According to WordPress, today is my 4th anniversary of having this account.  I realized some time ago that I hadn’t posted a single blog entry all year and I kept meaning to do something about that, so today seems a good day to start writing again.

I’ve been crocheting, cross-stitching, and making beaded jewelry over the last few months, but I’ve only taken photos of one completed project.  It’s the Cupcake Blanket designed by Lucy at Attic 24.  The colors are sweet and lovely and go well with my chair that Sean painted pink for me a couple months ago.  I also like the cute scalloped edging on the blanket.  I want to use the same edging for the next blanket I finish, but at the rate I’m going, it may not be for a few more months.

So last week I had the misfortune of being without a laptop because my motherboard died, and I had to take my PC to the repair shop.  I could have posted the week’s entry through my smartphone, but I was feeling like I didn’t really have anything interesting or new to share.  I was still crocheting, still making the stripey blanket and the granny stripe afghan.  I also made more progress on the Attic 24 Cottage Blanket.

In the middle of all this afghan-crocheting, I’d been wanting to make one out of granny squares.  The last one I made was this one, and it took me forever to finally weave in all the loose ends.  Anyway, it had been on my mind to crochet an afghan inspired by Zeens and Roger’s Crochet Circles in a Square Blanket.  So last weekend I started this:

I imagine it will make a very pretty blanket when it’s all done– if I ever finish…

I’ve been obsessed with the stripey blanket crochet-along pattern and couldn’t resist starting yet another one.  I love the flexibility of changing colors and stitch patterns and stripes as I go, but there is a huge drawback to all that variety:

Yarn tails. Sigh.

So I’m back to my obsession with crocheting afghans.  I’ve been alternating between these two.  And I still have two others on the back burner, waiting to be finished.  There’s a part of my brain that’s encouraging me to start some granny squares, and I’m trying really hard to resist.  Plus, I’ve already got like a million yarn tails to weave in…

Last week Saturday, my cousin Joy texted me a photo of a blanket she was crocheting.  She thought she’d screwed up the pattern and wanted to know if her blanket could be fixed.  It looked salvageable to me.  I texted her back to give some encouragement.  I also was curious to see the original pattern.  She sent me the link to check it out.  It was called the As-We-Go Stripey Blanket and once I saw the original post and photos of the completed blanket, I wanted to try my hand at crocheting one for myself.

Even though I was in the middle of about five different WIPs, I had to start this new afghan right away.  On Sunday afternoon, I’d completed this much:

And by the end of the week, I’d gotten this far:

I’m using the Attic 24 Sunny Color pack because I started this project in Ventura, and that’s the only yarn I had with me.  It’s been fun to follow the crochet-along instructions, but to be honest, I am not happy with the pairing of this particular pattern with this particular color palette.  At this point, though, I’ve put in too much time and color changes to start unraveling the whole thing.

I guess I’ll just have to finish it and start a new one using a different color palette.

I started crocheting this blanket in January, I think.  I purchased the yarn online from Wool Warehouse; it was the Attic 24 Original Stylecraft Special DK yarn pack.

The thing about following a pattern that’s already laid out for me is that I don’t have to think.  I can just sit with my hook and yarn, zone out, and fall into the rhythm of crochet, which can go by very quickly.  This is a particularly soothing activity when I’ve spent all day in prison being a psychologist and need to unwind.

One thing I did differently from the pattern, though, was the border.  I substituted a scalloped edging instead.

Overall, I think it turned out well.  Crocheting this particular style of blanket was such an enjoyable and satisfying project that I’m already planning to make another one.

I was really trying to stick to just one project and not start another one until I finished the granny stripe blanket.  I couldn’t do it.  This week I started knitting a new sock, and then I began crocheting a new afghan.  It’s the Attic 24 Cottage Blanket yarn pack and pattern.

You’ll notice that I didn’t take the time to weave in those tail ends.  Old habits die hard.

I’ve made more progress on the Attic 24 Granny Stripe afghan.  It’s going a lot faster than the Coast Ripples blanket, mainly because I’m crocheting clusters of three double crochet, rather than two hundred-something double crochets per row.  It’s been a lot of fun to change colors and see the contrasting stripes emerge, but oh man, do those tail ends kill me.

My feet.  Hiding my embarrassing need for a pedicure.

I’m obsessed with crocheted blankets right now.  Shortly after I finished the Coast Ripples afghan, I started the Attic 24 Granny Stripe blanket.  For this particular project, I like having a predetermined sequence of colors to follow.  I enjoy not having to think at all about which color goes well with what, and it’s fun to see the big picture unfold in a paint-by-numbers sort of way.

I’ve also been spending a lot of time daydreaming about making another granny square afghan, especially after seeing Rosina’s lovely blanket on Zeens and Roger.  Then I have to remind myself that a) I’m trying to be more disciplined about having less WIPs, b) I don’t enjoy weaving in tail ends, and c) a blanket made entirely of granny squares would mean a shit ton of tail ends and heartache.  The last granny square afghan that I made still has half its tail ends hanging out.

Anyway, so there’s all that, and then another part of me wants to just start casting on for a new pair of socks.

I finally, finally finished my Coast Ripple afghan.  I actually completed the border a few days ago, but only got around to taking a decent photo today because the sun finally came out.

It had been overcast and gray around here the last few days, which was actually okay with me.  I had this nice large blanket to keep me warm.