The Year Long Crochet Project

Actually, it's going to be longer than a year for this project because it's already been a year and I still have a lot more to do. It may end up being the 2-year project. We'll see. But I digress.

It all started with Erika Knight's fabulous book Simple Crocheting: A Complete How-to-Crochet Workshop with 20 Projects over at KnitPicks.  I had ordered this when KnitPicks was having a 40% off sale on some of their books and I was stuck with not much to do in Hyder, AK, besides play in mud and watch bears (see previous post). The very first thing I wanted to make was the blanket near the back of the book. Of course I don't have the book with me here in Juneau so I can't show you a picture, but let me just say that the color choices were not the best. However, I really liked the pattern. I thought, "Oooo, I can make that really cute in two colors (light pink and grey) and it would make an awesome baby blanket." Ya, that was a year ago. I think I'm about half way there. Ugh!

I'm using the Comfy Fingering Yarn from KnitPicks for this project, so the squares end up only being about 2.75 inches. That results in the need for A LOT of squares. I calculated it out to about 200 squares (100 pink, 100 grey) for the size of blanket I'm wanting. I figured it out, and it's going to take me about 67 hours (not counting the border) to get this thing made. Sometimes I'll sit down and do a bunch of them at one time, and then I'll go weeks without doing anything. It's one of those kinds of projects :).

Today was one of those days where I sat down for a little bit while the girls did some schoolwork and I crocheted up a couple and added them to my stack. It felt good to get back at it. One of the best parts is that I get to use my favorite hook.  If you hop on over to Polka Dot Cottage, you'll meet Lisa Clarke and find yourself mesmerized by all the beautiful polymer clay work that she does. Her crochet hooks are seriously my favorite. I refuse to use anything else (and NO she is not paying me to say that - it's just the truth).  I happen to be partial to blues so my "F" hook is my very favorite :).  She even makes a little indent where your thumb goes that makes it so comfortable to use.

We'll see how far I get on this thing by the time we get back to Washington (which should be some time in September). I foresee a post where I lay out all the squares I have by the end of September so you can all see where I'm at. Who knows, maybe it will give me a spur to get the thing done before the end of the year. Then again, I just may be talking about it again next summer :)

In Need of Coasters

Please tell me I'm not the only one who just got Christmas all put away? Please. I have a terrible habit of leaving it up FOREVER. One year it was March before I actually got it all put away. I know, pathetic. Not sure what my hang-up is about it. But, this year, I did manage to do it while it was still January.

This morning I realized that I no longer had a coaster to put my morning coffee on. I had been using the fabric Christmas ones that my mother had sewn up for me (which are awesome). But, alas, they were all packed safely away. However, I knew that the thing I needed to do to fix this dilemma was to drop everything (except the coffee) and grab my yarn and hook. I found a multi-colored cotton yarn in my stash and proceeded to whip out a small wagon wheel big enough for my cup to go on. I love the colors and my mug fit nicely on top of it. Dilemma solved! Now that I've got my emergency mug wheel, I can think about stitching up some variations. "ADD THAT TO THE TO-DO LIST!!!" Ha!

So far, on this overcast Saturday morning, this and two loads of laundry is all I have accomplished. Oh, yes, and I also managed to get out of bed :). Now to think about the rest of the day. Looking forward to spending a late afternoon/evening with my B.F.F. and our two families.