2024 Q1 Update

So much for my intention to blog at least monthly in 2024! In my defense, I did put a ‘?’ after that one in my 2024 Goals list. It’s the last day of March, so let’s reframe that goal to be quarterly updates!

The year has gotten off to a great start crochet-wise. I’m going to organize this post by how well I hit my goals.

Whipping the Ancient WIPs

I went into 2024 with 11 Works In Progress (WIPs) and so far, at the end of March, I have completed 7 of them and I’m working on the 8th. I’ve been so intent on getting through them all that I haven’t started anything else, not even the Goldcrest Scarf CAL that I had given myself “permission” to do. I’ll save that for one of the first things that I get to after the pre-2024 WIPs. I was a little ambitious about getting through all of them by my birthday in early May, so I’m now going to set my sights on the end of June.

Finished Objects

Clicking on a project name will bring up my Ravelry page with more details about yarn, hook size, colors, and so on.

Everyday Bag

This was a kit I bought from Island Yarn (my Local Yarn Store) in 2019(!) that I never got around to making. The pattern is by Victoria Myers who is the LYS owner. I finally started it on Christmas Eve and finished it during the first week of the new year. I’m really pleased with how it came out! I should still block it and I bought some off-white felt to line it eventually and give it more structure.

Multivalence Mystery Crochet-a-Long

I only finished this one in the sense that I decided not to finish it! This was the 2023 Crochet-a-Long from Expression Fiber Arts. I had completed up to Clue 5, but I decided that I didn’t really have much use for a light weight, round blanket. Plus, I really wasn’t enjoying using this un-plied yarn for stitches like popcorns and puffs — too hard to keep all the strands together. This was making the experience less Zen-like than intended by the designer. So, no criticism of the designer or the design, just a bad choice of yarn on my part and not enough thought about whether I want the end product when impulsively joining a CAL.

I’m not one much for fancy tablecloths in my decorating, so I’ll probably donate this to a thrift shop and maybe someone with more Victorian decorating style can make use of it that way.

Wrapped in Jamie Crochet-a-Long

This is another CAL but one from 2019! I was stalled on it because I couldn’t decide if I wanted to add more squares. The squares take a long time, the theme isn’t quite my thing, and the official pattern border looked daunting, so I just let it languish. I finally decided to do a basic continuous join and call it done. The colors are pretty and the blanket is a good size and nice and squishy, so now it’s just one of the blankets on rotation in my family room and the family is enjoying it.

Around the Bases in Savannah

Next on my list was a blanket that wasn’t really a WIP technically. I had made a square called Savannah by Polly Plum last year with no particular plan in mind but the thought that it might make a good starting square for Around the Bases, a sampler pattern by ChiChi Allen. Since I had enough of the Big Twist yarn, and had only done part of Around the Bases in the past, I decided to complete the whole thing this time. The result is very cozy. I had planned to add it to the donation pile, but it’s been in use already so I might just keep it.

Aria Button Down Cardigan

To round out a very productive January, I finished the Aria Cardigan that I had started in 2022. As usual, my gauge is very loose and it ended up being a bit oversized, but better that than too small. I followed the pattern by Grace Forthefrills very closely though I did add some rows to make it longer. My goal was to make a garment I’d actually wear out of the house and I did succeed with that!

On the Seashore Crochet-a-Long

On February 1, I picked up the On the Seashore blanket that I had started as a CAL last year with the designer Rosina Plane. This will be a gift for my friend Jen for the Block Island beach house that she and her husband renovated recently for the benefit of her mother-in-law. I hadn’t even finished Part 1 in 2023. I decided to go make some adjustments to the pattern by inserting Rosina’s Seahorse Soulmates design in the middle and then repeating the first and second parts inverted to make it more balanced. To make the charts for the inverted shells at the end I just printed the original and re-did the placement of the X’s with a Sharpie pen.

I must say, I love how this came out! I’m looking forward to giving it to Jen tomorrow when I see her.

Emma/Catona Squares

In February and March I finally finished making squares out of the 109 mini skeins from the Scheepjes Catona Colour Pack. I have been making Emma Squares since 2018 without having a final project in mind. I used those to make an Emma Squares Pillow with a removable cover (lined in black felt so the white pillow form wouldn’t show through the holes in the squares), 4 Coasters, and an Emma Squares Table Runner. Then I made ‘Little Love’ Linked Grannies to make Footrest Covers for two footrests in my master bedroom sitting area that had peeling tops, and 4 more coasters. And finally, I used the remaining 27 skeins to make a Tote Bag using a square from a Tuba Crochet tutorial I found on YouTube.

I’m particularly happy with how the footrest covers came out. All those squares did take me longer than I expected!

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Work In Progress

The 8th pre-2024 “Ancient WIP” is my current Work In Progress.

Terrazo Afghan

This is a mosaic crochet pattern by Tinna Thórudóttir that’s been in my queue for ages and that I had only made 2 squares to learn how to do mosaic in the round and to determine how much yarn I would need. Today is the last day of March and I now have 12 of the 35 squares done (and I will have plenty of yarn).

The in-the-round technique is a nice change from mosaic in rows because there are only 4 tails per square. I’m very much enjoying this project and I love the color changes of the Lion Brand Ferris Wheel yarn.

How’s Monogamy Treating You?

In addition to not starting any new projects, I’m also following my one-project-at-a-time goal. I think it’s very effective though I worry that it takes some enjoyment out of the specific project (I was mighty tired of making little Catona cotton squares for almost a month). But you get that back when the project is done and you feel good about finishing it and using up all or most of the yarn.

Still a Banner Year?

I’m also being fairly good about my yarn ban. The only exception is that my daughter C liked my Aria Cardigan and asked for one in Hunter green. Since I don’t have a sweater’s quantity of a natural fiber in that color, I did order some Cascade Superwash 220 from LoveCrafts. When it arrived, she was not keen on the color in real life, so we just ordered some LB Collection Superwash Merino today. I like the Cascade color myself, so I’ll keep it for a future sweater for me. I forgot say in my goals that I would make an exception for gift projects, but I would have had I thought about it.

Did I Knit Shit?

I’ve been so focused on finishing my WIPs, I haven’t started any knit projects, but I have been adding ones to my queue and identifying the yarn I’ll use.

What else is going up in my crafty life?

I almost made my goal of crafting daily except during a business trip to San Diego and a few days during my trip to San Antonio with my brothers/sisters/Mom.

I’m making good progress on making the sitting area in my master bedroom more organized and turning it into a craft oasis. The glass-doored cabinets are a good place to store some of my yarn, away from pets and dust. I still want to swap some stash that is in the basement craft closet with what’s in the cabinets (to keep the yarn for upcoming projects close at hand), but what is in both is neat and well documented in Ravelry, so that is not a priority. I would like to get a chair or loveseat in that space.

One last goal is I have been listening to more audio books while crocheting in the evening, which is better than mindlessly watching YouTube. Of course, I’m just listening to escapist fantasy novels, but still, a step up.

All in all, it’s been a great first quarter to 2024 as far as my crafty goals go! How about for you? Are you enjoying your yarny pursuits as much as I am?