Growing up, there was always one item that you could find on my wish list: a floppy hat. None that I ever found seemed to match up to the platonic form of pure "floppy hat" that lingered in my subconscious. So I never got one I was satisfied with. Then as I got older, my hat coveting turned into a strange wish to make my own sun hat. I definitely tried, but it never quite panned out (yarn + heat = sweaty head). I'd just about given up on my absurd quest, when I came across Wool and the Gang's new Ra-Ra Raffia yarn. My inner DIY radar started going off: NEW PROJECT ALERT! That would be perfect for a hat! And, sure enough, they had a kit for a hat all ready to go. I was powerless to resist. Definitely a #shutupandtakemymoney moment. 

I was sorting through my yarn stash the other day, when I came to a shocking conclusion: I have too much yarn. Now, I know what you're thinking: "Too much yarn? Is that even possible?" Well, in my dream world, definitely not. But in the tiny apartment world...yeah. It happens. I was most concerned with my growing pile of scrap yarn. You know those little balls of yarn that are too small for most projects but that you can't bear to part with? I've been collecting them for yeeaarrsss (seriously, some of this scrap yarn is from high school). So I decided to give those little yarn balls a new purpose and turn them into a cozy scrapghan!

Happy first day of spring! It doesn't really feel like spring here yet, but that's not gonna stop me from celebrating! In honor of the sunshine and flowers to come, I'm excited to participate in a Spring Blog Hop with some other AMAZING crocheters. We've all got fun spring-themed patterns for you, so you definitely don't want to miss out on this one! 

By now, I'm sure you've probably at least dabbled in C2C crocheting using the diagonal box stitch.  But did you know that you can work other crochet stitches from corner to corner (C2C)? It's no secret that the moss stitch is one of my favorites, especially for variegated yarn. So when I learned that you can work the moss stitch c2c, I was ALL over it. Now, there are already video tutorials out there, so if that's your thing, then google away. Personally, I'm all about the photo tutorials. I couldn't find one that I liked, so of course I had to make my own! 

I'm super excited for this week's Designer Spotlight post! This post is all about Julie of Jules Loves Yarn. I first got in touch with Julie when she helped to test my camera pattern last year. I've been following her work ever since and I'm a huge fan of her of her beautiful patterns. She is an extremely talented crochet designer (and photographer!) who specializes in trendy accessories. If you haven't seen her work yet, you have to go check it out ASAP! You can start by reading through her interview below and taking a peek at some of her work. And don't forget to read until the end, because Julie's been kind enough to offer a pattern coupon code for you all!

My 3 year old is obsessed with Octonauts right now. He spends all day, every day "sounding the octo-alert" and looking for his mission. Almost all of his imaginary games involve at least one character from the show and he loves to tell me about all of his favorite sea creatures from the "Creature Report." Lately, he's been asking me to make him a GUP (one of the submarines the characters use). A more normal response probably would have been to buy a plastic toy, but I couldn't resist the crocheting challenge. And thus was born the GUP-A Plushy!