Babette Beginnings

When I crocheted that dishcloth a couple of weeks ago, to keep my fingers busy while watching TV during a round of the not-quite-sick-blahs, I never imagined that I would be setting out to create an entire blanket just a couple of weeks later.

This crafting thing, it’s freaky.  It takes over my brain.  And my fingers.

In my last post, I mentioned that I had gone to Joann’s and purchased some of every color of CottonEase they had available (except white – it was too white, somehow).   I already had 2 balls of “Lake” at home, so the entire bounty of CottonEase looked like this:

Wow.  That’s 10 colors, right there (terracotta, lime, stone, charcoal, lake, almond, taupe, maize, violet and berry).

On Saturday afternoon, I started with Panel 1 of the pattern – a 12 round square.  It took me the rest of the day to finish it.

Then on Sunday, I didn’t do much at all except crochet squares.  By the time I finally stopped myself that night, I had completed panels 2 and 3.  By the time I was finishing the last 2 2-round squares, I was hunched over, getting a cramp in my hand.  I didn’t mean to get so crazed (“Must. Finish. Two. More.”), it just kind of happened.

Here’s the final result of my obsessive hooking over the weekend:

What you can sort of see in this picture is that I’m trying to weave in my ends as I go along.  I managed the first 3 big squares, but then got a little obsessive about crocheting and didn’t bother on the smaller squares on the bottom row.  But before I started the next panel on Monday night, I made sure to weave in the ends of the other squares.  Now, I won’t start a new square until the ends are woven in on the previous.  So far it’s working.  If it stops working, I may have to offer myself treats in the form of chocolate.

I think I said in an earlier post “I wish CottonEase came in more colors.”  Ha!  As it turns out, I’m having a really hard time choosing which colors to use at any given time.  I’m starting to just feel the yarn skeins to see which ones I’ve used more or less, and then use the ones that feel “fuller.”  It’s not very scientific, but I think it’s keeping me from over-using certain colors.

At one point last night, I made a really pretty square, and kind of wished I had only used those three colors to make the entire blanket (stone, taupe and berry).  I briefly considered just starting over.  This thought lingered about 3 seconds before being shoved into the back of my brain.  I’m too far in.  I want to see what I end up with, even if it turns out to be a hot mess due to my lack of ability to put these colors together in pleasing combinations.

Panel 4 should be finished by the weekend.  Onward!

Filed in: Crochet