Long post!
But I wanted to share some projects.

First a couple photos of an in-progress scrap-ghan.
I'm using the stars from Simple Crocheting Star Tablecloth but working in columns 3 stars wide to slowly create a parallelogram shaped afghan. I'm working with 5 colors at a time replacing colors when I don't have enough for a whole star. So far I haven't run out of black but I just started my last ball.
The bottom left corner in the picture is the working side.




I wanted a bit of instant gratification so I a version of the Daisy Chain Necklace from Simple Crocheting.
It took me 4 hours working on it on and off (I was at work so there were many interruptions with the whole doing-my-job-thing).
I modified the method to avoid sewing on lots of little motifs. The leaves start and end in the same place and the flowers nearly do so I made them as I made the chain. First I used the suggested number of each motif to draw out how I wanted them to alternate and decided that I wanted to chain 23 in between each. I started with a flower chained 23, then chained the 13 needed for a leaf and made the leaf, chained 23, then the 4 needed for the next flower (slst into the 4th chain from the hook to make the loop) and so on. Did this until it was as long as I wanted.

I think blocking it so that the flowers and leaves all lay flat would be a good idea.



A friend bought me 7 skeins of Cascade Yarns Venezia as a gift (color "bear").
Since the yarn is wool and silk I wanted to use it for a wearable but it's on the thick end of worsted-weight. I had tried making the Titan Top from Convertible Crochet but the yarn was too think for it, it came out heavy and I didn't think i'd wear it so I took it apart. After looking for wearables that use bulky or super bulky yarn I found this cute little cape here. The "button" is actually a clip on earring for picture purposes; I still have to find a button for it.
I did modify it a little bit. After doing a swatch to gauge I decided I wanted a looser texture and moved up a hook size or two. I also wanted it a touch longer and added 5 stitches to the length and on every other row I made the two last stitches double crochets so it flared out a tiny bit more at the bottom.
I actually did about 3/4 of it in one afternoon and evening and finished it the next morning. Came together a lot faster than I would have guessed.