Today I went on a knit and crochet blitz. I made the crochet smartphone cover, crochet cloche ( textured stitches),single crochet skinny scarf, knit garter stitch cuffs, fingerless gloves (cables) and started on the tassel beanie. Phew! Anyway, I was meticulous in using the specified yarns and checking my gauge. Here are a few things I found along the way.
The smartphone cover works out way to small if you use the G hook. An H hook makes for a better cover that actually fits a smartphone.
The crochet cloche was crocheted to exact gauge and still turned out too long for the average head. There are much better hat patterns we could be using.
Skinny scarft worked out fine.
Garter stitch cuffs, very quick and easy.
Cabled fingerless gloves, very nice, quick and easy. I have one issue, though, and that's with the wording of the pattern. I am not a begginer so I knew that when the 5th and 7th rows were to be worked as 1st row it meant the first row of the pattern set and not the actual row marked as the 1st row (k2 p2). Instructors might want to ask students to make a note of this on their sheets. Also, they should take note that the decrease in the center of the last row will be made purlwise.

I didn't mind making these projects as samples, but I really hope that they come out with some new material for us to use. I've said it before, and I'll say it again- hats, mittens and scarves just do not seem like appealing projects in May, even in Canada.