Crochet-y

The blankets keep tumbling off the hook around here, owing largely to a small baby boom amongst my friends. This evening I finished the second of this pattern (slightly different yarn this go round, but not so crazy that you need a picture of both) for a friend who just brought her daughter home from Ethiopia. (The first went to some nearby friends who just had their second daughter.)

I will admit that normally I'm not a blocker - but I think I may give blocking a shot on this one as it doesn't quite fold up the way I'd like (meaning that it's not really square - or rectangular if you'd like to be all crazy precise) so I figure it can't hurt. And who knows, I may decide that it's the new thing for a good and finished look.

Next up is a blanket for our friends' older daughter who loves the one I made for her baby sister and asked very politely if I would make one for her. I found a pattern called Kitties on a Fence that I'm going to give a whirl - it uses 3 colors and I'm a tad nervous. In theory I know how to switch colors...we'll see how that theory translates into practice.

At the same time, I may also start a knitting project - I have some sock yarn that's calling my name. And while it's too warm right now for socks, at the rate I knit, they'll be close to finished sometime close to when the weather changes. They'll be my first pair of socks, at that, so that promises to be a heap of fun and new fascinating experiences. (I'm hoping to avoid frustration on the level that has me swearing off knitting for the rest of my life and running back into the arms of my crochet hook. Knitting just seems so much more versatile...though it pains me to write that as crocheting is so much easier and faster.)

If the knitting goes well, I may actually return to the sweater I started five...six? years ago. I think I'm almost finished with the back panel. And I had told my mom I'd make her a shawl for her birthday but, owing to the underwhelming response, I may frog what I'd started of that and do something else with the yarn. Cause the yarn is gorgeous and soft and I'm thinking that Tim and I might need another blanket to snuggle under while watching TV - something a bit more aesthetically pleasing than our usual poncho liner. (Don't get me wrong, the poncho liner is a thing of beauty on the "keeps me warm" scale, but it's camo - and camo really doesn't go with my decor.)

All this to keep from dwelling on the fact that unless a miracle happens - and oh how I'm praying for that miracle! - my PhD is probably back to square one. As in choosing a new idea and starting over. Bleh. I can't even type about it yet. Sufficient to say that things are currently pear shaped and so...we crochet.