February 20, 2019 Today we started our genius project in English class. Prior to this week, I already bought the materials needed for this project. I have four balls of grey fuzzy yarn which costed about five dollars each. I officially start the process of crocheting my sweater. I crochet sixty-four chains then did sixty-one double stitches into those chains. Then I chained three and did another sixty-one double stitches to create the next row. Currently I have three rows done in the first part of my sweater. It was difficult to see my stitches after the sixty-four chains due to the yarn I picked out. The crochet hook that I have been using is ten millimeters big and is making the process easier by making the stitches easier to double stitch in the chain.
This past weekend, I had a six hour trip to Atlanta, Georgia for a volleyball tournament. I spent the first three hours working on my sweater. The second picture shown below is the end product of those hours. I am currently working on row seven. I have used over half the ball of yarn which makes me worry about the amount I have left.
These long hour car trips is really helping me be productive for this project. I hate doing paper work in the car due to the road being bumpy. My time management for this project is really good and I hope to keep it up.
Week 2
February 27, 2019 This is the second week of the genius project. I crochet four more rows in my sweater during the hour that is provided in class. The next day, I crocheted either four or five more rows in the car ride to volleyball practice. This section has used a lot of yarn. I am halfway through the section and began using my second ball of yarn. This worries me because I might not have enough yarn to finish the sweater and will have to buy more yarn. The problem is that Walmart might not have the exact yarn I bought in the beginning of the project and will make the sweater a lot harder to finish. This past weekend, I had a two and a half hour trip to Spartanburg, South Carolina for another volleyball tournament. I crochet a lot during this time. Currently, I am on row twenty-two and is about done with the second ball of yarn. The picture below will represent where I am in this project. An issue occurred in South Carolina. I dropped my ten millimeter crochet hook in a parking lot and lost it. I have been using an eight millimeter crochet hook instead and my stitches are a little different. They are tighter than the previous ones because the hook is smaller. The second picture is the crochet hook I have been using instead of the ten millimeter one.
Week 3
March 6, 2019 This is the third week of the semester long project. I started the other half of the front section this Wednesday. Currently, I am on the third ball of yarn. During this first section, I realized that I made a big mistake. The video I am following used a thinner yarn than me but I still used her measurements. My sweater is twice as big as hers. I put the sweater against my body and it goes down to the middle of my thigh and the shoulders are super long. I might can fix the sweater by taking five rows off of each side so it will be twenty rows instead of twenty-five. This will make the shoulders shorter and fit my body better. I cannot do anything about the length.
This week was not as successful as I wanted it to be. I will be catching a flight to Orlando on Thursday for a volleyball tournament. To make the flight cheaper,we did not pay to put our luggage on the plane. My mom traveled to Mississippi for a funeral, this past weekend and took our luggage. She will drive to Orlando and pick us up from the airport and we will drive to the hotel. I had to give her my crochet bag because I cannot take it on the flight due to the crochet hook might be considered a "weapon." My plan is to purchase another crochet hook and start on the sleeves for the next week and do something productive for the sweater without the main part. There will be no picture this week because currently I do not have my sweater.
Week 4
March 13, 2019 This is the fourth week of the semester long project. Since I did not have the main part of the sweater I have been working on, I had to start on a different section. I wanted to start the back section but since I did not have the front, I couldn't get the measurements right. So I crochet the first sleeve. The sleeve took a whole ball of yarn which worries me because the sleeve is still not big enough to fit over my arms loosely. The video says to crochet thirty rows but that will be too big, so I am just eyeing the measurements.
I had a ten hour ride back from Orlando this weekend. During those hours, I caught up with my school work and sleep. I crochet for one and a half hour due to my situation. I had access to my first section, and I crochet the ball of yarn that was left. I still have a good amount of the front part of the sweater left to crochet. The amount of yarn that I have used for this project is unbelievably large. My goal for this next week is to finish the front section of the sweater and the two sleeves. To accomplish this goal, I will need to buy more yarn from Walmart.
Time management for this project is pretty good but the amount of money spent is getting high. I am realizing that it would've been less expensive if I used a different yarn but it is way too late. Buying a different yarn would be something that I would change in this semester long project.
The pictures below represent where I am currently at with the front section.
Week 5
This is the fifth week of the genius project. In the beginning of this project, I used a ten milometer J hook to crochet my sweater. When I lost the hook, I used an eight millimeter hook as a replacement. At the time, I thought the stitches would be exactly the same but they were not. Since the eight millimeter J hook is smaller, the stitches were tighter. I crochet the first half with the ten millimeter J hook and the second half with the eight millimeter. I made a huge mistake. The front of the sweater were two different sizes. The left side was bigger than the right side so I took out all the stitches on the left side and redid the whole half. To be able to caught up where I was, I had to stay up after ten o'clock. When I took the other half out of the sweater, I lost about 3 weeks of work which made the project stressful. I did not take a picture of the messed up sweater due to being embarrassed and stressed. MY frustration that night dictated my emotions to rip the stitches out.
This weekend, I do not have a volleyball tournament to attend. My goal is to finish the front section of the sweater and crochet the other sleeve. If I can accomplish this goal, I should be done with the sweater before the twelve weeks are done for this project. After these parts, I have the whole back to crochet and little details to fix the edges on all the sections. I also have to connect the pieces together but that should not take long.
The picture below shows the final front part of the sweater. I worked long hours to get caught up to where I previously was.
Week 6
This is the sixth week in our semester long project. This is the halfway mark for the project. This week was not as successful as I wanted it to be. I did not accomplish my goal of crocheting two sleeves due to my need of it being perfect. Last week, I redid my stitches in the front section of the sweater due to the different sized crochet hooks. Well, I decided to do the same thing with the one sleeve I have done. The whole week I redid the sleeve with the eight millimeter crochet hook. My spring break was pretty busy with volleyball and workouts.
I had a home tournament this week at Greensboro. My team had the afternoon wave so I did not have a long time to crochet. We won the sixteen's open division out of the whole tournament. Since we won, my team got a free bid to nationals this summer in Orlando! That being said, I did not have a lot of time to crochet.
I am very disappointed that I did not accomplish my goals nor started the next section of the sweater. My goal for next week is to crochet the second sleeve and be completely done with the sweater except for the back. The back section is one big square so it should not take me long to complete that section.
The picture below represents the sleeve that has tighter stitches due to the different crochet hook. If you compare it to the sleeve from last week, you will see a huge difference in the stitches.
Week 7
This is the seventh week in the semester long project. I accomplished my goal from last week. I crochet the main part of the other sleeve. I still have to crochet some small details on both sleeves but I will do that later. Since the stitches for the sweater are tighter due to me using the smaller hook, I use less yarn which is a good thing because the next section will take a lot of yarn. Each sleeve used one ball of yarn and I haven't done the small details on the sides.
This weekend, I had a huge tournament in Louisville, Kentucky. I had an eight hour car ride there and back. That is when I crochet the main part of the second sleeve. Since I had other school work to do, I did not do as much for the sweater as I wanted to. I had so much work to do because I missed two days in my elective classes and one day in my Math and English class. My goal for next week is to start the back section and be halfway done with it. I would like to try to crochet more than my goal to get ahead of the game.
The picture below is the other sleeve that is not fully completed. I want to crochet the small details before connecting the pieces together because it won't take long.
Week 8
This is the eighth week of the genius project. I started the back section on Wednesday during the Genius Hour. The back section should take two weeks to crochet because it is a big section but it is not complicated. I have to double crochet for fifty-two rows. If I keep on crocheting during the week, than I should be finished with the back section soon.
This weekend I do not have a tournament neither volleyball practice. I will not have the usual four hours to crochet in the car ride. This week, my self-motivation needs to be strong to not procrastinate and get further behind in this project. I am stressing out because I might not have time to connect the pieces together and if I rush the process, then it might fall apart before the presentation at the end of the project.
I have a problem. The video said to crochet sixty stitches which I followed but after crocheting for five rows, I compared the length of the back section and the front section and found out they do not match. My back section is longer than my front section. I am so frustrated because this will put me more behind in this project. I'm glad I caught this before I was done with the back section. I have to start the over again and make sure it matches the length.
The picture below represents the section of the back that is longer than my front. I took this picture before I realized it was bigger.
Week 9
This is the ninth week of the twelve week long project. As we are nearing the finish line, I become more stressed. I had to start over the back section again because it was too big. I don't have much done because my hectic schedule became even more hectic. Instead of Cross fit on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I have volleyball practice Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and I have Cross Fit on Monday and Thursday. With this new schedule, I have more time in the car to crochet, but I have other homework and projects to get done.
I do not have a tournament this week due to Easter break. This Easter break was not successful because my sister came home and I hung out with her. On Saturday, I walked seven miles with my friends at Salem Lake in Winston Salem. My family did our Easter traditions. I did not have time to crochet as much as I wanted to.
My goal for next week is to finish the back section and start cleaning up the edges of all my pieces so I can connect them together after.
The picture below represents the small amount of the back section I have done.
Week 10
This is the tenth week of the genius project. I forgot my bag of yarn at home and could not crochet during the genius hour during class. This will put me behind a tiny bit but not enough to freak out. I accomplished my goal this week with finishing the back section and cleaning up the edges on all of my pieces. It was time consuming but I finished it.
This weekend we have a tournament in Knoxville, Tennessee which is a five hour drive to and back. During the ride there, I crochet three-fourths of the back. I had time before games to crochet some rows and then I finished it on the way back home. My father's family lives in Tennessee and we ate dinner with them to catch up. This made us behind on time. We arrived home around one in the morning on Monday of the next week.
My goal for the next week is to start connecting the pieces together. The back and front sections will take a while to connect because the lengths are longer. I have to connect each sleeve together to make the arm before connecting it to the main part.
The picture below represents the finished back section. Apparently, I measured it wrong and the back section is still too big but not enough to start over.
Week 11
This is the eleventh week of the semester long project. We have one week left in the whole project and I am stressing. This week I need to connect the pieces together. I started with the sleeves and it is taking a while because the stitches are harder to find. I ran out of yarn and Walmart has not restocked with the type of yarn used in this project which will put me behind.
I went back to Walmart the next day and found one ball of yarn left. I immediately took it and continued the process of connecting pieces together. I currently only have one sleeve done and tonight I will start the second sleeve. By Sunday, I want to have both sleeves done and start connecting the front and back together.
Today is Sunday, and I accomplished my mini goal of finishing the two sleeves. I started to connect the front piece and back piece today. It is taking a longer time because the length of the sides are longer. My goal for next week is to be completely done with the sweater.
The picture below represents the two sleeves that are connected to itself to form the arm area.
Week 12
This is the twelfth week of the semester long project and I am almost done with the sweater. All I have to do is connect the front section and back section together and then connect the sleeves to that piece. I decided to not follow the video because I wanted to add my own twist to it. This makes the sweater more original if I free handed the rest.
On Wednesday, I forgot my crochet bag at home due to family issues. It was a hectic morning and it slipped my mind. I have been crocheting during the rides to practice and after cross fit to make up time. The stitches were hard to find because some were too tight and I couldn't find the hole.
The week ended and I was not able to connect the front section to the back section. I am furious that I did not finish the sweater because I have been working hard for the last few weeks. I recommend to not free hand the stitches because I ran out of time with the whole project.
I decided to wash the separate pieces so I will be able to bring them in for the presentation. Since I would crochet while traveling to practice, sand and sweat covered the sweater and I wanted to clean it before presentation day. Apparently, one of my sleeves was not stitched together right and it came APART in the washing machine. I am furious. My mom doesn't allow other people to use the machines due to previous times and she didn't know that it was my sleeve that came apart.
The pictures below represent my one sleeve, front section, back section, and the what was once my other sleeve.