If nothing else this larger blanket project has reintroduced the concept of being accountable for progress. And I have to admit, I rather enjoy the challenge. I meant to measure my stripes and my rainbows but time, life and all that fun stuff simply got in the way. So instead I gave it up and just made sure I had moments of relaxation all centered around this special project.

On top of the blanket I also dove in with the cotton sent by the same dear friend to make washcloths, facecloths and hot pads. In fact, I have a nice collection from the month of  January now… I will, of course, share the links. I a especially fond of the vintage style hot pad from Amy Polcyn HERE. I made sure to make one slightly bigger than the other for larger dishes.

I also tried the Big Girl Pot Holder/Hot Pad by Laurie Laliberte HERE. It was a bit unusual in its final incarnation but I do like how thick it is.

Elizabeth Ann White has a rather nice leaf washcloth/hot pad… I made it with a single strand and I think it could double as a small container hot pad HERE. Sorry, no picture. I will work on that.

My favourite has to be one that my cousin Veronika linked me from Adventures of a DIY Mom HERE.

There was a cut in the yarn so my pattern changed, which I love one the one on the right.

For dishcloths I did a stack of a nice simple pattern from Little Monkeys Crochet HERE.

And for variety for washcloths did up one set from Crochetspot.com HERE.

I also made a nice set varying the colours from Miss Abigail’s Hope Chest HERE. I figured they were too pretty for dishcloths but about perfect for facecloths.

SO on top of random projects I made some good progress all round. I hope these links are helpful!

I am knee deep in reorganization chaos or I would have blogged this yesterday. As it is I have borrowed the kids’ new laptop for the evening just to type this up. Mine is behind a wall of furniture in what used to be our school area. Oh well… progress on my rainbow ripple blanket project has been made!

This past week I have grabbed my crafting moments whenever I could and thrown in other projects to boot! I have placed this large project as a permanent fixture next to our bed. I love that the box the yarn was originally mailed in works perfectly as a yarn holder while I work. This may become less useful as the skeins grow smaller. We shall see!

I admit it, I have paired various projects and activities with working my rainbow… books, anime (binge watched an entire series… I admit it), even other projects. All from the comfort of my CLEAN and TIDY room. Which has become as crucial to my relaxation as the project itself. 

My Regency Romance collection is free from the boxes!

Spooooky!

This coming week will still be balancing cleaning, teaching and more BUT I plan to take some measurements and share some links to some of my smaller in between projects so do check back!

Purple was a wee bit delayed for multiple reasons… First, I found a… snag… on the final row of blue. It happens, and frogging (undoing) half a row is nothing. Have I mentioned I love this Bernat Super Value for such a large project? It doesn’t snag on itself like a lot of the more natural fibers and when I DO have to pull a lengthy portion is not quick to knot itself as I redo the work.

The actual adding of this colour took longer than was expected, with the frogging and the house being in chaos I had to steal my moments.

Sometimes the best crafting buddy is more a table than a sounding board.

What I have found is that this project has become much like a prayer shawl. Stitch by stitch happiness and contentment is going into this project. I cannot wait to show further progress, though it will be more sporadic. My time frame goal is to have this piece completed and ready to go to the county fair this summer. Wouldn’t it be amazing to be able to send a ribbon winning blanket to a dear friend? Not that I expect one, just an opportunity I could not let pass by.