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As you probably already know, I have been crocheting for over 15 years at this point, and I have made so many blankets that I have lost count. In fact, for the first 12 years, the only things I crocheted were blankets. It wasn’t until I discovered that there were Facebook groups dedicated to crochet, joined said groups and started looking at everyone’s creations that I began to branch out and make some different items. Over the past few years, I have seen Crochet-a-longs (CALs) pop up here and there, but I never joined in, either because I found out too late or there was some sort of funding or time issue. Whatever the reasons, I longingly ogled the completed projects of others and wished I had played along too.
Well, this year the stars have aligned themselves perfectly and I was able to jump into the Patchwork Mystery CAL from Week one! (Actually, I learned of it 2 weeks beforehand, joined the Facebook group and had my supplies ready and waiting.)
As it turns out, this CAL came right at the perfect time for me because my hubby (whom I often refer to as The Bear) has been quite ill and I have been devoting most of my time to caring for him, which means less time available for crochet designing and thinking of things to blog about. Thanks to the creators of this CAL, I now have something to crochet AND something to write about for twelve whole weeks!
So enough fluff, let’s get down to business here. Week one was so much fun. It is the Star Portal Square designed by Stephanie Ware of Crochet Instinct. Find the pattern HERE. At first, when I discovered that there would be one square per week, I thought that time frame was way too long. People in the Facebook group were posting their completed squares the day the pattern was released, but The Bear was just released from the hospital on Sunday, and my hands were needed to take care of him. I didn’t get started on my square until Wednesday, and did not finish it until Saturday morning. It turns out that one week was just enough time for me to get through the square, and once it was finished, I decided to make another because A) this blanket will be freakishly small if I only make 12 squares, and B) this design is too beautiful for only one. Of course I like my second square better than the first, so maybe I’ll be making a 3rd one in the next few days? I guess it just depends on how much I love next week’s square, and how much time I have to play with yarn!
Update: I did make a 3rd one, and I love it best of all 3. Making me really start to question my use of black yarn on this project.
