You are getting very sleepy...

Oh, you're not? Hmm...must be me then. Sigh. Baby girl was wide awake all day yesterday and most of the night. She wasn't fussy, just awake, and once bedtime rolled around, wanting to play. Of course. She seems to have developed a propensity for keeping me up super late on Saturdays now that we have to get up early to go to church on Sundays. Sigh. But it could be worse for sure.

Anyhoo, on to crochet! I am still plodding along with the Flower Box Afghan. I am past the halfway point on the squares, so maybe I will have the blanket done by the end of October, knock on wood. For the most part I have been only letting myself work on my B project after getting two squares done for the blanket, but Friday I got kind of into a groove with my sock. I had hoped I could get the first sock finished this weekend. It's looking like that won't happen, but I will get close for sure. I am on the foot now--it's a cuff down sock. Here's a glimpse of where I was early last night:

So this week I am hoping to get at least another ten or twelve squares done and finish the first sock then get a decent start on the second. It's also October on Thursday (wow) so I'll be doing my October square, whee! Wow, only one more after that, and then there's a blanket to assemble. Crazy times.

Anyhoo, I hope all is well with you and that you have a lovely week. In the meantime I think I am going to seek out a nap...

Progress and diversions.

Ahh, another Sunday, another update. I've got 29 out of 56 squares done on my Flower Box Afghan. Just over halfway done, yay! Of course, then I have to assemble them. That's going to be an interesting jigsaw puzzle to be sure.

I also did decide to go ahead and embark on my second Great Sockmaking Adventure. So far this one isn't nearly the epic failure that the first GSA turned into. In order to make sure that I don't neglect my primary project (the blanket), I have to complete two squares of the blanket before I am allowed to work on the sock on any given day. Of course, if I end up traveling somewhere, obviously the more portable sock project would be the one I would take along (another reason I wanted to start giving socks a go again).

So, to business, or to details, rather. I am making the pattern Easy Does It by Janet Rehfeldt. It can be found in the book Crocheted Socks! 16 Fun-to-Stitch Patterns. My mom got me this book for my birthday two years ago, and I am glad to finally be able to try a pattern from it.

I am using Lion Brand's Sock-Ease in Taffy. I had actually purchased this yarn late last year or early in this year to use for a sweater but that wasn't working out, so now I have several skeins of it that I intend to use for socks. Gee, go figure. I am actually liking it so far, though I think it works up much better with the plastic hook than with the metal one. The pattern calls for two hooks--E for the cuff and D for the body of the sock. My E hook is plastic and my D is metal--if D is the standard sock size hook I think I may have to invest in a plastic one from LB soon.

Anyhoo, here's a peek at how it's going so far:

Good times. In other crochet news, my grandparents are visiting for the week and my grandmother noticed that a blanket she crocheted for me over twenty years ago (I still use and love this blanket) had an unraveling border. So she is fixing it for me. :o) That's kind of completely awesome. This is, by the way, the grandmother that taught me to crochet.

And, finally, in baby news, things still go pretty well. Baby girl has started to be a bit colicky but so far from everything I have heard from other parents it could still be much much worse. She is still remarkably well behaved in public, and I am extremely grateful for that to be sure. And, last but not least, her umbilical cord finally fell off this afternoon! I think she was trying to hold out for a record or something, I mean, she's only five weeks now. Golly.

But that's where things stand for me. I hope you are all happy and well! Have a super week folks.

C

Some progress at least...

Man, I don't know what your weather has been doing but it's been raining for the past three days here. We've gone from days in the nineties to the low seventies almost overnight. Of course, by this time next week it will probably be in the nineties again. Ahh, Texas.

Anyway, the rainy weather has definitely upped my crochet productivity. On days like this I just want to curl up with tea and a project. Good stuff.

I had hoped to get my September swap square and at least four squares from my blanket project done this week and I managed to hit that goal and then some. I am up to 17 squares out of 56, so that's definitely a step in the right direction!

Here's a glimpse at what I've got so far:

I've been using the yarn I have the most of leftover first, so I've been getting several from each color. I think I can get one more square out of the rose and then I've got a nice deep red to move on to. So, goal for this week, get the red finished off.

I keep getting the urge to go ahead and start on a pair of socks though, so it is entirely possible I may break my "one project at a time" policy soon and get that going. I will definitely let you know if that happens.

Well, until next week, then. Have a great one!

Ooh, bonus...

Well, sadly, I have to report that I did not get any crocheting done this week. Bad Cori. Not really a surprise though, with a newborn taking up so much of my time. We are slowly figuring out a way to balance out her needs and wants with me getting to engage in my normal activities though. This past week we tackled cleaning and reading. Next up, crocheting and computer time. My goal for this week is to get my September square made/mailed and to finish at least four more squares for my current afghan project. Fingers crossed.

On the plus side though, since it's the first post of the month, I do have photos of last month's squares for you, yay! The pattern for August was St. Petersburg by Jan Eaton. It is available in the book 200 Crochet Blocks for Blankets, Squares, and Afghans.

Here is the one I made my sis:

And here is the one she made me:

I really dug this pattern. I could see making a whole blanket out of this that would look really groovy. Also, it was my first chance to make a square out of my block patterns book, so that was fun. I will have to look through it for our October square pattern, methinks. Ooh, I hope I can get back into finding some crochet time each day, or at least a few days a week. Once I get my scrap yarn blanket done I want to find projects for some of the special yarn I have been accumulating over the last year. I have a feeling most of those might be socks, but I think if I am only crocheting a little a day, I might not get as bored/frustrated with the patterns. I dunno, we'll see I guess. Fingers crossed.

Anyhoo, I don't know if I've mentioned this, but since our mom is also very big into fiber crafts (she is an extremely talented knitter), we decided to ask her to contribute to our swap. So instead of doing a square for December, our mom knitted a square for each of us, and that will go into the final blankets (which we will assemble in December). Mom went ahead and worked up our squares while she was visiting in August, and here is the one she made for my blanket:

Awesome, huh?

Well that's about it for me this week. I'll wrap up with a baby update, for those who are interested. Baby girl had her first well baby check-up this past Monday (two weeks) and she has gained back her birth weight and then some. She's still teeny but definitely growing. Doctor said she is looking great, yay! For the most part she is sleeping really well at night--she usually takes her long break between feedings (four to five hours), and then sleeps pretty solidly between the two hour intervals as well. Let's hope this lasts. Also, I am slowly getting more comfortable taking her out of the house. She made her public debut at the church luau last weekend and then Friday we ate out with her for the first time. She and I went to the grocery store by ourselves on Thursday without incident. She came to church this morning and was extremely well behaved, yay! For my part, I am doing alright. I am a little frayed around the edges, but the getting out of the house definitely helps. My husband has been amazing, and thanks to his night owl nature is able to have some Daddy time with her at night when I am ready for bed but she still feels like staying up. Also, he has offered to work from home one day this week and watch her while I take myself to a movie. That will be nice for sure.

So that's what's up in Cori-land. I hope things are equally groovy with all of you! Have a wonderful week and a very happy Labor Day!

Until next time,

C