Maybe Too Much Progress

I think right now I am in one of those yarn-related funks where I am getting stuff done but it really doesn't feel like it because my efforts are spread out among too many projects. Currently I have three things in the works: the dragon blanket, my Color Affection shawl, and an impromptu project for my kiddo.

Dragon blanket in progress.

This is actually coming along a lot better than I had hoped for, I am just kind of stalled out at the moment because of another project. The two panels with the dragons, which is the actual finicky part of the blanket, is sixty rows. I have done twelve already. I can do at least six in a day (when I actually get to sit down and work on it). After that it's just twenty more rows of the stripes and the border. Easy peasy. It's just a matter of actually doing it.

For the record, I am really pleased with how the dragons seem to be turning out thus far. I mean, I know that's their tails but I can see how it will play out, I think, and it will rock. I was a little worried since my sample swatch was in half-double crochet and I am doing the blanket in double crochet. But the change doesn't seem to have messed anything up.

Dimensions in Space in progress.

So here's my shawl. I was going to try to finish it before starting the dragon blanket but I kind of got a little burned out and had to take a break from it. I've got maybe ten rows left in the second section and then I get to start the "short" rows, which sound fabulous to me! I have a wedding to go to in October and the goal is to have this finished by then so I can wear it. We shall see if that happens. I think if I can do a few rows a week on it at least, and maybe give it a full week in between each big project, that will be doable.

Cuddle Up blanket in progress.

(Now with cat tail for scale!)

This one is kind of the current distraction. I am hoping to get it done today though, actually. We've been having some issues with my daughter's sleep patterns and I have been trying out some new strategies to get her back on track. This is one of them. Since she quit sucking her thumb, she has lost her trigger to make herself go to sleep without just running herself until she keels over. My thought is that if she has a special blanket that she can grab whenever she is starting to feel sleepy but doesn't want to get in bed yet, that might help the transition a little bit. But you can see why this one has kind of taken priority.

Anyhoo, it's just a big granny square. I had four skeins leftover from my last blanket so I am using those up. Quick and easy. Well, it would be, if life wasn't being so distracting. For some reason I have been having a hard time finding a chance to just sit for an hour or two each day to actually play with my yarn. It's been sporadic at best. But my goal for this week is to work on that. A Cori who doesn't get her allotted yarn-play time is really not a happy Cori, after all.

Also, for those wondering about the yarn circle, last week's meeting saw much progress! We managed to move on to single crochet and both of my friends seem to be getting the hang of it. With practice it should become completely natural to them. We are skipping a week since I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday, but we'll kick off August right with our next session. Should be fun times.

Yarn Circle!!

Remember forever ago when I mentioned that I wanted to get a yarn circle started, where I could hang out and crochet (or knit) with friends of mine who were also interested in playing with yarn? Well, I put the feelers out a while back and I had a few friends express an interest in learning to crochet. So this past Thursday I finally got my act together and invited them over for their first lesson.

I put together little starter kits for each of them:

Hooks, scissors, and an instruction book with a few patterns!

I got out all of the remnants in my stash so that everyone could work with the yarn of their choosing (and take home as much as they wanted for practice).

I crocheted up some small swatches as examples of the basic stitches.

Single crochet in side-to-side.

Single crochet in the round.

Half-double crochet side to side.

Half-double crochet in the round.

Double crochet side to side.

Double crochet in the round.

I also had m favorite reference book on hand to show them and recommend for if they decide to keep up with this. 

The Crochet Answer Book is a fantastic resource. 

I had initially thought I would take them through the three stitches I had made samples for and then walk them through a granny square. I may have been overambitious in my goals, however. I also forgot how utterly alien the motions of crocheting are to those who haven't done it before and realized that while I had given much thought on how to explain the stitches shown above, I had neglected to work out how to explain actually getting started. 

We had a great time, but we did more socializing than playing with yarn. Also, we had three two year olds running around, and even with my wonderful mother-in-law on hand to wrangle kiddos, our attention was divided. 

Still, we did eventually get down to the yarn of it all and we worked on the most basic part of crochet, the chain. They did pretty well:

Miss A's chain.

Miss T's chain.

They were very patient with me and both agreed they want to keep at it, yay! So I sent them home to practice their chains and they are coming back over this Thursday. I think once we've got chains down we'll start on single crochet. I am debating whether or not to just dive in to doing that in the round, since they've both expressed an interest in learning to make hats. We shall see what we shall see. 

I am looking forward to our next session, that's for sure! It's quite wonderful to be getting the chance to share something I love and that is such a big part of my life with some of my very favorite people.