Crochet Update

 I've almost finished sewing all the lanterns onto the blanket. 

There's one column of 11 to finish and the last column of 10. Looking at the photo now, I realize I should have started a column of 10 on the left side rather than the column of 11 on the right side, as the pattern calls for columns of 10 on each side. 

Unblocked, right now it's measuring only 30" x 50" - not wide enough for a throw blanket in my opinion. There is LOTS of remaining yarn so I'll make at least another couple more columns of lanterns.

Following up on Barb's crocheted sheep,

I bought the pattern on Ravelry (Shoop the African Flower Sheep) and have sourced the yarn I'll be using.

Photo from the designer's Ravelry page.

While at Len's Mill Store in Cambridge on the weekend, I bought a ball of natural Kroy sock yarn and a multicoloured ball. I then rooted through my vast sock yarn remnants for other yarns that would work.

This sheep is not going to be very big with me using sock yarn (called for in the pattern) but it will be a good first try. There is a technique for joining the blocks while doing the outer round which I may try to master.

So far I have done one pentagon, four hexagons, and one heptagonal block.

I could have done the centres with the natural yarn, I guess. Oh well. I'm making sure the round before the outer round uses gold or yellow yarn, and, of course, the outer rounds will be with the natural yarn.

The next one I'll make will be using DK or worsted weight yarn. I also have TONS of handspun that would work very well for a project like this. 

The 2mm hook is a size larger than the pattern specifies for this weight yarn. The fabric is still pretty dense so the stuffing won't show through. I'm not liking working with such a small hook as the yarn splits easily.

They do work up pretty quickly. I haven't counted how many of them I'll have to make. If I don't use the 'attach-as-I-go' method, there will be a LOT of sewing the blocks together.