Hot off the hooks

I finished up the second contract piece this weekend. It's really gorgeous. Both projects now really to be shipped out to the designer.

I also finished the second Tunisian baby blanket that I was designing. I finally found that elusive TLC Amore that I've been searching for. I had started this with the idea of just swatching to see if my idea would work for a blanket. It looked so good, though that I didn't want to pull it out, and I had 2 skeins of TLC Amore in white. I thought that might be enough for a small baby blanket, and I knew that I had bought it at A C Moore and could get more (HaHa). When I ran out about 2/3 of the way through the project, I went to AC Moore, they had the Amore, but no white. So I stopped at JoAnn Fabric on the way home, they had Amore, including a bin for white, but no white. I tried again several days later with no luck, so I told everyone at the Sit N Stitch, and at the CGOA chapter meeting that I was in need of this yarn. A friend emailed that they had the white at the AC Moore on the West Shore, so while running errands last week we stopped. TLC Amore! yes!, but no white. I was now pretty sure that I'd have to rip out the blanket, make this into a sweater, hat and booties set, and make the blanket in another color. But my husband doesn't give up easily. He asked a store employee if they had the white, "we were told that it was here". She said "no white", but we have white in the TLC Baby Amore. We went around to the end of the next row and they had the TLC Baby Amore in white, baby blue, pink, yellow and green. It's wound in small "ball" skeins like Baby Soft and Softee Baby rather than the long skeins, and has different labels than the regular Amore. The store employee said "maybe you could use two strands together or something" and twisted the white with a blue regular Amore. But I decided to check the gauge information on the label,...Lo and Behold...the information was identical. The Baby Amore is exactly the same as the Amore, only in different colors! So I calculated that I needed 1 skein, but would buy 2, just in case. Today I finished the blanket. It's absolutely the softest thing I've ever crocheted!

While watching tv I decided that I needed a very small project to work on, wasn't ready to pull out the Cathedral Lace runner that I'm working. That requires more concentration that I can give while watching tv. So I pulled out the pattern for the motif Crochet a Long that I'm doing with Antique Threadwork, and played with some variations. I finally decided that it would make a great start for a cover for a satin Christmas ornament. I worked the first 4 rows of the pattern, then repeated the last row with a slight modification so that it would fit tight against the ball, then started "playing by ear". I've happy with the final project.

Now I must take a small break from crocheting. Tomorrow - grading papers, writing student evaluations, creating certificates and preparing for the last day of classes. Tuesday, last day and Student Recognition Night.