2024 ~ A Year of Crochet

 2024 was the year I renewed my love of crochet.

It started with this spring blanket

which was a crochet along on TikTok.

This is Nutmeg's favorite blanket,

although she happily snuggles in whatever 

I am currently working on.

Then I started the summer crochet along blanket.

I spent the summer in my adirondack rocker on the back porch 

and made this long summer shawl in cotton yarn.

This probably my personal favorite. 

I added a long fringe to this one. 

I enjoyed these colors and stitches so much

 that I made a second blanket in acrylic worsted weight yarn

 and gifted it to one of my sons for his reading room. 

I had some leftover yarn so I made this baby/throw size blanket 

as a donation to a silent auction fundraiser for a local youth camp. 

Then I sat in my porch rocker as summer waned in September

 and made this autumn star blanket.

This is the 6 Day Star Blanket by Betty McKnit

although I did not complete it in six days.

It took me three weeks but I also started a new crochet along blanket.

I completed this Halloween blanket in time for the witching hour. 

In November I started this Christmas themed blanket 

on my own and designed it as I crocheted.

I call this my "Ugly Christmas Sweater Blanket." 

My kitties and I are enjoying the soft and snuggly blankets

and are starting a new year of crochet. 

My sewing machine has mostly been sitting idle.

I do hope to finish a quilt project of two this year.

May you and yours have a happy, healthy, prosperous 2025! 

Slow Sunday Stitching ~ Spring Crochet

 

Day 7 is complete for my 

Spring Crochet Blanket Started Here

This is a free crochet along.

All information, patterns and tips can be found  at

Any Day Crochet @ TikTok

Nutmeg is my ever helpful crochet kitty.

Her favorite part of the job is testing our crochet blankets for comfort.

Nutmeg and I are linking up today with all of the lovely creations at

Slow Sunday Stitching @ Kathy's Quilts

It has been a weekend of heavy rain and now clearing skies

 in my corner of the world.

The forecast is for more spring like weather.

We were able to start a little yard cleanup and found 

our crocuses and tulips are sending up green shoots.

No spring flowers yet.

Soon ... very soon ... :) 

I hope your weekend has been full of good times and happy stitches.

The Scrapatch Cats Crochet ~ Cat # 3

Maestro, who really does not like her photo taken,

is saying, "It is my turn with this nice soft cuddle crochet nest.

Now please take the camera away so I may snooze. 

Thank you, Mommy." 

 

Squares Sampler Crochet Progress

 

Five Setting Strips Done!

I have been making progress on the pieces for my ...

Sampler Squares Crochet Afghan ~ Started Here

My fifth setting strip is in this fun

Mesh and Bobble Stitch Pattern @ Daisy Farm Crafts

There is a 

Mesh and Bobble Stitch DFC Video Tutorial Here

I made my own variation of the sample stitch using my yarn colors

to the size needed for my setting strips. 

After completing the needed fifth setting stripe ... 

I then went back to figure out how to set my small granny squares

 into similar size setting strips.

To do this, I am bordering my granny squares in single crochet in my light gray yarn and then sewing them together and bordering the rectangle in single crochet to get the right size.

I have a few more squares to border and sat into strips

which I hope to have done soon.

Then I will be ready to set my layout and sew my squares together.

My weekend plans are to sit and crochet where and when I can.

What are your stitching plans for this weekend? 

May you have a good one!

Squares Sampler Afghan ~ Setting Strip 4

 

Setting Strip number four is done for my 

Squares Sampler Afghan

This pattern is

Flower Rows by Daisy Farm Crafts

There is a video for this in the link below:

Crochet Flower Puffs ~ Video Tutorial ~ Daisy Farm Crafts

I really like this pattern.  When I showed it to my daughter she said they looked like little kitty paws to her.  Oooooh ... kitty paws! <3 <3 <3 

As written, this pattern called for Wide Half Double Crochet (WHDC) stitches between the puff rows, but my sample did not look as good as would have liked, so I changed it up and made the background in their  

Wide Half Double Crochet Clusters as in 

My Candy Dots Setting Strip ~ Here

I really like the thickness and texture of this stitch.

I think this makes a lovely addition to my sampler squares and setting strips. 

I am working on my last setting strip now.

I hope you are having a lovely weekend.

Happy Stitching! 

Squares Sampler Afghan ~ Bobble Lines Setting Strip

 

My third setting strip for my 

 Squares Sampler Crochet Afghan is done.

I like the way the bobble lines connect the colors of the blocks on either side. 

This stitch is adapted from this free pattern:

Colorful Bobble Lines Baby Blanket @ Daisy Farm Crafts

The how to video for this stitch may be found here:

Crochet Bobble Lines Video Tutorial @ Daisy Farm Crafts

The background stitch in gray is a Herringbone Half Double Crochet (HHDC) stitch,

alternated with lines of single crochet and 5 double crochet popcorn bobbles.

The dark gray does not stand out all that well, but I wanted to use all four colors of my yarn in some of these setting strips.

I also sewed today.

I am happy that I am finding time to work on my finishing my squares afghan 

and paly with my fabric, too. 

We have had a return to winter weather here this week and woke up to snow on the ground yesterday. 

Today the wind chill brought temperatures down to the single digits.  Brrr! 

Looking forward to spring weather. 

I hope you have had a happy day of stitching and sewing.

Slow Sunday Stitching ~ Sampler Setting Strips Progress

Setting Strip Progress for my 

 Squares Sampler Crochet Afghan

 As my layout has five rows and I am thinking one setting strip per row,

I will need five setting strips.

I am halfway there at 2 and 1/2 strips. 

My third setting strip is based on this fun baby blanket crochet pattern:

Colorful Bobble Lines Baby Blanket @ Daisy Farm Crafts

The how to video for this stitch may be found here:

Crochet Bobble Lines Video Tutorial @ Daisy Farm Crafts

The background stitch in gray is a Herringbone Half Double Crochet (HHDC) stitch,

alternated with lines of single crochet and 5 double crochet popcorn bobbles.

This is another fun texture to add to my sampler afghan. 

Linking up tonight with 

Slow Sunday Stitching @ Kathy's Quilts

I hope you have had a happy weekend of slow stitching! 

Slow Stitching Sunday ~ More Crochet Squares

 

This is the layout idea for my 

20 Plus Crochet Squares Sampler

After making for of these cute 5 inch blocks from the

Granny Flower Granny Square Free Pattern @ Lullaby Lodge

I had these four blocks made with the small balls of yarn left from my 12" blocks.

These blocks look relatively square and the same size,

I still pinned them to my blocking board and sprayed them with water.

The uniform sides and sharp corners will be much better for joining later.

My crochet kitty inspector has approved this plan.

We will use the light gray yarn to add any borders 

needed to fill in the gaps to fit these blocks together 

and we will be adding a gray outer border to the afghan.

Since this is a sampler quilt, we will be using other granny squares patterns

 to make more 5 inch blocks to add to out setting layout.

This is the second small block pattern.

I will post the free pattern links tomorrow.

Linking up today with 

Slow Sunday Stitching @ Kathy's Quilts

What have you been stitching this weekend? 

Last Block ~ Squares Sampler Crochet

 

Last block for my 

Squares Crochet Along Sampler ~ Started Here

I decided to finish with the same color that I started with and started it 

with my morning coffee. 

By the end of the day I made good progress.

I hope to finish this block soon!

Crochet Squares Sampler Progress ~ Block 13 Reimagined

 

Here is Block 13 for my 

 Squares Sampler Crochet Blocks  

This is a improv of the original pattern:

7th Pattern Stitch @ The Inspired Wren Crochet Along,

which is an easy and fun bobble stitch.

Originally, I had planned to make this block in a solid pink.

 When I Started Here ~ Squares Sampler Afghan,

I had only one skein of each color yarn in my small yarn stash which was several years old.  

After I decided on my colors, I needed to find more yarn,

I had to purchase more yarn and, of course, I could not get the same dye lots.

So if you look close you can see the top three rows of the pink block are a newer brighter version of the same pink. 

After looking at this I decided that I needed to find a way to better integrate the new shade of Petal Pink yarn.

So I pulled out my top five rows and added some light gray and a row of the new pink and a row of the darker Perfect Pink yarn so that all my pinks were featured in this block.

Today it is snowing and I am working on Block 14 in light gray.

I have had several readers comment that they are following my methods in this crochet along for future reference. My next post will be about the adjustments I have had to make to allow for the fact my yarn is not the weight in the original sample quilt.  

I am using Red Heart Super Saver Yarn, 

which is worsted weight.

May you stay warm and well and safe from the storms of life.