On the crochet front...

What better time than Valentine's week to post about finishing a blanket I've dubbed "Sweetheart Blanket".

Can you see little hearts in the shell pattern of this blanket?

If you can't, don't stress.  The blanket is actually called Corn on the Cob, and it's from the book Weekend Afghans (ISBN-10: 0806964871).  It was originally crocheted in all yellow yarn - which is where its likeness to corn on the cob ended, so if you don't see corn on the cob, don't stress that either.  For some reason, the first time I came across the pattern, I saw heart shapes in all those pretty shells.  I don't see them so much this time, but the name has stuck, and I have now made my second Sweetheart Blanket in a pink gradient.  

So that's two blankets now on the books in my quest to burn through some yarn stash this year.

Also crochet related...  In January I decided to join again with a Block-A-Month Crochet-A-Long (BAMCAL, for short) group on Ravelry.  The idea behind this group is that you crochet along with others two different blocks each month (that are picked out by the moderators of the group), and by the end of the year you've made enough blocks to make a large blanket.   I think it was 2017 that I joined this group and crocheted my first block for my "blanket of many blocks".  It is now 2024 and I have taken stock and see that I've made a total of seven blocks in all this time.  In case I've lost you, let me do the math...  

That's an average of one-block-a-year!  

Now, a lap blanket is made up 12 squares, a throw is 20 squares, and a full size blanket would be made up of around 30 squares.  Clearly, I need to rethink this project, as I will not live long enough to complete a blanket at the rate I am going on this.

Fortunately for me, I've learned some things in my 7 years of slow-poking my way to a blanket made of various and diverse squares.

While I love the idea of crochet-a-longs, I have questionable follow-through.  What I love is the camaraderie and encouragement one gets when doing something as part of a group.  What I don't love is making something (anything, really) that someone else has picked out.  So, just a month after declaring I was rejoining the 2024 BAMCAL, I'm parting from the pack and going my own way on this.  Fortunately, the group has a thread where participants can share their "non-cal" squares, so that will allow me to be in on some of the fun.  And no one seems to mind if anyone completes a blanket made up entirely of the monthly squares, so it appears I can still hang out with these peeps and do my own thing to some degree.

I've already created a file on Ravelry of square patterns that look like ones I'd enjoy making, and ought to work well with the colors I've chosen to work with.

Currently, I'm working on a square called Sage Advice (which, actually, was one of the January BAMCAL squares):

I'm almost done crocheting it, and will soon move on to sewing in the ends.

It looks like a mess, and like something that would be tedious to do.  While I don't love this part of a project, if I put on the right mindset, I can find sewing in ends almost as meditative as crocheting.  It's all a part of the process.

Now, that I've gotten some clarity about how to finish this blanket-of-many-squares project, wish me well on the follow-through and execution!

What do you enjoy listening to?

A lot of people crochet and knit while they watch TV.  I try to, but since I take my glasses off when I do handwork, and I need my glasses for TV viewing, I either end up doing a lot of frogging, or rewinding.  Actually, to be perfectly honest, I do a fair amount of both those things and it's often less than satisfying.

My happiest arrangement is to watch/listen to YouTube videos on my phone while my hands are busy with something else - especially if my brain doesn't need to be deeply concentrating on what my hands are engaged in.  The types of YouTube videos I watch rarely need me to pay close attention to a screen.  I also listen to Spotify sometimes, and more rarely, I listen to a recorded book while doing my handcrafts - rarely only because I have trouble concentrating on someone reading aloud.

Recently, I have rediscovered two of my favorite podcasts from the not-too-long-ago past now on Spotify (and other platforms).

I was pretty hooked on Darkhorse Podcast from its inception, but once COVID hit, and it soon became evident the news media were doing their best to keep us frightened and ignorant, I found Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying a breath of fresh air.  The insights, that come from their professional backgrounds as biology professors, who also have real world experience, were (and I'm sure still are) an exercise in thinking logically.  Never downplaying the seriousness of COVID, they pointed out many of the things that didn't make sense in how it was being handled.  For those of us who were nearly driven crazy by the blatant censorship of information during the most worrisome years of COVID, I found their podcasts to be a dose of sanity.  Instead of fear mongering, they applied their intellects to the situation, and while they certainly didn't always have answers, they had logical responses.  All that said, they are two very long-winded and heady individuals.  While I love that up to a point, even I can only take so much.  In time I watched them less and less, probably as COVID became less and less scary (thanks to their insight, if I'm honest), hence now I'm re-discovering them.  I see they've moved on from COVID, and appear to be applying their intellects to various topics that I imagine are interesting to a wide audience.  Not everyone will like everything, but there's probably something in their catalog of videos that will interest nearly everyone.

A few years ago a fellow blogger made mention of SmartHerNews, and when I checked her out I was truly impressed at the non-biased news reporting Jenna Lee does.  I don't know Jenna Lee's story well, but she says she left traditional news media (at the time, she was with Fox), so that she could cover the news from as unbiased a position as possible.  She was among the first people (even before mainstream media) who had contact with a journalist on the ground in Afghanistan right in the middle of the evacuation in 2021.  I have not been disappointed in her or her interviewees.  I only wish she produced more content.  I was just wondering where she was, and why I hadn't heard from her in a while, when an email today pointed me to her podcasts on Scoop and Spotify.  Jenna Lee is actually the inspiration for this post.

I look forward to getting my fill again of these podcasters while I crochet, knit and stitch.

And now, to finally share my latest finished crochet project.

You may remember seeing this some posts back:

It has turned into this:

This pattern is, no doubt, available free somewhere by another name, but I used The Bertie Blanket pattern, and I have to say it is a fun stitch to do.  I've made it differently in the past, and I can imagine a number of possibilities using this pattern with scrap yarn.   I don't remember if the border I made is the same as the pattern's, but in case you're curious, the final round of the border is the crab stitch - it's single crochet stitched backwards.  It always sounds impossible to do when I haven't done it in a while, but it's actually super easy, and makes for a nice, understated edge.

Soon, I'll have another blanket to show.  I just need a sunshiny day to get some good natural light inside to photograph with.

Enjoy your weekend!

A finish. And some frustrations...

I've got a finish!   I drug my heels a ridiculously long time on this small Bertie Blanket, but I'm happy to say it's done and I'm sure I'll make more (I already have colors picked out for another one).   

I intended to make a more interesting border, but with the variegated yarn nothing I tried looked quite right, so it got a simple single crochet border.  And I decided that's good enough.  

~~~~~

Now.  As you look at the next picture - of my partridge in a pear tree cross stitch - you may ask yourself "why does this look different than it did before?"   

It's a sad and too-long-to-tell-here story, but it involved not being one bit happy with the back-stitched feather detail and the only way to redo it was to rip out all the main color on the wings.  At which point I decided to try another color, which I like just fine, but now I'm afraid to try any more back-stitching on it.  On paper, in the small picture the feather detail looks okay.  In real life it really doesn't.  And without any feather detail, the points and curves in the red sections don't make much sense.   

So I'm not sure what to do with this.  Does it look okay to just leave it like it is?  I've considered lightly drawing some shading on the thread, but I could seriously mess that up and then I'm right back to my only option being to rip it out again.  And I just can't imagine doing that again.  

I'm okay with the thing as a whole, but the wings have me flummoxed and discouraged.   I've put it aside to think about before stitching it into a small pillow, or just tossing it in the circular file and calling it a "learning experience".   

Ideas are welcome.

~~~~~

You'd think that would be enough disappointment, wouldn't you?  Well, after putting my partridge aside, I  decided to get out the Evenweave fabric I bought recently at Jo-Ann Fabrics and start another project.  But after I stitched half a small project I realized that the weave of the fabric is not even.  Unfortunately, it took some stitching before I could see the distortion.  Ugh.  I'd show a picture, but I ripped it out before that occurred to me.   An online search netted me some reviews that told me I'm not the only one who's had this experience with this no-company-name-on-the-label product sold at Jo-Ann's.  Be forewarned.  Don't buy it!

I'm returning two unopened packages this week, but this was a disappointment.   Between my partridge's wings and the Evenweave that isn't even,  I lost my steam to do any other cross stitching the rest of the week.    

~~~~~

All that aside, though, it was a busy and interesting week - most of which I can't really write about here.  But a fun part of last week was visiting with my husband's Uncle Art and his wife, Beth, who traveled east from California for various family events.  It was a sweet time spent with them on Thursday evening.

Also this past week, I donated a couple of kitchen-sized garbage bags full of yarn to a fund-raiser rummage sale, but don't go patting me on the back.  Midweek I bought more yarn when an online retailer was offering free shipping and they had in stock some yarn in a color I've been trying to get ahold of.  I don't feel badly at all about that purchase, but as soon as it arrives and I log it into my Ravelry inventory, my stash-busting numbers (recorded below) are going to take a serious reversal.  

So, while at the end of June it will probably only appear that I'm inching toward my goal, today I take pleasure in seeing a number that makes it look like I've made some significant progress toward reducing my stash by 100 (or more) skeins of yarn this year.  

2019 Yarn Stash-Down progress:  58.04/100 skeins!

One last thing.  Last week I forgot to mention any dishcloths knitted up during May.  Probably because I didn't do much.  I made a whopping three cloths:  

I've got a finish!!!

Finally!

It's hard to tell from the photo, but the colors are 
a minty green, white and light gray 

(the edge and long stitches are in gray)

This Hexagon Baby Blanket ended up being a happier project to work on than the one I started out doing a month or so ago.    I'm so glad I switched.  It's a very easy pattern that went fairly speedily when I applied myself to it.  I will probably make this pattern again some day.  

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I recently found a place that was a ready recipient of my baby and child-size blankets.  I've made a number of them over the years with no recipients in mind - just because I love making blankets.  That said, I was starting to feel a bit burdened about having so many around.

Well, I finally decided to get serious about finding a place to donate them, and after calling several places that didn't have need of them I began to think my blanket days might just be drawing to a close.   And then I was talking with a friend from Michigan who'd recently begun serving on the board of a Foster Closet, and she suggested that idea as a possible donation site.  That hadn't occurred to me!   Within a few minutes of searching on the internet I was able to find several foster closets within a 30-miles radius.  But digging deeper I found a fairly new one just up the road from me.  I e-mailed them, and within minutes they responded with a hearty "Yes! We'd love to have your blankets!"   

So just like that - I'm back in the blanket making business!  I'm glad, too, because blankets are a great way to burn through stash.   I'm happy making them, and hopefully children in trauma and experiencing terrible upheaval in their lives are in some small way comforted by a fresh new soft blanket of their own.

~~~~~

On a different note...  last week I  became the temporary holder of  I-can't-even-count-how-many vintage cross stitch magazines.  Here's just a sampling (seriously, I don't even want to count how many there are):

Eventually, they will be on their way to a fund-raising event, but being the transporter of them I get to enjoy the eye candy for now, and have picked out a few patterns I think I might like to make. 

And wouldn't you know...  just this week Sandra of farmgirlsam, and Jenn of Jenn's Crafty World, mentioned in her latest Flosstube video Stitch Maynia (a cross stitch challenge during the month of May).  All kinds of cross-stitchers are posting about this right now, but these two ladies in particular have inspired me as they include cross stitch into their various projects.

So...  While I'm not officially participating in Stitch Maynia, I am hoping to start some small cross stitch projects.   We'll see how far this interest really goes - and frankly, we'll see if I actually cross stitch anything.  But starting May 1st, I'm going to be following along - mostly just watching other Mayniacs as they start new projects, and hopefully gathering inspiration from them.

~~~~~

Since it's the last Sunday in April, here's a picture of ten dishcloths I knitted up this month:

I've been in a pastel sort of mood...

And now, I have a confession to make...  I had to make a trip to Hobby Lobby to get some more gray yarn to finish the blanket above, and when I saw on their weekly flyer that crochet thread was on sale, I told myself I could buy a few balls of it.  And I did. I bought 6 balls of pretty colored thread.   And one skein of yarn for the blanket.   I know none of that matters to anyone but me, but it has set me back a bit in reaching my goal.   That said, overall I'm still ahead of the game so I'm not hanging my head too low.  😉 

To see what other YOPers are up to 

visit our group on Ravelry!

2019 Yarn Stash-Down progress:  39.4/100 skeins

Another sweet baby blanket...

After playing yarn chicken and winning (by less than a yard!) I finished the body of my C2C baby blanket this week.   

Before I reached that point, though, it became obvious I wasn't going to have any blanket yarn left to add to the border - which would have been my preference.  So I spent an inordinate amount of time sifting through every shade of pink, white and gray I had until I finally settled on a smidge of white with gray scallops:

I second-guessed the border the whole time I was making it, but in the end...  I think it works.  For something I figured out as I went,  I was actually pleasantly surprised at how well it works.

~~~~~

Note:  ESL = English as a Second Language.  

On the "what's new?" front, I began meeting with a new ESL conversation partner this past week.  After my last ESL partner got a job, I asked to hold off until after the holidays before being matched with someone new.  Well, the holidays (and the entire winter) came and went without another match, and while I was kind of thankful because my work hours picked up, I found I missed this ESL thing very much.

Just as I was getting ready to contact the coordinator to see if she had anyone for me yet, she contacted me and told me she had TWO ladies for me to choose from!  I was so excited I almost asked if I could have them both!   😃  

But I decided that might be a little ambitious since I'm still kind of new at this, so I tempered my excitement and chose a young lady from Mexico who is attending adult classes in the evening.  We met for the first time last Tuesday and I was dumbfounded to look up at the clock to find that 2 hours had passed where we were only expected to meet for 1 hour.  😮

She seemed as happy as I was with the match, so another adventure begins!   If this type of thing sounds appealing, my encouragement is to just jump in and give it a try. There are so many opportunities - I do this as a volunteer through our county library system (through the library's adult learning center), but there are organizations, churches and schools that look for ESL tutors and conversation partners.  I have a few friends and acquaintances who do this for pay, but honestly...  at present, I prefer doing this on a volunteer basis.  Bottom line, though...  I wish I hadn't hesitated jumping into this when the idea presented itself a few years ago. There's truly no time like the present!

To see what other YOPers are up to

visit our group on Ravelry.

2019 Yarn Stash-Down progress:  34.13/100 skeins

Goodbye February!

Even though spring is more 3 weeks away, it's March and that means spring's a comin'!  And I am soooo glad about it.

February was not an normal month for me.  There were busy weeks sprinkled with long quiet, unproductive days all which left me feeling a bit - I don't know... kind of unsettled.  Or maybe just feeling kind of dull.  It wasn't bad - not by any means.  But I'm glad it's passed.  Goodbye February!

Last week was a mostly busy week that found my crojo waning, but I did manage to get this little baby blanket finished:

It's a simple Corner to Corner stitch pattern with a border made up of linen stitch, finished off with a sweet little scallop. 

There's just not much to say about it except, "another project finished, another one of those huge 1-lb skeins out of my stash!"  Yippee!

Late in the week I tried crocheting a pink baby blanket (with another of those huge 1-lb skeins), but the pattern calls for a hook that is larger than would normally be suitable for the yarn and the result is lots of splitting.  Ugh.  I've tried off and on in my free moments this weekend to keep going, but I'm calling it quits.  

The stitch pattern isn't inspiring me, and I really dislike working with a hook that is too large for the yarn.  Bah.  I'm putting it in time out for a bit while I decide what to do here.  

~~~~~

A yarny side note:

Last night we had friends over for pizza and a movie (it's a tradition we started with this family a couple of years ago).  We don't have enough seating for everyone, so three of the kids sprawled on cushions on the floor and covered themselves up with blankets.   I wish I had thought to take a picture.  The ones on the floor each chose a different crocheted blanket I had made -- the little girl asking for a specific one - she even asked me privately if she could use the one she had picked out the last time.  It was her favorite, she said.  That just melted my heart.

I'd love to give this blanket to her, but I'm also tickled that it's a special blanket she enjoys using when we host Dinner & a Movie Night at our house.  I'm well aware that we are making some good memories with this family and the power of a memory of a special blanket used when visiting could be greater than the everyday pleasure of owning it.   Then again, she might just swoon over it every time she enters her bedroom (it's big enough to cover a twin size bed).  And then again, she might just get tired of it if she saw it everyday and eventually she'd realize just how gawdy it is - and that it goes with nothing, really. 

Not to make more of this than it is, but while I'm mulling over the above thoughts, I'm curious if anyone has a thought to share.  Don't feel like you have to have a thought.  I'm just letting  you into my brain today.  Welcome.  😊

Meanwhile... to see what other YOPers are up to, 

visit our group on Ravelry.

yes, it is snowing again today...

2019 Yarn Stash-Down progress:  25.44/100 skeins

A simple and sweet baby blanket...

I started the week attempting to knit a child's scarf with a Caron Cake yarn I purchased at the height of the Caron Cake frenzy, but I grew unhappy with it on several counts - 1) the yarn seemed too thin for the type of scarf I was making, and 2) I don't care for how long the color repeats are - again for the type of scarf I'm making.

Unfortunately, I cut the yarn before deciding this was an unsatisfactory project.  Fortunately, I didn't invest more time in this before deciding to call it quits.  One can always be thankful when calling it quits before something has become a too-huge of a time-sink.

So early yesterday I declared the scarf frog-worthy and I set my mind to finishing the Corner to Corner baby blanket I had begun a week or so ago.

It's a simple blanket, but I'm satisfied with how it turned out:

The yarn used was DK weight Loops & Threads Snuggly Wuggly Big! yarn.  Prior to washing, it's not the snuggly-wuggliest yarn I've ever used, but the skein was certainly big!  It weighed in at 396 grams (14 ounces), and measured 1154 meters (1263 yards) in length.   I have 52.5 grams (1.85 oz) - just over 150 meters (or 165 yards) left over - if I've done the math right.  And now I'm wondering if that's enough for a baby cap.   I'm thinking probably so - for a newborn hat?

And that's all she wrote (and hooked) this week.  To see what other Yoppers are up to, visit our thread on Ravelry.

Stash Busting...

Isn't it happy-making to finish a project?  This week I finished the ripple blanket I'd recently started:

I used the American Waves Throw pattern, but made mine baby blanket size.  I couldn't tell you how many chains I started with.  With a project like this, I chain more than I know I'll need, then figure out how large I want the thing to be as I make the first row (removing the unused chains once I'm confident about the size).  To finish this off, I used the slip stitch foundation down the sides before adding a single crochet border.   I think that's all this blanket needed.  The solid section in the middle is larger than it appears in the picture, and with the different ripple stripes at both ends, I think I achieved a pleasingly asymmetrical look.  At least I think it works.

I used Red Heart Soft in the colors Seafoam, Charcoal and White.  I've got bunches, still, of the Seafoam color so you may see it from time to time in other projects.  Its softness makes it a nice yarn for a newborn blanket.  Who wouldn't want a blanket as soft as a cloud to wrap a sweet little newborn in?

And being on a bit of a kick to make some quick and easy projects and use up some stash, I started a Corner to Corner baby blanket:

The picture isn't much to look at, but the blanket is over half finished.  See that big skein in the background?  That was nearly a pound of yarn when I began this blanket.  It was ginormous and goofy looking when I toted it to a friend's house this week with a newly started blanket.  Now that I've tamed the skein and it looks almost normal-sized, I'm hoping I have enough to work some of the color into the border.  I may be playing yarn chicken with this one.

To see what other Yoppers are up to, visit our group on Ravelry.

A week of randomness...

On one hand it's been a quiet week.  Nothing exciting.  On the other hand it's been a week full of distraction.

The week started out with the discovery of a water leak and a couple of days of having a plumber here -- first to diagnose the problem, then to do what we all hoped was an easy fix.  A week later we're realizing the leak is still there.  What makes the leak hard to diagnose is that it's likely in a pipe that is buried in a cement floor in the basement - an expensive and messy proposition to fix because cement will need to be busted through to make the repair.

I'll spare you the details, but with our family room somewhat in disarray (because an entire closet of games and other various stored items had to be emptied out), and a house project bigger than me staring me in the face every day, I've found life this week to be...  well...  a bit distracting.

Which meant I was a prime candidate for "see shiny new crochet project (on Ravelry), make shiny new crochet project!"

And I did!

First, I finished the All Shawl by Doris Chan:

The yarn is Lion Brand Heartland in the colorway Olympic.  I'd bought bunches of this yarn once upon a time thinking the color was gorgeous, but for some reason once I had it home I couldn't imagine what I'd actually make with it.

Being committed right now to working from stash as much as possible, I went stash diving.  I think this was a great project for this yarn.  It makes a drapey fabric, and isn't this lacy border pretty?

With that finished, I decided to give Planned Color Pooling a try for a  Learn Something New CAL on Ravelry...  I'd never (intentionally) done this before, so now seemed as a good a time as any to try.

Using a crocheted linen or moss stitch, at first I thought this technique maybe wasn't as hard as I had imagined.  I got to work and the first two repeats of the color pooling pattern looked pretty consistent:

But then, the argyle pattern started getting smaller:

And then this weird teeny argyle repeat happened (twice):

And then the pattern opened up again - to start the whole thing all over, presumably:

Not wanting to be defeated, and honestly feeling somewhat hooked on the technique, I searched for other helps and found a variety of resources.  Some people say consistent tension is important, some say counting the stitches per color is more important than tension.

I tried again, using Marly Bird's technique of neither counting the stitches, nor worrying about tension, but rather watching how the pattern moves.  This technique seemed more my style, but I found it too difficult to actually see the pattern moving as I was working it.  It's one thing to see the pattern clearly "moving" when you lay it down and step back from the fabric, or looking at a photograph.  But distinguishing just how the stitches are moving as you work each row isn't so simple when it's right in front of one's face.  Maybe this is easy for some people, but I found it extremely difficult.

After trying this technique a couple of different ways, I decided I needed to give the whole thing a rest.  I was mentally exhausted, and I don't care what anyone says - this is not easy.   Addictive, yes. Easy?  No.  Even Marly Bird admits that while it's addicting, people who've had success with planned color pooling will have frustrations at some point - because variegated yarns are all different.  And even the same colorway made in different dye lots may behave differently from one another.  I just don't know how much I want to do this if frustration is a given.

Exhausted and feeling the need to soothe my weary brain, I decided to start a ripple blanket I've been meaning to do for over a month now:

This is baby blanket sized and I'm enjoying the colors.  The ripple stripes are going to be random sizes for (what I hope is) a modern look.  This is another project made totally from stash and since I have more of the Seafoam (blue/green) color, the blanket will feature larger sections of that; the white and charcoal gray figuring in in such a way that I can make good use of what I have and hopefully finish those colors up as the blanket finishes.   It's an easy project that I imagine will be finished shortly.

And now I start a new week where once again, the first thing on the docket Monday morning is calling the plumber.  It's a good thing I like this plumber.  I'd just rather not have to see him so often (I don't think I mentioned we discovered this plumber when we had to have a new water heater installed earlier in the summer).   We've had our fill of water woes this year.

To see what other Yoppers are up to, visit our group on Ravelry!

Alley Cats...

My Alley Cat Kitty Cat Afghan is finished!  I love how simple this pattern was to do, and how fun the finished design is.  I've dubbed it Alley Cat because the variegated gray I used for some of the rows makes me think of tattered, gray alley cats.  It's a yarn I almost got rid of once upon a time because I didn't like how it looked crocheted up.  I'm glad I kept it, though, because I think it found its destiny in this blanket.   Now, I LOVE it.

After searching and searching for a border I liked, I finally just made up something.  I needed the border to be simple, but interesting.  I think this fit the bill: 

My border was made thus (to the best of my ability to remember and see what I did):

First, with the lighter variegated gray, I slip-stitched a foundation row down both sides of the blanket, taking care to crochet into only one loop for a smoother look on the "back side".  Note:  the ends of the blanket don't require a foundation row  - and in my opinion, you don't want to do a foundation row on the top and bottom edges or you'll have a thicker border there - because the slip stitches virtually disappear along the sides when you single crochet into them.

Then I did a round of single crochet stitches all the way around.  It appears that I did 3 sc's in each corner - my goal here was to just create a pleasing shape at each corner, so I suggest doing whatever number of sc's does that for you.

Then I did a round of half-double crochets in every single crochet stitch, making 4 or 5 hdc's in each corner (again, whatever number created a pleasing shape around the corner).

Finally, for the last round, I switched colors to the darker gray and crocheted around the hdc's of the row below - alternating front-post double crochet stitches and back-post double crochet stitches (just to provide a bit of textural interest) doing 5 dc's in each corner.  Note:  I had to fudge a couple of times as I approached the corners.  The best look here is to do a front-post double crochet bordering both sides of the 5 dc's in each corner.  Here's a super close-up of the corner detail:

And that's it!  Super simple.  It feels like the perfect border for my Alley Cat Blanket.  Simple, but full of texture.

As for the "running stitch" that was formed on the "back side" (when I slip-stitched into one loop on the "front side"...  it looks completely fine (as you can see in the above photo).  In fact, I took a whole set of pictures with that showing as the front side and I didn't even notice until I downloaded the pictures and starting looking for the running stitch.   I couldn't tell the difference which side was the "front" and which side was the "back" until I studied the pictures closely.  To be clear, I've written "front side" and "back side" in quotation marks because there really is no front or back to this.  You really can't see an appreciable difference when it's all finished.

This was a stash-buster  for me and the yarns I used were:
Premier Dream in Baby Fern
Red Heart Super Saver in Dove (the variegated gray)
Vanna's Choice in Charcoal Grey
Vanna's Choice in White

I love this blanket and can imagine making more (it's so easy and gratifying).  And I really love having discovered a new way to make a foundation row around the blanket before adding the border. I look forward to using this technique in some of my future (multi-colored) blankets.   If you missed it above, there is a link to a video tutorial in last week's post showing this slip-stitch border-foundation row technique.

~~~~~

And as I wrap this week up, I'll just give you a tease as to what new project I started this week:

It's the beginning of the Uwila Shawl.  So far, it's working up perfectly.  I think I'm about half-way (row-wise) to the cabled owl border.  I say "row-wise" because as a crescent shaped shawl, the rows are getting longer and longer, and it's going to just get slower and slower to complete those rows.  I've got a feeling this could take a while...

To see what other Yoppers are up to, visit our group on Ravelry.