Crochet

Inspired by Shelley and Jeanette, I finished crocheting a blanket for the chemo department of our local hospital. I used up quite a bit of my acrylic worsted weight yarn and ended up asking for donations to finish it.

I don't think it's very nice looking so I stitched a heart in two opposite corners. I used reversible stitching - kinda like blackwork. Hopefully the recipient will realize it's the thought that counts.

Unattactive or not, it will be quite cozy for the user.

The stripes I crocheted made me think of the Hudson Bay Point Blanket colours. I decided to crochet another blanket using those colours and am well on the way. I got quite a bit done during my regular Sunday afternoon videochat with some of my stitching friends.

I'm using a 6mm needle and cast on about 135 stitches to get the 45" wide blanket.

Then 4 rows of double crochet in each colour as follows:
White
Blue
White
Yellow
White
Red
White
Green

Then 20 rows of white. Then repeat the colour stripes in reverse order starting with green.

That'll give me 84 rows and a length of 55".

We had blistering heat again today. I didn't go outside except to chat with Skip while he was working out in the garden. We are expecting rain tomorrow afternoon and things will cool down a bit on Tuesday. By then I hope to have the second blanket done and be able to deliver them to Shelley for her delivery to the hospital.

In COVID-19 news, I have been monitoring the cases in the region in which I live (Durham Region) in the eastern greater Toronto area. Today we only had 1 new case and only have 24 people with the virus isolating at home.

We haven't had anyone in hospital or ICU for over a week and have only had 1 death in about the last month. All that being said, I'm still not comfortable going indoors in a public setting such as a restaurant. I do our grocery shopping in off-peak hours and get in and out as quickly as I can. I have had stitching friends over for deck visits and can comfortably accommodate 5 people while observing social distancing. I've been at others' homes for deck and porch visits as well. On Thursday we had friends over for a deck visit and wine after dinner and didn't wear masks. We were at least 2m apart - maybe farther and didn't wear masks. It was a gorgeous evening and we enjoyed each others' company until the mosquitos started in on us after dark. That reminds me, I need to buy a couple of mosquito coils.

This is our new normal. When the weather gets colder, we'll be back in isolation. Hopefully our case rate will be almost negligible and we'll start being comfortable visiting inside. But that is a couple of months away.

We just began Stage 3 in our region last Friday where restaurants and bars can be open with reduced seating. I'm bracing myself for the spike in our cases. This will occur every time some restrictions are lifted. The key will be to not overwhelm our medical system with new and life-threatening cases.