apartment. That would be pretty awesome.

Then there's this top. For some reason, this top doesn't want to be finished-- I feel like I've stalled all progress, and I'm not sure why. I really want to wear it! But I've had some pretty frustrating moments with it. Here's what I accidentally did; I cut a huge gash in one of the pink back panels. The fabric's so thin that while I was trimming a seam allowance, I didn't even notice it was happening. I didn't have enough fabric to cut a new piece, so I had to figure out a solution that would cover the gash and salvage the top.

So I created appliques down the back. The huge flower below is covering the gash (actually, to be exact, the leaf is covering most of it). I wasn't planning to embellish the back of the top like this. If I hadn't messed up like that, I probably would have already finished the top. But I'm happy with how it looks; I think it will be a lot more interesting than it would have otherwise been.

Despite all my planning, things like this happen. I change my plans abruptly and have to adapt to new circumstances. I'm really liking both of my projects, though.