Every now and then, I take a break from baking.
This can be for a number of reasons. Sometimes it’s because my “baking bug” has gone away, and I have trouble finding it. Other times, I feel like baking, but I just have nothing to bake. Sometimes I just don’t feel like baking, or wish to spend my time another way. It is a lot of dishes, usually. And I hate doing dishes. Other times, I’m just too busy.
Lately, I’ve been busy with a multitude of things. I may have mentioned that I’m back doing theater. As I’m writing this, we are now in the second weekend of performances and we have one more weekend to go. That has been taking up a lot of my time.
I’ve also started to realize that some of my other hobbies have gone by the wayside. The first one is the quilting project, which I’ve mentioned previously. Let’s just blame involvement in community theater for the reason that very, very, very large project has been pushed to the back burner. That said, one of my hobbies I have returned to more recently. And it rekindled my love for the craft.
Crochet!
Every now and then, when I’m feeling down, I turn to crochet to help knock me out of the rut. Thanks to my job, I never really stopped crocheting since I oversee a yarn arts groups once a week. But I have started to feel “stale” with my projects. Other crafters will probably know what I’m talking about. After waiting a few weeks to see if it would “work itself out,” I realized the perfect solution.
A new start!
After sorting through the numerous crochet patterns that I’ve downloaded or purchased over the years, I finally settled on one. Atlanticus by Hooked on Sunshine. The things about this blanket that really sold me is the ocean color scheme, which can be seen in the mockup photo. Since I live in the US, and DK weight yarn is more difficult to find (and not as wallet-friendly), I decided on using Caron Simply Soft for this project.
Caron Simply Soft comes in numerous shades, is available at my local craft stores (and online!), and has a lovely sheen to it. Plus, though it’s technically a weight of 4, the yarn (to me anyway) has always seemed more like a 3 weight. Since it is thinner than most other worsted weight yarns, the smaller hook size needed for this blanket would work well.
I spent most of yesterday deciding on which colors would work well together and emulate the original color palette. I was able to pick up my choices from my local craft store last night and this morning I got to start on the blanket.
While it surely hasn’t been easy, I am truly loving how it’s turning out so far. As of this writing, I only have 7 rounds completed out of 116! But, it’s surely moving along.
I can’t wait to share my progress on this project with you!!
